BROOKLYN, Mich.: For the four drivers between zero and 18 points around the NASCAR Cup Playoff bubble, there were myriad emotions experienced at Richmond Raceway last Sunday after race winner Austin Dillon vaulted from 32nd in the standings to title contender—until he wasn’t.
When NASCAR stripped the Playoff eligibility benefits of the victory on Wednesday, after determining Dillon’s on-track actions had crossed the line of acceptable racing, the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevy was out of the picture once again.
With the 12 winning drivers of 2024 locked in, and 13th-place Martin Truex Jr. sitting 78 points above the line, at least three positions remain up for grabs. Unless another new winner emerges over the final three races of the regular season, Ty Gibbs, Bubba Wallace, Chris Buescher and Ross Chastain will fight to the finish at Darlington Raceway for one of the coveted Playoff berths.
“It definitely helps us out,” said Wallace, who is 15th in the standings. “We are still only in by three, but there are still four spots left instead of the three.
“Definitely a relief there, but it is still going to be a dogfight. I said that after the race – it is going to be a dogfight for the next three races. We are still not safe, but there is an extra spot open now.”
Earlier this year, Gibbs appeared destined for a first-time win . The sophomore sensation seemed comfortably able to make the Playoffs, but the summer months have not been kind. Gibbs’ only top 10 since May was his third-place result at the Chicago Street Course. Following an accident at Sonoma Raceway and an engine failure at Pocono Raceway, Gibbs is 11th in the standings and 14th on the Playoff grid.
Still, having been comfortably in the top 10 for most of the season, Gibbs would have been disappointed to see a fellow driver not advance on merit.
“I’m glad they took away at least the Playoff deal because the way it is, then you have somebody that hasn’t run good all year make it in because in one race they ran good,” Gibbs said. “Somehow. I don’t know how they ran good out of nowhere.
“And what did they say, it’s a $2-million jump? I don’t think that’s fair. It’s hard though, because the way this Playoff system is, it puts you in a box to do stuff like that. And the dividends of making it in is that is that you get that big of a payout at the end of the year.
“I think it was—of course–dirty, but I’ve made some questionable, dirty stuff in the past, but I think I’ve learned from it.”
Buescher is on the bubble and tied in points with Chastain. The driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Keselowski Ford tops Chastain based on top finishes. Still winless this season, Buescher believes Dillon’s dilemma doesn’t change a thing for him or his team.
“We knew at the beginning of the year before we ever got to Daytona that this was the only way to really be comfortable at any point before playoffs was a win,” said Buescher, who scored three victories last year—including wins at the next two tracks on the schedule. “And really, there’s no way to get through the next three weeks and be comfortable without one.
“So no, this isn’t going to change anything for how we approach these next handful of races. For us, we’re looking at a stretch that has been very good to us. I was just laughing coming in here last time we were at this table was for all the right reasons. So, I was looking forward to that for this go around at Michigan…We had a blast here with the race last year and are really looking forward to giving that another go.”
Chastain finished fifth last week at Richmond—his first top-five since Sonoma Raceway seven races ago. Unlike Buescher, who has speed but lacks execution, Chastain feels the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolets is missing both. Chastain, who scored two wins in 2023, has accumulated just three top-five finishes over the first 23 races.
“We’re tied in points,” Chastain said of himself and Buescher. “We have the same average finishing position. It’s funny…I don’t feel like we’ve raced around each other a ton. Yeah, I don’t look at anything other than trying to go fast. Coming out of the break, obviously, you go to Richmond (Raceway) and run up inside the top-10; drive up there from the 20s and into 11th-ish. And then to race and go on and finish fifth, that’s better than we have been for several months.
“So that’s the only thing we’re focused on…executing. I missed pit road at Richmond in Stage 2 on the second green flag stop. That cost us spots when we were ahead of the No. 3 at that time. I came out several seconds behind him, the No. 23 (Wallace) and somebody else, and I never passed them again.
“So minimizing those kind of mistakes. That’s the only goal for this No. 1 team and Trackhouse—and just to go faster. That’s going to solve a lot of our problems.”
Clearly, a win would solve the Playoff problems for any of these contenders—and for Gibbs, his first career victory can’t come soon enough.
“I definitely want to win my first win straight up,” Gibbs said. “I wish I could have won at Darlington a couple of months ago. That would be the coolest place to win your first Cup race.
“But I would take a win any day of the week. We were super close to the last one (at Darlington). Finished second. I wish they all would have wrecked each other so I could have got it. We were really fast there, qualified good and stayed up front the whole time. It would be super cool to get it at Darlington. It would be awesome. But I would take it this weekend, I would take it next weekend. I would take it the weekend after, whenever I get it. ”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
