With the regular season coming to a close, there are still drivers looking to solidify a NASCAR Cup Series playoff berth.
In what has been one of the wildest and most unforgettable seasons of NASCAR Cup Series racing, 14 different drivers have already found themselves in victory lane.
The unusually high number of winners through the first 22 races has created one of the most volatile battles to get into the playoffs, one which will most likely demand a win for anyone below the cut line to be one of the 16 championship contenders.
The Cup Series is scheduled to race at four very unique tracks over the next four weeks: the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway, the 0.75-mile Richmond Raceway, a road course in the form of Watkins Glen International, and the 2.5-mile, high-banked superspeedway that is Daytona International Speedway.
A win at any of those tracks could secure a driver a spot in the playoffs, but who has the best chance?
Drivers who can shake up playoff picture: No. 1 – Kevin Harvick
It’s a surprise to most that Kevin Harvick has now gone over a season and a half without a win, but as the two-year mark nears, he has been looking his strongest in quite some time.
Harvick has wins at three of these four tracks, and with five top 10 finishes in the last nine races, he has been closing back in on victory lane. A win now would most likely lock him into the playoffs.
Harvick, who is currently 96 points below the cut line, is probably the only driver below it with a semi-realistic chance of pointing his way into the playoffs, and even that’s a stretch with four races left in the regular season.
It would be an incredibly tall task which would require him to make up 24 points every week for the next four weeks. This would most likely require near perfection form the #4 team and multiple mishaps for Martin Truex Jr.’s #19 team, the last team in playoff contention on points as things stand right now.
This, of course, assumes that there aren’t any other new winners and that Truex does not win a race before the playoffs begin, so Harvick’s best bet is to find a way to capture his 59th career win.
Drivers who can shake up playoff picture: No. 2 – Chris Buescher
Looking at the numbers, you might not expect to see Chris Buescher on this list. The driver of the #17 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing only has one top five finish and six top 10 finishes in 21 starts this year, but his team has quietly been having an exceptional run in the second half of the regular season.
Buescher was runner-up to Daniel Suarez at Sonoma Raceway and finished in sixth place at Road America, displaying some serious strength at road course racing and proving that he could be a threat at Watkins Glen.
He was also the winner of the second Bluegreen Vacations Duel earlier this year, which could give his team extra confidence rolling back into Daytona for the regular season finale.
Buescher did miss the Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway in June due to the sport’s COVID-19 protocols. By missing a race, a team is technically no longer be eligible to compete in the playoffs, but NASCAR granted the #17 team a waiver, should Buescher manage to qualify for the postseason.
If Buescher and his team can pull off a win, it would be the organization’s first win since July 2017 when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won at Daytona.
Drivers who can shake up playoff picture: No. 3 – Brad Keselowski
Chris Buescher’s new teammate and new team owner, Brad Keselowski, hasn’t been having the type of season we’re used to seeing from him. He is currently on track to have his first winless season in over a decade.
Early in the season, Keselowski’s #6 team was hit with a whopping 100-point penalty in both the driver and owner standings, and they lost 10 playoff points as well. With the generally poor performance of the team, it has taken most of the year for Keselowski to get back into the top 30 in points.
But he has now put together a more consistent stretch of races and could be in position to clinch a playoff berth with a win.
Two of Keselowski’s three top 10 finishes this season have come in the last seven races, and while it isn’t quite a stellar record, it does seem that the team has been getting a little closer to running in or around the top 10, which indicates that they have found something that wasn’t there before.
Like his teammate, Keselowski rang in the year with a win in his Bluegreen Vacations Duel at Daytona, where, with some newfound momentum and another fast superspeedway car, Keselowski could earn a spot in the playoffs.
Drivers who can shake up playoff picture: No. 4 – Michael McDowell
After recently being hit with a stiff penalty that cost him 100 points in both the driver and owner standings, as well as 10 playoff points, Michael McDowell dropped to 26th in the point standings.
While this was a massive blow to him and his team, he is still on track to have the best season of his career in many statistical categories. He has nine top 10 finishes, and he might also have more motivation than ever before to win a race and lock himself into the playoffs.
McDowell and his #34 Front Row Motorsports team have consistently shown great strength in two disciplines of racing: road course racing and superspeedway racing. Luckily for them, there is another road course race and another superspeedway race before the playoffs.
McDowell will have the chance to outfox road course favorites Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Ross Chastain and others at Watkins Glen, and he’ll have a chance to capture his second Daytona win after winning the Daytona 500 last year.
Of his nine top 10 finishes so far this year, two came at superspeedways and three came at road courses, with his best finish being a third place effort at Sonoma. He is known threat who somehow continues to be overlooked.
Drivers who can shake up playoff picture: No. 5 – Corey LaJoie
It’s no secret that Spire Motorsports have had a rough go of it lately. Their two entries, the #7 Chevrolet of Corey LaJoie and the #77 Chevrolet with rotating drivers, have been involved in a series of on-track incidents over the past few weeks.
But for LaJoie, there is still potential for the season to turn around with a win and possible playoff berth. In the past few superspeedway races, he has seemed to find a way into the top 10.
He had a phenomenal run in the recent race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he led laps late, but he did not win after wrecking from second place on the final lap.
Unlike the rest of the drivers on this list, LaJoie can’t simply win his way into the playoffs. As it stands, LaJoie sits in 31st place in the point standings, 37 points behind Ty Dillon for 30th.
Not only will he need to win to earn a playoff berth, but he’ll also need to make up those points and pass Dillon for 30th to officially become playoff eligible.
Equally interesting, if LaJoie wins and doesn’t make the playoffs, he would still become the sixth first-time winner this season, and his win could prevent other drivers from winning their way into the playoffs and/or accumulating valuable playoff points for themselves.