The ones who have nothing to lose are the biggest threats. Sunday’s Cup Series race witnessed the non-playoff drivers go into winning mode as their rivals faded away. Chris Buescher headed this pack of hungry wolves as he snapped a year-long winless streak at Watkins Glen International. On the flip side, the playoff picture looks pretty grim indeed, as the cream of the field ended up outside the top ten.

NASCAR’s second playoff race was laced with cautions and spins. The tricky turns, or “esses,” of the 2.4-mile road course claimed stellar drivers like Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, and Christopher Bell as their prey. This unexpected failure of top-notch drivers also revealed a mind-boggling stat.

Not the champions’ ideal day

The playoff grid got a shake-up immediately into the chaotic Go Bowling at the Glen race. The opening lap witnessed reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney getting his car towed away after a wreck. Then, Denny Hamlin suffered multiple wrecks during the race, as his battered No. 11 Toyota finished 23rd. Similarly, Kyle Larson and other glittering drivers fell prey to unexpected wrecks. Christopher Bell blamed Goodyear’s hollow promises for this fiasco, while Ty Gibbs pointed to low horsepower.

But this massive hullabaloo also uncovered an intriguing stat. All playoff drivers ended up outside the top ten at Watkins Glen, except for Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric. NASCAR insider Seth Eggert recently revealed that Briscoe’s 6th place finish marked “the furthest back that the best of the Cup Playoff drivers have ever finished in a Playoff race.” This made some jaws drop, including racing expert Jeff Gluck. He tweeted: “This is a wild stat. If I’m reading this correctly, first ever playoff race with no playoff drivers in the top five?” And Eggert reverted that this is indeed the case. Ever since the Chase playoff format came in 2004, no playoff driver has finished outside the top five in any NASCAR series.

Indeed, this scenario left all the NASCAR Cup championship hopefuls in a muck. At least 11 drivers faced some sort of issue, and the race was bedlam for competitors from the start. Currently, the playoff bubble has Kyle Larson, William Byron, Chase Briscoe, and Ty Gibbs above the cutline. And shockingly, Denny Hamlin slipped under the elimination line. His woes started early, from the lap 1 encounter with Blaney to hitting Kyle Busch and finally getting spun out by Brad Keselowski. However, another playoff driver pointed fingers at NASCAR for destroying his run.

Even NASCAR got in the playoff drivers’ way

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Watkins Glen International looked formidable even before the race began. Several adjustments were made, like bumps being added to the outside runoff area, or the famous ‘bus stop’ corner raised in height to resemble a spike. Plus, the heavy braking zones and the tricky turns made the entire track a tough ordeal. So Ryan Blaney fell prey to Glen’s ruthless nature and also Denny Hamlin’s careless moves on the very first lap. The Team Penske driver was even more infuriated as NASCAR did not allow him a chance to come back.

The No. 12 Ford was heavily damaged, and Blaney argued his team should have been allowed to make repairs for a comeback. “They didn’t give us a chance to fix it. How are they going to dictate if we are done or not? They have no idea of the damage. They said we were done because I couldn’t drive it back to the pit box, but if you have four flats, you get towed back to the pit box. You can’t drive that back. I don’t know what is going on or why they won’t give us a shot to work on it but I don’t agree with.”

Evidently, a lot of factors played spoilsport with playoff drivers’ chances at Watkins Glen, including NASCAR. Let us wait for the final Round of 16 race at Bristol, where Denny Hamlin has a high chance of redeeming himself.