(Photo: Nigel Kinrade Photography)
By Aaron Bearden

Main Takeaway

All eyes were on the playoff cutline heading into Saturday’s race. Each of the Next Gen era’s three prior trips to Daytona International Speedway had ended with one-off winners. So surely the bubble would burst again in the regular season finale, right? 

Nope. 

Instead it was RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher that took his third win in the past five weeks, pushed to the victory by teammate Brad Keselowski. The feel-good result for RFK minimized the playoff drama, locking Bubba Wallace into the playoffs with the final spot for a winless driver. 

It’s the first time Wallace has made the playoffs as a driver. He competed in the owners’ playoffs with the No. 45 team last fall, but Kurt Busch had locked the car into the playoffs with a Kansas Speedway win. Team co-owner Michael Jordan was present to congratulate Wallace and the No. 23 team after the race. 

“I don’t have much emotion, just relieved, drained mentally,” Wallace said afterward. “Glad we’ve got the day off tomorrow because I’ll be hurting on Monday.”

Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott led the inside lane on the final laps, but couldn’t get the run they needed to challenge the RFK duo up top. Keselowski could have made a move on Buescher during the last lap, but elected to push his teammate to the win. 

Elliott was among the favorites to claim Saturday’s race. But he wound up fourth at the checkered flag, failing to make the playoffs for the first time after missing seven races with injuries and a suspension for crashing Denny Hamlin in the Coca-Cola 600. His No. 9 team made the owners playoffs over Wallace’s No. 23, so the group will have something to fight for in the postseason. 

“It’s a bummer, for sure,” Elliott said. “Hate the season has worked out like it has. The good news is the car got in the owner’s points (playoffs).”

Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman also failed to make the playoffs after missing races with a broken back from a sprint car crash in April. They’re the first Hendrick drivers to miss the playoffs since Jimmie Johnson in 2020. 

Ty Gibbs and Daniel Suarez each entered Saturday with an outside chance to advance on points. But Gibbs was turned by teammate Christopher Bell and Suarez came home a disappointing 20th. 

“We have to make sure this one hurts so we get better,” Suarez said after failing to make the playoffs for a second-straight year.

Aric Almirola contended for a playoff-clinching win in the closing laps, but couldn’t pass the RFK Racing duo. He was the lead must-win driver in third, followed by Elliott (fourth), Bowman (sixth) and Corey LaJoie (10th). 

Good, Bad and Ugly

Good: RFK Racing keeps shining

Few drivers have been as consistently good as Buescher in the last year. The Texan now has four Cup wins in the past 12 months, including three in the last five races.

But the third one might not have come without the help of teammate and team co-owner Keselowski, who elected to stay behind Buescher on the final lap. In doing so, the Michigander extended his winless streak to 88 races. But he also locked in a 1-2 result for RFK Racing.

“We could have ended up in a ball of flames in three and four,” Keselowski said. “That would have looked pretty dumb.”

He knows that better than anyone. Keselowski and former Team Penske teammate Joey Logano did just that in the 2021 Daytona 500, costing themselves a chance to win NASCAR’s biggest race. So settling for second and continuing the organization’s momentum is a nice consolation.

The pair ended the regular season fifth and sixth in the standings. Buescher has the fourth-largest playoff point total in the series, courtesy of his three wins.

RFK Racing has established itself as a genuine contender. Now the organization hopes to make good on its bolstered reputation in the playoffs.

“I think you look at the wins that RFK has had this year, they’re not fluke wins, they’re earned wins,” Keselowski said. “We’re proud of that. But come Monday, all this kind of washes away and we’re focused on the 10 weeks to come.”

Ugly: Ryans wreck hard

Saturday was a tough night to be named Ryan in the Cup Series. Both Ryan Blaney and Ryan Preece suffered crashes that were brutal in different ways.

Blaney was first up, getting turned head-on into the outside wall at the exit of Turn 4 when Ty Gibbs was spun by a mistimed push from teammate Christopher Bell in the outside lane. The accident happened on the final lap of Stage 2.

“I’m alright,” Blaney said. “It’s just a big hit. I’m happy (the wall) had a SAFER barrier on it.”

Preece continued on and briefly looked like a frontrunner as Stewart-Haas Racing led the way before final stops. He was running in the lead pack in the final 10 laps when his car turned sideways off the bumper of Erik Jones.

As Preece’s Ford spun through the infield, it caught air and began to flip violently.

Preece climbed out of his car under his own power, laid down on a gurney and was taken to the infield medical center. He was later transported to the nearby Halifax Health Medical Center for evaluation, where he was released Sunday morning.

It was a fortunate ending to an awful crash – among the worst in modern NASCAR. The sanctioning body will have much to study and learn from the accident to continue to improve safety in the Cup Series moving forward, hopefully before the next drafting race at Talladega Superspeedway in October.

Good: Truex flips the script

Last year Martin Truex Jr. found himself on the wrong side of the Daytona drama, getting knocked out of the playoffs despite a top-five regular season after a slate of winners left him on the outside looking in.

