Who’s Hot and Who’s Not – Dover (Playoff Driver Edition); First Playoff Eliminations This Week. After Sunday’s race at Dover, the Cup Series playoff field will have the bottom 4 drivers eliminated. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is currently ahead of Austin Dillon for the final spot based on a tiebreaker. Notably outside looking in is 2017 Daytona 500 winner Kurt Busch. Any playoff driver will automatically advance with a win. Don’t be surprised to see a big name go home early, in each year of this playoff format, a notable driver has been eliminated in the 1st Round. Jamie McMurray, currently 11th, will try to overcome history, he’s been eliminated in the Round of 16 in each of the last 2 seasons. Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch have won the 1st 2 races of this year’s playoffs, locking in their spots in the Round of 12, and they’ve done it in dominant fashion. Last week at New Hampshire, the 2 combined to lead 299 of a possible 300 laps as Busch won, and Truex came back from being involved in a wreck to finish 5th.(ESPN Research & Stats)[See Full Set of Notes Here]
