The math may not be so simple for the six drivers still vying for the three remaining spots in the NASCAR Cup Series championship race.
chase brisco Advice.
denny hamlin addressee
christopher bell +37
kyle larson +38
,
William Byron -36
Joey Logano -38
Ryan Blaney -47
chase elliott -62
William Byron, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott will each head to Martinsville Speedway next weekend wanting nothing less than a win to reach Phoenix Still Championship eligible.
At face value, it looks like Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson are safe, but to avoid the worst they are going to race each other at the Virginia half mile. That scenario would be one of the four must-win drivers doing just that, winning and moving over the cutline.
This would leave whoever scores the lowest points on the outside, Bell or Larsson, to look inside.
“It’s a new experience, man,” Bell told Motorsport.com with a nervous laugh after the race at Talladega.
Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Photo by: Shawn Gardner/Getty Images
You see, this is a potential re-run for Bell, who missed a final four appearance last year due to a controversial tiebreaker with Byrne — so he knows he needs to topple Larsson in case one of the bottom four wins.
“You have to go in there assuming one of them is going to win the race,” Bell said. “They’re all very good there and they have really good teams. Kyle or I could win it. That’s the most likely list of drivers that are going to make it there.
“I expect a playoff driver to win the race and I expect Larson and I to race for that last spot.”
joe gibbs racing Competition Director Chris Gebehart has been on every side of this dynamic during his decade as crew chief. He needs to win and come up short. He will have to save his place and come less. He persisted and moved forward.
It is an emotionally stressful experience.
“Well, it’s definitely a lot of tension,” Gebhardt told Motorsport.com. “But our company ran really strong at Martinsville in the spring and I think we should be able to bring even better cars here in the fall.
“I like our chances on pace and if one of the guys below the cut wins, and that’s Larson and Bell, like they’ve been battling in many cars, and many times before, and I respect Larson and the Hendrick 5 team, but this is Christopher Bell we’re talking about and I’ll take my chances.”
Meanwhile, Kyle Larson could have found himself another 20 points off Bell, but ran out of gas in the final lap and fell out of a potential top five while finishing 26th while racing for victory. Looking at the math, this could prove to be the difference race for the championship.
Now, the way it looks with a quarter of the race remaining, they are virtually tied and Larson will have to overtake Bell unless one of the bottom four is kept out of Victory Lane.
His crew chief, Cliff Daniels, like everyone else, is expecting a playoff driver to win, which means he needs to find a way to beat Bell and crew chief Adam Stevens.
Mathematically it’s not necessary to win but we’re definitely going to move forward with that belief,” Daniels said. “You’d much rather go out there feeling like you need to control your own destiny by winning rather than playing the math, no matter how shaky that may be.”
As a reminder, up to 10 points are paid for the top 10 in both race stages, before the final results add even more points.
“It’s unfortunate,” Larson said. “I want to get a big point next weekend, but we will regroup and focus on Martinsville.”
must win
WATCH: Byron: ‘Just the way it goes’ after tri-oval spin on final lap
The math is simplest for Byron, Logano, Blaney and Elliott.
Byron had a chance to win at Talladega but spun out in the final lap Carson Hocevar Not that Larson was in a position to win outright when he ran out of gas and his line stalled.
But still, both Hendrick cars were close to making it a moot point for their respective cars, but now face a tense weekend at the Commonwealth of Virginia.
“We linked together pretty well in Turns 1 and 2 and at the bottom, I went clear for a minute and couldn’t link up for whatever reason in (Turn) 4,” Byron said. “They were pushing really hard on the outside lane and just pushed us past.
“I don’t know. The pushes weren’t applied at the right time and we lost control on the bottom lane. There was more energy in the outside lane and then (Larsson) ran out of gas, and that didn’t help us.”
Now, Martinsville.
“It feels like we have to win,” he said. “It seems like everyone below the cut has to win so we just need to go out there and do it. We’ve had two strong weeks but no results.”
He is the regular season champion but crashed in Las Vegas last week ty dillon The front of him suddenly slowed and then spun coming to the finish line at Talladega on Sunday.
Penske has last chance to keep title hopes alive
Joey Logano, Team Penske Ford
Photo by: Chris Grethen – Getty Images
Team Penske The three defending champions, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, controlled the race for most of the day knowing they each needed a win, but now there is only room for one of them next weekend at Martinsville.
“It’s absolutely clear that in the second we lost control of the race,” Logano said. “I’m only driving one car, so I couldn’t really control the race. The car behind me was saving gas, which didn’t help us at all and ended up taking out the entire bottom lane. Cars were running ahead of us and we were coming to the back of the line from the first two cars in line.”
“Martinsville is not a bad track for us,” Logano said. “We just have a simple approach at this point, it’s all or nothing. Stage points won’t matter. Nothing else will matter except winning.”
His partner also expressed the same sentiment.
“Not the ending we wanted,” Blaney said. “We didn’t do what we needed to do and we didn’t get help when we needed it. Now we’ve got to win next week.”
And Chase Elliott is in the same boat after crashing before the end of the first stage.
“All eyes are on Martinsville and we’ve been good there before.”
