NASCAR: 4 playoff drivers who could be in trouble
By Asher Fair
Four of last year’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff drivers are on the outside looking in when it comes to the 2021 playoff picture.
With 11 races remaining in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series regular season, 11 different drivers have won at least one of the season’s first 15 races, including three who were not in last year’s playoffs. Additionally, two other drivers currently in the playoff picture on points were not in last year’s playoffs.
Just 11 of the 16 drivers currently in the playoff field were in last year’s playoffs. Of course, that number was never going to be a perfect 16 from last year, since Clint Bowyer retired after the 2020 season.
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Bowyer’s replacement at Stewart-Haas Racing behind the wheel of the #14 Ford, rookie Chase Briscoe, has struggled in 2021. He sits in 25th place in the point standings, 119 points below the playoff cut line, and four of the other playoff drivers from last year are also currently below the playoff cut line.
Already, some of them practically need to win to have a chance to get back to the postseason this year. Let’s take a look at who they are.
Playoff drivers in trouble: No. 1 – Aric Almirola
Aric Almirola kept up Tampa’s momentum from the Stanley Cup Finals, the World Series and the Super Bowl by winning his Duel qualifying race for the Daytona 500 back in February, but his 2021 season has been a disaster ever since then, and a lot of it has been out of his control.
Through 15 races, he has just one top 10 finish and two other top 15 results to his name. He sits in 28th place in the point standings, a whopping 175 points below the playoff cut line, lowest among the four Stewart-Haas Racing drivers.
Among full-time, points-eligible drivers, he sits ahead of only Spire Motorsports’ Corey LaJoie, Front Row Motorsports rookie Anthony Alfredo, StarCom Racing’s Quin Houff and Rick Ware Racing’s Josh Bilicki.
He qualified for the playoffs in his first three seasons as a Stewart-Haas Racing driver, but he did so all three times on points. His only win came for the team came back in the 2018 playoffs at Talladega Superspeedway.
Those two things will need to change if he wants to get back to the postseason in 2021, and that doesn’t look likely, given Stewart-Haas Racing’s struggles so far this year.