NASCAR Truck Series: 10 drivers effectively battling for 8 playoff spots

By Asher Fair | Apr 3, 2019

FORT WORTH, TX - MARCH 29: Johnny Sauter, driver of the #13 Tenda Heal Ford, leads the field during a restart for the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Vankor 350 at Texas Motor Speedway on March 29, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /

The battle to qualify for the NASCAR Truck Series playoffs has effectively turned into 10 drivers battling for eight positions.

Through the first five races of the 23-race 2019 NASCAR Truck Series season, Hattori Racing Enterprises’ Austin Hill is the only full-time Truck Series driver who has won a race to effectively lock himself into the playoffs.

The 24-year-old Winston, Georgia native earned his first career Truck Series victory in the season opener, the NextEra Energy 250, at Daytona International Speedway, which was his first race driving the #16 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota since being named the replacement for 2018 champion Brett Moffitt over the offseason.

While a win is not guaranteed to lock Hill into the playoffs since there are 16 races on the regular season schedule and only eight playoff berths available, the fact that full-time Cup Series driver Kyle Busch has won each of the four Truck Series races that have been contested since the season opener bodes well for Hill’s chances to qualify for the playoffs considering the fact that it is highly unlikely that more than seven drivers will win at least one of the remaining 11 regular season races on the schedule and do enough to push him out of the playoff picture as far as points are concerned.

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Following the first five regular season races of 2019, it appears likely that barring an upset victory, the eight drivers who end up qualifying for this year’s playoffs will come from a pool of 10 drivers, as 10 drivers have separated themselves from the rest of the field in the championship standings.

Halmar Friesen Racing’s Stewart Friesen currently leads the championship standings while GMS Racing rookie Sheldon Creed sits in 10th place. Creed trails Friesen by 67 points (200 to 133) for the lead of the standings, and eight drivers sit between these two drivers from second through ninth. Meanwhile, the driver who sits in 11th, Young’s Motorsports rookie Tyler Dippel, trails Creed by 36 points for 10th with just 97 points.

Young’s Motorsports rookie Spencer Boyd and On Point Motorsports rookie Brennan Poole sit in 12th and 13th place in the championship standings with 95 points and 94 points, respectively. The driver who sits in 14th in the standings, Niece Motorsports’ Timothy Peters, has only competed in three of the five races that have been contested so far this season, yet he still sits in 14th.

Kyle Busch Motorsports teammates Todd Gilliland and Harrison Burton are the drivers who are currently right above and below the playoff cut line, respectively. Gilliland sits in eighth place in the championship standings, one point above the cut line, with 149 points while Burton sits in ninth with 148 points, one point below it.

Creed trails these two teammates by 16 points and 15 points, respectively. Dippel, meanwhile, trails them by 52 points and 51 points, respectively.

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Which eight drivers will end up qualifying for the 2019 NASCAR Truck Series playoffs? There are still 11 races remaining in the regular season, but the general complexion of the battle to get into the playoffs has already become pretty clear.

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