The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs are not as far away as some may think. Now 14 races into the Cup Series season, there are only 12 races left until the Playoffs begin at Darlington in September. With the regular season over halfway over, let’s take a look at the current Cup Series Playoff picture based on drivers who are safe and drivers who are not as safe.

Once NASCAR introduced the Next-Gen car, they made it very clear that certain parts of the new race car were not to be modified or counterfeited. As is typical in NASCAR, that has not stopped teams from being creative in trying to skirt those rules. However, NASCAR has found some teams guilty of such modifications, and these are all of the Next-Gen parts penalties NASCAR has levied.