NASCAR driver could enter playoffs with negative points

Brad Keselowski has a chance to enter the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs with a negative point total thanks to a massive penalty.

On Thursday, NASCAR officials issued a L2-level penalty to the #6 RFK Racing team of Brad Keselowski, docking them 100 driver points and 100 owner points in the standings. Additionally, crew chief Matt McCall was suspended for four races and fined $100,000.

The penalty came under Sections 14.1 and 14.5 in the NASCAR Rule Book pertaining to the modification of a single source supplied part.

The violations were found during teardown inspection at the NASCAR R&D Center following last Sunday afternoon’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, which saw the #6 Ford sent to the rear of the field at the start due to unapproved adjustments.

Through five races, Keselowski had sat in 16th place in the point standings (17th in the playoffs picture) with 122 points. With the penalty, he now sits in 35th with just 22, trailing every other full-time driver in the series.

He sits 104 points below the playoff cut line and 34 outside the top 30, which is where he needs to be in order to be playoff eligible with a victory.

But what could be the most important aspect of this penalty is the fact that it also carries the loss of 10 playoff points, should the 2012 champion manage to get into the playoffs with a win or on points.

Drivers earn playoff points by winning stages (one each) and winning races (five each). Additionally, the drivers who finish the regular season in the top 10 in the point standings all score playoff points (15-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1).

Provided he makes the playoffs, this penalty is set to be applied no matter how many playoff points he has. This means that he could technically enter the playoffs with a negative point total.

Playoff drivers all enter the playoff points with 2,000 points, plus their playoff point totals. But considering the fact that, at this point, they are only competing against fellow playoff drivers in each round, their playoff point totals are the only thing that really counts entering each round.

Let’s say that Keselowski earns eight playoff points and qualifies for the playoffs. He would begin the playoffs with 1,998 points instead of 2,008. So he would effectively have -2.

There are 21 races remaining on the 2022 regular season schedule prior to the four-round, 10-race playoffs.