This story was originally published by Dead Spin
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A dramatic race at Michigan International Speedway over the weekend has meant that for the second consecutive week, the NASCAR Cup Series playoff outlook has undergone a major change — both atop the standings and on the all-important cutoff line as the series heads to Daytona International Speedway for Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick earned his second trophy of the year. His dogged work in the No. 45 Toyota — along with a rare “off” day for a couple of his closest regular-season championship contenders — has thrust the 28-year-old Californian atop the standings for the first time in his young career.
Only two races remain to decide the regular-season champion and which 16 drivers will qualify for the playoffs. Reddick now holds a 10-point advantage over Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott (804) in the standings. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin (786) moved up to third place — 28 points back — thanks to an inspired ninth-place drive at Michigan despite an early race spin.
Hendrick’s Kyle Larson — who has led the championship a series-best 14 weeks on the season, including the last two weeks and boasts a series-best four wins — dropped to fourth place (782), 32 points behind Reddick after triggering a seven-car crash mid-race that parked him with a 34th-place finish on Sunday.
It all sets up a tight, competitive bid for that 15-point bonus paid to the regular- season champion — a huge incentive that goes with that driver for each playoff round he advances.
“We are going to go to Daytona and, hopefully, don’t crash,” Reddick said. “Last time we were there, we won the Duels (in February), so hoping to walk away from Daytona with the points lead. If we can do that, it will set us up really good to close it out in Darlington (on Sept. 1).”
Hamlin by far boasts the best Daytona record of the four drivers atop the standings. A three-time Daytona 500 winner, he is the only one among Reddick, Elliott and Larson to hoist a NASCAR Cup Series trophy at the sport’s most iconic speedway.
Reddick has both a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win (2015) and a NASCAR Xfinity Series (2018-1) victory at Daytona. Elliott (2016, one) and Larson (2018, two) have Xfinity Series wins at the big track, but none among this threesome has won a NASCAR Cup Series race there.
Reddick’s best work is a runner-up in the summer race in 2022. Elliott has a pair of runner-up finishes in the 2020 summer 400-miler, then the following season-opening Daytona 500. Larson has never had a top-five finish at Daytona. His best showing is sixth place in the 2016 summer race.
The tight competition also is very evident at the other end of the playoff standings, with three drivers — Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher, Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain and 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace — all safely inside the top 16 at various times during Monday’s rain-delayed Michigan race.
Ultimately, Buescher — who is the defending winner of Saturday night’s Daytona race — fared best with a sixth-place finish that not only moved him up a position to 15th in the standings but gave him a greater points cushion (16 above the line).
Despite bringing out the final caution of the race during the first overtime, Chastain rallied back to a 25th-place finish which was just good enough to secure a tenuous single-point advantage over Wallace, whose No. 23 Toyota was dinged in two separate incidents not of his doing and finished 26th.
Of these three fighting for that last playoff position — only Buescher has a previous NASCAR Cup Series win at Daytona. Wallace has been very close to a victory with back-to-back runner-up finishes in the 2021 summer race and the 2022 Daytona 500. He has five top-five results in 14 series starts. Chastain has never had a top five in 12 races, but he did win a summer Xfinity Series race in 2019.
Busch Light Pole Qualifying for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 is Friday evening at 5:05 p.m. ET (USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Chastain won the pole position for last year’s race.
–By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service. Special to Field Level Media.
