NASCAR Playoffs: Updated standings after Charlotte
By Nick Tylwalk
The Round of 12 is only one race in, but already it’s being dominated by the driver who was the fastest and most consistent at running up front for most of this season.
Admit it: while Martin Truex Jr. has always been talented, you never thought you’d see the day when you’d question whether anyone can stop him. Yet four races into the 2017 NASCAR Playoffs, that’s exactly where we find ourselves.
Truex has been the man to beat more often than anyone else during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this season, but there was still reason to think the likes of Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson or perhaps Jimmie Johnson or Kevin Harvick could give him a run for his money once the playoffs began. So far, it doesn’t look like it.
The Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway was the fourth race of NASCAR’s postseason, and no one but Truex and Kyle Busch have won any of them. He’s already assured of a spot in the Round of 8, and he’s opened up a very comfortable 34-point lead over second place Larson — only a few points less than the gap from Larson all the way down to Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 12th.
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It’s possible one could say the win came at exactly the right time because Talladega awaits, a track that could easily shake up the whole field. And while that’s true, Truex has been so consistently good and been on top in points for so long that even a disaster there likely wouldn’t have kept him from advancing.
Ironically, it’s also Stenhouse’s best chance to steal a win, since he already has two restrictor plate track victories this year. If he were to pull it off, the drivers from eighth-place Jamie McMurray on back would suddenly find themselves scrambling two weeks from now at Kansas.
Truex, though, will be just fine. And that’s really no surprise given the way this season has gone.
2017 NASCAR Playoffs standings after Charlotte – Race 4 of 10
(a) – Already advanced to the Round of 8
- Martin Truex Jr., 3106 points (a)
- Kyle Larson, -34
- Kevin Harvick, -37
- Chase Elliott, -47
- Denny Hamlin, -50
- Kyle Busch, -51
- Jimmie Johnson, -55
- Jamie McMurray, -62
- Matt Kenseth, -63
- Brad Keselowski, -64
- Ryan Blaney, -67
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., -72