The 2024 Cup Series playoffs are here.
Chase Briscoe became the 14th driver to qualify for the playoffs with a win at Darlington on Sunday night. Thanks to Austin Dillon’s penalty after his demolition derby win at Richmond, two drivers — Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr. — join the 14 playoff winners.
In case you need a refresher, the playoffs consist of four rounds of ten races. The bottom four drivers are eliminated after the first three rounds of three races. The remaining four drivers will go head-to-head in Phoenix on November 10 for the Cup Series title.
Joey Logano is the only driver in the playoffs to have won multiple Cup Series titles. Alongside him, only Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. have also won a Cup Series title. The odds of a new Cup Series champion are looking pretty good.
Here’s how the playoff picture looks heading into the first playoff race in Atlanta on Sunday. The title odds in parentheses below come from BetMGM, and our playoff predictions can be found at the bottom of the article.
1. Kyle Larson, 2,040 points (+375 to win Cup Series title)
The Cup Series’ most successful driver enters the playoffs as the No. 1 seed. Larson lost the regular-season championship at Darlington on Sunday night, or he would have started the playoffs with even more points. He’s the deserved favorite for the Cup Series title, and his key to contending for the title in Phoenix is simply avoiding disastrous results at Atlanta and Talladega. Plate racing is the one NASCAR skill in which Larson has yet to find sustained success.
2. Christopher Bell, 2,032 (+500)
Bell enters the playoffs with four top-six finishes in his last five races. One of his three wins this season also came at Phoenix. This is a team and driver capable of winning a title provided Bell can avoid the crash problems that have plagued him this season. Bell failed to finish six races due to crashes during the regular season.
3. Tyler Reddick, 2,028 (+600)
Reddick won the regular-season title with a 10th-place finish at Darlington to cap an extremely hot summer. Before finishing 28th at Daytona, Reddick had seven straight top-six finishes. That streak included a win at Michigan, which added to his victory at Talladega earlier this year.
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