Jeff Burton isn’t being a ‘Debby Downer’, trying to steal some of the joy from Ryan Blaney’s win last Sunday at Nashville. But he also wants to make sure that Blaney, now that he finally has a win this season and has a provisional berth in the playoffs, doesn’t take that win for granted.
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The reason: Blaney has a whopping five DNFs in the first 14 races this year, which could potentially cost him dearly when the final playoff seedings are established at the end of the 26-race regular season.
That lack of additional playoff points could also hurt him when it is time to advance to the second, third and final round of the playoffs. If Blaney remains short on points, it could be the difference between advancing or seeing his championship hopes fade into obscurity.
“There is a price to be paid for the failures,” Burton said on this past Monday’s NASCAR Inside the Race on YouTube. “As the playoffs get going, we’ve seen the lack of those points being where you need them in the playoffs, they come back and bite you.
“You miss (advancing to the next round in the playoffs) around by one or two points, so don’t dismiss by any means. Just because they won this race that it doesn’t matter, because it does matter what you do in the regular season, it 100 percent matters.”
Since the Cup playoffs began in 2004, there’s been a saying that “win and you’re in.” But that’s only to start the playoffs. If you don’t consistently earn more points during the 26-race regular season, like stage points, nothing is guaranteed once the post-season begins.
The solution is simple: Win more races or earn more stage points
Burton acknowledged that Blaney can still go on to win more regular season races and become a serious contender once the playoffs begin. But in the next 12 regular season races, Blaney and his team have to do everything they can to earn either more wins or stage points
“They have ground to make up,” Burton said. “Do not think that because they won this race (Nashville), they have a clear path to winning a championship. They are at a deficit. They have room to make it up, they have time to make it up, but it can cost you.”
While Blaney picked up eight playoff points for Sunday’s win, he remained in seventh place in the standings, the same place he was going into the race. He needs at least a few more wins or stage points to give himself some cushion points come playoff time to essentially wipe away the damage incurred by those five DNFs.
