Editor’s Note: This does not reflect Austin Dillon’s penalty on Wednesday evening. NASCAR officials revoked Dillon’s eligibility in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
Following Austin Dillon’s upset victory at Richmond (Va.) Raceway on Sunday night, the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race was shaken up once again.
With Dillon vaulting from 32nd in the standings to the 13th spot in the playoffs by virtue of winning a race, all the non-winners who were previously above Dillon in points were bumped down one position on the playoff grid.
After Richmond, these 13 drivers are locked into the playoffs based on winning races: Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, Austin Cindric and Dillon.
Like Dillon, if any full-time driver currently not locked into the playoffs, were to win this weekend at Michigan Int’l Speedway, that driver and team would earn a playoff berth.
Here’s where things stand following Richmond:
14. Martin Truex Jr. (+78)
The driver who lost the most points toward the playoff picture was Martin Truex Jr. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver entered Richmond with a comfortable 108-point gap to the cutline.
However, an engine failure in his No. 19 Toyota Camry during the final stage of Sunday’s race was Truex’s demise.
“It’s been a tough couple of months, finish-wise,” Truex said. “Speed-wise, aside from maybe just a few races like Iowa, we’ve been solid. Just need to capitalize on that and execute. It takes a lot of things to win races, lead laps, stay up front and have fast cars, so hope we can put it all together this weekend.
“But I feel good about it. Yeah, just kind of been in a slump for a little while now and we’ve had fast cars like we had at Richmond, and then bad things have happened that have kept us from good finishes.”
While 78 points is still comfortable, a loss of 30 points in one race proved Truex is not safe.
Truex has seven straight top-10 finishes, including a runner-up result last year, at Michigan’s two-mile tri-oval.
15. Ty Gibbs (+18)
Truex’s teammate Ty Gibbs also endured a tumultuous race at Richmond as he finished 22nd, one lap down. The finish was Gibbs’ third straight outside the top 20.
Prior to Richmond, Gibbs was 42 points above the cutline. His cushion shrank to 18 markers following the Cook Out 400.
Gibbs has two starts at Michigan, with a best finish of 10th while subbing for Kurt Busch with 23XI Racing in 2022.
16. Bubba Wallace (+3)
Bubba Wallace has quietly strung together three strong races in a row for 23XI Racing.
Wallace contended inside the top 10 for much of the evening at Richmond before finishing fourth, his third straight top-10 finish.
The driver of the No. 23 Toyota slid into the 16th and final playoff spot after starting Sunday’s race seven points out.
Perhaps a potential sleeper at Michigan, Wallace won the pole and finished second to Kevin Harvick there two years ago.
17. Ross Chastain (-3)
Ross Chastain dropped below the cutline following Richmond, but enjoyed a solid outing aboard the No. 1 Chevrolet.
The Trackhouse Racing driver scored his first top-five finish since June at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway after finishing fifth on Sunday.
Ahead of Michigan, Chastain is three points out of the final playoff spot.
He finished seventh last year at Michigan, his first top-10 finish in five previous starts at the track.
18. Chris Buescher (-3)
Perhaps the driver most relieved to see Michigan next on the calendar is Chris Buescher.
As the defending race winner there, Buescher may be in line for a similar outing as he dominated the second half of the race before holding off a hard-charging Truex for the win.
Buescher’s challenging stretch of races continued at Richmond as he finished 18th. It was his fourth straight finish outside the top 10.
Entering Richmond, Buescher was 17 points above the cutline, however, he heads to Michigan three points shy of the postseason.
Chase Briscoe (-102), Kyle Busch (-122) and Todd Gilliland (-133) round out the top 20 in points. They would need a victory to secure a berth into the playoffs.