Dell Sports – Nascar News

The first round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs certainly hasn't gone according to plan for the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. A conservative strategy and a late wreck led to a 24th-place finish in the Round of 16 opener at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Hamiln is six points below the current cut line for the Round of 12, but the 43-year-old can point to his record at Bristol with confidence. He's the defending winner of the Night Race, and he added a fourth career victory at Thunder Valley in March.

"I feel like we can go to Bristol and win," Hamlin said. "We can control our own destiny there. If we can run in the top two or three all day and score stage points and be there at the end like we are capable of doing, then I feel good about it."

Hamlin insists he's not in a must-win situation, but there are few convenient targets available in his quest to advance on points.

To catch Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson and William Byron -- ninth and 10th, respectively, in the standings -- Hamlin would have to overcome respective deficits of 26 and 25 points.

Clearly, the best-case scenario for Hamlin is a victory and automatic advancement to the Round of 12.

Veterans Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. face even more daunting challenges.

Entering the elimination race Saturday, Keselowski is 12 points below the current cutoff, Truex 14.

Keselowski is a three-time Bristol winner, while Truex has never won a Cup race on the high-banked concrete track.

It might be a good omen that Truex's No. 19 Toyota is carrying the livery of the race's entitlement sponsor. It's a better predictor that the Cup Series drivers will be racing on the same rubber that made the spring race a tire-management challenge.

"I'm certainly looking forward to it more than in past years," said Truex, who has scored just three top fives in 34 Bristol starts. "Bristol has been in the past, just hammer it as hard as you can all day. Track position was huge.

"Tires didn't really wear out and it was all about pit stops, restarts and track position. Now, in the spring, it was like old-school racing. I enjoyed that more and had better success at it than I did in previous years at Bristol, so I'm excited for that."

Through two playoff races, Joey Logano is the only driver who has clinched a spot in the Round of 12, thanks to his victory in the Atlanta opener. Points leader Christopher Bell (+46), Austin Cindric (+43) and Alex Bowman (+41) merely need solid, problem-free runs to advance.

At the World's Fastest Half-Mile, however, there are no guarantees.

Meanwhile, JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith and Big Machine Racing driver Parker Kligerman would like nothing better than for the status quo to hold firm in Friday night's Food City 300 at Bristol.

Kligerman can clinch a playoff spot by scoring 14 points on Friday, while Smith has a commanding 43-point advantage for the final playoff spot.

"I'm looking forward to running under the lights this Friday at Bristol as we contend for our position in the playoffs," Smith said. "I've had good runs there in the past, and JRM has always brought strong cars there, so I'm excited to get there and close out the regular season on a high note."

The Xfinity regular-season title is also up for grabs, though Justin Allgaier has a 43-point lead over reigning series champion Cole Custer entering the race that will decide who earns the 15-playoff-point bonus.

Allgaier is the defending winner of the Food City 300. He'll have a competitive teammate in his boss, Dale Earnhardt Jr., who will make his first start of the season on Friday. Earnhardt led 47 laps in the Bristol race last year before exiting with ignition problems after 271 of 300 circuits.

Little was decided in the Aug. 25 first race of the Truck Series Playoffs at the Milwaukee Mile, but the race for the title should take on more definition after the UNOH 200 on Thursday at Bristol.

Non-playoff driver Layne Riggs won at Milwaukee, denying all 10 title contenders the prospect of advancing to the Round of 8 with a victory.

In addition, the two drivers who enter Friday's race below the current cut line -- defending series champion Ben Rhodes and Rajah Caruth -- are well within sight of the positive side of the playoff bubble.

With the field set to be cut from 10 to eight drivers on Sept. 27 at Kansas, Rhodes and Caruth trail eighth-place Grant Enfinger by two points and four points, respectively.

"The key to success at Bristol is precision," Caruth said. "You have to be plugged in and remain aware of everything going on around you. It's a super-fun race track, but you are going fast, there's a lot of banking, it is tough to see, and things happen very quickly.

"I've raced pretty much everything there, from ARCA to Trucks to Xfinity. Hopefully, we can build off our past runs and punch our ticket to the next round of the playoffs."

In the second race of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs and one of two postseason road configurations, Buescher's No. 17 RFK Ford led as the race went to extra laps, but van Gisbergen nudged by in Turn 1.

However, Buescher rallied, slid underneath the New Zealand SuperCars champ and won for the first time in 2024 by 0.979 seconds.

Carson Hocevar, Ross Chastain and Zane Smith completed the top five.

Competing in NASCAR for the first time since 2014, two-time Cup race winner Juan Pablo Montoya finished 32nd.

In all, 11 of the 16 playoff drivers had some difficulties in the 90-lap race.

Shortly after polesitter Chastain led them to green, an eight-car melee ensued halfway through the first lap when Corey LaJoie turned Kyle Busch's No. 8 and put him sideways in traffic. Denny Hamlin tagged Busch's Chevrolet, and Ryan Blaney's No. 12 Ford hit the cars driven by Brad Keselowski and John Hunter Nemechek.

Hamlin and Blaney (broken steering column) received the most damage, with the reigning Cup champion's car being towed back to the garage and retired. Blaney finished last.

Most of the field pitted as the 20-lap Stage 1 neared its end, and Martin Truex Jr. took the top spot and gained all 10 bonus points. Alex Bowman and Chase Briscoe followed, respectively.

Chastain led again when it went back to green, but van Gisbergen's No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet hounded the No. 1 in the segment. At the end, playoff contender Daniel Suarez, Chastain's teammate, looped his No. 99 in Turn 6 and got stuck in the gravel with three laps left.

