Tom Brady passes NASCAR champion in playoff points

A week and a half after coming out of a 40-day retirement, Tom Brady passed Brad Keselowski in NASCAR Cup Series playoff points.

How many of you had Tom Brady passing a NASCAR Cup Series champion in NASCAR playoff points as one of the first things he’d do in professional sports following his un-retirement announcement?

Believe it or not, it’s a completely accurate statement.

Brad Keselowski and his #6 RFK Racing team were issued an L2-level penalty for infractions discovered during teardown inspection at the NASCAR R&D Center following last Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

They were found to have violated Sections 14.1 and 14.5 in the NASCAR Rule Book, relating to the modification of a single source supplied part.

As a result, they were docked 100 points in the driver standings and the owner standings, and crew chief Matt McCall was not only suspended for four races but fined $100,000.

Perhaps most significantly, Keselowski, who dropped from 16th to 35th place in the point standings as a result of the penalty, was also docked 10 playoff points. He has yet to score any playoff points, meaning that he now has -10.

So in the week and a half after his un-retirement, Brady — with 0 — has passed him.

Of course, technically speaking, everybody on the planet now has more playoff points than Keselowski does.

Playoff points only matter if a driver makes the playoffs, as the name implies. Playoff points earned throughout the year are added to each driver’s point total to start each round of the playoffs.

Stage wins are worth one playoff point each while race wins are worth five each. The drivers who finish the regular season in the top 10 in the point standings also receive additional playoff points (15-10-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1).

If Keselowski were to qualify for the playoffs with four playoff points, he would start the first round with 1,994 points as opposed to 2,004 (playoff drivers have their point totals reset to 2,000, plus playoff points).

So the 2012 champion would effectively have a negative point total entering the postseason.