DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- An unexpected driver disrupted the playoff picture at Daytona International Speedway as Harrison Burton captured his first career Cup win.
This win, the 100th in Wood Brothers Racing history, took one playoff spot away and shifted the playoff cutline once again. Now, the battle for the final three spots comes down to Darlington Raceway.
Three drivers are closest to the playoff cutline heading to Darlington Raceway for the Southern 500. Chris Buescher is the first driver above the cutline with a 21-point advantage. Bubba Wallace is the first driver outside of a playoff spot. He is 21 points back.
Ross Chastain, who entered Daytona with a one-point advantage over the cutline, is now 27 points behind Buescher.
WELCOME TO THE #NASCAR PLAYOFFS, HARRISON BURTON! 🏁 pic.twitter.com/VgwHUGkUYH
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) August 25, 2024
"I look at it like we have another chance to go win the Southern 500," Chastain said after the race. "That's what I'm focused on this week.
"The points, they give them out at the stages and end of the race. If you run good, they give you a lot of them. I just get excited for a chance to go win the Southern 500."
Martin Truex Jr. is 58 points above the cutline heading to Darlington, a track where he has two wins. Although he has no top-10 finishes at Darlington in the Next Gen era.
Ty Gibbs is 39 points above the cutline heading to Darlington. He is relatively safe as he seeks his first career Cup playoff appearance, but a dreadful day could easily disrupt his championship dreams.
Of course, Burton winning from outside the top 30 in points is not the only reason the playoff picture changed. Chastain, Buescher, Wallace, and Truex were all involved in incidents that took away crucial points.
Buescher and Wallace were involved in on-track incidents. Truex had unscheduled pit stops due to tire issues.
Wallace finished sixth but only scored one stage point. Buescher finished 10th with 10 stage points. Chastain finished 12th with no stage points. Truex finished 24th with no stage points.
This race, one in which Wallace expected to contend for the win, turned out to be a missed opportunity for the 23XI Racing driver. He can still point his way into the playoffs, but it will not be a simple task.
"You have one car fighting for a regular season championship and another car right around the bubble," Wallace told NBC Sports after the race.
"It is unacceptable. I'll take all of that weight on my shoulder -- should have won multiple times this year and we haven't. We don't deserve to be here, and we are - I've got to go win next week. That's it."
Ty Gibbs avoided the majority of on-track incidents and finished fifth. However, he missed out on stage points as well.
"I'm glad that we got to finish this race," Gibbs said. "It just got kind of messy there at the end, which is similar to what happens at all of these races. I just was happy to have a good, clean day -- good points day.