Back to the Top News Newsfeed

Playoff pressure ratcheting up with each new NASCAR winner

It’s about that time of the year — time for any Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver who doesn’t already have a victory to start getting concerned about making the playoffs.

Fourteen of 26 races in the Cup regular season are complete, and some big stars are still winless, including Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth.

Think about it.

Those five drivers alone have won 166 Cup races, the equivalent of more than 4.5 years of races, yet none of them has found Victory Lane so far in 2017. Chances are good that some or even most of them will win a race and make into NASCAR’s playoffs, but there are no guarantees.