The day worsened for Hamlin on Lap 47 when the Joe Gibbs Racing driver went three-wide with Keselowski and Kyle Larson. Hamlin's Toyota smacked the guardrail hard and created the fourth caution.

Debris sprayed from Harrison Burton's blown tire with 10 laps to go, and the final caution flew when Keselowski and William Byron crashed hard with seven to go.

Chastain's No. 1 Chevrolet turned in a fast lap of 122.279 mph around the 2.45-mile, seven-turn course in upstate New York to edge former race winner Martin Truex Jr. for the top position by a mere .134-second. Ranked 15th of the 16 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers, it was an important result for Truex as well.

The two will lead the field to green in Sunday's Go Bowling at The Glen, the second of 10 Playoff races for the series and the first of two road courses on the Playoff schedule.

"It wasn't any one thing, just so many years of trying to learn how to do this, it was just a career moment, a lifetime achievement to go faster than everybody in the Cup Series, just unbelievable for Trackhouse to do," Chastain said.

It was an interesting qualifying session with Chastain among five drivers not championship-eligible, but who advanced to the final round of 10 on Saturday. Kaulig Racing's Shane van Gisbergen, who will start third, his Kaulig teammate A.J. Allmendinger, who will start sixth, and Stewart-Haas Racing's Noah Gragson and Front Row Motorsports' Michael McDowell who line up ninth and 10th completed that group on non-Playoff drivers.

In addition to Truex, the Playoff drivers that advanced to final qualifying are Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman (who will line up fourth), Team Penske's Austin Cindric (fifth) and Joey Logano (seventh) and Chastain's Trackhouse Racing teammate Daniel Suarez (eighth).

Sunday's race is the second of the three first round Playoff races. The lowest-ranked four of the 16 drivers will be eliminated from championship eligibility after next week's race at the famed Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway half-mile.

Qualifying has proven to be especially important at the Watkins Glen course with the race winner starting seventh or better on the grid in 16 of the last 19 races.

Logano, who won last week's Playoff opener at Atlanta is the only driver to have secured his second round Playoff position. His Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney, who holds a five-point edge over JGR's Christopher Bell in the championship points standings, will start 30th. Bell will roll off 20th.

23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick, the Regular Season Champion, is fourth in the standings and will start 16th. Hendrick Motorsports William Byron, the defending race winner who is ranked fifth in the Playoff standings, will start 11th. His teammate Chase Elliott -- a two-time Watkins Glen winner -- will roll off 14th. Their teammate Kyle Larson -- another two-time Watkins Glen winner -- will start 20th.

Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin, also a former Watkins Glen winner, will start 22nd. His JGR teammate Ty Gibbs, who holds that 12th and final transfer position by a mere 1-point over Brad Keselowski, will roll off 15th.

The veteran and former series champ, Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing co-owner Keselowski will start 28th. Harrison Burton, who is ranked 17th -- 16 points below the cutoff line -- will start 33rd Sunday. Stewart-Haas Racing's Chase Briscoe, who is 16th in the Playoff standings 21 points below Gibbs, had an encouraging qualifying session and will start 12th.

Also of note, Juan Pablo Montoya, a former Watkins Glen race winner, will make his first NASCAR Cup Series start in 10 years and will roll off 34th in the No. 50 23XI Racing Toyota.

Hendrick Motorsports.

One of Rick Hendrick's cars has visited Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series' past five visits to the winding, upstate New York track, an 11-turn layout that has drivers turning right and could be a giant obstacle as the second event in the 10-race NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

However, the Glen's appearance in the sport's postseason is a fleeting one.

When the 2025 schedule was unveiled, the 90-lap race slotted in on Aug. 10. That will put it two races before the regular season ends in Daytona with the playoffs beginning the following week at Darlington's Southern 500.

With loads of success under their belts, the Hendrick drivers have had no problem making the necessary adjustments when the series visits the Finger Lakes region and the other serpentine configurations, too.

Alex Bowman and his No. 48 Chevrolet have had the least amount of good luck on NASCAR's unique courses. The 31-year-old native of Tucson, Ariz., has just one win on them, but it was an important one on July 7 on the Chicago Street Course, which launched him into the playoffs.

In seven races at the Glen, Bowman has posted a personal best of three 14th-place finishes.

Yet, the remaining three Hendrick heavy hitters have combined for the past five wins at the historic track that has hosted multiple racing series.

Chase Elliott is the circuit's top active road-course racer. Of his 19 career wins, the 2020 Cup Series champion has taken the checkers seven times on five different demanding layouts, including the Glen in 2018 and 2019.

Chasing down two of the best road racing drivers in NASCAR history, the 28-year-old son of 1988 Cup champ Bill Elliott is one win from tying Tony Stewart's eight victories and two away from matching Jeff Gordon's series-best nine.

Earning two of the past three wins at the Glen, Kyle Larson is a five-time winner on road courses. He could use a sixth as he sits only 15 points above the cut line for the Round of 12 after a wreck last Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway sent him home in 37th.

With another bad points day Sunday or at Bristol, Tenn., the following Saturday night, the 2021 champion could see a quick end to his quest for a second title.

"I think always that points are going to be on your mind a little bit, so I can't deny that," said Larson, "but I'm happy that we're going to a style of track that we're competitive at.

"But there's still the unknown of the tire wear and the hype behind the fall-off, which I do believe there's going to be a lot of fall-off."

William Byron and his No. 24 Camaro won the last race in the Empire State, and the seventh-year driver said the first three unique events make the Round of 16 "probably the toughest."

Tougher now with a heavy dose of the Glen's clockwise curve and swerve thrown in for one playoff race.

