Last year’s regular-season champion and Championship 4 contender, Tyler Reddick, along with Alex Bowman, head to Daytona for one final shot at locking down a playoff berth with a win. The odds tilt slightly against Reddick, who holds a modest 22.9 average finish across his last seven starts at DIS, while Bowman carries a stronger 10.4 mark since 2022. Still, NASCAR veteran Corey LaJoie believes missing the cut wouldn’t be the end of the world for either driver.
Advertisement
Currently, Austin Dillon, sitting in P25 in the driver standings table, and Shane van Gisbergen, in P24, have already secured spots. Bowman, with six top-fives and 14 top-10s, sits in P9, and Reddick, with five top-fives and nine top-10s, is at P7. They remain outside looking in, their paths blocked by race winners. SVG grabbed four road course victories, and Dillon seized control at Richmond, leading 107 laps to lock his place.
LaJoie pointed out that both Reddick and Bowman had the same chances as Dillon, who owns just one top-five, to race their way in. On NASCAR’s Inside the Race with Steve Letarte and Todd Gordon, he stressed, “It’s not like Austin Dillon has tried less hard for the last 23 races to win in the championship. Those guys go to work every week, and it’s just freaking hard to win a cup race…
“And if NASCAR sets the game board and says this is what you have to do to make the playoffs, then Tyler Reddick has had the same opportunity to do that. Alex Bowman has the same opportunity to do what Austin Dillon did, what SVG did, what Josh Berry did earlier in the season.”
“Because they didn’t execute for the first 23 races, now they have to wear the stress this week and go attack Daytona with the potential of missing the playoffs, even being top-10 in points,” he added.
Reddick once looked secure, but a crash Saturday night at Richmond that left him 34th, paired with Bowman’s runner-up finish, now places both drivers squarely on the bubble. Suppose no new winner emerges at Daytona, both advance. But in case a new winner takes the checkered flag, only one moves forward.
Reddick carries a 29-point cushion over Bowman, meaning a ninth-place or better finish guarantees him the spot regardless of Bowman’s result. Yet at Daytona, survival often matters more than numbers, as one misstep or wreck can turn the tables upside down.
