CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Love it or hate it, the current point system went a long way to saving the Playoff hopes of two former NASCAR Cup champions.
Without Playoff and stage points, the Round of 8 could have lined up completely different.
While the complexion of the Playoffs appeared to take shape following the first round, postseason favorites such as Kyle Larson and regular season champion Martin Truex Jr., simply did not live up to expectations in the Round of 12, but they survived to battle in the next round.
Larson enjoyed an average finish of 2.3 in the first round. Over the last three races, Larson’s average finish was 19.6. After wrecking his car eight laps into practice on Saturday, he came from 36th in Sunday’s Bank of America ROVAL 400 to finish 13th—one point ahead of Truex and 13 points ahead of ninth-place Ross Chastain, the first driver missed the cut.
“It was a stressful weekend, but the No. 5 team and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports did a great job working hard on this backup car late last night,” Larson said. “I felt like our car was really good today. We were just pretty conservative there at times. I just didn’t want to make a mistake like I did last year and take ourselves completely out of it.
“It was just stressful there the final stage, but we were able to get in, which was the goal.”
While Larson was at least competitive in the first round, Truex has been living on borrowed time—and Playoff points since the regular season. In the Round of 16, his average finish was 24.3. Of course that number reflects the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team’s misfortunes at Kansas Speedway, where Truex cut a right rear tire and hit the wall three laps into the event.
But the 2017 Cup champion’s effort was mediocre in the Round of 12 round with an average finish of 18.3. Sunday’s performance at the Charlotte ROVAL did nothing to change the conversation. After qualifying 11th, Truex finished 20th.
“I’m definitely excited we’re not coming back here again,” Truex said. “This track has just been a thorn in our side. Feel good about moving on and feel good about what we can do the next three races. Some good tracks for us and hopefully we can get something going. It’s been a pretty tough playoffs so far.”
Truex has led 832 laps in 2023, but he hasn’t lead a single circuit in the Playoffs. His last time in the lead was at Daytona on August 26th. Truex has amassed 15 top 10s in 2023, but he hasn’t enjoyed a top-10 result since Watkins Glen on August 20th. He has accumulated nine top fives in 2023, but it’s been 10 races since he scored a top five (a runner-up finish at Michigan).
Before the points were reset on Sunday, Truex was eighth in the standings 12 points ahead of Chastain. Thank goodness for the 15 bonus points that the No. 19 team was awarded for winning the regular season title—that gift alone carried Truex to second in the standings to start the Round of 8.
“Stage points and bonus points,” Truex credited for his current position. “I didn’t create the system. We used it to our advantage. That won’t get us through the next one. The next one, you’ve got to be running up front. Two winners of the next three races are probably going to be Playoff guys that are still going. Need to turn it up, and we need to figure it out quickly.”
Truex has won at all four of the final race tracks—including Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where the NASCAR Cup Series competes on Sunday. In addition to his two wins, Truex’s worst finish in his last six starts on the 1.5-mile track is eighth. His average finish at LVMS is 10th.
But he’s right. The No. 19 team needs to figure out whatever is missing with their performance, because without a win, there’s no room for error over the next three races. Yet due to the current system, Truex lived to battle another round.
“That’s the beauty and that’s the thing that sucks about this deal, you know what I mean? I’m sure there’s guys that are upset,” Truex said. “They outran us enough to get in, but they didn’t have the bonus points. It is what it is.
“I hate that we didn’t run better today or finish better at least. I thought the first two stages maybe our car was pretty decent, but, man, I don’t know what happened. Need to go back and look at that. It wasn’t much fun, but we made it so here we go. We’ll try three more.“
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
