NASCAR Points System is Complicated

By ESPN

The new NASCAR points system is complicated. Thankfully, the who's in-who's out as far as the playoffs heading into the regular-season finale is not hard to understand.

With 16 spots in the playoffs, 13 drivers have clinched spots with wins. That means if one of those previous winners also wins Saturday night at Richmond, it leaves three spots for winless drivers. Chase Elliott, Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray would earn those three spots.

Everyone else faces a must-win situation Saturday night as Clint Bowyer, thanks to a blown engine in the opening laps Sunday night at Darlington, can't catch the other winless drivers in the standings.

"It's a pretty inopportune time to have it happen, but it's never a good time," Bowyer said after his night ended after just 18 laps. "Doug Yates and all the guys over at his shop do such a good of bringing us reliable, good horsepower and it was just my time.

"It was my turn and there isn't much you can do about it. Obviously, the way the playoffs look right now, we're not out of this thing."

The only way there is drama at Richmond is if Bowyer or anyone behind him in the standings earns his first win of the year. That would leave Elliott, Kenseth and McMurray battling for two spots. Elliott has a two-point edge on Kenseth and a three-point edge on McMurray.

"I just hope we can have a clean race and not have any issues next week," Elliott said after an 11th-place finish at Darlington.

The 13 drivers already in the playoffs with wins, in order by their playoff points are Martin Truex Jr. (37), Kyle Busch (18), Jimmie Johnson (16), Brad Keselowski (14), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (10), Kevin Harvick (8), Ryan Blaney (8), Kurt Busch (5), Ryan Newman (5), Austin Dillon (5) and Kasey Kahne (5).

Truex already has earned an additional 15 playoff points which will take his total to 52 as the regular-season champ, but the rest of the top-10 in the regular-season standings will be determined at Richmond. Playoff points are added to the reset total at the start of each of the first three rounds of the playoffs.

One other driver has a win this year, but he's also facing a must-win situation at Richmond. Joey Logano's sole win this season came with a car that didn't pass postrace inspection and therefore he can't use that win to make the playoffs. That win came at Richmond in April.

"[Our situation] is pretty simple -- you could almost write an article without talking to me," Logano said.

Both Logano and Bowyer have won Cup races at Richmond.

"We've done well here before, too, but we just didn't have the speed today," Logano said after finishing 18th at Darlington. "The team executed really well. Our pit crew was super-fast and we had a car that was good on the long run sometimes, but never good on the short run.

"And then at the end it was horrible on the long run, so we just never really got the balance right. We were good in the day, but when we got to night time all hell broke loose for us. We're on to the next one."

Bowyer said he has been trying to win all year, and so he'll just do what he can Saturday.

"You come to all these race tracks with an urgency to win, just like we did at the Daytona 500," Bowyer said. "Richmond is a good track for us. We'll go there and do the best we can."
Xfinity Series: Clements Rides Wave of Win

Jeremy Clements finished 21st a week after his win at Road America. It was a big boost for the driver of a family-owned team.

Clements hopes there are more opportunities for small Xfinity teams to win as NASCAR continues to limit Cup drivers in the series. NASCAR will not allow full-time Cup drivers in 12 races next year (the four Dash 4 Cash races and the final eight races) and have cut the number of races for drivers with more than five years Cup experience from 10 to seven.

"If I'm a fan watching the Xfinity Series or the Truck Series, I'm not really wanting to watch a Cup guy dominate," Clements said. "That's just my opinion, though. ... We need more opportunities for guys like myself instead of top-name drivers in Cup getting the big rides and winning every weekend.

"That's not exciting to me. I don't blame the Cup guys. I would do it, too. I'm just saying give us a chance. Who wants to watch that, honestly?"

Clements wants Cup drivers to have to race non-Cup equipment.

"The problem is they are in top-dollar equipment," he said. "[They say], 'It's good for you to race them, it makes you better.' I'm like, 'Well, half the time they're so much faster, it doesn't make me better when they just fly by me.'

"I don't know what I'm learning from that."

He doesn't like the fact that a driver like him -- who has averaged a finish of 22.3 this year -- has the impression that his team is not that good.

"We're not terrible," he said. "We run respectable a lot of times. ... We're not here just to be here. We've had a lot of good finishes here and there."
Camping World Truck Series: Cindric Dump-And-Run For Win

Brad Keselowski Racing driver Austin Cindric won at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park after turning Kaz Grala for the win on the final lap.

Grala wasn't happy, but Cindric was matter-of-fact in his response.

"Kaz would have done the exact same thing to me," Cindric said. "Anyone would have done the exact same thing that I did. With that being understood, it's just kind of one of those deals.

"I'm sure he's not happy about it. I took away a race from him. ... I don't know if I can pass him cleanly -- it probably would have taken me three laps."

Cindric said it was pretty cut and dry with the NASCAR playoff format of what a driver has to do in that situation.

"It's what NASCAR racing demands at this point because you have to win and you're in and there's no penalties for getting into people," Cindric said. "It's one of those deals where you've got to take it."

His boss was happy to have both his drivers in the playoffs as Chase Briscoe clinched a spot in points.

"It's always good to get a win in that series," Keselowski said. "That's a good deal for that whole team. ... I was thinking [on that move], 'This is really stressful to watch on TV.' That's really what I was thinking, but it's nice to have both trucks locked in the playoffs."