The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs are officially underway with Joey Logano becoming the first driver to advance to the second round by winning Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Many playoff contenders found trouble and finished poorly at Atlanta. With the Watkins Glen International road course on tap Sunday and the chaotic Bristol Motor Speedway short track after that to close out the first round, big names find themselves under more pressure than they’d like.
1. Tyler Reddick (Last week: 1)
The regular-season champion held on to the top spot despite a relatively quiet day for him in Atlanta. Reddick finished sixth as he aims to keep his momentum going in the playoffs. He should be a threat at Watkins Glen because of his road-course prowess.
2. Ryan Blaney (Last week: 4)
Blaney didn’t win in Atlanta, but he ran arguably the most impressive race. Despite being involved in a late accident, he battled back to finish third and scored the most points. That also gives him the lead in the playoff standings and a sizable cushion of 45 points above the cutline to make the next round. It’s safe to say the defending champ will be a tough out once again.
3. Christopher Bell (Last week: 5)
Bell has quietly gone 3-3-4 in his finishes in the past three races. He had a run in Atlanta that mirrored his Daytona performance two weeks ago, finishing in the top five despite not being visible most of the race. Bell battled from behind after starting at the rear of the field, but he ran a methodical race and was in contention at the end, and that’s what mattered. He sits second in the playoff standings and should be in solid position to enter Bristol feeling safe about advancing to the next round.
4. Kyle Larson (Last week: 2)
Larson’s day ended prematurely Sunday after a hard crash near the end of the first stage while running inside the top five. He seemed to have the speed to compete, but while indisputably the most talented driver in NASCAR, Larson has a tendency to crash out of races. That’s his lone weakness. Thankfully for him, the playoff points he has amassed mean he’s still 15 markers to the good with two strong tracks for him to close out this round.
5. Chase Elliott (Last week: 6)
As has been the story of his season, Elliott ran a quiet race near the back of the top 10 and finished there, too (eighth). That puts him 24 points to the good in regards to advancing to the next round, and even better news for him is that he’ll be one of the favorites in Watkins Glen on Sunday. Elliott hasn’t won on a road course since 2021, but this could be the week that changes.
6. William Byron (Last week: 7)
Like Elliott, Byron ran inside the top 10 all race but never seemed to be a favorite for the win. He finished ninth, earning himself a solid points day and coming out 33 markers safe in the race to advance. Byron won at Watkins Glen last season, and another showing like that this year could help him re-establish himself as a title threat.
7. Joey Logano (Last week: 10)
Could the Logano even-year magic be happening yet again? He came into the playoffs as a relative afterthought and immediately reminded the field of his presence by winning. That moves him through to at least the second round, where he’ll likely be a threat at Talladega. If he can make it through there, the third round includes another of his best tracks (Martinsville). Watch out for that No. 22 team.
8. Denny Hamlin (Last week: 3)
Yikes. Just yikes. That was, no exaggeration, one of the worst race weekends of Hamlin’s career. It started by posting the slowest lap of any driver in qualifying and never got much better. He rode in the back of the pack all race before crashing on the last lap and finishing 24th. He’s only two points above the cut line, and given his weakness on road courses, there’s a chance he’ll be entering Bristol in two weeks with a threat of elimination.
9. Kyle Busch (Last week: 8)
After back-to-back second-place finishes, Busch cooled off ever so slightly with a seventh in Atlanta. He extended his top-10 streak to four, and though he still sits 20th in points, he’s creeping closer every week to the battle for “best of the rest” honors. Watkins Glen will be his next chance to finally earn a win in 2024 — he’s done that there twice already.
10. Ty Gibbs (Last week: 12)
Speaking of drivers looking for their first win of the season (in this case his first ever)… it seemed for a while that this might finally be the week for Gibbs. He led 37 laps and was up front late in the going before a debris caution set up a series of restarts, with the second-year driver falling all the way to 17th. That leaves him only one point ahead of Brad Keselowski for the final transfer spot to the next round. But on the bright side, he should be strong at both Watkins Glen and Bristol, where he earned a pair of top-fives in 2023.
11. Ross Chastain (Last week: 13)
Chastain missed the playoffs and brought a new clean-shaven look to the track. It seemed that whatever voodoo magic he was trying to work paid off. He finished 13th but was near the front all race, He and teammate Daniel Suarez showed the best speed Trackhouse Racing has shown all season. He played spoiler for the title contenders in the championship race a year ago, and perhaps Chastain can similarly end his 2024 season on a hot streak despite being out of the picture.
12. Bubba Wallace (Last week: 9)
Despite being one of the better superspeedway racers in the field, Wallace didn’t make much noise in Atlanta aside from a brief stint in which he got near the front on pit strategy. He finished 29th after being involved in the last-lap accident, scoring his worst finish since Loudon nine races ago. He also dropped to 19th in points, 19 behind Chastain and 14 behind Chris Buescher to be the leader of the non-playoff pack.
13. Brad Keselowski (Last week: 11)
Keselowski is another superspeedway ace who didn’t have the run he was hoping for Sunday, finishing a mediocre 19th. Because of that, he’s a point behind Ty Gibbs in the race to advance to the next round. Making matters worse is that he’s likely to struggle at Watkins Glen because road courses aren’t his thing. He may need a big night in Bristol to advance in the playoffs.
14. Alex Bowman (Last week: not ranked)
Bowman is the first of three playoff drivers who enter the rankings this week after having strong performances to help their case of advancing to the next round. With rumors circulating that he could potentially be out at Hendrick Motorsports next season, Bowman seemed to use the noise as fuel as he had one of his strongest runs of the year, finishing fifth. That gives him a 27-point cushion over Keselowski.
15. Daniel Suarez (Last week: NR)
The winner from the first Atlanta race this year couldn’t sweep the season, but he came one spot away from it with another great run on a track where he’s scored five top-10s in six races since the reconfiguration. He’s 22 points ahead of Keselowski in the playoff standings, and given Suarez’s road-course ability, he should be in good position to surprise a lot of folks by advancing out of the first round.
16. Austin Cindric (Last week: NR)
Rounding out this week’s list is Cindric, who led the most laps in Atlanta with 92. He had the dominant car in the second stage but had trouble on pit road, and was only able to make it back to 10th while his teammates finished first and third. Still, the solid points day puts Cindric in a tie with Bowman for sixth in the playoff standings, so if he can avoid trouble the next two weeks, he could find himself surviving for at least three more races in the championship hunt.
Dropped out: Chase Briscoe, Martin Truex Jr., Chris Buescher
