It was an emotional evening for the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway during the Coca-Cola 600, and it was an emotional victory celebration for surprise winner Daniel Suarez of Spire Motorsports.
Suarez, a former Kyle Busch Motorsports driver who credits the late two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion with giving him his chance to compete in NASCAR, dedicated his third career Cup Series victory to Kyle Busch, who passed away on Thursday.
Suarez won at Sonoma Raceway in 2022 to lock himself into the playoffs, and he won at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway) to do the same, both times with Trackhouse Racing.
He is currently in the midst of a career year in his first season behind the wheel of the No. 7 Chevrolet, but under NASCAR's revised "Chase" playoff format, there is no more "win and in". The 16 playoff drivers are simply set to be the 16 drivers who finish the regular season in the top 16 in the point standings.
Daniel Suarez not officially locked into NASCAR Cup playoffs
That being said, Suarez's victory in Sunday's rain-shortened 373-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Concord, North Carolina oval, even though it was enabled by a smart call from the No. 7 team's pit box, was far from a fluke, given not only the fact that he had to hold off a pack of hard-charging Toyotas before the red flag flew for rain, but also the overall trajectory of the entire organization.
Suarez is 10th in the point standings, and he's 62 points above the postseason cut line. He has racked up nine consecutive top 20 finishes, and given the fact that consistency is awarded more so under the current format than it was under the previous format, pairing a victory with strong overall consistency is exactly the best way to go about qualifying for the 16-driver playoff field.
And if you remove stage points from the equation, Suarez is sixth in results-based points scored through the first half of the regular season.
Technically speaking, Suarez wouldn't be locked into the playoffs yet even under the old format, as there have been eight different winners in 13 races, thereby mathematically leaving the door open for more than 16 total winners to emerge before the conclusion of the regular season.
However, during the 12 years when that format was used, there was never a scenario where there were more than 16 regular season race winners.
Amazon Prime Video is set to provide live coverage of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season's 14th race, the Cracker Barrel 400, from Nashville Superspeedway, starting at 7:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 31.
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