NASCAR: 3 drivers who are probably pretty safe

With nine winners through the first 10 races on the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, nobody, especially among non-winners, is technically “safe”.

We are now 10 races into the 36-race 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, and the series has seen nine different winners. The season opened up with seven different winners in seven races, and since Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. became the first two-race winner by winning at Martinsville Speedway, two new winners have emerged.

The playoff format has been a huge talking point with the possibility for more than 16 winners throughout the 26-race regular season — specifically, what happens if there are more than 16 winners.

On that note, it’s obvious that the only driver who is truly “safe” is Truex, since he has won twice and is guaranteed to finish the regular season in the top 16 in the wins category.

So with all the one-race winners still not technically “safe”, none of the non-winners can be considered “safe” yet either. However, there are three who probably don’t have anything to worry about moving forward.

Drivers who should be pretty safe: No. 1 – Denny Hamlin

It’s still possible that we could see 25 different winners in 26 races. And it’s still possible that Denny Hamlin won’t be one of them. Even then, it’s still possible that he could make it into the playoffs.

The regular season points champion, whether he wins a race or not and no matter how many winners there are, is locked into the playoffs. And at this rate, even with 16 races remaining in the regular season, that honor is Hamlin’s to lose.

He leads Truex by 87 points (446 to 359) in the point standings already. Race wins pay 40 points, and even with a 32nd place finish last Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, Hamlin actually grew his lead.

So if you can find anywhere that is actually offering odds on Hamlin making the playoffs simply because he’s technically only 10th in the playoff picture right now, take the free money.

With that being said, the driver who has historically faded in the postseason will certainly want to win early and often throughout the upcoming late spring/summer stretch just to get into that groove, especially considering he is riding a 15-race win drought going back to early October despite his point-scoring success.