For the second year in a row, Richard Childress Racing's Austin Dillon found victory lane at Richmond Raceway, but unlike last year, when he was stripped of the playoff berth he had earned because of the fact that he wrecked Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to secure the win, he got to keep his playoff spot this time around.
Considering the fact that Dillon entered the race with no top five finishes in 24 starts this year and only moved up from 28th to 25th place in the point standings with his sixth career win, his victory shook up the playoff picture.
RFK Racing's Chris Buescher, who had been above the playoff cut line for much of the regular season, is now in a must-win situation heading into Saturday night's regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway. He is 11th in the point standings, and no matter where he ends up, it won't be good enough if he doesn't win the Coke Zero Sugar 400.
Whose playoff spot did Austin Dillon take?
Had Dillon not won, the battle for the 16th and final playoff spot – assuming another new winner doesn't emerge at the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida on Saturday night, which cannot be taken for granted when considering the "wild card" nature of superspeedway racing – would be between Buescher and teammate Ryan Preece.
Buescher has a 34-point advantage over Preece, but because of Dillon's win, that gap doesn't matter. In fact, Dillon effectively saved RFK Racing from a massive internal headache, because they appealed a 60-point penalty issued to Buescher in May at Kansas Speedway and got it reduced to 30 points, meaning that it could very well be just a four-point gap between the two teammates heading into Daytona.
Should Saturday night's 160-lap race be won by one of the 14 drivers who have already won this year, or even either 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick or Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman, the two drivers currently positioned to get into the playoffs on points, Dillon's win will have cost RFK Racing a playoff spot with either Buescher or Preece.
Should a winner emerge from below the cut line, however, Dillon's win will cost either Reddick or Bowman. Reddick currently owns a 29-point advantage over Bowman, and that gap would be crucial if the regular season concludes with 15 winners and therefore only one spot can go to a driver on points.
Last year's Daytona summer race was won by Harrison Burton, who ranked 34th of 34 full-time drivers in total points scored throughout the season, and he took the checkered flag after getting a push from (checks notes) Parker Retzlaff, who had one career start to his name at the time.
So when we say anything is possible at the "World Center of Racing", we mean it.
NBC is set to provide live coverage of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 from Daytona International Speedway beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET this evening. Begin a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!