KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Four drivers were eliminated from NASCAR’s post-season after the checkered flag waved in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.
Clint Bowyer, William Byron, Alex Bowman, and Brad Keselowski all saw their 2019 Championship hopes fade after failing to secure enough points to advance into the Round of 8.
Bowyer was unable to secure enough points to advance after finishes of 10th at Dover, 23rd at Talladega, and eighth at Kansas.
“In the Playoffs, we stepped up in a big way. Not having a points pad or anything like that and going into these rounds is difficult because those guys have 20 or 30 points on you, and to come with a fighting chance, had the deal last week (wreck at Talladega) not happened, we would be right there. We’ve got a lot of racing left this year, I’m within 20 points of some good positions, there’s a lot of meat on the bones there and we’ve got to go get it.
Byron made his first NASCAR Playoffs appearance in 2019 and being eliminated in the second round is not how he imagined his Postseason going. The North Carolina-native entered Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 27 points below the cutline and was unable to overcome the large deficit.
“We had two pretty good weeks and one really bad week, and that’s what it came down to. We just needed to have a more consistent three weeks and it didn’t work out for us. Today, we just had to win and we came close at times to third, but we were in the top-5 and kinda hung around there and did a good job to finish there.
It’s a bummer, but we’ve came a long way as a team and it’s really not super disappointing just to know we’ve came this far and we’ve got speed in our car and if we can just continue that next year I think we can have a better shot at going further and also hopefully some race wins.”
Despite a third place finish at Dover, a DNF at Talladega Superspeedway last week resulted in an 18-point deficit entering the race at Kansas. Bowman needed a lot of things to go his way to point his way into the Round of 8, but things did not go his way. Bowman made contact with Bubba Wallace early in the lap and received damage that hindered his opportunity to go to Victory Lane.
“We didn’t get in, so that sucks,” Bowman said. “We had a good start and a really good car there for five laps or however long it lasted. It just sucks driving a wrecked race car for the rest of the day.”
Brad Keselowski failed to advance into the Round of 8 after not finishing better than 11th in the second round. Throughout much of the race, Keselowski was above the cutline but late race yellow flags allowed Chase Elliott to take the final transfer spot.
“It is what is, I don’t like it, but it’s over now,” Keselowski told NBC Sports when referring to how he reconciles being eliminated. He added that his biggest takeaway from Kansas was to go win at Martinsville Speedway next week.