Cup playoffs continue theme of ‘crazy year’ in NASCAR

How to describe these Cup playoffs? 

Well, Kevin Harvick came up with a slogan to explain why he’s no longer competing for a championship. He put it on a T-shirt. For $20 you can have one.

But there are other ways to look at what’s transpired and what could come in the second round at Texas, Talladega and the Charlotte Roval. 

Three races in, these playoffs have seen fire and rain (both at Darlington) and much, much more. 

All four playoff drivers with ties to Richard Childress Racing past, present or future have been eliminated. Two former champions are gone. A playoff newcomer with one top-10 finish in the last five months (!!) advanced to the second round. The series leader at the end of the first round is now tied for the final transfer spot entering the second round after the points reset.

“As far as the cutline goes, nobody is safe,” said former champion Chase Elliott, who enters this round as the points leader. 

Oh yeah, each of the first three playoff races were won by a driver not in the playoffs: Erik Jones (Darlington), Bubba Wallace (Kansas) and Chris Buescher (Bristol).

That’s never happened before. 

“Imagine if the playoffs started a couple weeks later,” Joey Logano said. “Holy cow. What a crazy year, which is what we expected. We expected this year to just be very unpredictable and no one really being able to figure this car out, and it really seems like there are still so many questions.”

Yes there are. 

Will the chaos continue? Will non-playoff drivers keep winning? Who is the next former champion eliminated? Who is the next surprise to advance? How will the Next Gen car further impact these playoffs?

“This car has reset that whole thing,” Ross Chastain said. “Like you can’t bring different headers here.