Going into NASCAR’s second-to-last race of the common season at Daytona, Harrison Burton sat at thirty fourth within the factors amongst his full-time Cup opponents — useless final. A strong battle between he and seasoned Cup veteran Kyle Busch, discovered Burton simply forward as they crossed the road with the checkered flag waving, etching his identify within the historical past books. It is a win that additionally landed Burton a everlasting, assured spot within the 2024 NASCAR Cup playoffs, and has utterly modified the struggle to clinch the final of the assured spots on the common season finale at Darlington come Sunday.
Not too way back, it would not have been potential as NASCAR had a top-30 rule in place till after the 2022 season. No driver under thirtieth in factors couldn’t win their manner into the playoffs, so Burton’s victory wouldn’t have counted. Nonetheless, instances have modified.
Harrison Burton, Wooden Brothers Racing, DEX Imaging Ford Mustang
Picture by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Pictures
13 spots are actually spoken for whereas Martin Truex Jr. and Ty Gibbs maintain considerably snug factors margins. Chris Buescher sits within the sixteenth and closing spot, however with a 21-point buffer over Bubba Wallace, he wants to easily have an okay day at Darlington and he ought to be protected — so long as there is no such thing as a new winner.
Burton’s victory primarily blew open the factors battle round that bubble. Had a driver equivalent to Christopher Bell managed to drag off the win at Daytona, the factors battle could be far tighter proper now. Wallace could be the driving force in sixteenth, holding a six-point benefit over Ross Chastain. As an alternative, each drivers are going through a state of affairs the place they may doubtless need to win the Southern 500. These are two drivers who made the playoffs final 12 months, and the final time Chastain wasn’t part of the postseason battle was 2021.
Bubba Wallace calls playoff predicament “unacceptable”Â
“You bought one automobile preventing for a regular-season championship, and one other automobile proper on the bubble. Unacceptable,” stated Wallace after the Daytona race, referring to teammate Tyler Reddick, who presently leads the factors standings.
The 23XI Racing driver was clearly disillusioned. Burton is the fourth driver under him in factors to win their manner into the playoffs. It could have been 5 if Austin Dillon wasn’t stripped of his playoff eligibility. “I am going to take all that weight on my shoulders. Ought to have received a number of instances this 12 months and I have never. We do not even should be right here and we’re. Obtained to go win subsequent week. That’s it.”
Chastain stands out as the almost certainly driver under the cut-line be in competition for a victory at Darlington. Though the No. 1 was solely common earlier this 12 months on the historic monitor, he has been an actual risk within the years prior. He has two top-fives within the final three Southern 500s, and crashed whereas battling for the win within the 400-mile race there in early 2023.
This is an in depth take a look at how the bubble modified after Burton captured the checkered flag:
Driver
Present factors margin
Factors with out new winner at Daytona
Martin Truex Jr.
14th: +58 factors
thirteenth: LOCKED IN
Ty Gibbs
fifteenth: +39 factors
14th: +45 factors
Chris Buescher
sixteenth: +21 factors
fifteenth: +27 factors
Bubba Wallace
seventeenth: -21 factors
sixteenth: +6 factors
Ross Chastain
18th: -27 factors
seventeenth: -6 factors
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