The Cup regular season comes to an end tonight with much at stake.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — The final two playoff spots will be determined in tonight’s Cup regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway, but that’s not the only thing that will be settled.
Coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
Here is a look at what to watch for in tonight’s race.
Who makes the playoffs?
Fourteen of the 16 playoff spots have been determined. Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman hold the final two playoff spots.
If there is not a new winner, both Reddick and Bowman will make the playoffs. If there is a new winner, Reddick or Bowman will be eliminated. Reddick holds a 29-point lead on Bowman.
“Anybody that knows me knows that I’m going to stress myself out about any situation,” Bowman said.
Said Reddick: “I guess the best way to try to defend on points is to execute good strategy and be up front at the end. If a crash happens, there’s not a lot you can do about it. It typically happens right at the front where you want to be.”
Every other driver not in the playoffs must win to advance. There’s no other way for them to have a chance to race for a championship beginning next weekend at Darlington Raceway.
The race for second
While William Byron clinched the regular season championship last weekend at Richmond, the race for second in the points is intense.
Consider how many playoff points are issued between second and sixth place:
2nd place — 10 playoff points
3rd place — 8 playoff points
4th place — 7 playoff points
5th place — 6 playoff points
6th place — 5 playoff points
With a win worth five playoff points, the difference between sixth in the standings to second is equal to a race win. That could be key in the playoffs.
Five different drivers could leave Daytona in second place in the standings. Those five are Chase Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney and Christopher Bell.
Here is how the standings look heading into tonight’s race:
2. Chase Elliott — 771 points
3. Denny Hamlin — 766 points
4. Kyle Larson — 759 points
5. Ryan Blaney — 756 points
6. Christopher Bell — 748 points
Bell is only 23 points behind Elliott for second place — that is a smaller gap than between Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman for the final playoff spot.
“We’re going to roll the dice and everyone else is and see where we end up,” Bell said.
It’s not unreasonable to think Blaney could leapfrog those in front of him and make up the 15-point gap to Elliott and take second place.
“That’s one of the biggest things we’ve looked at this week is we can get to second,” Blaney said.
The art of saving fuel
Fuel saving likely will be an integral will be a part of tonight’s race. While teams have all technology to predict fuel usage, it’s not exact as Austin Cindric notes.
“We do have some data and we have to make estimates based off of the data that we do have,” Cindric said. “None of that really happens necessarily in real time or as in real time as much as you’d like it to be and as accurate as you’d like it to be, so there’s a lot more guessing that goes on in a fuel save situation in the NASCAR Cup Series than really anything else I’ve ever driven or been a part of.
“… The guys that are tasked with that challenge on top of the pit box and back in the shop have a lot to overcome. When you hear guys just making it on fuel or running out of fuel at the line, or running out just before, it honestly is so impressive that we’re able to get it that close with the resources that I feel like all the teams lack due to the lack of information and data.”
Category: General Sports
