And with the top-16 drivers making the playoff cut for the 10-race postseason, Harvick’s win complicates the playoff picture a bit.
“Win and you’re in” might not be the case this season if there are more than 16 different race winners in the regular season, which ends August 27 at Daytona International Speedway. But for now, it is.
While Harvick’s win locked him into the playoffs for now, it also notably knocked Martin Truex Jr., who’s winless so far this season, below the cut line, while Ryan Blaney, also winless in 2022, would be the last driver in if the playoffs began today.
Should 2022 produce more than 16 winners before the playoffs, the championship-contending field will feature the drivers with the most wins, and of those tied with one win apiece, the drivers with the most regular-season points will fill out the remaining playoff spots.
So here’s a look at how Harvick’s win Sunday impacted the playoff picture and who’s sitting on the bubble with three regular-season races left. It’s based on drivers’ projected playoff rankings and projected playoff points, not where they sit in the regular-season standings.
And remember: When the playoffs begin, the 16 drivers fighting for the title will get 2,000 playoff points added to the playoff points they’ve already earned during the regular season, either through race or race stage wins.
“Finally, finally, finally!” — Kevin Harvick, probably.
Kevin Harvick’s rough winless streak in the NASCAR Cup Series finally ended after the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford driver won Sunday’s weather-delayed FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
This is a big, big deal for a couple reasons.
First, there are now only three regular-season races remaining before the playoffs begin, and with Harvick’s victory, the pressure has only intensified on those looking to make the top-16 driver postseason cut. Currently, there are 15 different race winners, who have already made the playoff field — for now, because things could change if there are more than 16 different regular-season winners.
But second, and most importantly for Harvick, not only did he steal one of those playoff spots from the other drivers on the bubble with him, but he also snapped a 65-race winless streak dating back to September 2020.
“It’s been a while,” Harvick told NBC Sports about savoring the moment at one of his best tracks.
Sure, Harvick won a series-high of nine races in 2020, but since the playoffs that year, he had hit a bit of a rough patch. He was winless in all 36 races in 2021 and winless through the first 22 events this season.
Until Sunday, when he grabbed the checkered flag after leading 38 of the race’s 200 laps on the two-mile Michigan track. And after his long-awaited victory, the 46-year-old driver had a message for all his and the No. 4 team’s doubters:
“They, obviously, know we thrive in these types of situations. And a lot of things went our way today, which we haven’t had, all year long, have things go our way and have things fall our way.
“And then there at the end we pitted, didn’t go a lap down, and the caution came out, got control of the race. That’s the thing I struggled with the most today, was traffic and the restarts and just having to make up ground. Once I got clear track, that baby was hunting.”
Harvick finished first ahead of pole-winner Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, who rounded out the top-5 finishers. It was the first win for a Ford driver since Logano’s early June victory at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway and just the fifth Ford win of the season.
And as far as the playoffs go, the No. 4 team’s victory pushed sixth-place finisher Martin Truex Jr., who’s winless this season, out of the playoff picture. Blaney is in, for now, but he desperately needs a victory to secure his spot.
With so much on the line for the postseason, plus the winless streak surely hanging over him, Harvick seemed beyond relieved after the win. And when NBC Sports asked him if this was his most clutch win, Harvick nonchalantly said:
“Just good timing for sure. You know, we’ve had several good runs the last few weeks, Loudon, and Pocono where the car ran good and just didn’t have everything work out.
“So just really proud of everybody on our Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang. They’ve been digging along all year long, trying to make these Mustangs run faster. They haven’t been great this year, but our guys have done a good job in trying to take what we have, maximize it and do the things that we need to do. Just really proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing.”
The NASCAR Cup Series regular season closes with upcoming races at Richmond Raceway, Watkins Glen International and Daytona International Speedway. The 10-race playoffs begin in September with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
What happens if NASCAR has more race winners than playoff spots?
Welcome to FTW Explains, a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. If you’re keeping an eye on the NASCAR Cup Series standings, you may notice there are a lot of different winners this season and just 16 playoff spots available. Maybe you’re wondering who makes the cut and why. That’s OK because we’re here to help.
