The time for making four more cuts in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff is upon the 12 remaining drivers seeking a title.
Coming off an incredibly damaging Sunday at Talladega where a massive late wreck shook up the standings, the dozen title-pursuing drivers can expect pretty much anything when the series tackles its final road course.
The field of 12 will be trimmed to eight Sunday afternoon when the drivers return to their home turf for the Bank of America Roval 400 at the slightly reconfigured Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.
The 109-lap elimination race at the Roval has always been the site of the kind of craziness NASCAR likes. That ramps up even more as the field gets pared to a four-race dash to the title, with the caveat being a handful of alterations at the Turn 1 end of the traditional oval course.
In the six Roval races thus far, five have been won by current playoff drivers. Chase Elliott scored two wins, followed by Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson with one apiece. All four are currently in the top eight in points.
Blaney wrecked and finished 39th at Talladega, but his previous work and bad luck by others left him with a 25-point cushion this weekend.
“Finished behind those guys, but we did a great job at Kansas a week prior to kind of put (us) in a good spot on points with some of those having issues at the end,” the 2018 Roval winner said. “So not in a bad spot this weekend.”
No driver battling for a playoff spot had a better day than Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin last Sunday.
Entering the dangerous Talladega race just 11 points above the cut line, the fortunes of the No. 11 Toyota appeared to take a hit when he was involved in a wreck as Stage 2 ended.
Eight of the 12 title contenders came to the final checkered flag after the top 15.
Consequently, Hamlin moved to fourth place (+30) by avoiding the “Big One” — a 28-car mess — and easily slipping by as drivers’ championship hopes dwindled in the closing laps.
“I was a mile and a half away from the wreck when it happened,” said Hamlin after his 10th-place effort. “I feel happy about it. I mean, ultimately, if you would have said I’d be where I’m at, I would have certainly took it before this race happened.”
Austin Cindric had his efforts go in the opposite direction of Blaney, his Team Penske teammate, after a strong showing for most of the high-speed race in the draft.
Triggering the big crash, Cindric had his No. 2 Ford turned by fellow blue oval driver Brad Keselowski, who was hit by Penske pilot Joey Logano in an accordion-like game of bumper cars.
Cindric started Talladega last in the title standings at minus-29 — the same number of laps he led on Sunday — and quickly went from possibly claiming victory for the first time at the track to a dismal 32nd place, leaving him 11th in points — still 29 points behind eighth-place Elliott.
That means Cindric, along with Logano (-13), Daniel Suarez (-20) and Chase Briscoe (-32), will need to make Roval magic in order to become Round of 8ers.
