Seven more races are left to go in the 2024 Cup Series regular season. That means those who haven’t secured a victory thus far have seven more chances to do so and fix a spot in the playoffs. Of those looking to qualify on points, none is safe except Joe Gibbs Racing superstar Martin Truex Jr. who is currently fifth on the points table with 591 points and 143 points above the playoff elimination line.
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As things stand, five drivers are in a position to scrape through to the next round based on points. They’re Truex Jr., Ty Gibbs, Ross Chastain, Chris Buescher, and Alex Bowman. The problem for the rest apart from Truex is that they’re just 51-70 points above the cutline. A couple of bad races and any among them could lose the safe spot they are in now.
Talking about the situation on his podcast, Kevin Harvick said, “With Logano winning [In Nashville] it kind of turns that whole playoff picture a little bit upside down. I’m telling you, if one person outside of that top 16 wins it’s really going to get interesting. Martin Truex, I feel like he’s the only guy that’s safe on points.”
Though Truex Jr. hasn’t been able to reach the victory lane yet this year, he has pulled off great results consistently. Over the first 19 races, he has secured four top-5s and eight top-10s to reach where he is now. Currently in his final season in the Cup Series, the 44-year-old will be giving it his all to try and reach as deep as he can into the contest – one last time.
Who stands to gain from the failures of the likes of Buescher and Bowman?
RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher is 56 points above the cutline and Hendrick Motorsports star Alex Bowman is 51 points above it. Immediately below them outside the line is 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace (-51 points). Should Wallace be able to find more speed in his #23 Toyota Camry XSE, he could potentially foil the plans of those above him and steal their spot.
Ty Gibbs (+70 points) and Ross Chastain (+66 points) aren’t far off from the danger zone either. They’d both better be off with a victory in one of the upcoming races than leave it up to points to enter the playoffs. A new winner from outside the cutoff line at this point of the season could ignite chaos on the table and shake things up completely.
