In September, I put together my predictions for the NASCAR playoffs, quite frankly one of my favourite tasks. While I won’t bore what few readers I have by going through my predictions each round of the Cup playoffs, I will check in on how I did with my Final Four predictions for each of the three series (NASCAR Cup, XINITY Series and the Gander RV & Outdoor Truck Series) and update you on my Championship predictions.
Gander RV & Outdoor Truck Series
In September, my Final Four were Sheldon Creed, Zane Smith, Grant Enfinger and Matt Crafton and it turns out, I went 3 for 4 as Creed, Smith, Enfinger and Brett Moffitt will race for a championship.
I’m honestly not sure how I picked Smith over Brett Moffitt (who made the Final Four instead of reigning champion Crafton). To me, Smith seems a little too young and, more importantly, inexperienced to pull off the win. Having said that, it’s great to see a rookie make the Final Four. As I wrote back in August and referenced in my September predictions article, the Truck Series might just be the most interesting because there was no clear favourite. If you watched NASCAR Race Hub this past week, their Truck experts, Phil Parsons and Todd Bodine could not pick a favourite to win the championship.
Back in September, I picked Grant Enfinger and I’ll stick with him but won’t be surprised if Moffitt or Creed pull off the win instead. Enfinger is coming off a huge win at Martinsville but needed the win to overcome issues at Texas that left him in a must-win situation. Does the Martinsville win give Enfinger momentum or does his problems continue to plague him?
XFINITY Series
My initial picks were Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe, Justin Allgaier and Noah Gragson. Again, I went three for four, as Cindric, Briscoe, Allgaier and Justin Haley will race for this series championship.
I made Chase Briscoe my championship pick and I will not be changing that here. If anything, I think Austin Cindric has started to fade in the last few weeks or maybe he has just been laying in the weeds and will head to Phoenix with the best car Penske has been able to field in a while. A win for Justin Allgaier would be a great story as he has been battling for this championship probably longer than most in the field, and certainly longer than anyone in the Final Four. The other Justin, Haley, and Kaulig Racing must just be the story of the XFINITY Series in 2019 and 2020. I mean, if you had told me Kaulig Racing would be as dominant in the series (or perhaps even moreso) than Penske, Stewart-Haas, JGR and JR Motorsports, I would have said you were nuts. But here we are, with Haley set to battle for a championship, and it’s not like he lucked into it, either. Much like the Truck Series, all four drivers in this Final Four are capable of winning.
Cup Series
Okay, I was three for four in each of the other two series but I fall to two for four in Cup. However, in my defense, I don’t think there’s a single fan who made picks who did not have Kevin Harvick in their Final Four. For the record, I had Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, and Martin Truex, Jr. (Chase Elliott and Joey Logano will replace Harvick and Truex, Jr.)
While I will certainly be cheering for Elliott, if I had to put my money on someone, it would still be Hamlin. Ironically, I didn’t think he was a strong as Harvick over the last few races before the playoffs but he did what was needed get get to the Final Four. With Harvick, who I might have had as the favourite, out, that really opens up the field. With Penske duo of Logano and Keselowski both in the finals, it will be interesting to see what dynamic evolves between them. Will they push each other to the front or will egos and the championship divide their focus? Elliott is like Enfinger in that he needed to race his way in, but he definitely has more momentum on his side than Enfinger and has shown a knack for overcoming adversity.
Still, I will pick Hamlin, especially with Harvick out of the way. He’s been close before and he deserves to finally break through for the championship.
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