DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — After 25 regular-season races, a two-month break due to the COVID-19 pandemic and numerous twists and turns, the battle to make the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs comes down to a final showdown Saturday night at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
With 13 drivers already locked into the postseason, either by wins or on points, the final three playoff berths will be decided at the end of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at the 2.5-mile, high-banked Daytona tri-oval.
While there is a possibility that Clint Bowyer — 14th in points — could be knocked out of the 16-driver field by the end of Saturday’s race, that chance is extremely remote.
Regardless of who wins the race, Bowyer will assure himself a playoff spot by earning three points at Daytona, meaning he could clinch the 14th postseason berth as early as the end of stage one.
That realistically leaves three drivers in a duel for the final two spots, barring a new winner throwing the whole conversation into flux: Matt DiBenedetto, William Byron and seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson.
The trio enters Daytona separated by nine points, with the challenge of navigating a race where disaster can strike at a moment’s notice ahead of them. It’s a race where absolutely nothing is assured.
DiBenedetto is chasing his first playoff appearance at NASCAR’s top level, hoping to put the famed No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford Mustang into the postseason with a shot to chase the championship for the first time since Ryan Blaney accomplished a similar feat by winning at Pocono Raceway in 2017.
He knows a nine-point margin over the cut line isn’t safe by any means, especially with other drivers in the field having to win to qualify for the playoffs.
]That only increases the intensity, he noted.
“If I was a guessing man I would say (this race will be) probably quite a bit more chaotic and (have) a whole lot of desperation, because this is the last attempt or opportunity for a whole lot of people to make the playoffs,” DiBenedetto said. “A lot of people can win at Daytona, so I would assume it might be quite chaotic.
“Sometimes it doesn’t really matter how smart you race and what you do and all the things you do right, even if you are running first or second,” he added. “A lot that is out of your hands at superspeedways.”
The battle between Byron and Johnson — the last man currently in and the first man out, respectively — is perhaps even more intriguing, given the relationship between the pair and their status as teammates.
Byron once collected Johnson memorabilia, and now works with Chad Knaus, the crew chief who guided Johnson to all seven of his NASCAR Cup Series championships.
The fact that it’s Byron who could deny Johnson a shot to race for a record eighth Cup title in Johnson’s final full-time season in NASCAR is ironic, to say the least. It’s not lost on Byron, either.
“Jimmie is the guy that I looked up to as a kid,” Byron said. “I was really a 48 fan through and through. I’ve got a lot of 48 stuff at my parent’s house and a lot of different diecast cars.
“When it comes to Saturday, I think we’re going to be around each other — there’s no question, at some point of the race, we will be — but there’s also so many cars that come into play at a place like Daytona. Dover, we were around each other at the finish. Things went well and we were able to race clean and all of that,” Byron noted. “I’ve never had issues with Jimmie — maybe my rookie year a couple of times, but that was just learning situations and understanding the Cup Series.
“We’ll just see how Saturday night goes.”
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