Alright, the Xfinity Series delivered last night, so let’s just start with that.
Trucks, Xfinity
After Chandler Smith won a banger of a Truck race Thursday (Trucks and Bristol is always fun), the Xfinity race last night was wild. A member of the cleanup crew slipped cleaning up gas. One or more objects were thrown. And at the finish line, the race and the regular season championship were both decided like this:
Allmendinger, to make it even better, had to hop into the ambulance to get checked over (because he was in an accident), creating this moment:
Alright, now the Cup race:
Where It Is
Bristol. An arena, really.
When It Is
Green flag at 7:47 PM EDT
How to Watch
NBCSN
Who to Watch
Playoff drivers, their place in the standings, their odds on Bovada entering the last race of the Round of 16 (in other words, the bottom four after this week are eliminated):
1. Denny Hamlin – Locked into Round of 12; 13-to-2
2. Martin Truex Jr. – Locked into Round of 12; 13-to-1
3. Kyle Larson – Locked into Round of 12; 9-to-2
4. Joey Logano – 40 points ahead of first driver out; 19-to-2
5. Ryan Blaney – 28 points ahead of first driver out; 12-to-1
6. Kevin Harvick – 25 points ahead of first driver out; 11-to-1
7. Chase Elliott – 19 points ahead of first driver out; 8-to-1
8. Christopher Bell – 17 points ahead of first driver out; 22-to-1
9. Brad Keselowski – 13 points ahead of first driver out; 16-to-1
10. Kyle Busch – 8 points ahead of first driver out; 17-to-4
11. Aric Almirola – 3 points ahead of first driver out; 40-to-1
12. Kurt Busch – Last driver in, 0 points ahead of first driver out; 15-to-1
13. Alex Bowman – First driver out, 0 points behind last driver in; 25-to-1
14. Tyler Reddick – 5 points behind last driver in; 40-to-1
15. William Byron – 18 points behind last driver in; 25-to-1
16. Michael McDowell – 38 points behind last driver in; 300-to-1
Nobody else is at better odds than 40-to-1.
How NASCAR Should Script It
I mean, you’ve gotta have one guy eliminated in a wreck that he wasn’t even directly involved with. One guy who just gets caught up in some mayhem. But then, I don’t know, a war of attrition sounds kind of fun, actually. Maybe have it happen to three drivers, then give us a late restart with cameras on all three of them trying to figure out whether they’re in or out. Keep Ross Chastain involved, too. Great subplot lately.
