Kyle Busch’s win at Richmond was a microcosm of how the 2018 season has gone. And it set a bit of playoff history in the process.
Saturday night’s race was the first time in NASCAR’s elimination playoff era (2014-present) that the top 12 finishers in a Cup Series playoff race were all playoff drivers. Take a look:
1. Kyle Busch
2. Kevin Harvick
3. Martin Truex Jr.
4. Chase Elliott
5. Aric Almirola
6. Austin Dillon
7. Kyle Larson
8. Jimmie Johnson
9. Brad Keselowski
10. Clint Bowyer
11. Erik Jones
12. Alex Bowman
That’s a slightly skewed stat by itself because NASCAR eliminates four drivers after each of the first two rounds of the 16-driver playoffs, leaving four races at the end of each season with fewer than 12 playoff drivers. So we looked through every playoff race from 2014 to now and couldn’t find any other playoff race had a top 12 composed of drivers who were in the playoff field at one point.
The Big 3 finish in the top three
Busch’s win Saturday night was his seventh of the season. It ties him for the most wins in 2018 with Harvick, who finished second. Throw in Truex’s four wins and the drivers who have combined to win 18 of the first 28 races of the season finished 1-2-3.
It was the first time the three finished in the top three of a race in 2018.
The top 22 were the top 22
Scrolling past the top 12 is pretty predictable as well. All 16 playoff drivers finished in the top 19 spots. The three drivers that finished in the top 19 who aren’t in the playoffs are all inside the top 20 in the points. Paul Menard, who is 19th in the standings, finished 22nd. He ruined the top 19 in the top 19 run.
But the two drivers who finished 20th (William Byron) and 21st (Jamie McMurray) are both inside the top 22 in the points standings. And the guy who finished 23rd (David Ragan) is 25th in the standings. If you ever need to explain the 2018 season to someone as quickly as possible, just point them to the Richmond box score.
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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.
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