NASCAR Cup Series: Ryan Blaney clinches 2018 playoff berth

While he is still winless in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney has locked up a spot in the playoffs.

With his seventh place finish in the 24th race of the 36-race NASCAR Cup Series season, the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney clinched a berth in the playoffs based on his point total.

Blaney, who drives the #12 Ford, currently sits in seventh place in the championship standings and 10th in the playoff picture.

With just two races remaining on the regular season schedule, this means that a maximum of two drivers who are currently outside of the playoff picture can possibly win their way into the playoffs.

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This means that the playoff cut line, which currently sits below Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman, who sits in 15th place in the championship standings, and above Roush Fenway Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse Jr., who sits in 16th, could possibly move up two positions so that it would sit below Stewart-Haas Racing’s Aric Almirola, who sits in 13th, and above Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson, who sits in 14th.

Without winning a race, drivers can score a maximum of 55 points in a race (10 points for winning stage one, 10 points for winning stage two and 35 points for finishing the race in second place), meaning they can make up a maximum of 54 points on other drivers in a race since even last place finishers receive one point. Because Blaney sits 240 points above the current playoff cut line and Johnson sits 111 points above the current playoff cut line, Blaney leads Johnson by 129 points.

Because Johnson can only make up a maximum of 108 points over Blaney without winning either of the final two races of the regular season (110 points if Blaney doesn’t race), Blaney has clinched a playoff berth, as no matter who wins these two races, he cannot fall below the playoff cut line no matter how high it rises.

Because of the fact that Johnson is currently in the playoff picture, him winning either one or both of the final two races of the regular season would not cause the playoff cut line to move.

Team Penske’s Joey Logano clinched a playoff berth with his win in the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in late April and Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski has also clinched a playoff berth based on his point total, meaning that all three Team Penske drivers have secured spots in this season’s playoffs.

A total of 12 drivers have clinched playoff berths so far this season, meaning four playoff positions are still up for grabs with two races left on the regular season schedule. Nine of those 12 drivers have clinched their playoffs berths by winning at least one race in 2018, while the other three, including Blaney, Keselowski and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson, have done so based on their point totals.

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The South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada is scheduled to kick off the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs on Sunday, September 16, but there are still two regular season races at Darlington Raceway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway to be held before then.

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