Are This Year’s Playoffs As Chaotic as Predicted?

TALLADEGA, ALABAMA - OCTOBER 06: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the #47 Kroger Health/Palmolive Chevrolet, climbs the fence to celebrate with fans after winning the NASCAR Cup Series YellaWood 500 at Talladega Superspeedway on October 06, 2024 in Talladega, Alabama. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

What’s Happening?

NASCAR’s Playoffs enter the Charlotte Roval this weekend. With back-to-back upset race winners, there is a chance for a third. In fact, the number of non-playoff driver wins is unprecedented in NASCAR Playoff history. But didn’t we expect this to happen?

  • The NASCAR Playoffs are how NASCAR crowns its year-end Champion. Throughout the 26-race regular season, a race win locks you into the 16-driver field. At the end of this regular season, NASCAR ropes off the top 16 for ten races.
  • NASCAR breaks those ten races into three rounds of three races and one championship finale. In each round, four drivers are eliminated based on points. Much like the regular season, a win advances you into the next round. This rule means that if you win in the final round, you will win the Cup Series Championship.
  • This year’s playoff saw massive changes to the schedule, with the most diverse group of tracks in NASCAR Playoff history. This scheduling led to speculation about all the wild ideas of what could happen in the 2024 playoffs.

2024: Shake Ups and Upsets

Most fans expected the 2024 NASCAR playoffs to be chaotic. Due to the Olympic break shuffling the tail-end of the NASCAR season, the playoffs added one more drafting track, Atlanta Motor Speedway, and one more road course, Watkins Glen International.

These races added excitement and chaos, as the uncertainty of who would win sparked debate among fans. Would there be playoff upsets? Would a non-Cup series regular win in the playoffs be possible? Could we see an underdog go all the way?

Entering the playoffs, there were back-to-back upset winners. Chase Briscoe and Harrison Burton shook up the playoff lineup quite a bit with their wins at Daytona and Darlington. But two races into the playoffs, 2024 looked wild.

In just those two races, Joey Logano won an Atlanta race that saw multiple playoff drivers involved in accidents, and Chris Buescher won at Watkins Glen. Now, five races in, there have been three non-playoff driver wins, a first for the NASCAR playoffs.

2024 Non-Playoff Qualifying, Playoff Race Winners
  • Chris Buescher – Watkins Glen – Race Two
  • Ross Chastain – Kansas – Race Four
  • Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – Talladega – Race Five

With one race to go, drivers now face an unpredictable foe in the newly revamped Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

These upsets match the chaotic tone of what most expected the 2024 playoffs to be. However, there is one notable thing about this year’s playoffs that suggest it might not be as crazy as we think it is.

The Usual Suspects

There is one major factor in play despite all these upset wins. Remember all those upset winners from the regular season? For the most part, they haven’t survived the round-to-round playoff eliminations.

Somehow, in spite of all the chaos, drama, and upset winners involved in this year’s playoffs, those drivers most expect to see at the top of the standings remain.

You go as far as to credit this chaos with preventing several upset advancements from happening. With less than ten laps to go at Talladega, underdog Austin Cindric looked to be heading to the Round of Eight. Before, an unexpected shove turned him into the field, causing the biggest wreck in NASCAR Cup series history.

In fact, the most shocking eliminations might be the winless Martin Truex, Jr, Ty Gibbs, and Brad Keselowski. However, entering yet another elimination race, those underdog championship hopefuls are on their last legs. As typical as this sounds, it does resonate for the future.

Next year‘s playoffs are seeing another massive overhaul. Major track shuffling in, out, and around next year will surely make this year appear tame. However, if we can learn anything from this year, that might not be the case, and we might not see an upset champion like some worry we could.

No one knows what next year will be like, but this year may serve as a small window into that uncertain future.


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HAMPTON, GEORGIA - FEBRUARY 21: Sheldon Creed, driver of the #00 Road Ranger Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag to win the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series Bennett Transportation & Logistics 250 at Echo Park Speedway on February 21, 2026 in Hampton, Georgia.

O’Reilly: Sheldon Creed Breaks Through in Thriller at EchoPark Speedway

What’s Happening?

It was a busy Saturday at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway). First, we had the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race. Then, the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series took center stage and they were two vastly different events. Ultimately, it was Sheldon Creed standing tall in victory lane when all was said and done. Here’s what you need to take away from tonight’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at EchoPark Speedway.

