Ahead of Sunday’s race at Kansas Speedway, just 12 drivers remain in contention for the NASCAR Cup Series championship.
Kyle Larson remains in the driver’s seat to claim his second NASCAR title after winning last week at Bristol Motor Speedway, while four other drivers were eliminated following the Round of 16.
We’ll see four more miss the cut after the Round of 12 concludes on Oct. 13, and former NASCAR driver and current analyst Kevin Harvick is bearish on a few championship hopefuls over the next few weeks.
Can Elliott, Byron survive Round of 12?
On an episode of Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour earlier this week, Harvick predicted that Chase Briscoe, Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez and William Byron would be on the outside looking in after the Round of 12.
Suarez (10th) and Briscoe (12th) rank in the bottom three among the 12 drivers remaining in playoff contention, and Harvick is especially pessimistic about the former’s chances to advance beyond this round.
“If they’re going to be in the mix, they’re going to have to minimise the damage at Kansas, they’re going to have to go to Talladega and make a decent day out of it and then be pretty good at the Roval,” Harvick said of the No. 99 team. “That’s going to be tough to do.”
READ MORE: Kevin Harvick declares which driver he’s ‘least confident’ in going into the NASCAR playoffs
Perhaps the most surprising call-out from Harvick was Elliott, the former Cup Series champion who finished second in last week’s race at Bristol.
Even with the strong showing, the No. 9 hasn’t led a lap in his last five races and has finished outside the top 10 in four of the last six weeks.
That simply isn’t enough in Harvick’s eyes to stave off elimination with the field narrowing every three weeks.
“You’re going to have to make some noise, and you’re going to have to show that you’re a contender leading laps and running up front as you get closer to the Round of 8 and the Round of 4 …” Harvick said. “They just haven’t shown that speed that (Larson) has.”
Chaos awaits in Round of 12
While last week’s race at Bristol was relatively uninspiring, we could be in store for an unpredictable few weeks ahead.
Since the repave, Kansas Speedway has been one of the most thrilling tracks on the Cup Series circuit – producing the closest finish in NASCAR history in the last race there back in May.
Talladega Speedway, the site of next week’s race, is known for its high speeds and big crashes. That was on full display in April when Tyler Reddick won after a dramatic last-lap pile-up.
The Round of 12 concludes at the Charlotte ROVAL, which comes after the last road race at Watkins Glen was dominated by non-playoff drivers.
We’ll see which drivers can navigate the mayhem over the next few weeks. Here’s a look at the playoff standings entering Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway:
- Kyle Larson – 3,047 points
- Christopher Bell – 3,032 (-15)
- Tyler Reddick – 3,028 (-19)
- William Byron – 3,022 (-25)
- Ryan Blaney – 3,019 (-28)
- Denny Hamlin – 3,015 (-32)
- Chase Elliott – 3,014 (-33)
- Joey Logano – 3,012 (-35)
- Austin Cindric – 3,008 (-39)
- Daniel Suarez – 3,006 (-41)
- Alex Bowman – 3,005 (-42)
- Chase Briscoe – 3,005 (-42)