After a wild Daytona finish, NASCAR’s Cup playoffs have been set. The Xfinity championship roster still has three races to go. The Trucks have not only set their playoff lineup and had their first race last week. I have to ask why NASCAR can’t coordinate it so that all three of their series have their regular season finales on the same weekend? I mean, then we could be doing our “Playoff Predictions” in one fell swoop. Of course, since this is my NASCAR page, I guess I am in charge and I decree you can do such a predictions post with one playoff series underway and another weeks from being decided. As with all my predictions, if I am right, you will never hear the end of it. If I am wrong, you’ll never hear of this again.
NASCAR’s Cup Series
Round of 16 Eliminations
- Christopher Bell
- Michael McDowell
- Aric Almirola
- Tyler Reddick
Round of 12 Eliminations
- Alex Bowman
- William Byron
- Kevin Harvick
- Brad Keselowski
Round of 8 Eliminations
- Joey Logano
- Martin Truex, Jr.
- Kyle Busch
- Kurt Busch
Final Four
- Kyle Larson
- Denny Hamlin
- Chase Elliott
- Ryan Blaney
The 2021 NASCAR Cup Champion will be Kyle Larson.
Notes: There’s a part of me that thinks that Larson peaked too early but the two straight wins by Blaney may not give him enough drive to carry through the playoffs. Despite Hamlin being winless in the regular season, I think he steps it up in the playoffs. I almost had Reddick making it through to the next round just off the momentum off trying to make the playoffs. The problem is who doesn’t make it out of the Round of 16. Kurt Busch was that person, initially, but I see something in the older Busch that makes me think he might have a good run in the playoffs. It’s the Round of 8 and the Round of 4 where things get tricky because you don’t know who might get hot or snag a win at the right moment.
NASCAR’s Xfinity Series
(Note: There are still several races left to go in the regular season but I decided to use the current rankings as per NASCAR.com.)
Round of 12 Eliminations
- Riley Herbst
- Jeremy Clements
- Myatt Snyder
- Brandon Jones
Round of 8 Eliminations
- Harrison Burton
- Jeb Burton
- Daniel Hemric
- Justin Haley
Final 4
- Noah Gragson
- Austin Cindric
- AJ Allmendinger
- Justin Allgaier
The 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Champion will be Austin Cindric.
Notes: Wow! My first three choice for the Round of 12 Eliminations and my first three choices for my Final Four were easy (although my inclusion of Noah Gragson in the Final Four is probably giving him too much credit for the season he’s having). Then it came down to Harrison Burton and Brandon Jones being demoted to the Round of 12 Eliminations. In the end, I went with Harrison Burton – although with him leaving JGR at the end of the season, I figured they’d throw him to the wolves. As for the champion, I was initially going to go with Allmendinger – and really hope he wins the championship, but I think CIndric will regain momentum and use his championship experience to his advantage.
Camping World Truck Series
Round of 10 Eliminations
- Carson Hocevar
- Chandler Smith
Round of 8 Eliminations
- Todd Gilliland
- Zane Smith
- Matt Crafton
- Stewart Friesen
Final Four
- John Hunter Nemechek
- Austin Hill
- Ben Rhodes
- Sheldon Creed
The 2021 Camping World Truck Series Champion will be John Hunter Nemechek.
Notes: This was the easiest series to predict, although I hesitated to see which Smith got eliminated in the first round. I was tempted to go with Hill or Rhodes as the upset winner of the overall championship, but I think we already know it’s going to be Nemechek who walks out as champion.
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