As much as Austin Dillon's upset win at Richmond Raceway on Saturday night shook up the NASCAR Cup Series playoff picture, it actually made things fairly simple heading into this coming Saturday night's regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway.
Dillon is one of 14 winners this season and thus one of 14 drivers locked into the four-round, 10-race postseason field, meaning that there are still two spots open.
Those two spots are currently occupied by 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick and Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman. There is no way for either one of those two drivers to be passed by anybody else on points at Daytona, as Reddick is 89 points above the cut line and Bowman is 60 points ahead.
What Dillon's win did was effectively make the current cut line points battle irrelevant, in and of itself.
The cut line is still relevant, of course, in that everybody currently below it, starting with RFK Racing's Chris Buescher, needs to win the Coke Zero Sugar 400 to get into the playoffs. Buescher is one of 20 full-time drivers facing must-win situations this weekend, and none of them have any way to get in on points anymore.
If there is a new winner from below the cut line on Saturday night, then the battle for the 16th and final playoff spot is set to come down to Reddick and Bowman. Reddick currently has a 29-point advantage, but that is far from safe entering a superspeedway drafting race.
If any of the 14 winners from earlier this season wins again, Reddick and Bowman are both in. And yes, if Reddick wins, it locks both Reddick and Bowman in. Likewise, if Bowman wins, it locks both himself and Reddick in.
The only way any kind of points battle can come into play on Saturday night is if there is a 15th different winner and that winner is not named Reddick or Bowman.
And at Daytona, it just might happen.
Tune in to NBC this Saturday, August 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET for the live broadcast of the 160-lap Coke Zero Sugar 400 around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked Daytona Beach, Florida oval. Start a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss any of the action!