Good news, bad news for NASCAR Cup teams ahead of Sunday's playoff race at Homestead
The third round of the Cup playoffs continues this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Joey Logano secured a spot in the Championship 4 with his win last week at Las Vegas. That leaves seven playoff drivers vying for the final three spots.
William Byron holds the final transfer spot entering Sunday’s race at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC. The drivers below the cutline are Denny Hamlin (-27 points), Tyler Reddick (-30), Ryan Blaney (-47) and Chase Elliott (-53).
Here is a look at the good news and bad news for Cup teams ahead of the Homestead playoff race.
23XI Racing — Good news: Homestead is among Tyler Reddick’s best tracks. He has finished in the top five in three of his four Cup starts there. … Reddick also won twice there in the Xfinity Series. … Bubba Wallace has finished 12th or better in four of the last five races. Bad news: Reddick has finished outside the top 10 in each of the last six races this season.
Front Row Motorsports — Good news: The organization has led 384 laps through 33 races this season. At this time a year ago, Front Row cars had led only 110 laps. Bad news: Michael McDowell has one top-10 finish in his last 17 races on a 1.5-mile track. … Todd Gilliland has not finished better than 25th in two Cup starts at Homestead.
Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: Kyle Larson leads the series in wins (six), stage wins (12) and laps led (1,615). … Larson has finished in the top five in five of the last eight races at Homestead. … William Byron has finished in the top four in each of the last four races. … Alex Bowman has tied his career highs in top fives (eight) and top 10s (16) in a season. Bad news: Chase Elliott is last in the playoff standings, 53 points below the cutline. … Elliott has finished better than 14th in one of the last five races at Homestead.
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Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Christopher Bell won at Homestead last year. … Bell has a series-high 21 top 10s this year. … Bell is one lap away from leading 1,000 this season. He ranks second in that category. … Denny Hamlin has won three times at Homestead. Bad news: Martin Truex Jr., who finished sixth last week at Las Vegas, has not had back-to-back top-10 finishes since Dover and Kansas in late April/early May. … Hamlin has scored one point in the last seven stages. … Hamlin ranks third in laps led this season but has led only five laps in the seven playoff races. … Ty Gibbs has placed 35th and 30th in the past two races, marking only the second time this year he’s finished 25th or worse in back-to-back races.
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JTG Daugherty Racing — Good news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has three top-five finishes this season, giving him one more than he had at this time a year ago. Bad news: Stenhouse finished 27th last week at Las Vegas, marking the 15th time in 33 races he’s finished 25th or worse this season.
Kaulig Racing — Good news: AJ Allmendinger has finished in the top 10 in each of his last two races at Homestead. … Allmendinger has five top 10s at Homestead, his most at a 1.5-mile track. … Daniel Hemric has three top-20 finishes in the last five races. Bad news: The organization has had more DNFs this season (11) than at this time last year (eight).
Legacy Motor Club — Good news: John Hunter Nemechek finished ninth at Las Vegas, marking his first top 10 in nearly four months. Bad news: Erik Jones has finished 24th or worse in seven of the last eight races.
Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Austin Dillon has finished in the top 10 in each of the last two races at Homestead and in four of the last five races there. … Kyle Busch has top 10s in eight of his last nine starts at Homestead. Bad news: Busch is winless in a career-long 54 consecutive races.
Rick Ware Racing — Good news: Corey LaJoie’s 14th-place finish at Las Vegas gives him three top-20 results in his first four starts for the organization. Bad news: The organization has never had a car finish in the top 25 in the Cup race at Homestead.
RFK Racing — Good news: Chris Buescher has scored six consecutive top-20 finishes.. Bad news: Buescher has not finished better than 13th in eight Cup starts at Homestead. … Brad Keselowski has scored more than 25 points in just one of the last eight races.
Spire Motorsports — Good news: Carson Hocevar has five top-20 finishes in the last seven races. … Justin Haley has two top-20 results in his first four races since rejoining the organization. … Zane Smith has finished 21st or better in each of the last seven races. Bad news: The organization has not had a car finish better than 20th in a Cup race at Homestead.
Stewart-Haas Racing — Good news: Noah Gragson has two top 10s in his last six starts on 1.5-mile tracks. … Ryan Preece has two top 10s in the last six races this year. Bad news: Chase Briscoe has an average finish of 24th in three Cup starts at Homestead. … Josh Berry has finished 20th or worse in 14 of the last 15 races.
Team Penske — Good news: Joey Logano’s win at Las Vegas moved him into next month’s championship race at Phoenix. … Logano’s six Championship 4 appearances are the most all time. … Logano has 14 career playoff wins, which ranks third all-time behind Jimmie Johnson (29 playoff wins) and Kevin Harvick (16). … Logano’s win at Las Vegas gave crew chief Paul Wolfe 41 career victories, passing Rodney Childers (40 wins) for most among current crew chiefs. … Three of Austin Cindric’s six top-10 finishes this year have come in the playoffs. … Ryan Blaney finished second at Homestead last year. Bad news: Blaney has four DNFs in the last nine races.
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Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Ross Chastain has four top 10s, including a win, in the last six races. … Daniel Suarez is coming off a third-place finish at Las Vegas. Bad news: Trackhouse has fewer top fives and top 10s this year compared to the same point in time last season.
Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Harrison Burton finished 15th at Las Vegas, his best finish since his Daytona win in August. … Burton has scored back-to-back top 20s. Bad news: The last time a Wood Brothers car finished in the top 10 at Homestead was 2004 when Hall of Fame inductee Ricky Rudd placed ninth.
