NASCAR insiders break down playoff bubble implications after wild Chase Elliott Atlanta win

Chase Elliott’s victory in Atlanta on Saturday night made things interesting for drivers who are in the NASCAR playoff bubble. On The Teardown podcast, NASCAR insiders Jordan Bianchi and Jeff Gluck talked about why the playoff bubble drivers are in a good spot after Elliott’s win.

“It’s huge,” Bianchi said shortly after the race. “At the end of the day, for those guys, this is the best-case scenario in a lot of respects, is that Chase Elliott wins, who’s already theoretically locked in the playoffs because of the points and everything. They’re okay. So it doesn’t shake up the bubble that much in that sense of, ‘Okay, there’s one less points position now available.’

“Now, the standings got shook up because of everything that unfolded, but for those guys, this is the best case scenario. If a Brad Keselowski would have won tonight, even if an Alex Bowman would have won tonight to some degree, that would have shaken things up a little bit. Then that puts the calmps on the bubble even more and just squeezes them.”

More on the NASCAR playoff bubble

Gluck took a look at the drivers who are in the playoff bubble. The drivers who are in the playoff standings but haven’t clinched a spot are Tyler Reddick (13), Chris Buescher (14), Alex Bowman (15), Bubba Wallace (16), Ryan Preece (17), Erik Jones (18), AJ Allmendinger (19) and Carson Hocevar (20).

“I wouldn’t feel secure at all being on the points bubble unless you’re Tyler Reddick,” Gluck said. “Everybody knew that tonight that was still in it. I think that’s what another thing that made the racing so compelling.”

12 drivers have clinched a spot in the playoffs, meaning there are only four spots available with eight races remaining. Gluck talked about some of the races remaining, including back-to-back road courses at Chicago and Sonoma and another superspeedway at Daytona to end the regular season.

As it was mentioned by Bianchi, Elliott was likely going to make the playoffs even if he didn’t win on Saturday night. He has been one of the more consistent drivers this year, earning 10 top-10 finishes, six top-five finishes and zero DNFs.