The 2024 NASCAR Cup Sequence common season is a wrap after Chase Briscoe’s thrilling win at Darlington Raceway earned him a spot within the playoffs on the final potential minute. Now the sphere will head to Atlanta Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Quaker State 400, the primary of three occasions within the Spherical of 16.
Nonetheless, simply because it is now playoff season does not imply the 16 drivers included within the energy rankings will essentially all be playoff drivers. A few of these drivers should not have momentum on their aspect whereas those that have been eradicated from title competition nonetheless deserve shout-outs.
And so with that in thoughts, here is how the sphere stands with 10 races to go:
1. Tyler Reddick (Final week: 1)
Whoever earned the highest spot on this week’s rankings was going to be decided by who gained the regular-season title between Reddick and Kyle Larson. Regardless of battling a foul abdomen bug all race, Reddick completed tenth within the Southern 500 and edged Larson by one level. That earned him 15 bonus factors for the playoffs, which could possibly be an enormous assist as he seeks his first championship race look — or even perhaps his first championship.
2. Kyle Larson (Final week: 3)
Larson can level to many components for why he missed out on the regular-season title. The obvious would be the Coca-Cola 600 when he was unable to race as a result of journey problems with the weather-delayed Indianapolis 500. He additionally had poor finishes due to accidents that he can hint to his personal errors or unhealthy luck. Larson led 263 of 367 laps in Darlington and solely completed fourth. Oh, what may have been.
3. Denny Hamlin (Final week: 5)
After a roller-coaster of a previous month on and off the monitor, Hamlin ended his common season with a strong seventh-place consequence. He completed seventh within the regular-season standings after his No. 11 group’s huge penalty a number of weeks in the past price him helpful factors coming into the playoffs. On the plus aspect, he actually has the velocity to compete for a championship and could also be flying beneath the radar to be a menace.
4. Ryan Blaney (Final week: 2)
Blaney’s evening was over barely after it started in Darlington when he grew to become an harmless sufferer swept up a wreck within the opening laps as Martin Truex Jr. received sideways in entrance of him. It is not truthful to dock Blaney an excessive amount of for his end when he had nowhere to go, so he stays within the prime 4 coming into the playoffs. He needs to be thought-about a heavy menace to return to the championship spherical and maybe win back-to-back titles.
5. Christopher Bell (Final week: 7)
Bell’s up-and-down 2024 season is trending again up after his third-place effort in Darlington, his second such end in a row. He has quietly racked up 4 top-six finishes prior to now 5 races, and though Bell hasn’t had the blinding velocity he had early in the summertime, he has proven this season that his finest days are higher than any driver not named Larson. He’ll look to make it to Phoenix with a shot on the title for the third straight 12 months. Maybe the third strive would be the appeal.
6. Chase Elliott (Final week: 4)
Darlington was not a super closeout to Elliott’s common season, as his No. 9 machine by no means appeared to have the velocity. He completed eleventh after making the most of late technique, persevering with a theme this season of Elliott and his group maximizing their finishes on unhealthy days. Nonetheless, whereas which may work in the course of the common season, it is going to be exhausting to make it to Phoenix if the 2020 champion cannot present a return to his dominant kind of some years in the past.
7. William Byron (Final week: 8)
Byron was having a strong race in Darlington till he received swept up in a late accident that resulted in a Thirtieth-place DNF. The contending velocity Byron confirmed Sunday, coupled with that in Michigan a number of weeks in the past, could also be an indication that his No. 24 group is waking up on the proper time. Nonetheless, it stays to be seen if he can re-emerge because the top-tier title menace he regarded like early within the season.
8. Kyle Busch (Final week: 13)
It was once more too little and too late for Busch, who formally will miss the playoffs for the primary time in 12 years and the primary time ever beneath the 16-car, elimination-style format that debuted in 2014. Now the remainder of his season turns into all about extending his streak of profitable a minimum of as soon as in each season in his Cup Sequence profession. He has the momentum to do it after his runner-up end in Darlington, his third consecutive top-five end.
9. Bubba Wallace (Final week: 6)
Wallace is one other driver who finds himself on the skin of the playoffs, but it surely wasn’t for an absence of effort these previous few weeks. He gained the pole at Darlington and led 37 laps early on, however the dealing with received away from him after the solar set and his hopes had been doomed for good when he suffered harm in the identical accident that took out Byron. Wallace completed sixteenth, and like Busch, he’ll set his sights on chasing wins for the rest of the season.
10. Joey Logano (Final week: 11)
Logano wanted an uneventful evening in Darlington after his involvement in wrecks in every of the previous 4 races — and he had one, coming house a strong eighth. It is exhausting to examine the No. 22 group making an excessive amount of noise within the playoffs given its lack of velocity all through the season, however as among the finest superspeedway drivers within the storage, the two-time champion may get rolling with a win in Atlanta.
11. Brad Keselowski (Final week: 9)
Keselowski, who completed 14th on Sunday, was surprisingly quiet and thus unable to again up his Darlington win from earlier within the season. It is exhausting to say what to make of his prospects towards making a run at a title, however after his teammate Buescher was left exterior the image, all the main focus at Roush-Fenway-Keselowski Racing is on the group’s co-owner. He and his No. 6 bunch have been identified to swing for the fences on technique, so maybe that might work of their favor.
12. Ty Gibbs (Final week: 10)
After the appeals by Austin Dillon and Richard Childress Racing to reinstate their playoff eligibility had been denied, Gibbs grew to become the largest beneficiary. Why? As a result of had Dillon’s Richmond win stood as counting for a playoff spot, his Twentieth-place effort in Darlington would have stunningly left him out after being greater than 100 factors above the bubble earlier in the summertime. The second-year driver can think about {that a} optimistic stroke of luck as he appears to make a deep run in his first playoff look.
13. Ross Chastain (Final week: 15)
Regardless of giving it his all at Darlington with a late technique name to take the lead on outdated tires, Chastain can have no Melon Magic this season. He completed fifth, however nothing in need of a win was going to be ok, and now he’ll battle Buescher, Wallace and Busch for “better of the remainder” honors whereas hoping to attain a victory or two in some unspecified time in the future in these closing 10 races.
14. Chase Briscoe (Final week: not ranked)
Briscoe picked a good time to win and have the race of his life. In a season stuffed with unpredictable finishes and upset winners, this one was removed from a fluke. Briscoe had the second-best automotive all race behind solely Larson, and he straight-up took it from him on a late restart earlier than holding off Busch within the closing laps. His win ensures Stewart-Haas Racing can have a playoff competitor in its farewell season.
15. Martin Truex Jr. (Final week: 12)
It appears as if each week issues handle to hit a brand new low for Truex. He is within the playoffs, however after crashing out at Darlington on solely the third lap, he may need the least momentum of any driver nonetheless standing. His Thirty sixth-place end is his fifth in a row exterior the highest 20 and seventh prior to now eight races, finishing a fully nightmarish summer time for a driver who desperately wants one thing to go proper for him in his closing full-time marketing campaign.
16. Chris Buescher (Final week: 14)
Within the spring Darlington race, Buescher gave the impression to be on his approach to profitable earlier than late contact with Reddick ended his hopes of solidifying a playoff spot. All of it got here full circle Sunday when Briscoe’s win knocked him out of the postseason. At Darlington, Buescher by no means appeared to have a lot velocity. He fought his means as much as sixth because of some pit technique on the finish, but it surely’s clear from his dejected post-race interview that ethical victories do not imply a lot for him.
Dropped out: Harrison Burton
