Sunday was a historically bad day for NASCAR playoff drivers in the first-ever postseason race at Watkins Glen.
Nearly the entire 16-driver field in the postseason was involved in some sort of wreck or incident, starting on the very first lap and extending to overtime.
In the end, Chris Buescher won his first race of the NASCAR season, leading the way for a historic group of drivers in the top five.
Playoff drivers denied at Watkins Glen
Buescher led a brigade of non-playoff drivers to the start-finish line of Sunday’s race – finishing ahead of Shane van Gisbergen, Carson Hocevar, Ross Chastain and Zane Smith.
It was the first time in NASCAR history that a postseason race ended with zero playoff drivers in the top five. Not only was that a first for the Cup Series, but it’s never happened in the Xfinity Series or Craftsman Truck Series, either.
To put that in further perspective, that’s a span of over 200 Cup Series playoff races without a finish like we saw Sunday, when only two playoff drivers finished in the top 10 and none better than Chase Briscoe in sixth.
That’s what happens when a sizable portion of the field is left spinning on the very first lap in a wreck that included Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and reigning champion Ryan Blaney, among others:
Each of the last seven Round of 16 races were won by a playoff driver before Sunday’s finish at Watkins Glen.
By comparison, the top six drivers and nine of the top 10 in the previous week’s race at Atlanta were playoff drivers. Many of the expected front-runners for this weekend’s upcoming race are in the postseason field, too.
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Chaos at The Glen shakes up playoff picture
With so many playoff drivers fighting through adversity at Watkins Glen, the final race of the Round of 16 promises even more drama than usual.
Denny Hamlin – who crashed on Lap 1 but still managed to finish 23rd – sits six points below the cut line as he pins his playoff hopes on Saturday’s night race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Another bad day for Kyle Larson could potentially mean an early exit for the 2021 champion and top seed in this year’s postseason, while former champions Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. enter the weekend below the cut line.
Meanwhile, surprise contenders Austin Cindric and Alex Bowman have benefitted from the early chaos and sit inside the top four ahead of the Round of 12.
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And, of course, the rest of the non-playoff field will be looking to follow Buescher’s lead and pick up their first win of the season at Bristol.
Fittingly, Buescher did just that in 2022 when he secured the second win of his career, becoming the third straight non-playoff driver to win a race in the Round of 16 that season.
Last year’s Bristol night race was won by Hamlin, who also took the checkered flag in the spring race in March.