14 drivers can still make the playoffs
This Sunday’s running of the Big Machine Vodka Brickyard 400 will set the field for the 16-driver Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
Fourteen drivers are already locked into the playoffs either with victories or by a high enough points total. The only two drivers not locked into the playoffs but currently hold a position on the grid are Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman.
The maximum points a driver can gain on a deficit is 59 in one race. The driver would have to win both stages (10 points per stage win) and the race (40 points).
No driver outside the current top-16 on the playoff grid can earn a spot in the post-season without winning a race. All drivers on the outside looking in are in a must-win situation in order to make the postseason.
The drivers who could still make the playoff appearance via a win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway are Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Newman, Paul Menard, Daniel Suarez, Jamie McMurray, William Byron, Chris Buescher, A.J. Allmendinger, David Ragan, Michael McDowell, Kasey Kahne, Bubba Wallace, Ty Dillon and Matt DiBenedetto.
Drivers who have made the playoffs before currently on the outside are: Stenhouse, Newman, Menard, McMurray, Buescher, Allmendinger and Kahne.
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Dominic Aragon View All
Dominic Aragon is currently the editor-in-chief for The Racing Experts.
From Grants, New Mexico, USA, Aragon started watching NASCAR in 2004 and has been covering the sport since 2009. Aragon is a 2012 graduate of Grants High School and a May 2016 graduate of the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Mass Communications & Journalism. Aragon has worked in local and national media, as a musician, and an educator. He is co-author of the 2024 book "All of It: Daytona 500 Champion Tells the Rest of the Story" with racer Geoff Bodine.
Aragon, his wife Feliz, and son Christopher currently reside in Grants, New Mexico, USA.
You can reach Dominic at daragon@theracingexperts.net.