Did You Notice? … The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs feature seven new contenders who didn’t make it in last year? It’s a record amount of year-to-year turnover since the current 16-driver, multi-round format was introduced in 2014.
In some ways, this playoff has produced one of the most diverse fields in years, featuring two first timers (Ty Gibbs and Harrison Burton) along with a team in Stewart-Haas Racing poised to lay off hundreds of people come November. Its regular season champion, Tyler Reddick, won it for the first time along with his 23XI Racing team seeking their first Championship 4 appearance.
And in other ways? It’s a very predictable group of drivers at the top. 11 of the 16 drivers come from the best team of each manufacturer: Team Penske (Ford), Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet) and Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota). And four of the top five seeds, compiling the most playoff points throughout the season, comprise last year’s Championship 4: Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, William Byron and Ryan Blaney.
So, which side of this postseason field will win out? Can new blood reassert themselves or are we destined to have a repeat of 2023 come Phoenix Raceway?
This year’s playoff preview asserts a little of both.
First-Round Snoozers
Harrison Burton. What a feel good story Burton has been the last two weeks, coming out of nowhere to win at Daytona International Speedway in August. In the matter of 45 seconds, he rose from dead last in points among drivers who started every Cup race to stealing a playoff spot. That’s your current format in a nutshell, and not everyone is as excited about it as his dad calling the race from the NBC booth.
Jeff’s son still earned the 100th victory for the Wood Brothers and respect from a team that fired him without remorse months earlier. It’s a best-case scenario for a 2024 driver who entered the summer in crisis, seeking a bite not just from a Cup team but anyone for a 2025 full-time ride.
But getting more at this point would surprise even Cinderella herself. Burton has never finished better than 10th at any of the three tracks in the Round of 16: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Watkins Glen International or Bristol Motor Speedway. This year’s average finish of 25.7 is the worst of his Cup career.
Best case scenario: Burton rides the draft to a shocking top-five at Atlanta, survives Watkins Glen and somehow pulls a top 15 at a crash-filled Bristol to eke out a Round…
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