On the Outside Looking in: After Richmond, Six drivers still hopeful to make NASCAR Playoffs
Following Sunday's Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway, only two races remain in the NASCAR Cup Series’ regular season, and only one remaining playoff berth remains unfilled.
Fifteen drivers have already won at least one race this season. The remaining drivers will have only Watkins Glen (Sunday, August 21) and Daytona (Saturday, August 27) to race their way into the 16th and final playoff berth and have a chance to compete for the championship come Phoenix in November.
Here’s a look at five drivers looking to race their way into the final playoff berth:
Ryan Blaney: The third-generation driver currently holds on to the final playoff berth. But Blaney will need to ensure either he wins a race or none of the other winless drivers ends up in victory lane or he could find himself on the outside looking in. This almost comes as a surprise considering the fact that both of his Team Penske teammates are locked into the playoffs and Blaney has won at least once in every Cup season since 2017. He did win the All-Star race at Texas earlier this year, but that race is a non-points invitational that does not award a playoff berth for winning. Now that he failed to do so at Richmond, Blaney’s best remaining chance to make the playoffs may come at Daytona - where he is the defending summer race winner. Blaney is the highest-ranked driver without a win this season and will still make the playoffs if no other there is another first-time winner in 2022 at Watkins Glen or Daytona.
Martin Truex, Jr: Truex is another driver that surprisingly isn’t locked into the playoffs this year. While Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin have been victorious in 2022, Truex’s best finish so far this season is fourth at the spring race at Richmond. While Truex has never won at a superspeedway before in the Cup Series, he has found success on the road courses. His lone victory at Watkins Glen came in 2017 - the same year he won his lone Cup Series championship.
Aric Almirola: What a storybook ending it would be for Aric Almirola if he could make the playoffs in his final full-time season this year. Almirola only has three wins at the Cup level, but he’s made the playoffs in each of the last four seasons. He’s also putting together what statistically is one of the best seasons of his career. Almirola has seven top 10 finishes this year and has completed the eighth most laps of all full-time competitors this year. Almirola’s best finish at the Glen is 12th place in 2019, so he’ll likely be a non-factor there. But for what it’s worth, two of his three wins came at superspeedways (2014 Daytona 2 and 2018 Talladega 2).
Erik Jones: Wouldn’t it be great to see the famed No. 43 in the playoffs? Realistically, it likely won’t happen. But Jones has still put together a respectable season this year. He has eight top 10 finishes with a best finish of third in the second race of the season at Fontana. Jones has made the Cup Series playoffs twice in his career. He secured a spot in the 2018 playoffs by winning the summer race at Daytona.
Bubba Wallace: After scoring 23XI Racing’s first victory at Talladega last fall, Wallace has yet to reach victory lane since. His sophomore season with the team has been fairly disappointing - something which Wallace himself has admitted. But perhaps there is some silver lining to the dark cloud that has plagued his season so far. Wallace scored back-to-back top-five finishes at the Indianapolis road course and Michigan (where he also won his first pole) a few weeks ago. While he is not known for his road course expertise, Wallace has found success at Daytona. He has three second-place finishes there. If he can manage to finish one position higher in the regular season finale, the struggles of the No. 23 team early on this year will immediately become irreverent.
Brad Keselowski: Keselowski has become the Rodney Dangerfield of team owner-drivers. He just isn't getting any respect in his first season as an owner-driver. But all he needs to do is just win one race and things would change dramatically, including putting him and his team in the playoffs. So don't discount Bad Brad from Michigan. He does real well at both Watkins Glen and especially Daytona, and could be the surprise of the playoffs.