NASCAR insiders question if Round of 8 playoff drivers are season's best

The NASCAR Playoffs Round of 8 has been set after a little controversy and drama. Joey Logano is in and Alex Bowman is out. Despite the change, is this arguably the most deserving group of eight drivers on the season?

Immediately following the Cup Series race at the Roval, Jeff Gluck and Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic gave their assessment of the race on The Teardown.

The two journalists discussed whether this group of eight drivers is the best eight.

“So, basically what I’m saying is, you know, you could argue Bowman, because he’s come on late, you could say well, is Bowman one of the eight best all year?” Gluck asked prior to the disqualification. “I mean, top-10 wise, points wise, yeah because he’s had a good playoffs.”

Gluck continued, making an argument for Logano. After all, we have seen what he is capable of in the postseason.

“Now I think Logano is the one driver with multiple wins this season who has been eliminated. So, you don’t have all of the drivers with multiple wins. But Logano, you know, for a lot of the year he was, fairly off. … So, I mean listen, to me, I have some sort of like comfort in knowing whoever wins out of this group, is it fair to say, it’s not going to be viewed as a fluke, an out of nowhere upset type of win? It’s going to be one of the best guys of the year, is that fair?”

Depending on which stat you choose, you could make an argument for either driver.

Is Alex Bowman one of the best eight drivers?

When it comes to Alex Bowman, things are complicated. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has been a late bloomer this season. Coming off of his broken back in 2023, that was to be expected.

But that’s why they run the whole season. Every race matters. And every post-race inspection matters, too. Still, Bowman has a claim to being one of the top eight drivers in the Cup Series. He has stats to back it up.

“No offense to Bowman but I think seven of eight guys I think this applies to. And I’m looking at it right now, eight of the top nine, the top nine average finishes of the year, eight of those guys have moved on to this round,” Jordan Bianchi added. “Which to me is indicative of consistency and running well and finishing well.

“I don’t know, I know what Bowman’s done, I look at Bowman’s body of work and he’s been great in the playoffs, but his body of work to me is certainly less of those other guys. But I agree with your overall point, which is like, these are the best of the best. I mean, these are at least, at a minimum, the top seven drivers and teams throughout the course of a season. Really to me, I look at the guys that have been eliminated and I don’t look at it – Logano you can make a case for. … Largely it’s gone kinda as planned.”

Then there is the addition of Joey Logano. All it took was a light No. 48 car. Logano’s season went from being over, to only just beginning. The two-time NASCAR champion has new life and a great opportunity to win at Las Vegas.

Reacting to Logano making NASCAR Playoffs

Joey Logano should not have made the NASCAR Playoffs Round of 8. At least, he wasn’t going to until the disqualification was official. Upon hearing the news, Gluck and Bianchi corrected their earlier takes.

“Look, I’m going to be a broken record and you’re going to laugh at me, but he, if we’re talking about the depth of this final four, I will say like, I think Logano, I feel more confident Logano winning the championship than I do Alex Bowman. … I’m basing it solely on performance this year, what I’ve seen lately and I stand by this, I like what I’ve seen out of this team,” Bianchi said.

And Gluck added his own addendum.

“So I take back what I said about all the drivers who were the top eight in points in season-long points and the top eight, top ten guys making the next round. However, this round does feature, seven, there’s been seven drivers who have won at least multiple races this year and they’re all in.

“The one who hasn’t, Chase Elliott’s only won one race and he’s in. But all seven drivers who won multiple races plus Chase Elliott have advanced to the final eight. So it’s still a strong field. … Just go back to the start of our podcast when we’re talking about what a strong group this is. Hey, at least at the start of the podcast we did say, ‘Well, maybe except for Bowman.’ He deserved it, he deserved it, he had a good playoffs, but that’s a bad way to go out because it’s not his fault at all.”

So, are these the best eight NASCAR drivers? It is hard to argue against Logano’s two wins. And there are also the two championships. We know he can win at Las Vegas.