NASCAR: Which six drivers are actually in the playoffs?

Just six playoff berths have officially been clinched, and there are only four races remaining in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series regular season.

Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick started and ended the month of July with a road course victory, earning his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at Road America and then adding a second at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course this past weekend.

Reddick is one of 14 drivers who have found victory lane at some point through the 2022 season’s first 22 races, but his win in Sunday’s 86-lap race around the 13-turn, 2.439-mile (2.439-kilometer) Speedway, Indiana road course made him just the sixth driver to officially clinch a playoff berth.

How is this possible, given the fact that the current playoff format is often referred to as a “win and in” format?

Because by definition, the concept of “win and in” isn’t accurate.

There are 26 regular season races and 16 playoff spots. It just so happens that it has proven to be a “win and in” format in the past.

But with four regular season races remaining on the schedule, there is still a chance that this year’s regular season will see more than 16 different winners, in which case the playoff spots go to the regular season champion and the 15 drivers who rank next highest in victories.

In the event that there are at least 17 playoff eligible drivers by the time the regular season concludes, the single-race winners are not necessarily locked in, and the point standings determine which ones are in and which ones are out.

However, because there cannot be more than 13 multi-race winners (there can’t be more than 10 this season), all multi-race winners are locked in.

Because he has now won twice, Reddick has locked himself in.

The other five drivers who are locked in are Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, who owns a series-high four victories and holds a commanding lead in the point standings, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron, Trackhouse Racing Team’s Ross Chastain, Team Penske’s Joey Logano, and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin.

Byron, Chastain, Logano, and Hamlin have each won twice.