This isn’t something NASCAR and its fans have really had to seriously consider in previous seasons, but how is the Cup Series playoff field determined if there are more than 16 different regular-season race winners?
Generally, the saying “win and you’re in” is applicable: A driver wins a regular-season race and automatically qualifies for one of 16 available spots in the postseason to contend for a championship.
But if there are more Cup winners than playoff spots available, what then? Let’s get into it.
Who’s looking good and who needs to pick up the pace in the second half of NASCAR’s regular season.
Following Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway, we’ve officially hit the halfway point in the 26-race regular season. And through the first 13 races, there have been 11 different winners with William Byron and Ross Chastain as the lone repeat winners so far.
And all those winners can breathe a little and look ahead to the playoffs beginning in September.
The top-16 drivers in the standings after the regular season — which ends at Daytona International Speedway in August — will advance to the 10-race playoffs.
Those 11 race winners have already locked themselves into the postseason — assuming there won’t be more than 16 different winners by the end of the first 26 races, which would be unexpected but certainly not impossible — especially when you consider the heavy hitters who have yet to make it to Victory Lane. For drivers who have won a race, they also need to be in the top 30 in points at the end of the regular season to be eligible.
So sure, there’s still half the regular season to go, but it’s never too early to see what the playoff picture looks like. Here’s a look at the top-25 drivers in the standings, along with their projected playoff rank and points, as NASCAR presses pause on the points races for the All-Star Race on Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway.
The stats behind the drivers currently in position to race for NASCAR’s title.
The NASCAR Cup Series is a long one with 36 points races between February and April, and even though we’re nearly a quarter of the way through it, it’s never too early to take a peek at the current standings and playoff picture.
There have been seven winners through eight races so far this season with William Byron currently being the lone driver with more than one checkered flag after winning Saturday at Martinsville Speedway. Other drivers with victories this year include Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman, Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric and Chase Briscoe.
The top-16 drivers in the standings after 26 regular-season races will advance to the 10-race playoffs beginning in September. And those seven winners have already locked themselves in — assuming there won’t be more than 16 different race winners by the end of the 26-race regular season, which would be an unexpected situation, to say the least.
So whether you’re looking to closely follow the standings, need a refresher on where everyone currently sits or want to know what the playoff picture would be if the postseason began today, we’ve got you covered.
NASCAR fans often debate a winner-take-all championship race vs. a cumulative, season-long title hunt. We have a solution in the middle.
When it comes to NASCAR’s playoff format for determining a Cup Series champion, there seem to be two large factions of fans with opposing schools of thought. And since it’s been a little more than a week since Kyle Larson was crowned the latest champ, we figured it’s the perfect time to offer a new proposal for the playoffs.
Some people like the current system of a 10-race postseason, which whittles the championship contenders from 16 drivers down to four, who then compete in a winner-take-all season finale. Some people prefer a cumulative approach like in days of NASCAR past — and similar to other motor sports championships, like Formula 1 — where drivers earn points throughout an entire season, rewarding dominant performances over several months.
So why not try to meet somewhere in the middle with a championship round of three races instead of it boiling down to just one? That approach — or one similar, like with a round of two or four races — could appease both groups of fans.
Now a NASCAR champion, Kyle Larson needs to use his growing platform to continue fighting racism and inequality.
AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Larson’s 2021 NASCAR Cup Series championship isn’t a redemption story. It’s not a comeback. And his monumental success on the track this year shouldn’t be confused for amends made after he missed most of the 2020 season.
Larson was absent from NASCAR for the majority of last year because he said the N-word during a live-streamed iRacing event that April. His sponsors quickly bailed, NASCAR suspended him and Chip Ganassi Racing fired him. So yes, he returned to NASCAR this year behind the wheel of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, but his dominating 10-win championship season should not be portrayed as a typical sports story where an athlete triumphs over adversity.
“I haven’t once felt like this year has been a redemption tour or anything like that,” Larson said last week. “I’ve had lots of people ask if I felt that way, and I don’t.”
