Roger Diez: Race for final playoff spot heads to Darlington

Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 was a wild one, the high-speed demolition derby that often occurs at Daytona. Harrison Burton took the win in overtime. It was the 100th NASCAR Cup victory for Wood Brothers Racing and Burton’s first in 98 starts. He beat veteran Kyle Busch to the flag with a last-lap, last-turn pass, much to the delight of his dad, Jeff, in the NBC booth. There were two big multi-car wrecks, with cars getting airborne in both, despite NASCAR’s efforts to prevent it. Josh Berry had the wildest ride of all, hitting a barrier upside down and then spinning on his roof like a top. Fifteen of the 40 starters failed to finish the race, which went 164 laps. In addition to the big wrecks, Daniel Suarez’s car mysteriously burst into flames and Shane Van Gisbergen’s engine let go, blanketing the track in white smoke.

•••

So the final composition of the playoff field comes down to Sunday’s Southern 500 at Darlington, the “Track Too Tough to Tame.” Eight drivers in the field of 37 have won there. Denny Hamlin leads the pack with four wins. Brad Keselowski, Erik Jones, and Martin Truex Jr. have each one twice and Kyle Larson, William Byron, Joey Logano, and Kyle Busch have one win apiece. Keselowski is the most recent winner earlier this season and Kyle Busch’s victory came in 2008.

The regular season championship race is down to three drivers. Tyler Reddick leads the points with 823 while Larson has 806 and Chase Elliott 805. No other driver has enough points to win it. Thirteen drivers are locked into the playoff field with wins, and one more driver could lock in with a victory Sunday. Right now, the three drivers in the playoffs on points are Truex (+58), Ty Gibbs (+39), and Chris Buescher (+21). On the outside looking in are Bubba Wallace (-21), and Ross Chastain (-27). Every other driver must win to advance. On Monday the final appeal of Austin Dillon’s penalty for actions at Richmond was upheld, so his win there is not playoff-eligible. The USA Network will broadcast all of this weekend’s NASCAR action with Cup practice and qualifying at 9:35 a.m. today and the Xfinity VFW Help a Hero 200 at 12:30 p.m. Sunday’s Cook Out Southern airs at 3 p.m.

•••

McLaren driver Lando Norris qualified on the pole for the Heineken Dutch Grand Prix, but lost the lead to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the start. Norris soon charged back to the lead and scored his first win at the Zandvoort circuit, finishing 22.896 seconds ahead of the Dutchman. Ferrari pilot Charles Leclerc was third. Norris is now within 70 points of Verstappen in the drivers’ championship and Red Bull is only 30 points ahead of McLaren in the constructors’ title chase. This weekend is the Pirelli Italian Grand Prix at Monza with qualifying at 7 a.m. today on ESPN2 And the race Sunday is on ESPN at 7 a.m.

•••

Last week my attempts at multi-tasking put me a week ahead on my IndyCar commentary, putting the series in Milwaukee when they were actually in Portland. Santino Ferrucci took the pole for A.J. Foyt racing, his first in that position. But wily veteran Will Power started second and took the win, narrowing the points gap to leader Alex Palou to 54. This weekend’s doubleheader at Milwaukee may well settle the 2024 title with only Nashville Superspeedway left on the schedule. The Milwaukee Mile 250 Race 1 airs on Peacock at 2:40 p.m. today with the USA Network broadcasting Race 2 at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.

Finally, NASCAR has announced that both NASCAR Cup and the Xfinity series will race in Mexico City in 2025, replacing one of Richmond’s two races.