by Julian Spivey NASCAR begins its milestone 75th anniversary season with the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 19. The season will consist of 26 regular seasons races for 16 drivers to qualify for the 10 race playoff format. Qualifying for the NASCAR playoffs is simple - if you win a race in the first 26 races of the year you're in. If there are fewer than 16 drivers win with in those 26 races the remainder of the playoff field will be set by order in the point standings. Here are the 16 drivers I'm predicting to make the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs in 2023 ... 16. Austin Cindric I predicted Austin Cindric would make the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs and he proved me right in the very first race of the season with a surprise win at the Daytona 500. He didn’t win another race on the season – that part surprised me because the reason I thought he’d make the playoffs was his dominance at road courses during his Xfinity Series career and I thought he’d win one of those. Maybe 2023 is when he gets that Cup road course win? 15. A.J. Allmendinger A.J. Allmendinger is back in the NASCAR Cup Series full-time for the first time since 2018 but with a schedule that has five road course races (four of which are in the regular season) and the first-ever street course race in downtown Chicago on July 4th weekend, I think it would be bonkers not to think he’s going to win at least one of those races with his experience and expertise on those tracks. I expect him to get Kaulig Racing into the playoffs. 14. Alex Bowman Alex Bowman has become one of those drivers that feels like he’s good for at least one win a season. He’s won a race in each of the last four seasons, but his four wins in 2021 are the only season in his career with multiple wins. Bowman won early on in ’22 at Las Vegas in the third race of the year. He would only manage four top-5s and 12 top-10s on the season, which is frankly beneath him and his Hendrick Motorsports equipment. 13. Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. has won a race in each of the last two seasons, but both have come during the playoffs after he failed to qualify for them in the regular season. Last year he dominated the fall race at Kansas Speedway. He looked really good at intermediate tracks with his 23XL Racing Toyota in the second half of last season and I look for him to continue to succeed at least at those events. I think this is the year he wins a race that actually qualifies him for the playoffs. 12. Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick announced in January that 2023 would be his last full-time season in NASCAR. The 47-year-old driver is tied for ninth all-time in Cup Series history with 60 wins and I’d expect for him to add at least one if not more wins to that tally. Harvick won twice in 2022, after going winless in the season before. Those wins came in back-to-back races at Michigan and Richmond. Harvick had nine top-5s and 17 top-10s in ’22, but only led 119 laps (the lowest total of his 22-year career). 11. William Byron William Byron had the first multiple-win season of his Cup career in 2022 with wins at Atlanta and Martinsville, but both of those came within the first two months of the season and then he kind of fell by the wayside. Despite the most wins of his career his top-5 and top-10 finishes were significantly fewer than the previous season. Byron feels like a driver needing to take a step forward in his career. 10. Kyle Busch If there was ever going to be a season for Kyle Busch’s streak of 18 consecutive years (his entire Cup Series career) of winning a race it would probably be this one in his first year with Richard Childress Racing. I do expect Busch will find his way to Victory Lane at least once, but he barely made it there last year, only winning the Bristol dirt race when the top two drivers took each other out on the final lap. Busch had eight top-5s, 17 top-10s and led 627 laps in 2022. 9. Tyler Reddick Tyler Reddick was one of the many breakthrough stars of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. He won his first career Cup race at Road America over July 4th weekend and then added two more wins at the Indianapolis road course and his first oval win at Texas Motor Speedway during the playoffs. Reddick compiled 10 top-5s, 15 top-10s and led 503 laps (his previous career high was 43). I think you can certainly expect Reddick in Victory Lane again in 2023. 8. Ross Chastain Ross Chastain was perhaps the biggest surprise of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series with his two wins at Austin and Talladega, 15 top-5 finishes, 21 top-10s, 692 laps led and an appearance in the Championship 4. He may not have won a race over the final 26 races of the season but with the success of Trackhouse Racing and his aggressive racing style, it would be a surprise not to see him back in Victory Lane in 2023. 7. Christopher Bell Christopher Bell came on hot at the end of the 2022 season. He won two races in the ’22 playoffs in highly dramatic fashion at the Charlotte roval and Martinsville to further his way in the playoffs and wind up in the championship four. He won at New Hampshire earlier in the season to qualify for the playoffs. Bell had career highs with 12 top-5s and 20 top-10s with 573 laps led in ’22 and looks to be an even bigger threat in 2023. 6. Ryan Blaney It was surprising to me that Ryan Blaney didn’t win a race in 2022. He had won races in five consecutive seasons before that, including a career year in 2021 with three wins. He was the only driver in the 16-car playoff field that qualified for the playoffs on points. It wouldn’t surprise me if the sport has a lot of parity again this season but surely Blaney will find Victory Lane at least once in 2023. 5. Martin Truex Jr. There were a lot of shocking things about the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season that came along with the new racecar but perhaps the most shocking thing was that Martin Truex Jr. driving a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota failed to make the playoffs. It was Truex’s first winless season since 2014 and his four top-5 finishes and 15 top-10 finishes were also his fewest since ’14. I wouldn’t expect him to go winless in back-to-back seasons. 4. Kyle Larson Kyle Larson won three races in 2022 – Fontana, Watkins Glen and Homestead – but that somehow felt like a down season for him, though anything would after his 2021 championship-dominating season of 10 wins. Larson had 13 top-5s, 19 top-10s and led 635 laps in 2022. He feels like a lock to get to Victory Lane and make the playoffs in 2023. 3. Denny Hamlin Denny Hamlin has won 17 races over the last four seasons, so it would seem unlikely he’d come up winless in 2023. He feels like a lock to make the playoffs and he’s appeared in three of the last four title races. Hamlin won twice in 2022 – Richmond and Charlotte – but went from May of last season throughout the rest of the schedule without a win. Hamlin had 10 top-5s, 16 top-10s and led 624 laps in 2022. 2. Chase Elliott Chase Elliott had a NASCAR Cup Series season high of five wins in 2022 – Dover, Nashville, Atlanta, Pocono and Talladega. He had 12 top-5s, 20 top-10s and led 857 laps on the way to his second consecutive fourth-place finish in the standings after winning the championship in 2020. There are too many tracks Elliott is a threat at not to win at least one race, especially with his prowess at road courses – it’s frankly shocking he didn’t win any of the six road races in ’22. 1. Joey Logano
The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano seems like one of the handful of locks you can bank on making the NASCAR playoffs in 2023. There hasn't been a back-to-back champion in the Cup Series since Jimmie Johnson clinched his record fifth consecutive title in 2010. Winning a title in NASCAR these days is also the ultimate crapshoot due to the playoff format. However, I see nobody in the series right now as tougher to beat than Logano. Logano won four races in 2022 – Darlington, Gateway, Las Vegas and the title race at Phoenix – with 11 top-5s, 17 top-10s and 784 laps led. He’s won two of the last five Cup titles and has been to three of the last five title races.
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