After the regular-season finale at Daytona, NASCAR’s 16-driver playoff discipline is now set … and it would not be a vital NASCAR race with no entire lot of controversy. Ultimately, although, Austin Dillon received at Daytona, punching a last-second ticket into the playoffs and knocking Martin Truex Jr. beneath the minimize line. Ryan Blaney survived a protracted, harrowing race and ended up being the one non-race winner to succeed in the 2022 NASCAR playoffs.

Delayed 15 hours by climate, after which red-flagged late within the race by much more dangerous climate, the Coke Zero Sugar 400 was paused with 21 laps remaining. However many drivers felt the race ought to have been halted even sooner, complaining {that a} monitor too slick to drive led to a serious wreck that thinned out the sphere.

“That they had about a complete lap to name a warning and tore up quite a lot of race vehicles,” Justin Haley mentioned throughout a red-flag break. “That was fairly unacceptable.”

“We knew the rain was coming,” Daniel Suarez mentioned. “It was raining subsequent door. It’s only a matter of time. Why await it? I don’t know. I’m a bit of biased as a result of I used to be within the entrance.”

Crew Penske’s Blaney and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Truex got here into Daytona needing to carry their positions because the final two drivers within the playoff grid, and the one ones with no victory earlier than Saturday. So long as a driver with no win did not leap up and seize the checkered flag, they’d each make the playoffs … however sadly for Truex, that is precisely what occurred.

A pair of wrecks previous to the ultimate laps scrambled the playoff possibilities of each Blaney and Truex. Blaney acquired collected in a wreck on Lap 31, within the closing laps of Stage 1, damaging his steering and plummeting him deep into the sphere. Truex, who got here into the race 25 factors behind Blaney, completed second in Stage 2 to trim Blaney’s result in simply 10 factors. Moments after the beginning of Stage 3, in Lap 102, Truex discovered himself collected in one other wreck, one which brought about extreme harm to his proper entrance fender. However with Blaney six laps down, sufficient drivers had been taken out of the race in wrecks that Truex might achieve place after place on Blaney, and as of the crimson flag, Truex was 12 factors up on Blaney.

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As the ultimate stage wound down, the specter of climate brought about a number of the most frenetic racing in current reminiscence at Daytona. With 23 laps remaining, and rain beginning to choose up, your entire discipline misplaced grip on Lap 138 heading into Flip 2, inflicting an enormous wreck that reshaped the character of your entire race. Dillon was the one driver to make it by way of the preliminary carnage.

Shortly afterward, the rain that brought about that wreck constructed up sufficient to soak your entire monitor, forcing NASCAR to red-flag the race. Lightning strikes within the space brought about additional concern, however after a number of hours, NASCAR decided that the monitor was dry sufficient to proceed.

When the race resumed, solely 10 vehicles remained on the lead lap, and Truex’s lead over Blaney vanished as Blaney reversed the technique that Truex had used on him earlier within the race, “passing” a number of vehicles that had dropped out of the race. Austin Cindric tried to carry off Dillon within the race’s closing laps however was unable to take action, and Dillon captured the victory with no last-turn problem.

This weekend is the third time Daytona has hosted the common season finale, a job it is held since 2020. Previous to that, Indianapolis Motor Speedway held the finale for 2 years, and earlier than that, Richmond Worldwide Raceway hosted the ultimate race heading into NASCAR’s postseason yearly from 2004 to 2017.

NASCAR is on the third model of its playoffs. From 2004 to 2009, drivers reached the playoffs on factors alone. For 4 years after that, NASCAR crammed out a 12-driver discipline with a mixture of factors and wins. Beginning with the 2014 season, the playoff discipline has included 16 drivers, with a win-and-you’re-in format and a four-stage “elimination” sequence working by way of the playoffs.

Coming into the race, the drivers across the minimize line acquired an surprising break when Kurt Busch, sidelined for a number of weeks with a concussion, determined to withdraw his request for a playoff waiver. He’ll miss a minimum of the beginning of the playoffs, however extra importantly for the bigger image, his departure from the playoffs left a second potential spot open for a driver to get in with no victory.

Fifteen totally different drivers received races coming into Saturday evening, however with Busch’s withdrawal, Blaney and Truex discovered themselves on the excessive aspect of the minimize line. One other 13 drivers — these inside the highest 30 in factors — wanted to win Daytona to make the leap into the playoffs. That quantity included Dillon, Brad Keselowski, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Bubba Wallace and Michael McDowell, all of whom have had success at superspeedways. However most of these drivers, and plenty of extra, had been concerned in wrecks that ended their playoff hopes.

The playoffs start subsequent weekend with the Cook dinner Out Southern 500 at Darlington, and run by way of early November with the season finale at Phoenix. After each three races, the 4 drivers with the bottom level totals will likely be eradicated from the playoffs, with the ultimate 4 drivers competing in an all-or-nothing finale.

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Contact Jay Busbee at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or on Twitter at @jaybusbee.