Despite winning at Richmond Raceway in 2017, Joey Logano missed the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs after NASCAR encumbered his victory. He failed to win another race, and he failed to qualify on points. The same thing happened in 2024 with Austin Dillon, and at the same track.
But what about a driver missing the playoffs because NASCAR took away points?
NASCAR took away points from Denny Hamlin in 2023, when he admitted to intentionally wrecking Ross Chastain at Phoenix Raceway, but that penalty didn't cost him his playoff spot.
NASCAR took away points from Chris Buescher in 2025, after a violation was discovered on his No. 17 RFK Racing Ford following the May race at Kansas Speedway. But he would have missed the playoffs anyway (barely), and NASCAR even reinstated half of those points.
This year, however, NASCAR could potentially end up in a scenario where they have affected the playoff picture with a points penalty.
Ryan Preece penalty could change the NASCAR playoffs
RFK Racing's Ryan Preece was docked 25 points after admitting on the radio that he was doing to dump Joe Gibbs Racing's Ty Gibbs at Texas Motor Speedway and then following through on that promise, knocking Gibbs out of the race.
Without that penalty, Preece would be ninth in the point standings, 44 points above the playoff cut line. Instead, he's 13th, and he's only 19 points to the good.
Preece is in the midst of a career year, and it's thanks to his consistency. With consistency being rewarded far more under the current playoff format than it was under the previous format, he could very well end up qualifying for the postseason for the first time in his career.
If you don't factor in the penalty, he's eighth in total points scored from race results alone, excluding stage points. Ironically, he doesn't even have a single top seven finish all year, but because he doesn't have a DNF and has finished in the top 18 in 11 consecutive races, he has been rewarded accordingly.
But is that really sustainable if he runs into a poor result here and there in the second half of the regular season?
Maybe, but the fact that his gap above the cut line is less than half of what it would be had he not been penalized will make that a lot more challenging should he endure even a small handful of DNFs.
We've all heard that this new format means you can't afford a bad race, since there's no more "win and in". Perhaps that is truer for Preece than it is for anybody, especially after the penalty.
Preece and his No. 60 team did appeal the penalty, which leads us to another question.
Wouldn't it be ironic if NASCAR overturns it, Preece gets in because of the reinstatement of those 25 points, and somebody else ends up being eliminated?
The next points race on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Coca-Cola 600, which is set to be shown live on Amazon Prime Video from Charlotte Motor Speedway beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 24.
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