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It's Hard Not to Like Hendrick Motorsports' Chances of Another NASCAR Cup Title

7
Al Pearce
·3 min read
Photo credit: Chris Graythen - Getty Images
Photo credit: Chris Graythen - Getty Images

  • 2020 titlist Chase Elliott, 2021 titlist Kyle Larson, 2014 Rookie of the Year William Byron, and Alex Bowman are all into the Round of 12.

  • That three-race round of the NASCAR Cup Playoffs begins with a 500-miler on Sept. 18 at Texas Motor Speedway.

  • The Round of 12 won't include former champion Kevin Harvick and former two-time champion Kyle Busch, who were both eliminated on Saturday night at Bristol.

It’s probably way too early to deal with such things, but the Vegas bookies are most likely favoring the four-team Hendrick Motorsports juggernaut to win yet another NASCAR Cup Series title in a couple of months.

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The Chevrolet-based, 14-time championship company will send 2020 titlist Chase Elliott, 2021 titlist Kyle Larson, 2014 Rookie of the Year William Byron, and Alex Bowman into the Round of 12 that begins with a 500-miler on Sept. 18 at Texas Motor Speedway.

The three-set series goes from there to Talladega on Oct. 2, then goes to the Charlotte Roval on Oct. 9, when four more Playoff drivers will be eliminated. The Round of 8 will be Oct. 16 at Las Vegas, Oct. 23 at Homestead, and Oct. 30 at Martinsville. The championship will be determined on Nov. 6 at Phoenix among the four highest-ranked drivers from the original field of 16.

Joe Gibbs Racing will go to Texas, Talladega, and Charlotte with Toyota drivers Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell. At Team Penske, rookie Austin Cindric, veteran Ryan Blaney, and former champion Joey Logano are still eligible for the Cup in their Fords. Relative newcomer Trackhouse Racing remains in contention with Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez in Chevrolets, and Stewart Haas Racing has Chase Briscoe in a Ford.

NASCAR Cup Playoffs

Round of 12

  • 1. Chase Elliott 3,040

  • 2. Joey Logano 3,025

  • 3. Ross Chastain 3,020

  • 4. Kyle Larson 3,019

  • 5. William Byron 3,015

  • 6. Denny Hamlin 3,013

  • 7. Christopher Bell 3,013

  • 8. Ryan Blaney 3,013

  • 9. Chase Briscoe 3,009

  • 10. Alex Bowman 3,007

  • 11. Daniel Suarez 3,007

  • 12. Austin Cindric 3,006

Bold - Hendrick Motorsports drivers

In something of a major surprise – major compared to preseason forecasts back in February, before the Daytona 500 – former champion Kevin Harvick and former two-time champion Kyle Busch were eliminated. Harvick, almost certainly in a must-win situation, finished a credible 10th at Bristol, but still fell well below the 12-driver cut line.

Busch needed only a mediocre finish to stay among the top-12, but a late-race engine failure left him 34th at the finish and two agonizing points out of the Round of 12. (Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick, championship longshots at best, also were eliminated at Bristol, both in accidents).

“It's unfortunate, but we put ourselves in a little bit of a bind, points-wise, in the first two races,” said Dillon of Richard Childress Racing. “We were doing our job today; we had a great race car and got stage points. It’s just unfortunate we were caught up in it. We’ll go out try to win (the last seven) races and get better. I think today was a positive overall; we can use that going into next year.”

After getting his first two career victories this year, Reddick was doubly-disappointed at not advancing. “I saw the crash happen and checked up, but I just got run over,” he said. “We had two bad races with bad finishes with two really good race cars, but didn’t capitalize on it and that’s keeping us out.”

Reddick was asked what it was like limping around in a damaged car, hoping to inherit enough spots to maybe squeeze in. “It was terrible,” he said. “It’s out of your control; you can’t really fight to do anything about it. Hoping for others’ misfortunes is no way to race.”