Playoff Points: Daytona II Edition

By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor

Following each regular season points race, Kickin’ the Tires takes a deep look at the current playoff grids for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, evaluating each team’s postseason odds and highlighting those that made steps in the right direction, as well as those who dug themselves into a hole. 

Track: Daytona International Speedway

Event: Coke Zero Sugar 400

Race Winner: Erik Jones

Stage Winner(s): Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Won Both Stages)

Who Won Big

• Erik Jones: The end of Daytona’s night of carnage saw That mullet-adorned Jones Boy secure his first-career Cup Series win, securing a spot in the playoffs as a result. He as likely going to earn a spot on points anyways, but now Jones can steamroll into the postseason with the confidence of a win and five precious playoff points.
• Martin Truex Jr.: Truex couldn’t hold Jones at bay to earn a Daytona win, but the defending champ still finished second. After Daytona’s traditional attrition, the result helped Truex leap up to third in the standings – securing him a few more potential playoff points as a result.
• Alex Bowman: Saturday night was a double-whammy of good news for Bowman. Not only did he survive the night to score a top 10, but he avoided a surprise winner in the biggest remaining wild card race of the regular season. Bowman is still on the bubble, but his odds of keeping a playoff spot just increased by a noticeable margin.

Who Hurt Their Odds

• All of those potential upsets: Kasey Kahne. Chris Buescher. A.J. Allmendinger. Ty Dillon. All of these playoff afterthoughts had a chance to steal a win at the end of a chaotic 400 miles in Daytona. But they all fell short, and now their odds of making the postseason have fallen dramatically.
• William Byron: Hendrick Motorsports’ hotshot rookie entered Daytona well outside of the playoff bubble, and Saturday’s 32nd-place finish did little to change that. Byron now trails teammate Bowman by 108 points for the last spot, meaning he’ll likely need a win to keep his postseason chance alive.
• Daniel Suarez: Change the above caption to say Joe Gibbs Racing’s hotshot sophomore and alter the final finishing position to 35th. Suarez is tied with Byron for 20th in the standings, keeping him far-removed from a playoff spot on p

Playoff Standings: 

*One or more race wins ineligible due to post-race inspection failures.

Where They Stand

(All But) Locked In

• Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, Erik Jones, Austin Dillon, Brad Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin
  • Race Winners
  • Drivers up 100+ points on the playoff bubble

Safe (For Now)

• Aric Almirola, Ryan Blaney

More Work to Do

• Jimmie Johnson

On the Bubble

• Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman

Within Reach 

• Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Paul Menard, Ryan Newman

Likely Need to Win

• Daniel Suarez, William Byron, Jamie McMurray, A.J. Allmendinger, Chris Buescher, Darrell Wallace Jr., Kasey Kahne, David Ragan, Michael McDowell, Ty Dillon, Matt DiBenedetto

Playoff Points

Playoff Points Earned On-Track

Stage Points

Previous Race Results

Season Totals

*One or more stage wins ineligible due to post-race inspection failures