Thirty minutes south, however, lies a town that's been embedded in racing history since the 1950s. Watkins Glen International has been a staple of the NASCAR schedule since 1986.

On Sunday, the track will host a NASCAR Cup Series playoff race for the first time, with the 16 championship hopefuls traversing the twists and turns in the second race of the opening round.

Joey Logano may be the only playoff driver not feeling any pressure, as a win at Atlanta locked him into the Round of 12. That's not the case for the other 15 drivers looking to advance, however, and a couple already find themselves in what could be considered must-win situations.

With the first race of the postseason in the books, here are the playoff drivers considered favorites for Sunday's race, and one that could be considered a wild card.

Favorite: Kyle Larson

Spoiler alert: Hendrick Motorsports will be very prevalent in this department, as the company hasn't lost a race at WGI since 2017. Larson owns two of those victories in 2021 and 2022, and enters Watkins Glen in need of a shot in the arm. A crash at Atlanta whittled his advantage over the cut line down to just 15 points. He's far from a must-win situation, but a third Watkins Glen victory certainly wouldn't hurt.

Favorite: Chase Elliott

Elliott was once christened as NASCAR's road-course magnate, but the advent of the Next-Gen car in 2022 has stifled his success. Elliott is winless on road courses with the Next-Gen car, though his best chance at a win came at Watkins Glen in 2022. On that day, Elliott was bested by Larson, an outcome he hopes to flip this time around. Watkins Glen ended up being the death knell for Elliott's playoff hopes in 2023 after he ran out of gas, making Sunday's race an opportunity for the No. 9 team to get vengeance.

Favorite: Tyler Reddick

It'd be too easy to put defending Watkins Glen winner William Byron in this spot and give Hendrick Motorsports a clean sweep, so how about introducing a Toyota driver to the fold? If anyone has taken Elliott's road-course crown in NASCAR's Next-Gen era, it's Reddick, who has won thrice on road courses in NASCAR's seventh generation vehicle. If anyone can break up Hendrick's Watkins Glen monopoly, it's Reddick, who's been the best driver in NASCAR over the past three months.

Underdog: Martin Truex Jr.

Four years ago, calling Truex an underdog going into any race weekend would've been unheard of. As the 2017 champion rounds out his final full-time season, however, that claim has become a lot more justifiable. A horrendous slump landed Truex the last seed in the playoffs, and with a 19-point deficit to the cut line, Truex's final playoff run could soon come to an end. That wouldn't be the case if he were able to break through at Watkins Glen, however, where he won in 2017. In 18 starts at WGI, Truex has seven top-fives and 11 top-10s, a mark most drivers would envy. It may seem crazy to think that Truex could win a race after struggling for much of the summer, but crazier things have happened in the past three weeks of racing alone. If anyone can snag a miraculous road-course victory, it's Truex.

In the green-white-checkered finish, Logano lined up ahead of Team Penske teammate Blaney and outdueled Trackhouse Racing's Daniel Suarez, who lined up beside Logano, and stablemate Ross Chastain.

Logano recorded his 34th career win and second of 2024 by beating Suarez by 0.212 seconds, advancing the No. 22 Ford to the Round of 12 following the next two races.

Blaney, Christopher Bell and Alex Bowman completed the top five. The next five finishers were Tyler Reddick, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, William Byron and Austin Cindric.

For the fifth time in 2024, polesitter Michael McDowell brought them down to start the first playoff race on the 1.54-mile layout and led the first 30 laps, but the first caution on Lap 56 was a two-car wreck and a major blow to a pair of championship contenders.

Entering the championship run with the most playoff points, Larson (37th place) had his No. 5 Chevrolet snap and turn hard to the right in Turn 2, eventually smashing into the wall and sliding into traffic.

Then Briscoe (38th), last week's surprising winner Southern 500 winner at Darlington, came through and struck the rear of the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet at near full speed.

Blaney won the segment's 10 points, followed by Cindric and Bowman.

The same three topped Stage 2 as well but in a different order -- Cindric, Blaney and Bowman -- in a quick segment that set up a race just under 100 laps to the checkers.

With less than 60 laps left, Chris Buescher lost his No. 17 Ford similarly to Larson and hit Blaney, whose No. 12 Ford struck the wall, came down and tagged Martin Truex Jr.'s No. 19 Toyota.

Ty Gibbs took the lead with 27 laps left but was shuffled back in the final laps and finished 17th.

With two to go and Suarez and Logano battling side-by-side, Noah Gragson brought the seventh caution on the backstretch to set up NASCAR overtime.

McDowell posted one of only two sub-31-second laps in the final round (30.926 seconds), touring the 1.54-mile speedway at 179.267 mph. He edged defending series champion Ryan Blaney (178.844 mph) for the top starting spot by 0.073 seconds.

McDowell was one of three non-playoff drivers who qualified in the top four. His Front Row Motorsports teammate Todd Gilliland was third at 178.770 mph, followed by Stewart-Haas Racing's Josh Berry at 178.447 mph, as Ford drivers claimed the first five starting spots for the race Sunday.

It was McDowell's fifth pole of the season, second at Atlanta and fourth straight on a track that uses the superspeedway competition package. All five of McDowell's career poles have come this year.

"I'm just so proud of everyone at Front Row (Motorsports)," McDowell said. "I knew we had a shot based on Daytona (where McDowell won the pole two races ago), and we sat on the pole here earlier.

"One thing I think we've done really well, we led a lot of laps and our car drove really well ... sometimes you'll trim them out and get a lot of speed, and when you get into the race, it'll be just a handful. I don't feel like we're compromising anything going into the race with the speed that we have."

