The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series has this weekend off and then there will be two races left in the NASCAR regular season before The Chase begins.
The teams and drivers will enjoy their time off this weekend and return to racing for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway Sunday, September 2nd. The following week they will compete at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard (better known simply as the Brickyard 400) Sunday, September 9th. When both of those races have been completed the 16 drivers that have the chance to race for the championship in the final 10 races will be revealed.
There are nine drivers that have locked themselves on the Chase Grid by winning at least one race already during the regular season in 2018. Those drivers are: Kevin Harvick (7 wins), Kyle Busch (6 wins), defending NASCAR Cup Series Champion Martin Treux Jr. (4 wins), Clint Bowyer (2 wins), Joey Logano (1 win), Chase Elliott (1 win), Kurt Busch (1 win), Erik Jones (1 win) and Austin Dillon (1 win).
Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson have not won a race in 2018. However, they have clinched their spots in the NASCAR post-season by accumulating enough points that they cannot be pushed out in the final two races. Their position in the top 16 is also high enough that if there are new winners for the 2018 season in the final two regular season races they will not be pushed out of the top 16.
Denny Hamlin and Aric Almirola cannot be pushed off the Chase Grid by two new winners. However, their point tally is not currently high enough to make them safe from being pushed below the cutoff line over the two remaining regular season races. They remain on the bubble for at least one more race.
Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman are the two drivers in the most dangerous spots currently on the Chase Grid. Neither driver have enough points to clinch their spot in the NASCAR Playoffs at this time. Additionally, if they don’t earn enough points and there are two new winners for the season in the next two races they will be pushed below the cutoff line and miss The Chase.
Below the cutoff line there are some drivers that could “point their way in” to the playoffs if they have a good race and some of the drivers on the bubble above the cutoff line have a bad race. However, with just two races remaining their best hope for making the playoffs will be to win one of the races.
The remaining drivers in the top 30 have only one possibility of getting their names added to the Chase Grid … “Win To Get In.”
The drivers that are locked in or have clinched their spots will be doing everything they can to win extra Playoff Points to improve their position in the NASCAR’s post-season when it begins. The drivers that are on the bubble will be giving it all they can to lock themselves on the Chase Grid. The drivers that are below the cutoff line will be going all out just to get included in the Cup Series Playoffs.
This should all add up to a couple of really exciting races for fans to watch in the final two regular season races in the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.
By: Buck Stevens
