NASCAR

Points Update: Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick Experience That Sinking Feeling in NASCAR’s Playoff Race

John Moriello Sports Editor

Published19 Jul 2022

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The stat lines for Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick simply do not make sense. Harvick has led a miserly 13 laps all season while Truex has led at least that many in six races, including 172 over the weekend at Loudon. But while Truex is 68 points ahead in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, Harvick is finishing in the top five and top 10 more often.

There is one way in which their performances do converge: Neither has won a race, which is why we’re looking at a realistic possibility of both missing the playoffs when the field is set after the Daytona summer race.

Christopher Bell knocked Kevin Harvick far below the cut line

Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. walk the grid during qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 29, 2021. | Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Christopher Bell’s victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway all but guaranteed the driver of the No. 20 Toyota another NASCAR Cup Series playoffs berth. In the course of doing so, he matched Kevin Harvick in top-five (5) and top-10 (11) results, but that’s where the similarities now end.

Bell became the season’s 14^th winner, and that shoved Harvick into must-win territory. That’s because the driver of the No. 4 Ford dropped from a precarious but manageable 19 points under the playoff cut line to 68 points back. That’s too big a number to think about making up over the final six regular-season races, especially with two being on road courses. Though he’s placed between fourth and 11^th in three races away from ovals in 2022, he gave away lots of points on road circuits a year ago.

Rank	Driver	Points	Race Wins	Stage Wins	Playoff Pts	Top 5	Top 10
1	Chase Elliott	734	3	5	20	7	14
2	Ross Chastain	667	2	3	13	10	14
3	Ryan Blaney	656	0	5	5	7	10
4	Martin Truex Jr.	619	0	7	7	3	8
5	Kyle Larson	616	1	2	7	8	10
6	Kyle Busch	594	1	1	6	6	11
7	Joey Logano	582	2	2	12	5	8
8	Christopher Bell	570	1	0	5	5	11
9	Kevin Harvick	551	0	0	0	5	11
10	William Byron	536	2	3	13	4	5
11	Alex Bowman	510	1	1	6	3	9
12	Aric Almirola	490	0	0	0	2	6
13	Austin Cindric	489	1	1	6	3	6
14	Kurt Busch	485	1	2	7	5	8
15	Daniel Suarez	479	1	2	7	4	8
16	Tyler Reddick	474	1	2	7	5	7

Martin Truex Jr. isn’t much better off than Kevin Harvick

Unless it’s Ryan Blaney, who’s one spot ahead of him in third place, the next winless driver to pull onto Victory Lane in the next month and a half sends Martin Truex Jr. below the playoff cutline, so his current 68-point lead over Kevin Harvick is virtually meaningless.

Aric Almirola and Erik Jones are both running in the top half of the field in points, so winning a race isn’t out of the question. Throw in veterans like Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr., plus Bubba Wallace coming off third place at Loudon, and Truex has to be feeling queasy.

Worse, two of the remaining six races are on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway infield and at Watkins Glen, and the Toyotas have been disappointing on road courses in the first year of the Next Gen car.

Missing the playoffs would be heartbreaking for Truex. He’s run more consistently than just about anyone in the Cup Series, yet Denny Hamlin has erased multiple bad outings with two victories, and even Alex Bowman has triumphed once in what is becoming a forgettable season.

Missing the shot at reaching the Championship 4 isn’t inevitable, but Truex is in trouble unless he wins.

Rank	Driver	Points	Race Wins	Stage Wins	Playoff Pts	Top 5	Top 10
17	Chase Briscoe	465	1	2	7	3	4
18	Erik Jones	465	0	0	0	2	6
19	Denny Hamlin	441	2	2	12	3	5
20	Austin Dillon	421	0	0	0	3	6
21	Michael McDowell	415	0	0	0	1	7
22	Justin Haley	391	0	0	0	1	2
23	Bubba Wallace	389	0	1	1	2	3
24	Chris Buescher	380	0	0	0	1	5
25	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	348	0	0	0	1	5
26	Cole Custer	333	0	0	0	0	1
27	Harrison Burton	319	0	0	0	0	1

Rank	Driver	Points	Race Wins	Stage Wins	Playoff Pts	Top 5	Top 10
28	Ty Dillon	314	0	0	0	0	1
29	Brad Keselowski	296	0	0	-10	0	3
30	Todd Gilliland	296	0	0	0	0	0
31	Corey LaJoie	227	0	0	0	1	1
32	Cody Ware	155	0	0	0	0	0
33	David Ragan	61	0	0	0	0	1
34	Joey Hand	44	0	0	0	0	0
35	Greg Biffle	24	0	0	0	0	0
36	Jacques Villeneuve	15	0	0	0	0	0
37	Boris Said	11	0	0	0	0	0
38	Kyle Tilley	7	0	0	0	0	0