Two NASCAR races ago, the “2024 Go Bowling at the Glen,”, has already been heralded by many online as one of the greatest finishes of the 2024 season. In the final two laps, we were granted a dramatic battle between two very distinct personalities: Shane van Gisbergen, the Australian who enjoyed a very successful Supercars career in his home country before making the jump to NASCAR this year, and Chris Buescher, the
“humble ol’ boy” from Prosper, Texas, who has worked his way up the NASCAR ranks over the course of the last decade.
This battle culminated in Buescher getting payback on van Gisbergen for earlier contact. This would see Buescher taking the checkered flag ahead of van Gisbergen in a bittersweet moment, having missed the Playoffs last month after a season-long trend of Buescher being consistently ranked in the 12th-16th place seed range. The cause? The driver who ranked 36th place in points won a race with two races remaining in the regular season.
To understand the significance, some insight into the NASCAR Playoff system is needed.
In NASCAR, a season consists of 36 races. These races are contested from February to November and take place on a variety of surfaces, ranging from the winding streets of Chicago to the 33-degree banking of Talladega Superspeedway. With this, a vast array of different driving talents can be highlighted throughout the season.
The season is divided into two distinctive parts – the regular season, and the Playoffs. The regular season consists of the first 26 races of the season, which pits drivers against each other to vie for one of the sixteen Playoff spots on the line. Following this, the final ten races make up the Playoffs. There are three rounds of Playoffs: Round of 16, Round of 12, and Round of 8. Each of these rounds consists of three races, and four drivers are eliminated after each round. The championship is determined in a one race, winner-takes-all Round of 4.
The drivers push through a lot of mental and physical exercise, between actually racing and understanding the points situation in which they find themselves.
This year is unusual because this race marked the first time in the history of the NASCAR Playoffs that no Playoff drivers finished in the top five during a Playoff-qualifying race. This is significant solely because of how often these drivers dominate the top spots.
Photo courtesy of fusionmonkey via Flickr. No changes were made to this image.
Originally Published at: https://www.fsuthevoice.com/nascar-playoffs-recap/
Cameron Bebeau 
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