RICHMOND, Va. — Austin Dillon threw a wrench into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff picture on Saturday night at Richmond Raceway.
Dillon, who entered the penultimate race of the regular season 24th in the standings, drove to victory and became the 14th different winner of the season, earning a playoff spot.
That was unwelcome news to drivers hoping to make the playoffs based on points.
If there is no new winner in next week’s regular season finale at Daytona Int’l Speedway, both 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman, who finished second at Richmond, stand to transfer into the Playoffs on points.
Reddick, who won the opening stage and led 41 laps early finished 34th, four laps down after his car was hit in tight racing. He is 15th in the Playoff standings, with a 60-point edge above the Playoff cutoff line while Bowman is 16th – 29 points to the good.
That would lead RFK Racing teammates Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece, who are 11th and 13th, respectively, in the standings on the outside looking in.
Those two along with other notables such as Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs, A.J. Allmendinger and Brad Keselowski need to win at Daytona to gain a Playoff spot.
William Byron clinched the regular season title on Saturday night thanks to the misfortune of teammate Chase Elliott, who was involved in a mid-race crash and did not finish.
Byron’s Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott – Byron’s closest challenger for the Regular Season Championship title and the 15 Playoff bonus points payday – was involved in a 10-car accident mid-race and suffered his first DNF of the season.
“Feels great. Really the best 12th-place finish I’ve ever had,” Byron said. “We came. In here and just did a solid job. We qualified solid, but this is definitely our toughest race track. We had a solid plan and executed and it feels good. This team has worked hard.”
Harrison Burton is the defending race winner at Daytona and five of the last seven winners of this race were celebrating their first win of the year.
