For Chase Briscoe, Darlington was a triumph. He won the fall race for the second year in a row, punching his ticket to the Round of 12 and leaving the chaos of the first round of the Playoffs in his rearview mirror. For a dozen other Playoff drivers, though, Darlington was a disappointment they’d rather see the back of.
Only four of the sixteen Playoff drivers finished in the top ten in the first race of the postseason: Briscoe, Reddick, Wallace, and Hamlin. For the remainder, it was a grim reminder that advancing out of the first round isn’t a guarantee for champion or young talent alike.
For a first round that drivers describe as being about survival, it’s a poor start.
Luckily, the first round isn’t decided by one race, unless you win and automatically advance of course. There are three races in the round, and the Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (airing at 3 p.m. ET on USA, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is number two.
Odds via BetMGM
+425 – Ryan Blaney
+500 – Christopher Bell
+600 – Denny Hamlin
+800 – Kyle Larson
+800 – William Byron
+1000 – Chase Briscoe
+1100 – Joey Logano
+1400 – Tyler Reddick
+1600 – Austin Cindric
+1600 – Chase Elliott
The carnage at Darlington didn’t discriminate with two powerhouses in the sport hit harder than anyone.
Team Penske suffered a combination of wrecks and lack of speed. At Darlington, Cindric finished 12th, Blaney finished 18th, Logano finished 20th, and Penske-affiliated Wood Brothers Racing driver Josh Berry crashed out on the first lap and finished last.
Hendrick Motorsports saw all drivers qualify towards the back and none managed to recover – Elliott had the team’s best finish with 17th. Larson, who finished 19th, blamed damage from stack-ups in late restarts, though he acknowledged that it was confusing not to have the speed and said the team had to rebound.
It just shows that survival is a mantra for every team, even Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports. And it leaves some of their drivers, like Cindric, Elliott, Logano, Bowman, and Berry worryingly close to the Playoff bubble.
Playoff Bubble Entering Gateway
9. Austin Cindric (+12)
10. Christopher Bell (+11)
11. Chase Elliott (+9)
12. Shane van Gisbergen (+12)
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13. Joey Logano (-3)
14. Austin Dillon (-8)
15. Alex Bowman (-19)
16. Josh Berry (-19)
But Gateway is a second chance to start the Playoffs on the right foot.
Like anything in NASCAR, though, this second chance favors some more than others. Particularly in this case, that’s the Penske drivers.
In three races at Gateway, they’ve proven they’re the class of the field. Both Joey Logano and Austin Cindric have won and they have the two best average finishes – Logano’s 3.0 average is a result of never finishing out of the top five in the three years the series has visited.
Cindric explained that Gateway offers the most ‘normal’ race of the first round, compared the chaos already seen at Darlington and expected at Bristol – though he was careful to caution that pinning all hopes on one ‘normal’ track is a lot to ask for in a round of three races.
“It’s not a very normal racetrack, but you could look at it and think, ‘OK, there’s Darlington and Bristol. This is the only one that’s not crazy,'” Cindric described.
“I think it’s best to not be able to put yourself in a position to where that race has to be incredibly important,” he hedged.
Josh Berry agreed that Gateway is somewhat more predictable, racing like one of NASCAR’s bread-and-butter short tracks, but noted that it can produce its own unexpected moments. Nothing fits that bill better than Cindric’s win last year, when Ryan Blaney was leading coming to the white flag before dramatically running out of fuel and pulling over for second-place Cindric.
“I think you look at Gateway is a short track, but kind of a faster short track. Strategy and fuel mileage can be so important there, so there are things that can definitely go awry,” Berry said.
When so much has already gone awry for most of the Playoff drivers, a big portion of the field will be coming to Gateway hoping they’ve used up all of their share of bad luck for the postseason.
Practice will start at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday and qualifying will follow at 5:40 p.m. ET. Both sessions will air on truTV.
One Final Chance to Make the Xfinity Series Playoffs at Gateway
If the Cup Series Playoffs have started with a bang, the Xfinity Series still has to get there. That means setting the Playoff field, and Saturday night’s Nu Way 200 Sauced by Blues Hog at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (airing at 7:30 p.m. on CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is the race to do it.
Nine drivers have already clinched a postseason berth, eight with a win and one with points. That leaves three spots available and there’s a points battle on two fronts.
If there is no new winner, then there will be three spots available on points. That means the point battle is between cousins Harrison Burton and Jeb Burton – no drivers above or below is in range. Harrison comes in with a healthy margin and only needs 27 points to guarantee advancing, meaning if he finishes tenth or better or picks up the equivalent with stage points Jeb cannot get to him.
If there is a new winner, then they will get an automatic Playoff berth and there will be just two remaining on points. That makes it a fight between Sheldon Creed, Taylor Gray, and Harrison Burton. Creed and Gray enjoy similar margins over Burton that he himself enjoys to the cutline in a three-way battle, but certainly not insurmountable margins.
Xfinity Series Playoff Bubble Entering Gateway
10. Sheldon Creed (+65)
11. Taylor Gray (+60)
12. Harrison Burton (+31)
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13. Jeb Burton (-31)
On the other end of the standings, there will be a championship trophy given out at Gateway. The regular season champion earns the title but also 15 valuable Playoff points that can be critical in advancing to the final round to get the overall championship.
Coming into the race, Connor Zilisch is in the best position, enjoying a 20-point advantage over Justin Allgaier despite competing in one fewer race since a back injury sustained at Talladega forced him out of the car at Texas. Zilisch was able to get credit for Daytona because he started the race even though it was Parker Kligerman who drove the car to victory.
Additionally, Sam Mayer in third is 50 points back and mathematically in the hunt, meaning that if both Zilisch and Allgaier end up out of the race for any reason he could end up the dark horse regular season champion.
Practice will start at 5:05 p.m. ET on Friday. Qualifying will start at 3:00 p.m. ET on Saturday. Both sessions will air on The CW App.
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