The NASCAR Cup playoff bubble remains a pressure cooker after Michigan

With just two races left in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season, there are basically three playoff spots left for four drivers … unless.

Unless, well, there’s not.

You see, the penultimate regular season race is at Daytona next weekend and it (in)famously can be won by literally anyone who takes the green. There is also the matter of Austin Dillon and Richard Childress Racing appealing the penalty that stripped them of a playoff spot and that comes on Wednesday.

There are so many different ways the playoff picture could change a week from now but this is what it looks like after the race at Michigan on Sunday:

Martin Truex Jr. +77
Ty Gibbs +39
Chris Buescher +16
Ross Chastain +1
—
Bubba Wallace -1

Let’s just assume for a moment that there are no surprise winners over the next two weeks at Daytona and Darlington for the Southern 500 and this is the points battle to earn the final four spots into the Field of 16.

From that standpoint, Gibbs and Buescher did themselves a great service on Monday with finishes of third and sixth with stage points over the course of the race to boot. Buescher especially showed some moxie with overcoming his involvement in the Lap 117 crash that began when Kyle Larson spun from inside the top-10 and collected the RFK Racing No. 17 in addition to Wallace, who never had the same speed and finished 26th, one lap down.

“We can talk about the points now and it being a good points day but getting caught up in the incident did cost us a chance to win today,” said the defending winner of the race. “At the same time, I’m so proud of this team for this race car and how much they battled today because all four corners were knocked off this race car by the end and we still were able to gain points.

“We’re not points racers but we’re certainly aware of what happened to some of the other guys that were on the bubble with us. But ultimately, we had a chance to win this race and that’s disappointing. It was a good call to take the right side tires to pass a lot of cars. It was a wild day and a heck of a way to salvage a day that should have been better.”

For the second time this season, Gibbs pushed Tyler Reddick to win, following Talladega in April. Gibbs joked that Reddick owes him two.

But a third place finish gave him a much needed cushion.

“It definitely is good to have a good points day,” Gibbs said. “Definitely wish we could have won and locked ourselves in, because winning usually takes care of about everything. But I’m thankful to be here and thankful to have a good day.”

Wallace led laps early and looked like he could have created separation until he had nowhere to go in the Larson crash ahead of him. FOX Sports got comment from Wallace afterwards.

“The guys did a good job and that’s all you can ask for,” Wallace told Bob Pockrass. “We showed speed and were competitive.”

Wallace is focused on winning and the points are a moot point.

“Two more left,” he said. “It wouldn’t matter if we ran second today.”

But again, Dillon will have his day in court, figuratively speaking and if the evidence is great enough to prove that he was not intentionally out to crash Denny Hamlin in that final corner, he could have his playoff spot restored.

In that case, there would be one less spot available on points.

Martin Truex Jr. +76
Ty Gibbs +38
Chris Buescher +15
—
Ross Chastain -15
Bubba Wallace -16

If a surprise winner upsets the field at Daytona, there would be another less spot available on points, so everyone on the grid here has reason for nerves until the Field of 16 is locked in after the Southern 500.

More must-reads:

• NASCAR Cup and Xfinity entry lists for Daytona
• Denny Hamlin salvages top-10 after Michigan NASCAR mishap
• Tyler Reddick delivering on the promise of expectation for 23XI