He wasn’t an underdog, he wasn’t sidelined with an injury and he wasn’t racing for a team on the brink of closure. He used a racist slur — a disgusting and derogatory word that perpetuates anti-Black sentiments and shouldn’t have been anywhere near the tip of his tongue.
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Facing the consequences of his words, Larson’s wounds were self-inflicted, his punishments deserved and his atonement remains a work-in-progress. Nothing he does behind the wheel can accelerate that, and his performance shouldn’t be viewed as compensation for the harm and pain he caused last year.
“We always like giving second chances to really bad actors,” said Dr. Louis Moore, a sports historian and professor at Grand Valley State in Michigan.
“We always give them these opportunities to move on. And that’s fine, that’s NASCAR’s business. But it doesn’t mean we have to forget what happened. … And maybe that’s the punishment, that people’s memory, he gets judged by that.”
( Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports)
As a generational talent, Larson was almost certainly going to get a second chance in NASCAR. And even after he signed with Hendrick Motorsports, no one could have predicted this level of consistent dominance throughout the season, culminating in his first Cup title — also a first for an Asian American driver and alumnus of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program.
Success for him was expected, though. So the latest test for the 29-year-old driver and newly crowned champ is what he does next as he crosses the threshold to a new level of stardom.
“He’s definitely been the most dominant driver this year, so what does that success look like?” said Mike Metcalf Jr., a Chip Ganassi Racing pit crew coach who is Black, was on Larson’s former pit crew and is still the No. 42 team’s fueler. “How are you using your influence and resources to empower the communities?”
If Larson continues on this professional track, he’s going to be a NASCAR star for years, maybe decades, to come. Now that he’s a champion, his job security seems more stable than ever — he’s signed through 2023 and team owner Rick Hendrick said Sunday he hopes Larson retires with him – and perhaps more sponsors are likely to team up with him. His fan base is growing, and multiple drivers said he had the largest impact on NASCAR this season. So will he use his growing platform to fight inequality and be actively anti-racist?
“Regardless of your stance on politics or race or whatever, I think everybody can agree that none of this stuff moves quickly,” Metcalf continued last month. “[I’m] more interested in the long run. It would be real easy for him to write a donation check to somewhere and go do some appearances. But I think the real measure is how you do it five, 10 years from now.”
So Larson worked to educate himself and help push back against inequalities to create change. He volunteered with and fundraised for organizations that provide educational opportunities for children of color and underserved communities, including the Urban Youth Racing School in Philadelphia and retired soccer star Tony Sanneh’s foundation in Minneapolis.
“At the Urban Youth Racing School, pretty much all their children they have there are Black, and so that’s why it was important to me to work very closely with them because I’d already had a relationship with them in the past and really wanted to grow on that this year,” said Larson, who’s worked with the school since 2017, according to founder Anthony Martin.
“They’re able to pick up the phone and call me whenever they want to ask me questions. I’ve donated a couple iRacing simulators to their school, and usually it’s them calling me and asking how to get around a certain track and stuff. It’s been it’s been great working with them.”
Kyle Larson and Urban Youth Racing School founder Anthony Martin at Pocono Raceway in June 2021. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Larson said this fall, he visited the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. He said he spent “a few hours” in the mammoth museum, gaining a “better perspective on life” and “learning more about experiences that African Americans had to overcome to even get to where they’re at today.”
Earlier this year, he also launched the Kyle Larson Foundation — which aims to help communities in need through “hands-on support” — and through it, the “Drive for 5” initiative with a goal of raising $500,000. For the fundraising effort, he pledged personal donations of $5 for every lap completed and $5,000 for every top-5 finish, which amounts to $145,000 for the 2021 season. Larson said last week it’s raised more than $200,000 with help from other contributions.
The money, per Hendrick Motorsports, will go toward at least five student scholarships through the Urban Youth Racing School, provide daily meals to at least five families in need through The Sanneh Foundation and help at least five communities through school grants. And Larson said he hopes those types of contributions can become an annual tradition.
