Yahoo Autos Beyond the Obvious: What to Watch As NASCAR Playoffs Kick Off at Darlington
A handful of debatable thoughts surrounding the upcoming NASCAR Playoff Series that opens Sunday evening at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway
Reddick, Childress Relevant
Older fans are delighted to see Richard Childress Racing return to some degree of Cup Series relevancy. There was a time between 1986-1994 when team owner Richard Childress and the late Dale Earnhardt owned Cup racing, winning 51 races and six championships in a nine-year span.
RCR was briefly competitive, but never the same after Earnhardt died in the 2001 Daytona 500. (NASCAR critics say nothing about the sport has been the same without him around to keep everybody in line). Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, grandson Austin Dillon, and more than a dozen other drivers did what they could, but the magic never returned.
That’s why so many fans feel the unexpected revival at RCR is a welcome sight. Tyler Reddick won twice this year and Dillon won the last regular-season race to make the 16-car Playoff field. This has been RCR’s most successful season since Harvick won four times in 2013 before leaving to drive for Stewart Haas Racing.
RCR might be feeling great about itself except for news that Reddick wants to leave the No. 8 Chevrolet after next season to drive for Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan at 23XI. Many series-watchers say Childress is so angry about that unexpected development that the chances of Reddick coming back for 2023 are pretty slim. But stranger things have happened. There’s some talk that RCR is among the possibilities when Kyle Busch gets a new deal.
By the way, when Playoff-eligible Reddick closed fast on Playoff-hopeful Dillon in the final laps at Daytona Beach last weekend, did anyone really expect Reddick to try to pass his front-running teammate to win, thus keeping Dillon from the Playoffs?
Of course not, just like nobody thought for a second that second-running Michael Waltrip was going to try to pass leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the final lap of the 2001 Pepsi 400 at Daytona Beach. In both cases—NASCAR’s 100 percent rule notwithstanding—all drivers involved knew who signed their checks.
Penske in the Mix
All three of Team Penske’s Ford Mustangs made the Playoff field, but Ryan Blaney’s place wasn’t secured until the final laps of the final regular-season race. Teammates Austin Cindric qualified by winning the season-opening Daytona 500 and Joey Logan won the early-season race at Darlington, then later at St. Louis.
Despite his Hall of Fame career, team owner Roger Penske has only two Cup Series titles: Brad Keselowski (2012) and Joey Logano (2018). If he’s going to add another Bill France Championship trophy to his display case it’ll have to come from Logano or (less likely) Blaney.
Trackhouse Racing Comes of Age
It’s well past time we quit calling Chevrolet-based Trackhouse Racing a “young, upstart, developing team.”
The Justin Marks/Pitbull organization isn’t behaving anything like this is its second full Cup season and its first with two teams.
Popular watermelon-smashing villain Ross Chastain has two victories this year and Mexican native Daniel Suarez has one. Don’t expect them to advance deep into the Playoffs, but who would have thought they’d be among five drivers to get their breakthrough victories this year? There’s something happening here, but what it is ain’t exactly clear.
It would be astonishing if one or the other made the Championship 4 at Phoenix, but aren’t three victories and two Playoff spots just as astonishing?
Hendrick Going for No. 14
Buoyed by recent Cup Series champions Chase Elliott (2020) and Kyle Larson (2021), Hendrick Motorsports put all four of its Chevrolets in the Playoff field. Elliott won four times, Larson and William Byron each won twice, and Alex Bowman won once.
Based on almost every metric, it’s easy to imagine at least Elliott or Larson reaching the Championship. If one or the other wins the Cup – or teammates Alex Bowman or William Byron, for that matter – it’ll be the 14th for team owner Rick Hendrick: seven from Jimmie Johnson, four from Jeff Gordon, and one each from Terry Labonte, Chase Elliott, and Kyle Larson.
Clock Ticking on Kyle Busch Decision
Speaking of a two-time champion and his future….
David Wilson of Toyota Racing Development recently told reporters that he expects Kyle Busch’s future to be determined within the next seven to 10 days. Busch’s long-time sponsor at M&M Mars isn’t returning to Joe Gibbs Racing and the team is struggling to find a new one.
Here are some of Busch’s comments from NASCAR’s Playoffs Media Day late in the week in Charlotte:
“I was hoping yesterday,” he said of Wilson’s “seven to 10 days prediction for some solid news. “I’m not going to put a timeline on it, but time is ticking and there are a lot of other options and a lot of other dominoes that need to fall. Just talking amongst others, I’m the first one that needs to know. And, yes, returning to Joe Gibbs is an option.
“Trust me, my gut doesn’t feel good. That’s not just for decisions being made, but more so decisions being weighed and how you come across to those you’re going to disappoint. There’s going to be one winner and the rest are not winners. Good for me, but that’s why it’s been touch-and-go and trying to tread lightly. There’s more than one option that has paper in front of me.”
Busch was asked how tough it’s been enduring this issue and still concentrating in the race car.
“It’s tough,” he said. “This is one of the toughest things I’ve had to do and dwell on or look forward to for the last 15 years. You don’t want to have to do this again. I’m getting too old for this. A lot more gray hair this week or this year.
“This weighs on me every time, every day of the week. The best thing is experience going racing on Sunday. I’m a racer, that’s all I know. When I get to the track, I put my helmet on and that’s what I focus on … being by myself. I do my best work inside that car. I don’t have to think about anything other than making that car go fast. Hopefully, (the uncertainty) will be put to rest in seven to 10 days.”
Don't Sleep on the Stewart-Haas Fords
Let’s be honest about it: how many NASCAR-watchers figured two of the three Stewart Haas Fords would make the Playoffs? Former series champion and 60-race winner Kevin Harvick? Yeah, he would have been a pre-season favorite. But hardly anyone would have predicted relative unknown Chase Briscoe.
Ironically, Briscoe was Playoff-eligible far deeper into the season than Harvick, the undisputed team leader. Briscoe won the early-season race at Phoenix and thus was Playoff-eligible right almost from the start. Harvick didn’t join him until in August, when he won on back-to-back weekends at Michigan and Richmond.
Cole Custer, the other driver on the team, had only two single-digit finishes in 26 races and was never anywhere near shouting distance of the Playoffs. He had two finishes in the 30s and 13 in the 20s, not the kind of performance team owners Tony Stewart and Gene Haas expected.
