The Cup playoffs began Sunday night in Las Vegas, and the playoff drivers made their presence known by occupying every spot in the top 10.
But what about the rest?
The first 16 spots were not filled by the 16 playoff drivers. In fact, playoff drivers only made up 13 positions in the top 20.
Here’s a look at the top-finishing drivers who are not contending for the championship:
Jimmie Johnson – finished 11th
With him not participating in the playoffs for the first time in his career, the spotlight wasn’t focused on Johnson very often Sunday.
But the Hendrick Motorsports driver finally put together his first complete run six races into Cliff Daniels’ tenure as his crew chief.
It was their first race together to not be involved in some sort of incident and it saw Johnson earn his first top-15 finish with Daniels. It’s only his second top 15 in the last nine races.
Austin Dillon – Finished 12th
The Richard Childress Racing driver earned his second straight 12th-place finish and his third consecutive finish of 12th or better.
He’s earned a top-15 finish in four of the last five races. That’s after only having one in a 12-race stretch.
Dillon also finished sixth in Stage 1.
“When the caution came out on Lap 180, we pitted to take another swing at loosening up this Chevy,” Dillon said. “Unfortunately, we had an uncontrolled tire penalty but it did allow us to come back down pit road to top off with fuel and adjust on the car more. We got the car better and made a good strategy to stay out for track position during a late caution to pick up additional spots.”
Paul Menard – Finished 14th
Menard took part in his first race since announcing last week that he would retire from full-time competition after this season.
The Wood Brothers Racing driver kicked-off his final 10 races for the team with his sixth top-15 finish in the last nine races. He finished outside the top 15 just once in his last 11 starts at Las Vegas.
Ty Dillon – finished 16th
The Germain Racing driver earned his best finish at Las Vegas in five starts (previous was 24th).
Dillon has finished 20th or better in six of the last nine races.
Daniel Hemric – finished 17th
The rookie driver earned a top-20 finish after two straight DNFs for wrecks. He has only three top 20s in the last nine races.
“Our handling balance would swing a lot from being really tight and then halfway through the run it was like a light switch and I would get super, super loose,” Hemric said. “We got that better throughout the race and back to where I could run more throttle, which allowed us to move forward into the top 10 and be more aggressive on restarts and make some hay during those time. On that last green flag stop we just got a little too free to where I couldn’t make the most time coming off pit road and just struggled a bit on that last run.”
Chris Buescher – finished 18th
The JTG Daugherty Racing driver extended his streak of finishes inside the top 18 to 16 races. The streak began at Kansas Speedway on May 11.