Martin, his wife, Michelle, and several others from the Urban Youth Racing School were at Sunday’s championship race, watching the finish near the No. 5 team’s pit box and celebrating on pit road. He hopes the school can expand with franchises in other cites to help “increase the participation of African Americans” and “have a major, major impact” on racing.
Larson’s fundraising efforts are a good next step that could have real-world impacts. But much of his efforts in the last year and a half seem to be about proving he’s not racist when taking steps to be actively anti-racist could help accomplish both.
“Actions speak louder than any word could ever speak,” said Martin last month. “You can talk all day about what you plan on doing in the community, or you can have goals and ideas of what you want to do in the community. But if you’re not doing those things in the community, it means absolutely nothing. And what Kyle has been doing — he’s actually been putting in the work.”
“You cannot let up what you’re doing,” Martin continued. “You have to continue to do great things and do things within the community and helping folks.”
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It’s OK to think that Larson deserved a second chance in NASCAR. It’s OK to believe his remorse is genuine and his efforts to grow and create positive change are authentic. Martin, sitting on the pit wall after the race, said he believes Larson has sought real change and continues to be willing to put in the work. Michelle Martin agreed, adding: “Off track is where he has had his biggest wins.”
So it’s OK to root for him and to celebrate his massively successful season. But his accountability hasn’t ended with his return to the sport and a championship.
We see it happen in sports all the time: An athlete’s controversy away from competition is erased or rewritten with their return to the field, court or race track. And with Larson winning his first championship and having a massively successful NASCAR season, his professional successes shouldn’t mitigate his personal failures or his responsibility to employ his growing platform to help dismantle inequalities.
So it’s OK to be happy for Larson and celebrate his success while also holding him to a high standard of accountability and expecting more from him to come. Those things aren’t mutually exclusive.
AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kyle Larson’s 6-year-old son, Owen, asked his dad several weeks ago why the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver never wins a race when he’s at the track.
“‘You always finish second when I’m there,’” Larson recalled his son saying.
Larson and his team snapped that streak for Owen in the NASCAR Cup Series championship race Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, winning both the race and his first championship at the sport’s highest level after a dominating season.
Starting on the pole and leading 107 of 312 laps on his way to victory, Larson celebrated with his team before jogging up the track to grab the checkered flag. He immediately handed it to Owen, who held it out the window of the No. 5 car as Larson drove them around the track for a victory ride.
'@KyleLarsonRacin had a special passenger for his championship victory lap…
“Owen had been giving me crap a month and a half ago about how I can’t win a Cup race when he’s there, so that added a lot of pressure,” Larson said after winning his series-high 10th race of the season and first at the one-mile desert track. With five victories in the playoffs, he tied Tony Stewart’s 2011 mark for most wins in a single playoff run.
Larson completed his first year with Hendrick Motorsports after missing most of the 2020 NASCAR season. In April of that year, he said the N-word during a live-streamed iRacing event, and Chip Ganassi Racing fired him while NASCAR suspended him.
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Although the driver is usually the one in the spotlight, NASCAR is a team sport, and Larson likely wouldn’t have been in a position to take the checkered flag without an outstanding final pit stop, which put the No. 5 car out front for the remainder of the season finale.
Behind Larson, championship contenders Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott finished the race second, third and fifth, respectively. Ryan Blaney — who was eliminated from the playoffs prior to the title race — finished fourth.
“There were so many points in this race where I did not think we were going to win,” Larson said. “Without my pit crew on that last stop, we would not be standing right here. They are the true winners of this race. They are true champions.”
The final caution flag of the race came out on Lap 283, and when all four championship drivers pitted, they took four tires apiece. But the No. 5 team’s stop was so fast that they gained three spots on pit road coming out of the No. 1 pit stall, while the other title-hopefuls either maintained the same position or lost at least one.
The No. 5 team’s execution in the right moment, crew chief Cliff Daniels said, goes back to Hendrick Motorsports’ pit crew department and how it’s been “pushing our guys every week.”