Blaney was the fastest of six playoff drivers who qualified in the top 10. Austin Cindric earned the fifth starting spot, followed by Kyle Larson in the fastest Chevrolet (178.367 mph) and Ford driver Joey Logano.

Non-playoff driver Austin Dillon will start seventh, followed by playoff drivers William Byron and Chase Briscoe.

Notably absent from the final round were Toyota drivers. Of the five playoff drivers in Camrys, Ty Gibbs was the top qualifier in 20th. Martin Truex Jr. will start 22nd, Tyler Reddick 23rd, Christopher Bell 26th and Denny Hamlin 38th.

Hamlin was more than two seconds off the pole-winning pace in the first round, with what appeared to be an engine issue.

"The engine made a funny noise when we were warning it up on pit road," Hamlin radioed to his crew.

"They see a few red flags," Hamlin added after his team members raised the hood on the No. 11 Toyota and attempted to diagnose the problem. "They'll get it fixed for Sunday."

Other playoff drivers qualified as follows: Alex Bowman 11th, Harrison Burton 12th, Chase Elliott 16th, Brad Keselowski 19th and defending race winner Daniel Suarez 30th.

But first, a larger look at the first three races that will eliminate four drivers and advance a dozen into the Round of 12 that begins Sept. 29 at Kansas Speedway.

NASCAR will kick it off in Atlanta, which was the site of the closest three-wide finish in the sport's history on Feb. 25, arguably the most exciting side-by-side-by-side race to the checkers that fans have seen.

Daniel Suarez claimed victory that day, edging reigning Cup champion Ryan Blaney by 0.003 seconds and non-playoff driver Kyle Busch (0.007 seconds) in 2024's first real thriller.

Suarez, the driver of the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, set a high bar that day, joining William Byron as the only winners just two races into the campaign.

That dazzling triumph vaulted Suarez, of Mexico, into the postseason championship hunt, but it didn't foreshadow any future success. He posted just one more top-five finish -- at Texas in April -- and was remembered more down the stretch for an awful fire that forced his Camaro out of the race at Daytona two weeks ago.

The second race on the three-stop circuit is at Watkins Glen, where the track will make its first appearance in the playoffs.

Having a road course right away is intriguing, though there are some concerns about the tire that NASCAR will take there -- the same issues that arose in Bristol's spring race that Denny Hamlin captured.

The famed Bristol night race also just happens to be the cutoff race after the snaking Watkins Glen layout in upstate New York, so watch for that tire degradation again.

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell, a three-time winner thus far in 2024, said the three races are a crapshoot.

"With the expected tire degradation with the tire change that we've had, it could be a Bristol-style race where people are wearing tires out really early and struggling to make laps and having to pit all of the time. So, that could be another wild-card race," said Bell, who was victorious at Phoenix, Charlotte's 600-miler and New Hampshire in the first 26 events.

"And, then Bristol, I think everybody is expecting it to be more of the same as what we had in the spring," added the No. 20 Toyota driver, who has nine top-five finishes. "So, the first round could be very different than what we've seen in the past."

Added Team 23XI driver Tyler Reddick, the regular-season champ in his No. 45: "It is probably the most chaotic -- that first round. ... The nice thing is there are 16 of us in this first round, so even if you have a bad day, you have a good buffer."

Ford leads the way with a series-best six entries among the 16 title-seeking competitors.

"We'll go to Atlanta and try to steal another one," said No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford driver Chase Briscoe, who broke a 93-race winless streak and joined Harrison Burton as surprise winners of the past two stunning races.

It would also be shocking if the super-fast, narrow Atlanta loop was anything other than exciting on Sunday.

Arguably, this is the most unpredictable Playoff since NASCAR implemented the elimination format in 2014, and not just because the first race of the postseason is the Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway (Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

"I'll be honest, the first round is the scariest it's been in a long time with Atlanta, a superspeedway starting us off," said Christopher Bell, who enters the Playoffs as the No. 2 seed with 32 Playoff points. "We all know how that can go.

"And then we go to Watkins Glen, which should be a normal race track, but with the expected tire degradation with the tire change that we've had, it could be a Bristol-style race where people are wearing tires out really early and struggling to make laps and having to pit all of the time.

"So, that could be another wild card race. And then Bristol, I think everybody is expecting it to be more of the same as what we had in the spring. So, the first round could be very different than what we've seen in the past."

Thanks to a repaving and reprofiling of the track in 2021, NASCAR has adopted a superspeedway competition package at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which produced the closest three-wide finish in the sport's history earlier this year.

On Feb. 25, in the second race of the season, Daniel Suarez earned his Playoff spot by 0.003 seconds over reigning series champion Ryan Blaney, with third-place Kyle Busch trailing the winner by a mere 0.007 seconds.

That was the high point of the season so far for Suarez, who has posted only one other top-five result, a fifth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway. But with the Cup Series returning to Atlanta for the first Playoff race, the Trackhouse Racing driver has cause for optimism.

"It's going to be around 20 degrees warmer than last time, so we're going to have less grip," said Suarez, who enters the postseason as the No. 11 seed, with six Playoff points. "So, if you were seeing cars moving around, you will see it even more.

"I believe we had a great car last time there, and we're hoping we have even a better one there this time. We just have to continue to push, continue to work hard and focus on one race at a time."

Hendrick Motorsports driver Kyle Larson, the 2021 series champion, enters the Playoffs as the top seed with 40 Playoff points. Atlanta, however, has been problematic for the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet.

In five races since the repaving, Larson has a best finish of 13th and four other results of 30th or worse.

"Yeah, I don't love seeing Atlanta in the Playoffs at all," Larson said. "And even Watkins Glen, for that matter, just because -- yes, I like those tracks, but they're just sketchy places. But if they're going to be in the Playoffs, I would rather them be in the first round than the second or third round.

