The first round of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs will be tough. Three unpredictable tracks will feature and it will be tough for drivers to maintain their form and finish inside the top eight. Last year’s championship race driver Christopher Bell expressed concern over the schedule in a recent interview with NASCAR insider Andrew Kurland. The Joe Gibbs Racing star had to retire from the championship race last year and will hope to become a champion this season.
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The three tracks of the round of 16 are Atlanta, Watkins Glen, and Bristol. Atlanta is a superspeedway and there is always an element of unpredictability in those races. The most recent example of an unpredictable superspeedway race was the Coke Zero Sugar 400.
Then there is Bristol where drivers experienced massive tire drop-off that left drivers and teams confounded. And Watkins Glen is a tight road course which is never a strong point for NASCAR racers. Then there are tracks like Talladega, Martinsville, and the Roval in the later rounds.
“The schedule has me a little bit concerned, I’m sure everybody’s concerned about it having an extra speedway race in there and Bristol with the tire issues that we had in the spring and nobody knows what’s going to happen when we go back there for a second time. There are a lot of unknowns going into this year’s playoffs,” Bell explained.
Earlier, Tyler Reddick also expressed concern over a couple of the round of 16 races — Atlanta and Bristol. The Atlanta Motor Speedway is an interesting one because it’s as long as intermediate tracks but it races like a speedway. So cars would have to run at high speeds for a shorter distance which can be quite tricky.
Despite tricky tracks, Bell excited for playoffs
Regardless of the uncertainties, the #20 driver has some level of comfort going into the round of 16. Bell revealed that he has more points than ever going into a playoff round and that will give him something of a safety net. He has three race wins and several more stage wins this season.
“I’m excited about it. I am in the best position that I’ve ever been in in my career as far as the playoff seeding, having the most playoff points that I’ve had. In the last two years, I’ve been able to make it all the way through to the championship race so I am excited about that,” he said.
The #20 driver is not yet considered as one of the favorites to win the championship but he certainly has what it takes to get the job done. Now, it will be all about executing the races as best as possible.
