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| Photo Credit: AP. |
DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — Austin Cindric has had more than six months to think about NASCAR’s playoffs. The rookie racer thinks he’s got a winning plan: maintain his steady, head-down approach when the 10-race postseason begins Sunday at Darlington Raceway.
Cindric is
among a group of four first-timers in the field of 16, along with Chase
Briscoe, Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez. All are excited — and filled with
questions about how things will unfold when the green flag waves for the
Southern 500.
“I want to
do my job. The only expectation I have is to have a team that all the resources
and capability to do that,” said Cindric, who won the season-opening Daytona
500. “We’ve certainly delivered on a lot of occasions.”
Cindric will
start 14th on the playoff grid. Chastain, with two wins and eight other
top-five finishes, starts the playoffs in third behind regular-season champion
Chase Elliott and No. 2 seed Joey Logano.
Defending
Cup Series champion Kyle Larson is the fourth seed. Briscoe is seeded 12th and
Suarez right behind in 13th.
Darlington
starts the three-race opening round. Chastain said his week has been
“surprisingly normal” after all he’d heard about playoff anxiety.
“It’s wild.
I thought there would be differences, I thought I would feel different or wake up
and not be able to sleep,” Chastain said. “I’m really happy that it’s been a
normal week.”
Suarez, of
Trackhouse Racing, also has felt this was a regular week, no matter that a Cup
Series trophy awaits at the end of the next 10 weeks.
“I think if
we can stay calm, relax and continue to do exactly the same thing we’ve been
doing the last few months, we’re going to be in good shape,” said Suarez,
NASCAR’s first Mexican-born race winner.
The Southern
500 kicks off the three-race first round, which continues at Kansas and
Bristol. The Darlington winner, as long as he’s in the playoffs, advances to
round two among the final 12 competitors.
The second
round consists of Texas, Talladega and the Charlotte Roval, after which the
playoff field is cut to eight.
The top four
after the third round of Las Vegas, Homestead-Miami and Martinsville advance to
the playoff finale on Nov. 6 at Phoenix, where the title will be awarded.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR KYLE BUSCH?
Kyle Busch, the NASCAR series champ in 2015 and 2019, said he sees an end in sight to discussions about his future in racing.
Busch’s
longtime sponsor, Mars, Inc., is pulling out of NASCAR after this season. Busch
said this week that he’s got multiple paths in front of him, including a return
to Joe Gibbs Racing.
Still, “time
is a ticking,” he said. “There’s a lot of other options and a lot of other
dominoes that need to fall. Talking amongst others, I’m the first one that
needs to go.”
Busch said
Thursday he expected to have decision about next year in seven to 10 days.
WHEN WILL KURT BUSCH RETURN?
Denny
Hamlin, co-owner of 23XI Racing with Michael Jordan, said Kurt Busch is still
recovering from a concussion and doesn’t know when Busch might come back to the
car.
Hamlin said
the recovery had “plateaued” at about 80% and Busch needed more time before
returning to the track.
Busch was
hurt during a qualifying crash at Pocono in late July. He missed the final six
races of the regular season and gave up his playoff spot when he was not
cleared to return for the Southern 500.
Bubba
Wallace was switched to Busch’s No. 45, which is in contention for the owner’s
title. Wallace will run that machine the rest of the season.
Kyle Larson
and Denny Hamlin are the oddsmakers’ picks to win the Southern 500 at 6-1,
according to FanDuel Sportsbook. Tyler Reddick and Chase Elliott were next at
7-1 with Ross Chastain at 7.5-1. ... There are several playoff regulars not in
the field of 16 who’ve had success at Darlington and could throw a wrench into
the plans of those contending for a title. Martin Truex Jr. and Brad
Keselowski, both past NASCAR series champions, have a combined three Darlington
wins over the past six years. ... Kyle Larson, who won the series title in
2021, thinks the chase this year is wide open as the Next Gen car has evened
expectations of all playoff hopefuls. ... The winner of the opening playoff
race has gone on to win that season’s title four times, Kurt Busch in 2004,
Tony Stewart in 2011, Brad Keselowski in 2012 and Martin Truex Jr. in 2017.
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