"So, yeah, I mean I think having the bonus points and Playoff points that we've earned throughout the regular season is nice. But it still doesn't guarantee anything. You still have to not run into any trouble, especially in back-to-back weeks, and hopefully you can just make it through."

Austin Hill seeks to maintain dominance at his home track

In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Austin Hill is the undisputed master of superspeedways, and that's particularly true of his home track, Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Since the repaving and reconfiguration of the 1.54-mile track in 2021, Hill has won three of five races contested there, and he'll go for a fourth in Saturday's Focused Health 250 (3 p.m. ET on USA, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

All eight of Hill's career victories have come on tracks of 1.5 miles or more in length, and six have come on venues where the superspeedway competition package is used.

So, it's no surprise that the Winston, Ga., native will draw a major share of attention on Saturday.

However, Hill will have to share the spotlight with the battle for the final four berths in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs, particularly the close contest on either side of the current cut line.

With a fifth-place finish in last Saturday's race at Darlington, JR Motorsports driver Sammy Smith moved past 18th-place finisher Ryan Sieg into the final Playoff-eligible position. With three races left in the regular season, Smith leads Sieg by 10 points -- a tenuous margin with Atlanta on the horizon.

"We had a strong car last week at Darlington, where we were competitive in the top 10 all day," Smith said. "I was happy that we could bring home a strong finish for (sponsor) Pilot Flying J and JR Motorsports.

"I'm looking forward to getting back in the car at Atlanta to continue the momentum and fight for a better position in the Playoff points."

Yes, he'd proven that he can win a title even when not expected -- as he did in 2018 when he defeated the "Big Three" of Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. -- but 2022 was a season filled with parity, where the unknown was the only certainty.

With only 12 top-10 finishes through the first 26 races of the season, the No. 22 team was mostly an afterthought when discussing who could potentially make it to the Final Four.

But, as history will tell you, it was Logano and the No. 22 team who caught fire, collecting six top-10 finishes over the season's final 10 weeks in a run that culminated with a championship at Phoenix.

With Logano being in the midst of his worst season since he joined Team Penske in 2013, the doubters are a little more credible this time around. Only a fuel mileage win at Nashville put Logano in the playoffs, and just 8 top-10 finishes through the first 26 races have many picking Logano to be bounced in the first round.

By every conceivable measure and statistic, Logano is a first-round exit. A lack of consistent speed and playoff points looms large, as does a postseason field that is extremely competitive.

Logano will only have a two point advantage over 13th-place Chase Briscoe when the green flag waves on Sunday in Atlanta, and depending on qualifying, that gap could be nullified immediately.

So why, exactly, should anyone pick Logano as the driver most likely to upset the field and win his third Cup Series championship?

It's simple: Both of his aforementioned championship runs came when few in the garage area took the No. 22 team seriously, which is perhaps when they're most dangerous.

At the Chicago Street Race in July, Logano discussed a potential championship run, despite the struggles facing the No. 22 team.

"We always think we can win the championship," Logano said. "You think of 2018, I remember having the conversation with my wife and saying, 'I hope we get through the first round.' All of a sudden it got better and we went out and won the whole thing."

"You just gotta stay around," he continued. "You gotta be in it to win it is so real with our playoffs. Are we seeded the best? No. We don't have enough playoff points. The cards are stacked against us from that perspective. But I've seen where if you can just be solid, get through the rounds, and win the races that matter, you're around when the speed knob gets turned up. It happened to the 12 (Ryan Blaney) last year. He got through the rounds as he needed to, and by the time it was gametime, boom. The speed showed up and he won the championship.

"We did that in 2018, we did that in 2022. Hopefully, we do it again this year."

It's safe to say that the cards are once more stacked against Logano, Paul Wolfe and the No. 22 team, but if there's one thing Team Penske knows how to do, it's turn up the fire when the playoffs begin.

Fresh off of a championship hangover year in 2023 where he was eliminated in the Round of 16, there'd be no better bounceback for Logano than to etch his name in history as a three-time Cup Series champion.

Truex said in June that he no longer will be a full-time driver after this season but revealed his plans for the season-opening race Wednesday at the NASCAR playoffs media day in Charlotte, N.C.

"That's right. I didn't know it was that big of news," Truex said. "I thought people knew already, so I might have let the cat out of the bag prematurely."

Pearn retired in 2019 after spending five seasons (2015-19) as the crew chief for Truex's team. During their time together, the duo won 24 races and the Cup Series title in 2017. In recent years, Pearn became a consultant for Joe Gibbs Racing and Truex believes their chemistry is still strong.

"We don't talk very often, but when we do, it's just like old times," Truex, 44, said. "He can pretty much read me like a book. He knows exactly what I'm thinking. I don't know, it's just, he's a special guy. He's different than anyone I've ever known. He knows everything. He knows the answer to everything. And he tells you things, you're like, how'd you know that?"

Truex, who enters the playoffs as the No. 16 seed in the 16-driver field, hasn't laid out specifics regarding his potential part-time status next year, but he has narrowed down the number he'd like on his door.

"It's probably either going to be 78 or 56, 78 being our championship number (in 2017), which is a special one for me, obviously," said Truex, who drove the No. 56 for Michael Waltrip Racing from 2010 to 2013 and the No. 78 with Furniture Row Racing from 2014 to 2018. "And then my number was always 56, so we'll see."

A lame duck driver at Stewart-Haas Racing who will join Joe Gibbs Racing in Martin Truex Jr.'s No. 19 next season, Briscoe scored his second career Cup victory in his No. 14 Ford by beating Busch by 0.361 seconds to enter the postseason.

