Truex entered Sunday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 — the last race of the NASCAR regular season — sixth in the points standings. But because he had yet to win a race, he and Ryan Blaney were on the playoff bubble. Both would get in assuming there wasn’t a first-time winner at Daytona International Speedway.
Sure enough, there was.
Austin Dillon overtook leader Austin Cindric in the draft — with help from Richard Childress Racing teammate Tyler Reddick — with three laps remaining and faced no real challenges after that. He earned his first victory of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season and sneaked into the playoffs at Truex’s expense.
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That Dillon was in position to take the lead was itself contentious: He evaded a massive crash that many felt was caused by rain on the track. The thought was that NASCAR officials should have gone to red-flag conditions before that.
Either way, Dillon’s win secured him a spot in the playoffs and cost Truex, who finished three points behind Blaney for the final spot.
“It’s a shame. It stinks,” Truex said. “But just too much damage to have enough speed to do what we needed to do.
“Hindsight’s always 20-20. “We gave away plenty of points throughout the season. Yeah, but, it is what it is.”
Now the playoff field is set, starting with regular-season champion Chase Elliott in the first position. Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson and William Byron make up the remainder of the top five, respectively.
Blaney, the lone driver in the playoff field without a win, is seventh in the playoff standings.
The playoffs will begin with the three-race Round of 16 from Sept. 4-17. Then come three Round of 12 races from Sept. 25 through Oct. 9; three Round of Eight races from Oct. 16-30; and the Championship 4 race at Phoenix on Nov. 6.
NASCAR playoff field 2022
- Regular-season champion
NASCAR schedule 2022: Playoff races
Round of 16
Round of 12
Round of 8
Championship 4
In Canada, fans can watch all NASCAR races on TSN.
