NASCAR: Martin Truex Jr.’s team eliminated from playoffs

Martin Truex Jr. may be moving on to the round of 8 of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. But the team that won the regular season owner championship is eliminated.

Thanks to Chase Elliott, a non-playoff driver, leading his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team into the round of 8 of the NASCAR Cup Series owner playoffs, the team that won the regular season championship has been eliminated following the round of 12.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. himself is set to advance to the round of 8, but his No. 19 team finished the round of 12 as the ninth place team in the standings, despite starting the round in a first place tie with William Byron’s No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports team.

Only the top eight teams advanced to the round of 8, as the owner playoffs utilize the same format as the driver playoffs.

So how was this possible?

23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace secured the 16th and final spot in the driver playoffs, but because his No. 23 team was beaten by Elliott’s No. 9 team in the owner standings, the No. 9 team secured the final spot in the owner playoffs.

Elliott himself didn’t qualify for the playoffs after missing seven of 26 regular season races and not winning any of the 19 races in which he competed. His replacements in those seven events, however, were still able to score points toward the No. 9 team’s total, ultimately placing it ahead of the No. 23 team.

Elliott got the No. 9 team from the round of 16 to the round of 12 in the owner playoffs, and Wallace himself advanced to the round of 12 in the driver playoffs, so the four drivers eliminated after the round of 16 also saw their teams eliminated at the same time.

But that was not the case in the second round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

Elliott advanced his No. 9 team to the round of 8, while Wallace fell shy of advancing to the round of 8. As a result, Truex ended up in a different position in the driver standings, relative to the cut line, than his own team in the owner standings.

With Elliott not a factor on the driver side, Truex finished the round of 12 as the eighth and final driver to secure a spot in the round of 8, ahead of Wallace and the other three drivers who had been in contention.

But with Elliott’s team — as opposed to Wallace’s team — included on the owner side, Truex’s No. 19 team finished in ninth, ahead of only the three non-Wallace teams, and failed to advance.

So the regular season championship-winning driver is still in title contention, while his regular season championship-winning team has been eliminated from owner title contention after the round of 12.

How weird would it be if Truex wins the championship despite his team not even making it to the round of 8, while Elliott leads his No. 9 team to an owner championship despite not being able to finish higher than 17th place in the point standings as a non-playoff driver?

Those scenarios remain possible with four races to go before the 2023 season concludes.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway is scheduled to host the round of 8 opener on Sunday, October 15. The South Point 400 is set to be broadcast live on NBC beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET. If you have yet to begin a free trial of FuboTV, do so now!