The win marked the second consecutive week a driver has won to make the playoffs after Harrison Burton did it at Daytona last Saturday night.

Christopher Bell finished third. Kyle Larson dominated the event and was fourth, followed by Ross Chastain.

In addition to the 14 eligible winners, the 16-car championship group includes 2017 Cup champion Truex and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs, each of whom pointed their way into the 10-race title hunt.

Chris Buescher and polesitter Bubba Wallace were the first two drivers on the outside looking in at the playoffs.

Just over two laps into the scheduled 367-lap event, Truex, who started 14th in points and only 58 points on the cut line's good side, made a mistake at the east end of the track, tagging William Byron's No. 24 and losing control of his No. 19 Toyota into Ryan Blaney's No. 12 Ford.

The day's first caution flew with the Joe Gibbs Racing driver retiring from the legendary race in 36th place, nearly wasting Truex' points advantage but not dashing his hopes of competing for a second championship.

After claiming his first pole of 2024, Wallace led the opening 35 laps of 115-lap Stage 1, but Larson's Hendrick Motorsports came to life and won the segment. Wallace accomplished his goal by finishing second and climbing into the playoff spot for the time being.

In an incident-free Stage 2, Larson did just as he did when he won at Las Vegas on March 3 -- claiming the first two segments of the race. That performance in the desert earned the No. 5 Chevrolet driver his first win of 2024, and he set himself up to duplicate the feat at historic Darlington.

With 24 to go, Wallace was involved in a multi-car wreck following a three-wide move in front of him that ended his chance for the postseason.

Wallace's lap of 167.143 mph in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota puts him out front to start the 500-miler at the historic 1.366-mile Darlington track. And it's a good beginning for a big night. Wallace currently is just one position below the playoff line -- trailing RFK Racing driver Chris Buescher by 21 points entering this last race to set the 16-driver playoff grid.

"Looking at us coming in, being on the bubble, 21 points out, a ton of pressure, well, I think the pressure just switched," said Wallace, 30, who has four top-10 finishes in his last four races at the track famously nicknamed "Too Tough to Tame."

"We're not here to mess around," he added. "I showed up with a more open and calm demeanor, free and relaxing demeanor, but at the same time, I don't want to be messed with.

"So it's a fine balance you have to walk."

Series rookie Carson Hocevar, 21, will start alongside Wallace on the front row -- his best career start in the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Stewart-Haas Racing's Chase Briscoe will start his No. 14 Ford third with Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson and Joe Gibbs Racing's Martin Truex Jr. rounding out the top five.

Wallace's 23XI Racing teammate, championship leader Tyler Reddick, will roll off sixth in the No. 45 Toyota. He holds a 17-point advantage over the defending race winner Larson for the regular-season championship that will be decided Sunday night. Larson's Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott is only 18 points behind Reddick and will start 20th.

Team Penske's Ryan Blaney - the reigning series champion -- Hendrick's William Byron, JGR's Christopher Bell and Roush Fenway Keselowski's Chris Buescher round out the top 10.

After a top-10 showing in practice, Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain will roll off 22nd on the grid. He's just behind Wallace in the standings, 27 points behind Buescher.

"The first round, I thought we did a good job, the team did a good job of making adjustments for the second round," said Buescher, driver of the No. 17 RFK Ford. "We were working hard to try to make three and four better because we left a lot on the table there, but then I ended up messing up turn one a little bit. It is still a good start for us."

Wallace said that he was a little angry at himself after a sixth-place effort in practice, saying he had wanted to "make a statement" and felt he ultimately did so in qualifying.

"Anything can happen," Wallace said of his playoff potential. "We saw that last week. So we have to run our own race and it makes it a lot easier for us. I have the first pit stall and as long as we execute and make the right calls and do great on pit road. All I want for every single person on this team, including myself, is to go to bed tomorrow night and know we did everything we could, we did all we could. Maybe it was good enough, maybe it wasn't. That's the lottery ticket we'll find out after tomorrow night's race."

One of Wallace's 23XI Racing team owners, four-time Darlington winner Denny Hamlin, said he understands the pressure Wallace is facing trying to race his way into the playoffs in the regular-season finale.

"It's tough because I think if you've got pressure in race 26, then I think that we've had 25 other opportunities where the pressure should have been the same," said Hamlin, who will start 14th on Sunday. "So just what I've been preaching is that every race counts.

"You have to bring it every single week. You cannot take one week off in this thing, especially if you aren't winning. You have to be a top-10 guy every single week. So that's really, really hard to sustain. I still think Bubba is still on the rise, he's still getting better, and he's taken strides over where he was just two years ago. So I'm really happy with the result either way, but I know he's going to give his 100 percent effort."

Race, that is.

The NASCAR Cup Series' 26-race regular season wraps up at Darlington Raceway with Sunday night's Cook Out Southern 500, the crowning jewel event's first appearance on the cutoff line before the 10-race title chase begins next Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Thirteen of the 14 winners have qualified for the postseason run that ends at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 10, with Austin Dillon's Richmond rowdiness rendering him ineligible by NASCAR for a title run.

Three others -- Martin Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs and Chris Buescher -- grid high enough in the standings to make the 16-driver championship field, but a first-time winner behind them Sunday would knock out one of them.

The 31-year-old Buescher ripped it up last season in his No. 17 RFK Racing Ford with three wins in five races, an incredibly torrid run in late July and all of August.

Ironically, Darlington's 400-miler this season, a wild May 12 affair with leader Buescher getting taken out by the No. 45 of pole winner Tyler Reddick with nine laps left, allowed RFK team owner Brad Keselowski to break a 110-race winless streak and hand Ford its first win in 13 starts.

