 |
| Erik Jones won the 2018 summer race at Daytona. |
This weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway is the last opportunity for the drivers outside the Playoff cutoff to earn their spot in the postseason. A total of 13 drivers have already clinched their Playoff spot, leaving just three spots left for drivers to battle it out in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Already clinched
The following 13 drivers have clinched a spot in the 16-driver postseason field: Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon and Cole Custer.
Can clinch via points
If there is a new winner, the following drivers could clinch by being ahead of the 6th winless driver in the standings.
- Clint Bowyer: Would clinch with 3 points (so he could clinch as early as the end of Stage 1)
- Matt DiBenedetto: Would clinch with 51 points
- William Byron: Could only clinch with help
- Jimmie Johnson: Could only clinch with help
If there is a repeat winner, the following drivers could clinch by being ahead of the 7th winless driver in the standings. They would also clinch if there was a new winner among (Aric Almirola, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer, Matt DiBenedetto or William Byron) and being ahead of the 6th winless driver in the standings.
- Clint Bowyer: Would clinch regardless of finish
- Matt DiBenedetto: Would clinch with 47 points
- William Byron: Would clinch with 52 points
- Jimmie Johnson: Could only clinch with help
- Erik Jones: Could only clinch with help
Can clinch via win
The following drivers would clinch on their win alone:
- Clint Bowyer (Daytona average finish: 16.4)
- Matt DiBenedetto (21.0)
- William Byron (23.6)
- Jimmie Johnson (18.3)
- Erik Jones (18.4)
- Tyler Reddick (27.5)
- Christopher Bell (21.0)
- Chris Buescher (21.2)
- Darrell Wallace Jr. (16.5)
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (18.8)
- Michael McDowell (20.7)
- Ryan Newman (18.1)
- John Hunter Nemechek (11.0)
- Ty Dillon (20.4)
- Matt Kenseth (19.0)
- Corey Lajoie (19.7)
- Ryan Preece (23.0)
The following driver could clinch with a win and some help clinching a Top 30 position:
- Daniel Suarez (Daytona average finish: 31.8)
Wood Brothers Racing’s driver Matt DiBenedetto is just nine points up on the Playoff cutoff heading into this weekend’s regular season finale.
“I am going to sit and hope and pray all week that we can just come out of there clean and make the Playoffs,” said DiBenedetto.
Last season in the summer race at Daytona, DiBenedetto put on a strong performance finishing eighth – his third top-10 finish at the famed 2.5-mile superspeedway.
Just below DiBenedetto in the standings are Hendrick Motorsport’s teammates William Byron in the 16th and final Playoff transfer position and seven-time series champion Jimmie Johnson in 17th, the first spot outside the postseason cutoff. The two are separated by just four points.
“Yeah, it's going to be a really interesting race in Daytona,” said Jimmie Johnson. “We did the best that we could here over these two days, had two respectable results, closed the gap, but now it's kind of in luck's hands or in fate's hands down in Daytona.”
William Byron has made five series starts at Daytona International Speedway posting one top-five finish – a runner-up in the July race last season. Byron has also won at Daytona in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (July 2017). Johnson brings much more experience to this weekend’s event. The veteran has made 37 series starts at Daytona posting three wins (Feb. 2006 and 2013 sweep), 12 top fives and 16 top 10s.
No comments:
Post a Comment