By David Morgan, Associate Editor
With the conclusion of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas, the first round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is nearly complete, as the first elimination race looms large next weekend.
Here’s how the points standings look heading to Bristol Motor Speedway.
Only Christopher Bell is safe from whatever carnage may lie ahead at Bristol as the Playoff field is cut from 16 to 12, with the driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota accumulating enough points to secure his passage into the next round
Following Bell are the drivers that are far from safe, but have the advantage of carrying a double-digit points buffer into the half-mile bullring.
William Byron sits second in points with a 48-point advantage over the cut-off line and leads that group, which also includes Denny Hamlin (+47), Joey Logano (+40), Ryan Blaney (+36), Alex Bowman (+30), regular season champion Chase Elliott (+28), defending series champion Kyle Larson (+27), and Ross Chastain (+26)
From 10th place on back, it’s going to be a long week of sleepless nights before heading to Thunder Valley, where four drivers will see their championship dreams end when the checkered flag falls.
Daniel Suarez – No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet (+6 over cut-off line)
Daniel Suarez wasn’t happy with the way his car performed over the course of the day at Kansas, but he still came away with a top-10 finish by the end of the race, improving his points position from 12th, two points down to 10th, six points up with Bristol next up on the docket.
Suarez expressed his frustration with the team’s inconsistencies at Kansas and noted that they would have some work ahead to improve before next Saturday night.
“Today was very inconsistent,” Suarez said. “It was a long day. At times, we were OK and then some other times, we weren’t good. We had a couple of situations there on pit road and then we had a tire going down. We had an eventful day. But for a day like that and to finish in the top-10, I’m quite happy.
“We have some work to do. We are not where we need to be. At times, I felt like we were a top-five car; and at times, we were a 20th-place car. We have to be a little bit more consistent. We don’t really understand why it was so inconsistent, but we’re going to find some answers and move onto Bristol.”
Tyler Reddick – No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet (+2)
Tyler Reddick was doing Tyler…
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