NASCAR Truck Series: 2018 playoff field set

The 2018 NASCAR Truck Series regular season is officially in the books. Here is the field for the seven-race playoffs, which are scheduled to begin next Sunday.

GMS Racing’s Johnny Sauter closed out the 2018 NASCAR Truck Series regular season with a victory in the season finale, the UNOH 200, at the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee in his #21 Chevrolet. With that, the only races remaining until the 2018 Truck Series champion is crowned are the playoff races.

The 2018 Truck Series playoffs consist of three rounds with a total seven races, and they are scheduled to begin next Sunday, August 26 with the Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada now that the 16-race regular season is in the books.

Heading into the 64-lap race around the 2.459-mile (3.957-kilometer) Canadian Tire MotorsportsPark road course, Sauter, the regular season champion, has the lead in the standings following a five-win regular season.

All eight drivers who qualified for this season’s playoffs have had their point totals reset to 2,000, and their respective playoff point totals that they have earned throughout the regular season have been added to their point totals.

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Five of the eight drivers who qualified for this season’s playoffs did so by winning at least one race throughout the season, while the other three qualified for the playoffs based on their regular season point totals.

Race victories are worth five playoff points and stage victories are worth one playoff point. The eight playoff drivers were awarded 15, 10, eight, seven, six, five, four and three additional playoff points for finishing in first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth place, respectively, in the regular season standings.

Here is how the eight drivers in the playoffs stack up against one another as far as the standings go heading into the Chevrolet Silverado 250 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park next Sunday.

The first round of the playoffs, the round of 8, consists of three races. Once that round ends, two of these eight drivers will be eliminated and just six will remain in the playoffs to compete in the round of 6.

At this time, the six drivers who qualified for the round of six will have their point totals reset to 3,000, and their playoff point totals, which they can add to over the course of the round of 8, will be added to those point totals.

Here is how the round of 6 cut line currently looks before the start of the round of 8.

The second round of the playoffs, the round of 6, also consists of three races. Once that round ends, two of the remaining six drivers will be eliminated and just four will remain in the playoffs to compete in the Championship 4, which consists only of the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida.

At this time, the four drivers who qualified for the Championship 4 will have their point totals reset to 4,000, but their playoff point totals will not be added to those point totals. The highest finisher of those four drivers in the season finale will be crowned the 2018 NASCAR Truck Series champion.

Here is how the Championship 4 cut line currently looks before the start of the round of 8.

Be sure not to miss the 2018 NASCAR Truck Series playoff opener next Sunday, August 26. The Chevrolet Silverado 250 is scheduled to be broadcast live from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Fox Sports 1 starting at 2:30 p.m. ET.