NASCAR Truck Series: Round-by-round playoff predictions
By Mark Kristl
The 2020 NASCAR Truck Series playoffs are set to begin. Who will advance and win the championship in this three-round, seven-race format?
After 16 races, the 2020 NASCAR Truck Series regular season is complete. Ten drives are set to compete throughout the three-round, seven-race playoffs to win the championship.
Those 10 playoff drivers are Sheldon Creed, Zane Smith, Austin Hill, Grant Enfinger, Brett Moffitt, Ben Rhodes, Matt Crafton, Christian Eckes, Todd Gilliland and Tyler Ankrum.
Six of those 10 drivers already have a victory this season. Ankrum, Eckes, Gilliland, and Moffitt have not won this season, but winning a race is not required to win the championship. 2019 champion Matt Crafton did not win a race that season.
The format for the playoffs is quite simple. Win one of the three races in the round of 10 to advance to the round of 8 and win one of the three races to the round of 8 to advance to the Championship 4, with the remaining spots in each round filled on points. Drivers start each round with the same number of points, plus the playoff points they have accrued up to that point.
The round of 10 consists of races at Bristol Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
The round of 8 consists of races at Kansas Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway. The race at Kansas Speedway was realigned from Eldora Speedway. Additionally, the race at Texas Motor Speedway was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Two drivers are eliminated after the round of 10 and four drivers are eliminated after the round of 8 to set the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway, where the highest finisher of the four remaining playoff drivers becomes the champion.
Which of the 10 playoff drivers will advance to the subsequent round(s), and who will win the championship?