DARLINGTON, SC.: The next phase in the battle for the NASCAR Cup Series championship starts Sunday at Darlington Raceway in the Cook Out Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
For many of the 16 drivers who claimed Playoff spots during the 26-race regular season, it’s as much about trying to survive the Round of 16 by whatever means possible as it is about attempting to advance by winning one of the three races in the opening round—at Darlington, Richmond or Bristol.
With a hefty 28-Playoff-point lead over second seed Ryan Blaney and third seed Martin Truex Jr., Regular Season Champion Kyle Larson enters the Playoff as the heavy favorite. Farther down the grid, however, only 13 Playoff points separate Alex Bowman (sixth seed) and Denny Hamlin (seventh seed) from 16th seed Kevin Harvick.
Accordingly, the 11 drivers from Bowman on down have little or no margin for error if they hope to stave off elimination in the first round.
With 2,002 points to start the Playoff, Harvick has the highest hill to climb, but the driver of the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford is perhaps best equipped to accomplish the task of survival.
A nine-time winner in 2020, the 2014 series champion has failed to find Victory Lane so far this year, but his six top-five finishes are most among the bottom five seeds, and his average finish of 11.7 likewise is the high-water mark for that group.
“I feel good about our team,” says Harvick, who won two of the three races at Darlington last year. “I think our team has done a great job with the circumstances we’ve been presented with, and I think the last four or five weeks our cars have run a lot better.
“We’ve still got some work to do with some things on the balance side of the car to start these races, but in the end, our team has done a great job, and those numbers could have been a lot better if it weren’t for three or four ill-timed accidents at the end of a few of the races.
“You obviously want to win, but some years just don’t go exactly how you want them to go, and I think those are the years that you’ve got to dig down and do the things that our guys have done this year. So (you’ve) got to be in it to win it, and we’ve given ourselves a chance and see where it all falls in the end.”
Aric Almirola, Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell and Tyler Reddick each posted just two top-five results in the regular season. Those three drivers likely will need a flawless first round to advance.
Reddick, who secured the final Playoff berth with a battle-scarred fifth-place finish in last Saturday’s regular-season finale at Daytona, nevertheless is optimistic entering the Round of 16.
“For most of this year, especially once we got it rolling the way it needed to be, we were running inside the top 10 a lot, having shots, one pit stop or one decision here or there away from top fives, which unfortunately haven’t had a lot of those this year,” Reddick says. “But we’ve been right there. Little details will either make or break this Playoff run for us.
“But I like where we’ve been going. I still feel like we’re still improving, but we’re right where we need to be for the right time at the start of this.”
Doubtless, the likely frontrunners at Darlington will garner most of the headlines, but the most significant action may involve those near the bottom of the grid trying to gain an early advantage in the fight to make the Round of 12.
Source: Reid Spencer / NASCAR Wire Service
