NASCAR Cup Series: 4 drivers nobody wants to go up against at Homestead
By Asher Fair
The 16-driver field is set for the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Who are four drivers nobody wants to have to go up against when the Championship 4 rolls around?
The 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs are scheduled to get underway this weekend, and 16 drivers are locked into the opening round, the round of 16, following the 26-race regular season.
Of the 16 drivers who qualified for the four-round, 10-race playoffs, 10 did so by winning at least one of the regular season’s 26 races, while the other six did so based on the strength of their point totals.
At the end of the day, the drivers who finished the regular season in the top 16 in the championship standings all advanced to the playoffs for the first time since the modern-day playoff format was introduced ahead of the 2014 season.
The usual suspects are the favorites to hoist the trophy in mid-November at Homestead-Miami Speedway, including several former champions.
Former champions Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano are six of the 16 drivers who are set to compete in these four-round, 10-race playoffs for the right to become NASCAR’s first two-time champion since Jimmie Johnson won his second title in 2007.
Of these six former champions, only Keselowski has never won at Homestead-Miami Speedway before. If any of them manage to advance to the Championship 4, they will be factors and most definitely hard to deal with for their three championship rivals.
But who are four somewhat under-the-radar drivers who nobody wants to have to go up against at Homestead-Miami Speedway to become the 2019 Cup Series champion?