Cook Out Southern 500 ignites NASCAR playoffs
With the postseason starting Sunday, Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin are the favorites,
Under the current playoff format, the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship can sometimes seem as if it’s up for grabs. But going into the postseason starting Sunday in the Cook Out Southern 500 in Darlington, South Carolina (6 p.m., ET, NBCSN), it really seems like a race between Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin.
Through the first 26 events of the season, Harvick and Hamlin absolutely dominated the competition with seven and six wins, respectively. And with more on the line now, it would surely take multiple catastrophic disasters for them to fail to advance to the Championship 4 race in November at Phoenix Raceway.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. So before the start of the 16-driver, 10race playoffs, we attempted to answer five questions about the NASCAR playoffs and potential subplots.
1. Can anyone beat Harvick and Hamlin?
No. Through 26 regular-season races, they combined for 13 wins and have the kind of speed their competitors dream of. It’s rare not to see one or both of them running up front, especially when they combine to have led nearly a third (28.4 percent) of all the laps in 2020. It’s a popular sentiment this time of the season to argue that certain drivers have enough points to slide through to the championship race. But this year, that seems more realistic than ever. It’s anyone’s race once they get to Phoenix, but there’s no stopping Harvick or Hamlin at this point. That said, never sleep on Martin Truex Jr., who has been on a string of exceptionally valuable finishes without actually winning more than one race so far.
2. The first four drivers eliminated will be …
Aric Almirola, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, William Byron. Despite Byron winning Saturday, his inexperience here will show. Busch is barely in the playoffs, so one poor race could easily knock him out – though a strong performance at Bristol could save him. And Almirola and Dillon don’t need a disaster to face elimination. But if they don’t start the playoffs on a high note, they could fall below the cutoff line and flail.
Which drivers will race for a title in Phoenix?
Harvick, Hamlin, Truex, Chase Elliott. Until one of the first three drivers starts hinting they’re not title contenders this year, it’s hard not to pick them. I’m going with Elliott for the final spot because throughout the year and on different tracks, he has had solid speed, even when he doesn’t win.
4. Will Kyle Busch win a race in 2020?
3. Will Jimmie Johnson win a race in 2020?
This would be the dream for Jimmie Johnson fans everywhere who are hoping their favorite driver has one last win in him before retiring. Unfortunately for them, that answer feels like a no. Even when Johnson’s car has speed and he’s running up front, something has kept him from getting his first win since 2017. His luck has been terrible this season – he’s crashed plenty of times, been disqualified and even tested positive for COVID-19 and missed a race – and it’s hard to imagine it improving.
Yes, but his title defense will be over before the finale. And that we’re even wondering if the No. 18 Toyota team will win a race in 2020 is a huge shocker. But Busch just doesn’t have the speed of his teammates, and even when he’s plowing through the field and running well, he’s ultimately stifled. I’ll guess he finally gets a win at Bristol and locks himself into the Round of 12, sneaks into the Round of 8 but doesn’t make it to the Championship 4.
5. Who will be the 2020 Cup Series champion?
Harvick will get his second championship, leaving Denny Hamlin still in search of his first. Harvick is the winningest driver of all time at Phoenix with nine career checkered flags, and after this season, nobody’s stopping him.