At Kansas Speedway a week earlier, Buescher lost to winner Kyle Larson by 0.001 seconds in officially the closest finish in the sport's history.

That combination leaves Buescher in a dicey situation: If he doesn't have a winning car, he has to run well, maintain his 21-point lead and hope a first-time winner doesn't find Victory Lane -- someone like two-time Southern 500 winner Erik Jones or anyone else capable of victory who hasn't done so through 25 races.

Bubba Wallace is in that category.

Wallace trails the Prosper, Texas, native by those 21 points and has had a fast No. 23 Toyota this summer, posting top-10 finishes in four of the past five races.

The 23XI Racing driver said he doesn't feel any more stress than usual but would just like to win again.

"I think from a bigger picture, I'm stressed about being winless in damn near two seasons," Wallace said. "Let's say this was Daytona last year or (the) Bristol (elimination) race. I have no stress compared to those last year, and I think that's for the better."

Running strong in the race's final third section would be helpful, he added.

"Obviously, you get down to crunch time and say we have a great first, second stage, and things start to get tighter, you have to keep the emotions in check," said Wallace, Reddick's teammate at the stable owned by Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin. "And so I think I've learned that over the last couple years is the races aren't over until the checkered flag falls ... you've got to keep pushing."

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell called Darlington "the most unique track on the schedule, just from the way that you drive the track, how narrow it is, how the risk vs. reward is."

But for drivers like Buescher, Wallace and probably almost 10 others, there is little risk and only reward at a track that must be tamed for a title shot.

The regular-season finale also will take place at Daytona International Speedway on Aug. 23, with the playoffs set to start Aug. 31 at Darlington Raceway and conclude with the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race on Nov. 2 at Phoenix Raceway.

For the first time since 1997, NASCAR Cup Series teams will not visit the Southern California area. NASCAR races were contested at Fontana, Calif., from 1997-2023, while the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Coliseum was held as an exhibition race the past three years. The Fontana track is undergoing a major renovation.

In 2025, The Clash will be moved to historic Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston Salem, N.C., on Feb. 2, two weeks before the Daytona 500. The tight quarter-mile flat oval was home to NASCAR Cup Series races from 1958-71 and was the site of Richard Petty's 100th career win in 1969.

The Mexico City race will take place at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course, which is also home to the Mexico City Grand Prix F1 race. An Xfinity race will be held on June 14. The Xfinity Series raced at Mexico City from 2005-08.

Homestead-Miami Speedway will host its annual race on March 23, after previously playing host to a playoff race.

Amazon Prime Video will televise a five-race bracket-style competition from June 28 at Atlanta through the July 27 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Brickyard 400. The five-race series also includes stops at road courses in Chicago and Sonoma, Calif., as well as an event at Dover Motor Speedway.

On Sept. 21, New Hampshire Motor Speedway will host a playoff race for the first time since 2017.

NASCAR Cup Series 2025 schedule

Feb. 2: Clash at Bowman Gray

Feb. 16: Daytona 500

Feb. 23: Atlanta

March 2: Circuit of The Americas

March 9: Phoenix

March 16: Las Vegas

March 23: Homestead-Miami

March 39: Martinsville

April 6: Darlington

April 13: Bristol

April 27: Talladega

May 4: Texas

May 11: Kansas

May 18: North Wilkesboro (ASR)

May 25: Charlotte

June 1: Nashville

June 8: Michigan

June 15: Mexico City

June 22: Pocono

June 28: Atlanta

July 6: Chicago

July 13: Sonoma

July 20 Dover

July 27: Indianapolis

Aug. 3: Iowa

Aug. 10: Watkins Glen

Aug. 16: Richmond

Aug. 23: Daytona

Aug. 31: Darlington*

Sept. 7: Madison, Ill.*

Sept. 13: Bristol*

Sept. 21: New Hampshire*

Sept. 28: Kansas*

Oct. 5: Charlotte (road)*

Oct. 12: Las Vegas*

Oct. 19: Talladega*

Oct. 26: Martinsville*

Nov. 2: Phoenix*

*playoff races

"This is going to be certainly a monumental event for us, the first time we're going south of the border," said Ben Kennedy, NASCAR executive vice president, chief venue and racing innovation officer.

The race will be held on June 15 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course in Mexico City, which is also home to the Mexico City Grand Prix F1 race. An Xfinity race will be held on June 14.

"When we talk as a leadership team about where we feel like our biggest growth opportunities as a sport is, international is always one of the first things that comes up," said Kennedy, explaining that the Mexico event has been a long time in the making. We brought the Craftsman Truck Series to Canada for a number of years, we've had the Xfinity Series in Mexico.

"This is a monumental moment for our sport in the sense that this is our first step of really taking the Cup Series internationally, and I think it could set us up for the future in potential new markets."

The Cup Series race will be aired live on Prime Video, with the previous day's Xfinity race airing on The CW.

The race would come at the expense of Richmond Raceway losing one of its two races, The Athletic reported Monday.

The race would mark the first international event since NASCAR's top circuit raced in Toronto in 1958.

NASCAR announced its final ruling Monday, citing final appeals officer Bill Mullis' explanation that according to their evidence from SMT and IDAS systems, a violation of Rule 12.3.2.1.B "more likely than not" occurred at the end of the Aug. 11 race at Richmond Raceway.

Dillon fell afoul of the rule that states "race finishes must be unencumbered by violations of the NASCAR rules or other actions detrimental to stock car auto racing or NASCAR, as determined in the sole discretion of NASCAR."

Driving the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, Dillon took out both Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin in the final lap in order to win the Cup Series race. Dillon later said he "did what (he) had to do."

