From a NASCAR Fan’s View
It’s coming down to the wire. The race today at Martinsville will decide which of the six remaining contenders in the Round of Eight will move on to race for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Championship. Actually, the reality is there is only one place left unless Christopher Bell has a really bad day at the races.
Why would I say that? Well, that’s an easy to answer question and probably pretty obvious, too. Christopher is pretty much already in unless, like I just said, he has a very bad day in the Martinsville race. He is already twenty-nine points to the good and the closest contender to him is William Byron and he is only plus seven points ahead of Kyle Larson and Larson is just below the cut line.
If it weren’t for the “win and you’re in” rule, both Larson and Byron would likely be leading the way into the Final Four championship round. Okay, well, that’s probably a little bit of an oversimplification, but actually, not so far-fetched. I suppose I really should add Christopher Bell to that list because the three of them actually had good points leads at one time.
The playoffs this season have been completely strange, at least from this fan’s view. Both Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick are only in because of two Hendrick MotorSports mistakes. Had it not been for Alex Bowman failing post-race inspection, Logano would not have been in a position to move on to the Round of Eight at all. Because of a mistake by the Hendrick camp cutting their weight figures too close, Bowman didn’t make the Round of Eight and Joey did. Joey then proceeded to win the first race of the round and that’s why he is where he is. Had it not been for Larson being impatient last weekend, Reddick would likely not have even had the chance to make the pass for the lead and win at Homestead.
Mistakes and strange happenings have been the real story for the 2024 playoffs and it is a case of, “who knows” what today’s race will hold for the Final Four race for the Championship at Pheonix when it is over.
There are four drivers in particular that have struggled in the playoffs for one reason or another. There are two drivers that have enjoyed good fortune – better stated, good racing luck – to make it to where they are at the moment. The four drivers and teams I’m talking about are Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson. All four have been the victims of bad racing luck or decisions, or whatever you would like to attribute it to, especially in the round of Eight.
Both Elliott and Blaney dug themselves pretty deep holes and I won’t say it was all their fault. The problem is they haven’t really been able to dig themselves out of those holes and both of them are basically in a must win situation for today’s race. Since there can only be one winner, one of them likely won’t move on to the Final Four. With the way the Playoffs have been going, I won’t rule them out totally but they both just about need to have miracle today to make it any further into the playoffs.
Denny Hamlin has quite simply had a rough time of it through most of the playoffs this season. He himself stated he was surprised they are still in it and I can’t help but agree. I mean, a piece of rubber getting stuck in the throttle body and causing the accelerator to get stuck, how does that figure into anything? He has definitely been on the wrong side of anything that could be called racing luck. He starts in the rear for today’s race and, for lack of anything else to say, I would say he has his work cut out for himself. He isn’t in a must win situation but he is definitely in trouble for moving on to the Final Four unless he has some help and a very good day at Martinsville.
What can I say about Kyle Larson’s situation. This has been a very up and down year for him. He lost the regular season championship by one point to Tyler Reddick. He has the most stage wins and the most wins this season but still is seven points below the cutline. His being a little bit impatient last weekend basically gave Tyler Reddick his path to the Final Four. Both Joey Logano and Reddick won races to be where they are even though they were both behind the curve when it came to points. Points-wise, others looked to have a better chance of being in the Final Four. Larson has basically been the car to beat but has battled that pesky nemesis of bad racing luck in just about every race in the playoffs. He needs a win or a good race to move on.
Unfortunately, Willaim Byron and Kyle are battling each other to make it to the Final Four and the only way they can both make it is for both of them to have good points races or one of them win and Christopher Bell to have a very bad day at Martinsville.
So… what do you think the chances of that happening are? Yeah… that’s kinda what I thought you would say…
Hey, this is Russ and that’s my view… See ya next time…
All views expressed are strictly the opinion of the writer
© November 3, 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