Cup Series Round of 12 shaping up as first elimination race looms

The first elimination race in the NASCAR Cup Series postseason sees the mathematical chance that the four drivers sitting below the cutline can advance into the next round, but it won’t be easy.

Austin Dillon is the first driver on the outside looking in. Shane van Gisbergen, Alex Bowman and Josh Berry are the other three drivers in the danger zone. None of those four have ever won at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Bristol will cut the field from 16 to 12 drivers. Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe are the only two drivers guaranteed to advance to the second round, as they were the winners of the first two playoff races. Kyle Larson is the highest driver on the playoff grid without a win.

Cup Series playoff standings after World Wide Technology Raceway:

1.     Denny Hamlin: ADV

2.     Chase Briscoe: ADV

3.     Kyle Larson +60

4.     Bubba Wallace +50

5.     Ryan Blaney +42

6.     William Byron +39

7.     Tyler Reddick +37

8.     Christopher Bell +32

9.     Chase Elliott +28

10.  Joey Logano +21

11.  Ross Chastain +19

12.  Austin Cindric +11

13.  Austin Dillon – 11

14.  Shane van Gisbergen – 15

15.  Alex Bowman – 35

16.  Josh Berry – 45

Dillon: “We didn’t come here with a good race car for some reason. All of our cars were pretty off today; we just missed it. But this No. 3 Dow DayGlo Chevrolet team did a great job executing with what we had. We got stage points and finished the best we possibly could right there. We outran our day by a lot, so hard work and execution give us a shot at Bristol. Just feel like we’ve missed some opportunities and could be in a better position, but we did all we could today.”

Van Gisbergen: “We were too tight in traffic, and then eventually got on the other side of it, and I made an error and spun. We just couldn’t get it back. We weren’t amazing. We were probably a 15th-place car, but then detuned it a little bit and ended up where we did. A little frustrating, but it’s kind of where we’re at. [A] 20th and 15th is a huge improvement for us, but obviously in the playoffs, you expect more. There’s that pressure there.”

Bowman: “We’re just not doing anything right at all. Super unfortunate. There is really no excuse for it for any reason. It’s kind of dumb.”

Berry: “It's just been a tough couple of weeks for the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang. I feel like we have had decent cars; we’ve just had issues. Today, you pit there and it's just a chaotic restart. You’re just trying to wait for everything to settle out. [Chase Elliott] got in there, got a little loose, and just slid up, and he got into us. Obviously, I don’t think that was intentional or anything. It was just a racing deal, and unfortunately, we were just on the receiving end.”