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NASCAR Playoff Standings: Bubba Wallace, Erik Jones Trending In Different Directions

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
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Bubba Wallace

Two Cup Series drivers are trending in vastly different directions where the NASCAR playoff standings are concerned.

Erik Jones, of Jimmie Johnson-owned Legacy Motor Club, has been on a steady climb in recent weeks. Bubba Wallace, of Michael Jordan- and Denny Hamlin-owned 23XI Racing, has been on a major slide.

With eight races left before the Cup Series playoff field is set, let’s briefly pause to explore where Jones and Wallace stack up — and how they got there.

Wrecks Are To Blame For Bubba Wallace’s Descent In The NASCAR Playoff Standings

Sunday’s Grant Park 165 at the Chicago Street Course has huge implications for a lot of drivers. Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace are certainly near the top of the list.

That’s because Jones needs to continue building on recent momentum if he wants to have a real shot at making the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Wallace, on the other hand, needs to stop the proverbial bleeding.

Over the last two races — held at Pocono Raceway and EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta), respectively — Wallace has been involved in accidents that left him with back-to-back poor finishes. His 36th-place result at Pocono, where a brake rotor explosion on his No. 23 Toyota sent it into the wall, was particularly damaging to his playoff aspirations. It dropped him from ninth to 12th in the overall standings and reduced the amount of daylight between him and the drivers on the wrong side of the playoff cutline.

Currently, Wallace is squarely on the bubble, holding the 16th and final playoff spot. His advantage over Ryan Preece, the first driver on the wrong side of the cutline, is 23 points. The next closest driver — 49 points behind Wallace — is Jones.

Erik Jones Has Enjoyed Steady Rise In Standings Thanks To Improved Results

Over the last eight races, Erik Jones has jumped from 30th to being tied for 15th in the overall standings. Six top-15 finishes, including four inside the top 11 and two top-fives, have made this quantum leap possible. Jones’ recent surge has also made playoff qualification a legitimate goal.

“We’ve made a big climb in points, and we are still going,” said Jones after finishing fifth last weekend in Atlanta. “If we can keep making it better, we are right at the cusp. We are one good step away from really being contenders. I hope we can take that step.”

Ideally, Jones would love to win one of the eight remaining regular season races. That would likely mean an automatic playoff berth. But even if that doesn’t happen, he has a chance to reach the playoffs based on points. The driver of the No. 43 Toyota just needs to keep chipping away.

“It is going to take some perfect races, but we’ve been doing that,” Jones said. “We haven’t gotten the finishes here and there, but we have got a lot of stage points through the day and ran well. If we can get some stage points and get the finishes like Atlanta, there is no reason we can’t (make the playoffs).

“I’m getting amped up running up front, and I’m having fun.”

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
Jared Turner is a motorsports writer who has covered NASCAR for 20 years. He has interviewed over 20 NASCAR Hall of Famers and around 100 drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners, both past and present. He has also covered the sport for FOX Sports (where he was a two-time recipient of the FOX “X” Award for “Xtraordinary” job performance), NASCAR.com, Sporting News, NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, the SPEED network, and plenty of other online and print-only publications throughout his career. Notably, Jared has penned dozens of articles for NASCAR souvenir programs, including several featured prominently in Daytona 500 keepsakes. A Virginia Press Association award winner and former member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Jared has racked up accolades both for his writing and his academic work. He studied both Communication and Psychology at Virginia Tech, where he was permanently enshrined in Phi Beta Kappa — the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Jared excels at feature writing and opinion writing, much of which stems from his dedication to all levels of racing.
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