"That's not the way we want to decide a champion. That's not the way we want to decide an event," NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer said at the time.

NASCAR decided to let Dillon keep the win and the prize money from the race but was stripped of the playoff berth he had clinched. Dillon and Childress were docked 25 points in the drivers' and owners' standings.

Dillon's spotter, Brandon Benesch, was suspended for three races for telling Dillon to "wreck him," speaking of Hamlin. Benesch's suspension was reduced from three races to one upon appeal.

Technically, Dillon still has a path to the playoffs. He will earn a spot in the 16-man field if he wins this Sunday at Darlington Raceway. Dillon currently sits No. 29 in the points race.

The deal is expected to be announced Tuesday in Mexico City, per the report.

The race would be held at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course in Mexico City on June 15, 2025, with an Xfinity race held the day before, according to the report. The course is also home to the Mexico City Grand Prix F1 race.

The race would come at the expense of Richmond Raceway losing one of its two races, per The Athletic.

The race would mark the first international event since NASCAR's top circuit raced in Toronto in 1958.

NASCAR's oldest crown jewel race, the Southern 500 in Darlington, S.C., is set to be the backdrop for the Cup Series regular-season finale on Sunday.

The 1.33-mile, egg-shaped oval has long been the setting for some of NASCAR's greatest moments, and another could be in store Sunday evening.

Harrison Burton's unlikely triumph at Daytona flipped the playoff bubble upside down, kicking Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain out of the provisional field and putting Chris Buescher on the bubble.

Ahead of Buescher lies the Joe Gibbs Racing duo of Martin Truex Jr. (+58) and Ty Gibbs (+39). Mitigation will be the name of the game for both drivers, as only a catastrophic turn of events could see them fall out of the postseason.

Buescher's road back to the playoffs will be a little tougher, however. A 21-point advantage over Wallace for the 16th bid is a decent margin but by no means safe at a track notorious for attrition. In May, Buescher battled with Brad Keselowski and Tyler Reddick for the race win at Darlington before a cut tire relegated him to the back of the finishing order.

Wallace (-21) and Chastain (-27) are the victims of Burton's ground-shaking Daytona win. Despite finishes of sixth and 12th, respectively, they now face an uphill battle rivaling that of Sisyphus.

Out of the drivers currently on the outside looking in, Wallace may have the best chance to force his way in. The No. 23 team, which has clicked off five top-10 finishes over the last seven races, looks to be hitting its stride at the right time.

On the opposite side is Chastain, who admirably fought back from crash damage at Daytona to bring home a battered Camaro in 12th place. Unlike Wallace, however, the No. 1 team has been in a freefall. A rash of overtimes in 2024 certainly hasn't been kind to the Alva, Fla., native, but a lack of speed at Trackhouse Racing has been the deciding factor in a lackluster season.

Below Chastain are a host of drivers who must find a way to win if they want to partake in the playoffs.

The favorite among those drivers may be the venerable Kyle Busch (19th), who has found speed over the last two races despite having the worst season of his career. A fourth-place effort at Michigan and a heartbreaking runner-up finish at Daytona prove that the No. 8 team hasn't given up on the season. Busch has finally captured back-to-back top 5s for the first time in 2024, and if he can manage to charm the "Lady in Black," he'd win a Cup Series race for the 20th season in a row.

The season has been one of the wackiest in recent memory. From surprise winners in Burton and Daniel Suarez, to fuel mileage victories for Joey Logano and Austin Cindric, to broken winless streaks for Keselowski, Alex Bowman and Chase Elliott, there's been no shortage of storylines.

On Sunday, the grind of 25 weeks will culminate in one more in 2024 -- the playoff field.

After side-by-side leaders Austin Cindric and Josh Berry wrecked with two laps to go -- with Berry's No. 4 Ford going airborne on the backstretch -- for the seventh caution, Burton scored the legendary Wood Brothers their 100th career win by passing Busch on the backstretch, blocking his No. 8 off Turn 4 and edging him by 0.047 seconds.

It was Burton's first win in 98 starts. It was announced recently that the 23-year-old, the son of former driver Jeff Burton, will not return to the iconic No. 21 in 2025.

Christopher Bell, Cody Ware and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top five in the 66th running of the summer race.

After posting the organization's first time sweeping the top two qualifying spots, Front Row Motorsports' Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland led the field to the green for the 160-lap race.

In addition to the Front Row drivers, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, Berry, William Byron and Cindric took turns in front before Berry led late in the 35-lap Stage 1.

Chris Buescher, last year's 400 winner, made a strong push and shoved Berry out front on the final lap, and Berry hung on around the 2.5-mile superspeedway for his first segment win.

After pit service, Daniel Suarez's No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet was engulfed in flames. That sent the Mexican driver back to the pits where he climbed out to safety while the team inspected melted pieces of his Camaro.

At least 18 cars were involved in the first of two Stage 2 wrecks on Lap 60 when Corey LaJoie, Noah Gragson and Ross Chastain triggered the race's biggest crash on the famous Superstretch.

Two incidents occurred simultaneously when Erik Jones' No. 43 lost a tire at the same time Shane van Gisbergen's No. 16 engine expired, with the explosive motor sending smoke billowing above the flat backstretch.

Shortly after as the Fords flexed their muscle, Logano beat Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney to claim the second segment with Keselowski in third.

With 21 laps left and pit stops about to start, John Hunter Nemechek's No. 42 spun after contact with Justin Haley in the No. 51 Ford. McDowell's No. 34 was sent airborne in Turn 1 after a push from Cindric in the night's biggest wreck, a 14-car melee, with nine laps to go.