Ahead of the 2024 Cup Series playoffs, many predicted it to be a wild one. The first round of the playoffs recently concluded, and it was a wild one indeed! Well, what else do you expect when a Super-speedway, a road course, and a short track are put together? Former Cup Series Champions Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr were eliminated along with the youngsters Ty Gibbs and Harrison Burton.

Some hopeful championship contenders also neared elimination, like Denny Hamlin. The #11 has Bristol’s P4 finish to thank after he found himself in the elimination zone. The playoffs also had some unexpected performances from Alex Bowman and Austin Cindric as well as from Daniel Suarez, which helped them stay afloat. The uncertainties in the playoffs have made the round of 12 even more uncertain.

What can be expected out of the round of 12?

Heading into the next round, Kyle Larson is the top-seeded player with +39 points. Christopher Bell follows him with + 24 points and lastly, regular season champion Tyler Reddick with +20 points wraps the top 3. Owing to the wildness of the round one in playoffs, the competition is tight, behind our top 3. NASCAR crew chiefs recently analyzed the round of 12 and spoke on the same lines.

Michael McDowell’s crew, Chief Travis Peterson, on the tightness of the playoffs, said, “It’s amazing to me how tight all these guys are. With William Byron being only 14 in all the way back it’s super close. And I’m good friends with the engineer on the 24. I was talking to him like ‘How good are you now that the Reset’ so he’s like we are only 14 in. I’m like you have won three races and some stages you should have way more.” Byron is currently 4th in the standings, behind him is defending champion, Ryan Blaney with +11 points.

Denny Hamlin follows Blaney in 6th position with +7 points, behind him is Chase Elliot with +6 points, and lastly the first playoff race winner, Joey Logano takes the last spot above the cutoff line with +4 points. This closeness is thanks to the uncertainties that played in round 1. Two new tracks made their debut, first Atlanta, reconfigured to a Superspeedway. Daniel Suarez almost won this race ahead of Joey Logano, Kyle Larson crashed out, and Denny Hamlin finished 24th. Next up, the addition of another road course, Watkins Glen shook things up. Only two playoff drivers had top-10 finishes (Chase Briscoe in 6th and Austin Cindric in 10th). Lastly, Bristol brought some relief, leaving us with such a tight scenario in the playoffs.

However, uncertainties in the playoffs were beneficial to the drivers currently in the bubble. Although they are behind the cutoff line due to a lack of playoff points, they have had good runs so far. Cindric is in the 9th position, -4 points below the cutoff line. He managed a top-10 finish in the first two playoff races and a top-15 in the 3rd. Behind him is Suarez with -6 points thanks to his P2 in Atlanta and top-15 finish at :”The Glen.” Alex Boman and Chase Briscoe take the final two spots with both -7 points below the cut line. Both had a good run with two top-10s in the playoffs.

Although they might be in the bubble, the competition is tight, and still, anything can happen because guess what? The next round too has more or less the same kind of tracks.

Round 12 is bound to be wild too

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Also, analyzing the round of 12 was Noah Gragson’s crew chief Drew Blickensderfer, who said, “One thing when looking at this is interesting is we have a road course in this round, we have another superspeedway and then we have a mile and a half one of the smoothest mile and a half we go to. That a lot of these guys towards the front dominate at.” The trio of racetracks in the round of 12 are going to make things interesting.

The first one is the Kansas Speedway where Larson won in the spring and is hopeful of a back-to-back. The track is also a stronghold of Hamlin; he has the record for most wins on the track (4). Next up is Talladega, which can prove to be anyone’s game. The bubble drivers can capitalize on this Superspeedway opportunity like Chase Briscoe winning the Darlington race or Suarez’s Atlanta win in the first race of the season.

Lastly, it’s Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course upping the uncertainties further. After Bowman could bag a win after he won the Chicago Street race this year. “You go to Charlotte roval places where I am positive Alex Bowman runs great at. Daniel Suarez is a good road racer. Austin Cindric is a great road racer. Those guys are looking forward to the Roval,” Blickensderfer added.

What do you think about the next round of the playoffs? Which four, according to you, will be eliminated? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.