After Erik Jones’ NASCAR Cup Series win at Darlington Raceway, how many more wins do you expect from non-playoff drivers this season?
Luken Glover: At least two more non-playoff drivers’ wins would not be out of the realm of possibility. Kansas Speedway presents a favorable opportunity for Martin Truex Jr. and Bubba Wallace. Jones has a solid history at Bristol Motor Speedway. The Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL fits into the wheelhouse of Michael McDowell, Chris Buescher and AJ Allmendinger. And then there’s the great unknown of Talladega Superspeedway. If you thought 2022 has been crazy, it’s likely to get more bizarre.
Brad Harrison: There is absolutely no reason for there to not be at least one or two. 23XI Racing was very good at Kansas earlier this year, and there is no reason for that not to be the case again. You definitely have to look at Wallace both there and at Talladega Superspeedway, since he runs well on superspeedways. Truex showed us last week that no playoffs doesn’t mean no intensity for the No. 19. Plus, with the Charlotte ROVAL coming up, anything can happen.
Amy Henderson: Truex headlines a list of drivers who are absolutely capable of winning races this fall. Brad Keselowski also comes immediately to mind. Buescher has looked close. Pretty much everyone is a contender at Talladega. I hope we see many non-playoff winners; the constant playoff talk on the broadcasts gets old fast and a bunch of other guys contending for wins force their hand to change the way these races are covered. Plus, it changes playoff strategy when those teams know they can’t count on wins to move them forward, particularly this year when nobody really has enough playoff points to rely on to move on. The more the merrier at the victory party.
Mike Neff: While the thought of non-playoff drivers writing Cinderella scripts is intriguing, the bottom line is the best 16 drivers in the sport make the playoffs. It is possible that there may be a surprise winner at the Charlotte ROVAL or Talladega, the odds simply are in favor of the 16.
Michael McDowell continued his strong season at Darlington and has career highs in top 10s and laps led. Is McDowell emerging as a 2023 Cup playoff contender?
Harrison: I’ll be stunned if he is not in the postseason next year with either a win or by points. Crazy as it seems to say, McDowell has had a better year this year than last year, when he made the postseason via his Daytona 500 win. Running consistently…
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