NASCAR: Why only one driver (not five) is locked into the playoffs

For the third consecutive NASCAR Cup Series season, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron became the first driver to make a second trip to victory lane on Sunday afternoon at Circuit of the Americas (COTA).

Byron was the season's first winner as well, winning the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway last month.

The season's other four winners thus far include Trackhouse Racing Team's Daniel Suarez (Atlanta Motor Speedway), Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson (Las Vegas Motor Speedway), Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell (Phoenix Raceway), and Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin (Bristol Motor Speedway).

William Byron locked into NASCAR Cup Series playoffs

But despite the "win and in" nature of the modern playoff format, Byron is the only driver who is locked into this year's four-round, 10-race postseason, and he only locked himself in on Sunday at COTA, not in the Daytona 500.

Although the only playoff eligible regular season race winners who have missed the playoffs since the modern format was introduced back in 2014 are a driver whose win was encumbered (Joey Logano, Richmond Raceway 2017) and a driver who withdrew from the postseason due to injury (Kurt Busch, Kansas Speedway 2022), the playoff format is not technically a "win and in" format, as there can be more than 16 winners during the 26-race regular season.

The 16 playoff spots go to the regular season champion, even if he is not a winner, and the 15 drivers who rank next highest in wins. Because there can be no more than 13 multi-race winners during the regular season, Byron is now officially locked in.

In the event that there are more winners than available playoff spots by the end of the regular season, the tiebreaker to determine which single-race winners get in and which don't becomes points, so points still matter for all drivers who haven't won twice.

And as we have seen almost every year over the last decade, if the playoff spots are not filled up by the winners, the tiebreaker to determine which non-winners get in and which don't is also points.

Will a second driver clinch a playoff spot in the seventh race on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule at Richmond Raceway this weekend, or will the season see a sixth different winner emerge in the Toyota Owners 400? Fox is set to provide live coverage of the race beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET on Easter Sunday, March 31, so begin a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss it!