That’s one.
Kyle Larson became the first NASCAR Cup Series driver to qualify for the Championship 4 round of the Playoffs with his win on Oct. 15 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 2021 champion can now rest easy for the final two Round of 8 races—at Homestead-Miami on Oct. 22 and at Martinsville on Oct. 29.
Playoff points don’t matter in the Championship 4 round at Phoenix come Nov. 5. The NASCAR Cup season championship will be awarded to the highest finishing driver among the Championship 4 drivers at that season finale.
Drivers in the Round of 8 have two more races to qualify. A win by any of the seven other Playoff drivers automatically qualifies them for the Championship 4. Points standing will complete the field.
Here’s how it looks after Las Vegas:
Playoff Standings Round of 8
- x-Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 4,084
- William Byron, Chevrolet, 4,079
- Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 4,072
- Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 4,071
-
Christopher Bell, Toyota, 4,068 - Tyler Reddick, Toyota, 4056
- Chris Buescher, Ford, 4,048
- Ryan Blaney, Ford, 4,015
x-Qualified or Championship 4 with win at Las Vegas.
Mike Pryson covered auto racing for the Jackson (Mich.) Citizen Patriot and MLive Media Group from 1991 until joining Autoweek in 2011. He won several Michigan Associated Press and national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for auto racing coverage and was named the 2000 Michigan Auto Racing Fan Club’s Michigan Motorsports Writer of the Year. A Michigan native, Mike spent three years after college working in southwest Florida before realizing that the land of Disney and endless summer was no match for the challenge of freezing rain, potholes and long, cold winters in the Motor City.
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