NASCAR: Bubba Wallace still isn’t in the Cup playoffs

While the #45 team can compete for the NASCAR Cup Series owner championship, Bubba Wallace still isn’t technically a playoff driver.

23XI Racing announced on Wednesday that Bubba Wallace, who ordinarily drives the #23 Toyota, is set to drive the #45 Toyota throughout the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Kurt Busch, the full-time driver of the #45 Toyota, has not competed since July, as his qualifying crash at Pocono Raceway left him with concussion-like symptoms.

Despite the fact that he missed the 26-race regular season’s final six races, Busch was still set to be one of the 16 playoff drivers.

He won the race at Kansas Speedway in mid-May, he was locked into the top 30 in the point standings, and he was granted a medical waiver to retain his playoff eligibility despite missing multiple races. Additionally, there weren’t more than 16 different regular season race winners.

However, he requested that his waiver request be withdrawn.

This freed up a playoff spot that ultimately went to Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney. Blaney, who finished the regular season as the top non-winner in the point standings, is set to join the other 15 winners in this year’s postseason.

But because the #45 Toyota’s points and win are tied to the #45 team, not specifically to Busch, the #45 team was one of the 16 teams to qualify for the owner playoffs while Blaney’s #12 team was not.

Ty Gibbs, who drives full-time for Joe Gibbs Racing’s Xfinity Series team, had been driving the #45 Toyota as Busch’s replacement since his injury.

But with the #45 team still in the hunt for the owner championship, which is where the money is at for the race teams, moving the more experienced Wallace to the #45 Toyota for the playoffs made sense.

However, that doesn’t mean that Wallace himself is in the playoffs — the same way it wouldn’t mean that Gibbs is in the playoffs if he were to continue driving the #45 Toyota.

Wallace himself still sits in 20th place in the driver standings, and he cannot possibly finish higher than 17th (highest behind the 16 playoff drivers).

The #23 team, the team for which Gibbs is now set to compete whenever he competes throughout the postseason, sits in 21st place in the owner standings and also cannot possibly finish higher than 17th.

The Cook Out Southern 500 is set to be broadcast live on USA Network from Darlington Raceway beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, September 4. Don’t miss your chance to start a free trial of FuboTV and don’t miss the playoff opener!