Tyler Reddick enters the cut-off race at Darlington with a 17-point advantage over Kyle Larson in the battle to win the regular season title. Chase Elliott also lurks in the background, only 18 points behind. Whoever prevails will play a key role in how the standings will look when the points reset. After tonight, the 16 playoff drivers will have 2,000 points, plus any playoff bonus points they have accumulated throughout the year.
These points can be gathered via stage wins (one point), race wins (five points), or the often-overlooked third method, which was added in 2017. In that method, the top-ten drivers in the regular season standings after Race #26 will each get a handful of points: 10th gets one point, ninth gets two, eighth gets three, and so on. Although second gets ten playoff bonus points, there is then a notable jump up for the regular season champ. 15 points are offered to the driver who sits atop the standings before the reset. That is the equivalent of three race wins on everyone else, or one extra race win on the runner-up.
While the regular season champion has only gone on to win it all in three of the last seven seasons, those points have helped them to advance through the volatile playoff system and into the Championship 4 in five of the past seven seasons. 2020 regular season champion Kevin Harvick infamously missed the final four in 2020 while trying to spin Kyle Busch out for the one point he needed in the penultimate race. In 2023, Martin Truex Jr. was also eliminated in the Round of 8, but after one of the worst playoff showings by a regular season champion ever, the bonus points were a massive help in carrying him as far as they did.
Reddick or Larson?
Reddick finished second in last year's Southern 500, but the driver who beat him to the finish line is the one currently chasing him for the top spot in the standings -- Larson.
“I feel like at a place like Darlington it’s hard to because I mean it’s just, you’re kind of racing the track, right?" said Reddick on Saturday. "There might be an option to mix up the strategy in the stages, but I think we all have a pretty good idea of what the best strategy is going to be. It’s tough here. I feel like you go to some of these other tracks — Michigan is a perfect example — where you’re more worried about fuel than tires. I think it’s easier to do it, but here it’s just a race where you’re running against the track all night like.
"Certainly, it could go that way, but I feel like if we both have solid nights then we’re in a pretty good place unless we just have a disastrous night.”
Larson had a similar view of Sunday's 500-mile crown jewel event. He believes there won't be a huge opportunity for him to gain a lot of points on Reddick, unless misfortune should strike. “As well as both Tyler (Reddick) and I run here, there shouldn’t be too many points exchanged. It just kind of comes down to making sure you have the cleanest race possible to not hinder yourself in the points position.
"It’s a tough track; one that the strategy is very straightforward, and if you have a good car here, you’ll be up front. You’ll probably be taking tires almost every chance you can get, if the caution comes out. Nothing to kind of really get off strategy.”
Larson will start from the outside of the second row at Darlington, qualifying fourth. Reddick won't have to go far to find him, as he starts directly behind Larson, qualifying sixth on the grid. Elliott is mired deeper in the pack, starting 20th. So, while the focus is on those around the playoff bubble and the must-win drivers, keep another ye out for this battle -- it may just decide who wins it all in about ten weeks.