  • There were a lot of drivers who had tire problems which set off massive wrecks and incidents. First, Sam Mayer had a tire go down from the race lead. Sammy Smith got bitten. Austin Green. Corey Day. Taylor Gray. The list goes on and on. Some of them were able to stay in contention while others were plagued for the rest of the race.
  • Speaking for Corey Day, he just had a bad race. First, he sparked an incident which took out several drivers, including the Sieg brothers (who weren’t shy about voicing their displeasure about the rookie) and Harrison Burton. And though the broadcasters on the CW gave him the benefit of the doubt, the later incident was less forgivable. In this incident, while he was battling the JRM duo of Carson Kvapil and Justin Allgaier for the race lead, Day got into the No. 1 Arby’s Chevy, sending all three of them into the wall. This is certainly a performance that he’ll want to forget.
  • Chevrolets swept the stages. Winning the first one was none other than Jesse Love, continuing RCR’s dominance on drafting tracks. Rajah Caruth, who had a handful all race, was able to capture his first career stage win by winning Stage 2.
  • It wasn’t the dominating race for RCR that we all thought it would be. With ill-handling cars, their qualifying attempts were underwhelming, and they got off to a lukewarm start tonight. By the end of it, though, they were in the mix. Slicing and dicing, Austin Hill had the lead as they came around to take the white flag. However, in Turn 1, he got “Chastained.” Ross Chastain plowed into the back of the No. 21, knocking him down to the apron. Hill was able to save it and rally home to a 12th place finish.
  • The big story tonight is that Sheldon Creed, finally, after far too many runner-up finishes to count, broke through to capture his first NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series win. It will certainly be a day he and his team will never forget.

Notable Incidents

Lap 5: Corey Day

Corey Day had a very sloppy, bad race in general, and it started early. First, he caused a wreck that took out Harrison Burton and a couple of others. Then, he took out the JRM duo of Carson Kvapil and Justin Allgaier. You can recap that first incident by reading the article below.

Also Read:

Lap 142: Sammy Smith

Kvapil and Allgaier weren’t the only JRM cars to have issues tonight. Firstly, Rajah Caruth was out of control throughout the race, fighting a mean-handling car. He was able to brilliantly save it several times, to his credit. But perhaps the biggest incident involving the four JRM Chevys came at Lap 142 when Sammy Smith had a tire go down and spun in front of the pack. This took out several drivers, including Taylor Gray, among others. Read about that here:

Also Read:

Results

Results Pending.

Points Standings (2 of 35)

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O’Reilly: Sammy Smith’s Flat Takes Out Heavy Hitters Late at EchoPark

What’s Happening?

As Ross Chastain took the lead and the pack was closing in on 20 laps to go, things a little deeper in the pack started to get a little hairy. We had yet another huge crash late in the running here tonight, this one sparked by Sammy Smith’s flat rear tire. Here’s what happened:

  • As the laps were winding down in tonight’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race, Sammy Smith, along with his JRM teammates, were in the thick of contention for the win. Unfortunately for him, a poorly-timed flat rear tire ended his (and several others) chance to capitalize and get that first valuable win of the season. Unable to hold onto it, the No. 8 Pilot Chevy spun around in front of a massive horde of cars.
  • Helpless to go anywhere, several heavy hitters were caught up in this incident. They include the likes of William Sawalich, Gio Ruggiero, Patrick Staropoli, Taylor Gray, Brennan Poole, Nick Leitz, and Lavar Scott.
  • It’s an unfortunate beginning of the year for a handful of these drivers. Luckily for Brennan Poole, he’s coming off a strong showing at Daytona and was in the thick of it here tonight. That shows some promise for sure.

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O’Reilly: Mid-Race Report from EchoPark Speedway

What’s Happening?

It has been a tail of two races when it comes to today’s NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at EchoPark Speedway (formerly the Atlanta Motor Speedway). We got off to a rough start with Corey Day triggering a massive wreck that took out the likes of Harrison Burton, and the Sieg brothers. Then, the field settled in and started to churn laps. Here’s what’s gone down so far.

  • Sam Mayer led a bulk of the opening laps. Leading the first 23 laps of the race, he was forced to pit on Lap 24 due to a flat left front tire. No caution was triggered. To make matters worse, he was caught speeding on pit road, putting him down several laps and effectively taking him out of contention.
  • Jesse Love continued RCR’s dominance in the first stage. With Mayer out of the picture, he assumed the race lead, leading 31 laps to win the opening stage.
  • Austin Hill finally made it up to the race lead by Stage 2. Unfortunately for him and RCR, their win streak in the stages ended with the conclusion of Stage 2. It was Rajah Caruth in the No. 88 HendrickCars.com Chevy that captured the green and white checkered flag.
  • In a horrific accident during pit stops, Taylor Gray smashed into one of his tire carriers. It was a scary situation. Fortunately, he got up like a champ and completed the stop. He was thankfully checked and released from the in-field care center.
  • Corey Day’s woes continued as the field set in for the final stage of the evening. Drawing further criticism, Day, while battling for the race lead, made contact with leader Carson Kvapil, sending them both into the outside wall. Also collected in the incident was Kvapil’s teammate, the 2024 series champion, Justin Allgaier.

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