NASCAR: Austin Dillon not locked into the playoffs after Richmond win

As a seasoned gamer who’s had his fair share of rollercoaster rides with NASCAR (and a few crashes too), I must say that the playoff chase this year has been as unpredictable as a high-speed race on a wet track! Austin Dillon, our boy from the No. 3 Chevrolet, got his win at Richmond, but it seems some fans are still holding their breath, hoping for a change in the standings.

It seems unlikely that NASCAR will revoke Austin Dillon’s win at Richmond Raceway from Sunday night or his 2024 playoff spot, as fans had hoped, due to the manner in which he secured the victory.

However, it’s important to note that despite what you might think, there remains a single plausible situation where Dillon might not be part of the 16-driver playoff field once the four-round, 10-race postseason begins at Atlanta Motor Speedway in a few weeks.

As a die-hard NASCAR fan, I’m excited about the playoff spots! The regular season champion clinches one of the 16 spots, while the remaining 15 go to the drivers with the most wins. So far, we’ve seen 13 victors in the first 23 races, which means we can’t have more than 16 by the end of the 26-race regular season after the upcoming events at Michigan International Speedway, Daytona International Speedway, and Darlington Raceway. The competition is heating up, and I can’t wait to see who makes it!

If no team wins during the regular season and there are 16 distinct winning teams, the team with the lowest points at the end of the regular season wouldn’t make it to the playoffs.

Dillon is currently the lowest ranking winner in the point standings, and by a wide margin.

In the No. 3 Chevrolet, its driver is currently in a challenging position, sitting 26th on the grid, and they trail Team Penske’s Austin Cindric by 107 points. Despite his victory at World Wide Technology Raceway Gateway in June, Cindric now ranks 20th.

The seven drivers at the top of the point standings have all won races this season. This makes it unlikely that a driver who hasn’t won yet will be the champion at the end of the regular season, but it’s not impossible as there are still 180 points up for grabs. Martin Truex Jr., from Joe Gibbs Racing, is currently in eighth place among non-winners and trails the leader, Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports, by 117 points.

In any competition, a racer could surpass another by as many as 54 points without claiming victory. A driver finishing second can amass up to 55 points (35 from the second-place position and 10 from victories in both stage one and two), whereas those who don’t make it into the top 35 earn only a single point.

So without winning, Truex can still technically make up 162 points on Larson.

It seems highly unlikely, given that he needs to surpass the other six drivers ahead of him in points to clinch the regular season title.

In this race, Tyler Reddick from 23XI Racing is ahead of Martin Truex Jr. by approximately 112 points. Chase Elliott and William Byron, both from Hendrick Motorsports, are slightly ahead of Truex by 111 and 16 points respectively. The Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell trail behind Truex by around 96 and 39 points, respectively, while Ryan Blaney from Team Penske is about 40 points behind Truex.

Overcoming all those shortcomings, and achieving this without securing a win, across three consecutive races, is an extremely challenging feat.

Although Austin Dillon could make it, stating he’s already mathematically secured for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs isn’t entirely correct.

The next-to-second-last race in the 26-race season schedule is the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway, airing live on USA Network starting at 2:30 p.m. ET this coming Sunday, August 18. Chris Buescher, who races for RFK Racing and hasn’t claimed a victory yet this year, is currently below the playoff cut line but was last year’s winner.

2024-08-13 15:02