This time around the only drama Truex had to worry about was clinching the regular season title. He did so early to lock in an additional 15 playoff points for the 10 races that lie ahead.

Truex seemed poised for regression and potential retirement heading into this year. He’s around the age (43 years old) where many drivers start to see a fall off and has mulled his Cup exit for two years. But the 2017 Cup champ has signed a contract extension and returned to his pre-Next Gen form this year, winning three races and pulling ahead of his rivals with consistency.

“Just really proud of my team,” Truex said of the turnaround. “Thankful to turn it around from last year, missing the Playoffs, to being here tonight is a big deal for all of us.”

The regular season champion has gone on to make the Championship 4 in five of the six seasons contested under the modern playoff format. Three of the five have gone on to win the Cup Series championship, including Truex himself in 2017.

Bad: Most popular driver misses out

Love Elliott or hate him, the Georgian remains the most popular driver among NASCAR fans. TV ratings notably dipped during his absence with injury in the spring.

So it’s safe to say NASCAR hoped Elliott would find a way to the playoff field, in the same way the NFL might hope for the Dallas Cowboys to be in the championship mix in January.

That said, if there was going to be another driver to keep him out, Wallace is the best choice. While polarizing among NASCAR fans, his position as NASCAR’s only Black Cup driver and connection to Michael Jordan give the 23XI Racing ace mainstream appeal that could carry weight if he makes a deep playoff run.

Things could have been worse. Had a less-popular driver like Almirola or Justin Haley won, it could have kept either popular figure from making the Field of 16. But it’s always a negative for a sport’s ratings and bottom line when one of its key figures doesn’t qualify to contend on its grandest stages.

Notes

  • Corey LaJoie has delivered a few solid drives for Spire Motorsports this year. But Ty Dillon finally delivered one of his own Saturday, spending a good chunk of the late stages contending for a top-10 before finishing 11th. It was Dillon’s best finish since the 2022 Bristol Dirt Race. 
  • Speaking of LaJoie, Saturday’s run gave him a second top-10 on the year. All seven of his top-10s have come at drafting tracks, with four of them occurring at Daytona. 
  • A quick shout to Xfinity Series regulars Austin Hill and Chandler Smith. They both survived Daytona attrition to finish inside the top-15 on Saturday. 
  • Elliott failed to make the playoff field, but he did score his third top-five in 16 Daytona starts. It was his first since he finished second in the 2021 Daytona 500. 

Playoff Picture

With the regular season complete, the Field of 16 has been set. William Byron and Martin Truex Jr. lead all contenders with 36 playoff points, while Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kevin Harvick and Bubba Wallace kick things off below the cutline. 

Above the Cutline

William Byron (+29)

Martin Truex Jr. (+29)

Denny Hamlin (+18)

Chris Buescher (+14)

Kyle Busch (+12)

Kyle Larson (+10)

Christopher Bell (+7)

Ross Chastain (+4)

Brad Keselowski (+3)

Tyler Reddick (+2)

Joey Logano (+1)

Ryan Blaney (+1)

 

Within Reach

Michael McDowell (-1)

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (-3)

Kevin Harvick (-4)

Bubba Wallace (-8)

Race Results

  1. Chris Buescher
  2. Brad Keselowski
  3. Aric Almirola
  4. Chase Elliott
  5. Joey Logano
  6. Alex Bowman
  7. Kyle Busch
  8. William Byron
  9. Kevin Harvick
  10. Corey LaJoie
  11. Ty Dillon
  12. Bubba Wallace
  13. Michael McDowell
  14. Austin Hill
  15. Chandler Smith
  16. Christopher Bell
  17. Ross Chastain
  18. Erik Jones
  19. JJ Yeley
  20. Daniel Suarez
  21. Justin Haley
  22. Josh Berry
  23. B.J. McLeod
  24. Martin Truex Jr.
  25. Tyler Reddick
  26. Denny Hamlin
  27. Kyle Larson
  28. Harrison Burton
  29. AJ Allmendinger
  30. Chase Briscoe
  31. Ryan Preece
  32. Todd Gilliland
  33. Austin Dillon
  34. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 
  35. Ty Gibbs
  36. Ryan Blaney
  37. Austin Cindric
  38. Riley Herbst
  39. Brennan Poole

Stage 1

  1. Martin Truex Jr.
  2. Christopher Bell
  3. Kevin Harvick
  4. Ty Gibbs
  5. Joey Logano
  6. Bubba Wallace
  7. Austin Cindric
  8. Denny Hamlin
  9. Chase Briscoe
  10. Daniel Suarez

Stage 2

  1. Brad Keselowski
  2. Kyle Busch
  3. Daniel Suarez
  4. Alex Bowman
  5. William Byron
  6. Tyler Reddick
  7. Chase Elliott
  8. Austin Dillon
  9. Ross Chastain
  10. Joey Logano

Next Race: Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (Sept. 3 @ 6:00 p.m. ET, USA/MRN)

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Daytona NASCAR Cup Series