Dillon’s Richmond Win Shakes Up Playoff Picture: Two Spots Remain
By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service
RICHMOND, Va. – Austin Dillon’s clutch victory in Saturday night’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway was big in terms of salvaging his season and championship hopes but also indicative of the big moments the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs have produced. And likely will continue to produce.
The series moves to Daytona International Speedway for Saturday’s regular season finale, the Coke Zero Sugar 400 under the lights (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). With Dillon’s win, 14 drivers have now earned automatic Playoff berths by virtue of a regular season victory.
Only two more positions need to be firmed up Saturday. Currently 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman occupy them on points-earned. A new winner at Daytona could change that.
And that’s certainly been the norm of late with racing’s version of the “walk-off home run” coming in the regular season finale two of the last three years – at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway last year (Chase Briscoe) and Dillon at Daytona in 2022.
As Saturday night’s intense 400-lapper in Richmond proved, there’s so much on the line at this point in the season.
“I guess we’re just built that way,” Dillon said of his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team’s ability to perform under pressure. “You’re never out of the fight kind of deal. My guys really believe me, the pit crew guys I have, they’re dogs. They stuck with me through thick and thin when they probably had the opportunity to go to other teams and be more successful.
“They stuck with me. I think we just have a bond that means a lot. … If you ask them, they struggled the first couple pit stops. I didn’t notice it. I couldn’t figure out why we lost track position the one time. Then they got it together and were clutch when it mattered.”
That’s exactly what the rest of the field will need to do on Daytona’s famously unpredictable high-banks Saturday night.
Reddick had a had a rough outing at Richmond, a mid-race collision forced a night of playing catch-up and he ultimately finished 34th, four laps down to the winner and after taking more than a 100-point advantage into the race now sits only 60 points above the Playoff cutoff line.
“Worst case scenario for us,” an obviously frustrated Reddick said after the race.
On the other end of that, Bowman’s runner-up finish at Richmond was a tantalizing single position away from a Playoff berth. But now he also is having to race for his championship-life. He holds 16th place in the championship standings by a slight 29 points – a perilous position should a new winner on the season emerge at Daytona.
“Just got to go to work,” Bowman said. “That’s all we can do at this point. That’s what we’ve been doing, right? We’ve been doing a lot of good things. Unfortunately, just one spot short tonight.”
A sizable group of competitors still looking to deliver a last-shot victory Saturday night have won previously at Daytona. And interestingly, neither Reddick nor Bowman are among that group which instead includes Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Erik Jones, Justin Haley, Michael McDowell and Chris Buescher.
The Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing driver Buescher held the final points transfer position heading into the Richmond race but was knocked below the cutoff line with a new winner in Dillon.
“Just a bad day, we just weren’t very good,” Buescher told FOX Sports following the Richmond race. “Just not competitive enough. We are in a must-win heading into Daytona which is a terrible spot to be in for plate race.
“I know we’ll be fast but so many wild things can happen. We’ve won it before so we’ll certainly re-group from this one and head into that one ready to go.”
Of note, reigning Daytona 500 winner, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron clinched the regular season championship at Richmond with his 12th place finish. His closest challenger, teammate Chase Elliott, suffered his first DNF of the season after being collected in a 10-car accident near the halfway mark giving the title to Byron mathematically. The driver of that No. 24 Hendrick Chevrolet not only gets bragging rights and a confidence boost, he gets a 15-Playoff point bonus for his season-long effort. He led the championship standings for 20 of the season’s 25 weeks so far.
Wood Brothers Racing driver Harrison Burton – who is now contending for the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship – is the defending summer Daytona NASCAR Cup Series race winner. With his back-to-back Daytona 500 trophies, Byron has won two of the last three races on the iconic high-banks.
There won’t be any practice this weekend at Daytona. Qualifying for Saturday night’s race is 5:05 p.m. ET on Friday.