From a NASCAR Fan’s View
I don’t know about you but it is awfully hard to believe we are entering the last three races of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. That means these next three races will determine the final four drivers from the eight contenders for the Championship in Phoenix in November. There are those that think they already know which of the eight will be moving on to contend for the Championship but this fan isn’t so sure at this point. Yeah, I agree there are some obvious choices for what the final four will look like but, with the way this season has been going, I’m not willing to state my choices for that final race of the 2024 season.
How many times this season have we seen those that qualify in the front, not finish at the front or not even finish even though it looked like they might win? From my view, the Toyotas look to have a slight speed advantage over the others and three of them have qualified in the top ten. Well… actually in the top five and they are basically all from the same camp even though one of them is from the 23XI garage and the other two are from the JGR camp. Christopher Bell won the pole, Tyler Reddick qualified second and Denny Hamlin starts fourth. There are two other playoff drivers in the top ten and that is Kyle Larson starting fifth and William Byron starting ninth. Oh yeah, I guess I shouldn’t forget Joey Logano starting tenth.
The rest of the top ten starters are in it to win it and any one of them could. Alex Bowman is starting third and could be a spoiler when it comes to a non-playoff driver taking the win. After all, he is one of the ones with something to prove since his team failed post-race inspection last weekend and knocked him out of continuing on to the round of eight and let Joey Logano back in to contention. He showed good speed in qualifying and that third place starting position put him ahead of the other three Hendrick teams. I don’t know but he could just make it tough on the playoff drivers and his HMS teammates being able to take the win.
There are three other non-playoff drivers starting sixth, seventh and eighth. All three of them showed good speed in practice and qualifying. Of course, that would be Carson Hocevar, Ross Chastain and Ty Gibbs. Hocevar has really been impressive this his rookie season and he could be a not-so-surprising winner at the end of the day. After all, he has shown he can run with the rest even though he is not in the playoffs. This NASCAR fan might be a little surprised if he does win but I still can’t overlook the possibility.
Ty Gibbs is looking for his first win and it is not outside the realm of possibilities that he could pull off a win and, honestly, surprise everybody. I mean, he has shown up almost every week with good speed and has often run close to the front even though he hasn’t yet finished in the top spot. If he is near the front at the end of this one he could be a spoiler and the winner.
Ross Chastain is an obvious choice of mine for being a spoiler today in the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After all he did win at Kansas as a non-playoff driver and he could pull off his second victory of the 2024 season today. It wouldn’t be all the hard to believe that he could but it would probably be a surprise for most fans except his own. He is a hard-charging, capable of winning every weekend driver and just needs a few breaks to go his way. Of course, he also needs to outrun those pesky Toyotas that have shown up with speed this weekend. I honestly would not be surprised if he did pull off another victory today.
That brings me to the other three Hendrick team drivers. Kyle Larson, William Byron and Chase Elliott. Even though they haven’t shown the best speed in qualifying this weekend, any one of the three could finish at the front and guarantee themselves a spot in the final four. Chase Elliott does start eighteenth but he is just as capable of pulling off the win as anyone in the field. William Byron starts ninth and that is not at all what his capabilities are for today’s race. He has shown some of his early season strengths lately and he could end up with a dominating performance today.
Of course, it goes without saying that Kyle Larson is spoken of by many to be the favorite to win today because he has won the last two trips to Vegas. After the way he dominated at the Roval, this fan believes it is a very strong possibility but he is going to have to outrun the Toyotas of Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin. All three of them want to win this one and guarantee their place in the final four and, believe me, anyone of the three could. Of the three, Tyler Reddick has shown a lot of speed and has enjoyed some good and bad racing luck in the last few weeks.
I guess it all comes down to which of the eight playoff drivers, in particular those six I just mentioned, overcomes any and all adversities to take the win. Of course, they will have to overcome all the others that want to win today at Las Vegas and that is the challenge… being the best of the rest…
Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© October 20, 2024 – all rights reserved
Rusty Norman, Nascarfansview.com and Justafansview.com
All audio productions by www.podcastnorm.com and Pod Cast Norm Productions
All music TwoBuckThemes from Mike Stewart unless otherwise stated