“And I know that sounds basic and simple,” Daniels explained. “But it is that simplicity of the reps, the routine, the pushing, the workout days (and) the practice days that made the difference for us at the end of the day today, which, we all know if the 5 car didn’t win the race off pit road, we probably don’t win the race. We probably don’t win the championship.”
And on the final restart with 23 laps to go, Larson shot out to the front and held off Truex trying to catch him from fractions of a second behind.
“We just had a slow stop,” Truex said. “I think if we would have had the lead, we could have held him off. But hindsight is 20-20, and we didn’t have the lead, so here we are.”
Daniels said “it was pretty funny” that Larson previously told his crew chief he didn’t think “qualifying mattered all that much” just because of how crucial that last pit stop was for the No. 5 team, along with earning the best pit stall.
“It was a total team effort, not just from the whole season but from the whole weekend,” said Jeff Gordon, the four-time champion, Hall of Famer and co-owner of Hendrick Motorsports.
“How they prepared to go qualify and get that lap to win the pole, get the No. 1 pit stall, and they had great stops all day long. … I think I heard it was the second-best stop of the entire year. That’s what championship teams do.”
For The Win sat down with superstar Kristin Chenoweth to talk all things musical theater.
AVONDALE, Ariz. — Kristin Chenoweth, the Tony Award- and Emmy Award-winning actress, is no stranger to NASCAR.
The Oklahoma native said she used to watch NASCAR with her father and grandparents every weekend and cheered for the late Dale Earnhardt Sr. She’s previously been to races at Watkins Glen International and Sonoma Raceway, and Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, she’ll sing the national anthem ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series championship race (3 p.m. ET, NBC).
And she joked that, according to her father, singing the anthem for NASCAR’s title race means she’s “made it” and can now retire.
“There’s nothing like being there,” Chenoweth said about NASCAR races. “Just like being in a Broadway house, it’s the live performance. And that’s what they’re doing. They’re doing their thing live, and there’s nothing like it.”
Prior to her performance at the desert track, For The Win spoke with 53-year-old Chenoweth about racing, her Apple TV+ show Schmigadoon! and the recently announced cast of the movie adaptation of Wicked.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Do you think you could drive a race car? Would you want to?
I have always wanted to. But here’s the problem: I can barely see over the steering wheel of my own car, and I know the seats are very low because I did Wally’s World. And so no, I cannot, unless they built a special seat for me. And I’m faster than people realize.
And you think Kyle Larson is going to win NASCAR’s championship?
I do. I just don’t think you can count [Denny] Hamlin out though. He’s a superstar and a legend, so you can’t count him out.
What’s the number one thing that people recognize you on the street for?
Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel in Wicked. (JOAN MARCUS)
It can be of various and sundry things. I get a lot of West Wing. I get a lot of Wicked. I get a lot of Glee, Pushing Daisies. I get a lot of, gosh, RV. The movie RV, that doesn’t go away.
Recently, I’ve just done a show called Schmigadoon! that was very well received. I’m always surprised when people don’t know that I sing. They’re like, “You were on West Wing, and da da da, and da da da. You don’t sing.” I’m like, “Yes, I do.”
Was your role in Schmigadoon! particularly challenging compared with others you’ve played?
It was challenging in one way. I had a 16-page song. And the director — this was my fifth project with Barry Sonnenfeld — decided to have not one cut. So I did the entire number, which was a patter song, without one cut. Not one cut? Can I say that again? Not one cut.
How long of a song is that when you say 16 pages?
Almost five minutes.
Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were recently cast in Wicked the movie. What do you think they’ll bring to the roles of Elphaba and Glinda?
Obviously, they’re going to bring their strong vocals. But what I love seeing is the diversity. I’m going to bring that up because it’s very important that we we have two girls — both are wicked, and both are good. And I like that we have Cynthia, who is a powerhouse and will act the role. Of course, she’s going to sing it like nobody’s business, but she’s going to really put us there.
And I think Ariana, because I’ve known her so long, is Glinda she’s not going to be acting. And she can sing her face off. So at the center of it, that’s the love story, the two women. And I personally feel that they got it right.
