NASCAR insiders name three playoff drivers in 'must-win' situations at Las Vegas

Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott suffered a demoralizing result during this past weekend’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The trio was involved in an accident that severely damaged their chances of making it to the Championship 4. Coupled with Joey Logano’s victory, they’re in a huge bind heading into Homestead, with Martinsville to follow.

With that in mind, NASCAR insiders Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi took some time to evaluate whether a comeback is on the table: “[Tyler] Reddick is -30. [Ryan] Blaney is -47. Chase Elliott is -53. They are in really bad shape already,” Gluck prefaced, via the latest episode of The Teardown. “With two races to go in this round, are you thinking that, for them, it’s must-win territory already?”

Evidently, Bianchi believes it’ll take a win for each driver to get to Phoenix and race for the 2024 Cup Series title. While it can happen for any of the three over the next two weeks, Bianchi believes Reddick needs to get it done at Homestead especially, as Martinsville isn’t one of his better venues.

“Yeah, it’s must-win, and honestly, I feel if you’re Tyler Reddick, I think if you don’t win at Homestead, I think your playoffs are over,” Bianchi responded. “I don’t know if Tyler Reddick can go to Martinsville and win that race. I don’t see that happening. So, to me, if Tyler Reddick leaves Homestead without a win, at -30ish, he’s out of the playoffs. The regular season champion is not going to make the Championship 4. I believe Blaney can easily win Martinsville. We know his history there. Elliott can win the next two weeks. I don’t know if Blaney can win next week, but all of these guys are in a must-win spot.

“To me, I look at this as this was an opportunity race for these guys. This was a track where all three of them were expected to do well. You go there, even Elliott — history says Elliott doesn’t typically do well at Las Vegas. You give them the benefit of the doubt, and obviously they had speed in the race car. They picked up a ton of spots, they were No. 2 in positions gained during the race, only behind Blaney, who started in the back. You’re like, ‘Okay,’ and to leave here with the finish they did and the points hole they did, especially for Blaney, especially for Reddick, because you think, ‘We’re going to go there and we’ve got an opportunity.’

“Reddick finished second in the spring here. He’s got speed in his race car, qualified on the front row and all of these things, and then he gets caught up in this incident and wow, it just goes from really good to really bad, really, really quick, and now you’re staring at a deficit where the only way to make it up is to win, and that’s not going to be easy to do.”

Time will tell if Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney or Chase Elliott can rise above their predicament and make it to the Championship 4. If they’re able to get to Phoenix, it would be a huge accomplishment, and they’d certainly have a shot at ending the season on top.