Coming from an off weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series teams are refreshed and focused on the different tasks each has in front of them with just 10 races left in the regular season. For the drivers and teams locked into the Playoffs already, these next 10 races are a great time to prepare for the postseason, pad Playoff points and set themselves up for the best possible position to finish the regular season. For the drivers and teams not locked into the Playoffs, these next 10 races are the final 10 chances they have to earn a spot in the coveted postseason. With 10 drivers in 2023 with wins, only six spot are still up for grabs in the 16-driver Playoff field as the series heads to Nashville Superspeedway this weekend for the Ally 400 (June 25 at 7 p.m. ET on NBC, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
The six drivers currently in Playoff transfer spot on points are Ross Chastain (+173 points up on postseason cutoff), Kevin Harvick (+172), Chris Buescher (+102), Brad Keselowski (+96), Bubba Wallace (+26) and Alex Bowman (+3).
Hendrick Motorsport’s Alex Bowman is currently in the most precarious position of the six drivers inside the Playoff cutoff heading into Nashville this weekend, because he is in the 16th and final transfer position on points. If a driver below him in the standings wins over the next 10 races, he could find himself bounced out of the Playoffs. Bowman currently has just a three-point advantage on Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez who is in 17th - the first spot outside the Playoffs’ cutoff. Suarez is one of five drivers currently below the Playoffs cutline that made the Playoffs last season, he is joined by Austin Cindric (-39 points from the cutoff), Chase Elliott (-84), Austin Dillon (-108) and Chase Briscoe (-148).
For many drivers, this part of the season can be a turning point in the direction their year will take. Kevin Harvick and Rodney Childers were one of those teams last season.
“The beginning of the year was rough – just a lot of concepts and things that didn’t really pay off or work out,” said Harvick of the 2022 season. “But when we went to Nashville, we had a practice session, we tried some things, and we ran really well in the race. That’s really when our season took a turn in the right direction, and we had a lot more confidence in the things that we were doing. So, as we went week-to-week, we kept getting a little bit better because our concepts and things were really in the direction that we needed to be headed.”
Of the drivers looking for their first NASCAR Cup Series win of the season, five have won previously at Nashville Superspeedway – Chase Elliott won last season’s Nashville Superspeedway Cup race, the four other drivers won in either the NASCAR Xfinity Series or the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series – Ryan Preece (2021, 2022 NCTS), Kevin Harvick (2006, 2010 NXS), Austin Dillon (2011 NCTS) and Brad Keselowski (2008, 2010 NXS).
Cup Playoff Outlook: Drivers Without Wins
Rank | Drivers | Points | Starts | Wins | Stages | Playoff Pts | Points From Cutoff |
11 | Ross Chastain | 501 | 16 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 173 |
12 | Kevin Harvick | 500 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 172 |
13 | Chris Buescher | 430 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 102 |
14 | Brad Keselowski | 424 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 96 |
15 | Bubba Wallace | 354 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 |
16 | Alex Bowman | 331 | *13 | 0 | 0 | -5 | 3 |
17 | Daniel Suarez* | 328 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 |
18 | Ty Gibbs # | 320 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -11 |
19 | Michael McDowell | 317 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -14 |
20 | AJ Allmendinger | 298 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -33 |
21 | Austin Cindric* | 292 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -39 |
22 | Corey LaJoie | 291 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -40 |
23 | Justin Haley | 284 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -47 |
24 | Todd Gilliland | 279 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -52 |
25 | Ryan Preece | 269 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -62 |
26 | Aric Almirola | 260 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -71 |
27 | Chase Elliott* | 247 | *9 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -84 |
28 | Austin Dillon* | 223 | 16 | 0 | 0 | -5 | -108 |
29 | Harrison Burton | 219 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -112 |
30 | Erik Jones | 190 | 16 | 0 | 0 | -5 | -141 |
31 | Chase Briscoe* | 183 | 16 | 0 | 0 | -25 | -148 |
32 | Ty Dillon | 146 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -185 |
33 | Noah Gragson | 143 | *15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -188 |
Note: Must compete in every race of the season to be eligible for the Playoffs or be granted a waiver by NASCAR (*). | |||||||
Just outside the Playoffs cutoff (-3 points) is Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez, who made the postseason last year on his Sonoma win, still know there is time to earn a spot in Playoffs over these next 10 weeks.
“There are a lot of things still to happen,” said Suarez. “We have a lot of wildcard races coming up like the Chicago Street Circuit, road courses, things like that. I think we will be OK. We are getting better and better. Points wise we are about the same as we were last year, but speed wise we are probably a bit better. Our challenge has been execution this year. We have been fast at 90-percent of the tracks."
In two starts at Nashville, Suarez has finished seventh (2021) and 15th (2022).
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