Congrats to two amazing women. May it change your lives for the better forever and ever as it has for us. So much love. https://t.co/2avPFA9OBk
When you say Ariana is Glinda, what do you mean by that?
She’s funny, people don’t understand that she’s funny. We’ve been doing The Voice together. Or, I should say, I’ve joined her as a mentor for four or six episodes or something. She is so funny. I don’t know that people understand that Ariana Grande is funny.
And Glinda is a very challenging role because she’s the one that has the if I may, the biggest growth. She has the biggest arc, and Ariana has the chops to do it. And I’m not even talking about singing.
I’m not sure if I’ve ever been this proud. From the very first day I met you, you were destined for this role. Congratulations @ArianaGrande! The best Glinda you will be with Cynthia by your side 💗💚 I love you!! 🧚♀️👑🪄 @WICKED_Musical#wickedpic.twitter.com/yUnboWPcVW
If you could play any musical role from any time period, what would it be?
There’s too many things. I love Dolly Parton. I’m lacking a couple things, but I’d love to play her. I love Tammy Faye Bakker’s story. Those are two women — one was in the ’80s, and Dolly is a classic legend.
The Tony award is named after Antoinette Perry, and I’ve always wondered about her story. It’s a very interesting one, and I thought that would be cool. But I could go on and on.
Chase Elliott will compete in NASCAR’s championship race and try to win back-to-back titles.
PHOENIX — It’s been more than a decade since a NASCAR Cup Series driver won back-to-back championships, but Chase Elliott is hoping to defend his title — and bring another sports championship home to the state of Georgia.
The 25-year-old Dawsonville, Georgia native is pumped about the Atlanta Braves winning the World Series this week and his Georgia Bulldogs being undefeated on the gridiron so far this college football season. But as much as he wants to win his second NASCAR championship and continue his home state’s title-winning week, the No. 9 Chevrolet driver said he’s not feeling any added pressure either way.
“I’m just excited about it; it’s awesome,” Elliott said Thursday. “The Dawgs and the Braves are my two teams that I always pull for, and to see them having success is really cool.
“I feel like we can go out there and have a really good run. … I would love to bring another one back home and enjoy it with everybody.”
Should Elliott win his second straight title Sunday at Phoenix Raceway (3 p.m. ET, NBC), he’d be NASCAR’s first back-to-back NASCAR champ since his former Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson did it in 2009 and 2010 — and that was the back end of a five-championship win streak.
But to defend his title, Elliott will have to finish higher than the other Championship 4 drivers: his teammate, Kyle Larson, along with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin. Winning the race is not a requirement to win the title, but the last seven champions have also taken the checkered flag.
Chase Elliott celebrates his 2020 NASCAR Cup Series championship at Phoenix Raceway. (AP Photo/Ralph Freso)
In NASCAR’s first visit this season to the one-mile Phoenix track in March, Truex won, while Elliott finished fifth and did not lead any laps. Hamlin came in third and Larson in seventh.
Based on how the No. 9 team has performed through the first nine playoff races, Elliott said it’s “in a good place” going into the season finale. However, Elliott and his team have yet to win a postseason race this year and have just three top-5 finishes, compared with two checkered flags and four top-5 finishes ahead of the title race last season.
Still, Elliott said he and his team are “even more prepared” this time around but have a laid-back approach to this weekend.
“We learned a lot about ourselves last year and really what we were capable of and how we could focus on the right things and go and ultimately get the job done,” Elliott said. “Having gone through that experience once, we can hone in on the things that matter most and make our car go as fast as possible and execute a good race.
“I think just making sure you’re focusing on the right things is really the most important piece of the weekend, and I feel like our group is very capable of doing that.”
And while Sunday’s race is the season finale with a giant trophy on the line, Elliott said his team’s prep and collaboration with the other three Hendrick Motorsports teams this week remained consistent.
“Obviously, the stakes are higher for sure,” he said. “The opportunity to win something is larger than it is on other weekends. However, the path to getting there is very much the same. A fast race car, good decisions, executing a really solid race. All those things are going to lend you the best result, and this year, this weekend, and this year, is no different.”
