1. There’s Nothing Fluky About the No. 3 Car’s Win
Austin Dillon‘s a lot of things. But a fluke postseason driver is not one of them.
If you want to criticize the way that he has won races in the past, either by aggression or fuel mileage, that’s your prerogative.
Saturday night (Aug. 16) at Richmond Raceway? That wasn’t one of those times.
In truth, it was a sign across the board that running well enough to be in position to win last year was not a flash in the pan. Rather, it showed that sometimes, a driver and race team hit on things the right way, and when it all clicks, look out.
Did Dillon and the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing operation lay in the weeds for a few weeks knowing that they had a really, really good hot rod to take to the track with them, therefore having a very good postseason opportunity? We’ll never know that for sure.
Obviously, these windows of time can be short-lived. Remember a few years ago when Chase Elliott was as good as house money on a road course? That frame of time has passed, but Elliott took full advantage then by piling up wins. Dillon and company appear to have something figured out at Richmond, and the fact that he went home to Welcome, N.C. with a checkered flag for the second year in a row backs that up.
But what we do know for sure is that it’s a very good thing for Dillon that Richmond was placed in the lead-up to the postseason, and the result is the No. 3 car being playoff-bound with arguably the most impressive win of Dillon’s NASCAR Cup Series career.
2. Fans Rewarded for Going to Bat for Richmond
A sold-out race track amid an electric atmosphere took center stage on Saturday night at Richmond. That was a big win in itself for the central Virginia track. The fact that the racing itself was also entertaining was the icing on the cake. In a time when the short-track racing product is derided, seeing everything line up the way that it did on Saturday was a welcome sight.
In a way, it hammers home something that has indirectly helped long-time tracks thrive. That the possibility of absence can awaken fans to what life without something special could mean.
I have vivid memories of the 2004 spring race at Darlington Raceway. At the time, it was the final season with two race weekends at the famed South Carolina track. I remember, from a spot on a platform near the pit exit taking a picture of a poster held by a bare-chested race fan at that March race.
“NASCAR can take our tradition, but not our southern dedication. See ya in November.”
Darlington’s race weekend was moved around, and one assumption was that by taking the track’s race weekends from two down to one that it was being set up to fail. But a funny thing happened. Darlington’s fans went to bat for The Lady In Black, so much so that not only did the Labor Day weekend return, but a second race weekend did as well.
You saw the same at Richmond. If there were any whispers of the track’s demise in being taken down to one weekend, they were squashed by what happened on and off the track.
Indeed, rumors of NASCAR at Richmond’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
3. Playoff Berths are NASCAR’s Ultimate Stress Reliever
There are merits and detriments of NASCAR using a playoff format to determine its champion. Within all of that, what this format also does to a degree is define a successful season. From a racing and business standpoint, you want to be in the postseason. It means you have a chance to race for a title, and the exposure to casual observers of the sport raises the profile of a driver and their corporate partners.
Simply put, life is better in the playoffs, and pressure is off once you know you are on the way there.
Need proof? Look no further than Bubba Wallace.
It’s almost as if his Brickyard 400 win pulled a giant weight off the back of the No. 23 team. Even going into this past weekend, Wallace had a career-best three top 10s in a row. At Richmond, Wallace finished second in one stage and first in another. The No. 23 was clearly the car to beat before a pit-road mishap. That turn of events was a letdown for sure, but the big picture is that the No. 23 showed up with one of the best cars heading into the time of year when you need to be at your best – the postseason.
Getting into the win column has a lot to do with that for Wallace. As the old saying goes, “losing doesn’t build character. Winning builds character.”
4. Is It Postseason or Else for Ty Gibbs and the No. 54?
Assuming he does not win on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway (Aug. 23), Ty Gibbs will have gone two out of three full-time seasons without a berth in the postseason.
Much like Alex Bowman at Hendrick Motorsports, Gibbs would go into September in a place nobody wants to be on a multi-car race team – the only driver not in the playoffs.
Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, and Denny Hamlin are all postseason bound, so having equipment good enough to get into the playoffs is not an issue. Sure, Gibbs has had some near-misses this season, notably finishing in the top three at Michigan International Speedway and at the Chicago street course, but in a “win and you’re in format,” “almosts” don’t cut it.
It should raise questions about the confidence at Joe Gibbs Racing in No. 54 crew chief Tyler Allen, given the fact that Chris Gabehart has been brought in as part of the team’s brain trust. That’s the football equivalent of a struggling offensive coordinator all of a sudden having a new offensive assistant helping with game plans.
It’s simple. Gibbs needs to win at Daytona. If not, there’ll be cause to tear down the No. 54 team and rebuild it, starting with the final ten races of the season.
5. Could a Playoff-Less RFK Racing Steal The Postseason Show?
Let’s get down to it. For a driver from RFK Racing to be in the postseason, they’ll need some help.
Perhaps nobody was as disappointed to see Dillon win at Richmond as Chris Buescher, who went from just inside the cutline to below it. Heading to Daytona, he is 60 points behind Bowman, who currently holds the final spot for the time being. Ryan Preece is 94 points shy of the cutline with Brad Keselowski, back in 22nd place, 189 points out of the postseason.
Odds are that for Buescher to get into the playoffs, he needs to win at Daytona with that being a certainty for Preece and Keselowski. It’d be a hard pill for Buescher to swallow, one year after a millisecond cost him a win at Kansas Speedway and the postseason spot that would have come with it.
But even if none of the RFK cars get into the playoffs, don’t expect them to roll over. For them, 2026 would start right after Daytona, seeking to build up momentum going into next year. That’s not just lip service. Preece, Keselowski, and Buescher have shown that they can run well enough to be in a position to win, but luck just has not gone their way. Keselowski has three top 10s and two top fives in the past four races, and Buescher was third at Watkins Glen International. Preece was good for a fifth-place run at Iowa Speedway before starting on the pole at Richmond.
RFK Racing is a prime example of a group of drivers that may be good enough for the postseason but did not make it in. That could make them a prime candidate to play the role of postseason spoiler if they’re shut out of the playoffs.
Brad joined Frontstretch.com in 2020 and contributes to the site's 5 Points To Ponder column and other roles as needed. A graduate of the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady School of Journalism and Mass Communication, he has covered sports in some capacity for more than 20 years with coverage including local high school sports, college athletics and minor league hockey. Brad has received multiple awards for his work from the Georgia Press Association.