NASCAR Playoff Update Following Cup Race at Texas

Everything is bigger in Texas, even the tire issues. That was the name of the game on Sunday night as nearly half of the field suffered some sort of issue with their tires. It was another race of attrition, as drivers were literally trying to survive and advance.

It was another non-playoff driver that went to victory lane, as the championship contenders are 0-4 in the playoff races. The last playoff driver to win a race this season was Kyle Larson, who won the August 21 race at Watkins Glen.

The biggest mover among the 12 playoff drivers on Sunday was Chase Elliott, who came into the race with a 40-point lead in the standings. Chase was one of three drivers in this race to crash while leading. His No. 9 Chevrolet had a tire blow in Turn 4, which sent him hard into the outside wall. He came to a rest on the infield grass, with the right-front side of his Camaro engulfed in flames.

It was a massive blow for the 2020 Cup champion, who falls to 8th in the standings. "It’s not a great position to be in for sure, but it is what it is now. We were actually decent here for once, so that was nice while it lasted. We’ll go to Talladega and try to get a win and go on down the road."

Another driver that had a big slide in the standings is Christopher Bell. After three fantastic results in the opening round of the playoffs, Bell looked like he would be Toyota's best chance to win a title. With the points being reset for this round, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was sitting in 7th coming into the weekend.

Bell spun not once, but twice on Sunday, and the crew was unable to repair his No. 20 Camry in time, and his night ended early. With his 34th place finish, he dropped to 11th in the standings, now 55 points behind the leader and 29 points below the cut line. He will need to have some good fortune at Talladega next week, as Toyota has struggled on road courses (ROVAL) this season.

Joey Logano had the best result of the playoff drivers on Sunday, earning a runner-up finish behind race winner Tyler Reddick. That moved him up to the top spot of the standings, with a 12-point edge over second place. Although it appears he is safe, Logano knows he is not able to relax next week at Talladega.

"You get that close to the win and you just know that if you just had that it might have been good enough to win the race. At the same time, we should be happy that we scored a bunch of points today. It is bittersweet, I guess. It was a successful day for points scored. We got stage points in both stages and we were able to get a bunch by finishing second. We were able to position ourselves really good at the end."

It was a solid evening for Trackhouse Racing as both of their drivers moved up in the standings. Ross Chastain moved up to second place after finishing 13th in the race. Daniel Suarez climbed four spots by finished just in front of his teammate in 12th. Suarez moved from 11th to 7th as the two drivers did a great job of earning stage points at Texas.

"There were just a lot of ups and downs today," Chastain said. "We cycled up to get stage points. We just struggled with the balance the last 80 laps or so, but other than that, it was a good day." Suarez was happy to have a productive day. "I think we had a decent points day. We just have to continue to work and get better."

Ryan Blaney was not able to match his victory in the All-Star race at Texas, but a solid top-five finish for the driver of the No. 12 Mustang is exactly what he needed. He moved up three spots to fifth in the standings, just 15 points behind his teammate at the top. Blaney was just happy to avoid all of the carnage on Sunday.

"It was a long night, for sure. It didn’t start out very good at all. We got better and better through the night and throughout the day we were able to win a stage and claw our way back from pretty far back in the pack there that last run to get to fourth. I thought our Mustang was probably the best car at the end. We just couldn’t pass anybody. Overall, not a bad night. A pretty wild night. Luckily, we were able to put together a solid race."

Alex Bowman was one of the drivers that crashed due to a flat tire at Texas. Although the team was able to repair the car, he found himself just turning laps all night as he was several laps down. The poor finish dropped him two spots to the very bottom of the standings. His Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron had a decent 7th place finish, which could have been better had it not been for his scuffle with Denny Hamlin. Byron is now third in the standings.

The other driver that changed position after Texas was Austin Cindric, who falls to 10th. The rookie had a decent run going until he had to take evasive action to avoid the spinning Ricky Stenhouse Jr, which sent his No. 2 Ford for a spin. Despite a top-five finish, Chase Briscoe did not move any positions in the standings, nor did Hamlin or defending series champion Kyle Larson.

Next up is the YellaWood 500 at Talladega, with NBC coverage beginning at 2 PM ET on Sunday.