Burton Is Latest Racer to Qualify for Wild NASCAR Playoff Field

Harrison Burton, driver of the #21 DEX Imaging Ford, poses with the winner sticker on his car in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Aug. 24, 2024 Sean Gardner/Getty Images

Another driver has qualified for the NASCAR playoffs, and the racers are poised for a wild finish heading into the year’s final event at the venerable Darlington Raceway.

Harrison Burton is the latest driver to qualify for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs after winning Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona. Entering the race, Burton was not among the top 20 in points, but now he can win a title.

The drivers will head to South Carolina to compete at the Cook Out Southern 500, which had its inaugural race in 1950, on Sunday, Sept. 1. That race will finalize the 16-man for the playoffs, which begin on Sunday, Sept. 8 at the Quaker State 400 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

“I cried the whole victory lap,” Burton told reporters after the Daytona race. “I obviously got fired from this job and wanted to do everything for the Wood Brothers I could; they’ve given me an amazing opportunity in life, and to give them the 100th [victory] on my way out is amazing. We’re in the playoffs now. Let’s go to Darlington and see what happens.”

As it stands, 13 drivers—Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, Daniel Suárez, Alex Bowman, and Burton—have now qualified for the playoffs by winning a race this season.

Larson is ranked No. 1 in the playoff standings, followed by Bell, Reddick, Byron, and Blaney.

Martin Truex Jr., the 2017 series champion, has a 58-point lead in the playoff standings, which should be enough to get him into the field. Truex is in his fifth season, driving the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

In addition, Ty Gibbs, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace, and Ross Chastain are jockeying for the vying for one spot. Two-time series champion Kyle Busch has to win at Darlington on Sunday to qualify for the playoffs.

“We win races here in Daytona going into the last restart but haven’t been able to pull off the victory, not sure what I’m doing wrong or missing,” Busch told the press after Saturday’s race. “I wanted to get up in front of the 21 [Burton] because I knew the momentum was coming there, but I knew the 20 [former teammate Christopher Bell] was a better friend [behind]. Just didn’t work out, as usual.”

Gibbs, the grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs, is currently ranked 15th in points and has a 39-point cushion, so he is in a good spot to make the playoffs. He has also been successful at Darlington Raceway, finishing second to Keselowski in the Goodyear 400 on May 12.

Buescher, who won three of the final five regular-season races in 2023, enters Darlington with a 21-point edge over Wallace as the last driver in the playoff field. Buescher, who drives the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford Mustang, has also traditionally raced well at Darlington.

Wallace will need a strong showing at Darlington to qualify for the playoffs for the second consecutive year. However, Wallace is on a roll with four top-10 finishes in his last five races, including a sixth-place finish at Daytona on Saturday.

“You got one car fighting for a regular-season championship and another car right on the bubble. Unacceptable,” Wallace told reporters after competing at Daytona on Saturday. “I'll take all that weight on my shoulders. [I] Should have won multiple times this year, and I haven’t. We don’t even deserve to be here, and we are. Got to go win next week. That is it.”

Chastain had been one of the favorites to make the playoffs but has since faded with just one top-10 finish over the past two months. Chastain is 27 points out of the 16th playoff position and will likely need a win at Darlington to qualify for the playoffs for the third consecutive year. However, Chastain has never won at Darlington Raceway over his career, so that could be a challenge.