[Music] well that was fun and now we got 10 weeks to go and 16 drivers to whittle down to one so let's get into it here are your 16 Nascar Cup Series playoff drivers let's go in order of how they qualified into the playoffs starting with William Byron who locked himself in with a win in the Daytona 500 see Byron to me is a Jackel andhy kind of driver this year started out redot three wins seven top 10 in the first 10 or so races he cooled off in the middle of the now with not even having two top 10 in a row or more in the last 16 races but to be fair and you got to remember this William Byron has always kind of been this way even in 2023 that breakout season he still had some cold streaks during the regular season he's been in the last two years though clutch in the postseason when you look at his stat lines they have improved but they've been consistent 2022 while he didn't get a win he had a top five and six top 10s in the 10 races 134 four laps LED and a 9.0 average finish that average finish maybe add a few more top fives or wins in there is Championship level and he had a win six top fives and eight top 10s last year with a sixth place average finish Championship caliber team if this team turns it on like they can sort of similar to another Hendrick driver in the past there is no telling what they can achieve Daniel Suarez is up next winning at Atlanta that insane incredible close finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway he's had a similar season to that of Kyle bus which is not good he's been at the bottom half of the top 20 in points for most of the year and pretty much an afterthought in a struggling track house team if he makes it past the first round it will be a rousing success if not well we all expect him to be bounced early of course Kyle Larson is in he's Kyle fan Larson I just don't see why he wouldn't at this time in the height of his career be in the of the NASCAR championship talk he can win nearly anywhere as long as it's not a super speedway and he has arguably the most raw talent in recent NASCAR memory the problem is he has two weaknesses super Speedways and KY Larson the super Speedways like I said he's just not been the greatest he's been better but not great gets involved in a lot of accidents sometimes starts them and then himself he is a definition of checkers or Wreckers he could be a first round exit being caught up maybe in a wreck in Atlanta and then trying to push it too hard say at Watkins Glenn and Bristol he could also be the champion at Year's End the craziness of Kyle Larson is that he could literally achieve anything the greatest disappointment or the greatest hype up ever and that's one of the most fun aspects of this playoff Christopher Bell on the other hand has been I'd say a Poorman Kyle Larson in some ways he is again one of those guys whose Checkers are Wreckers he'll be really good win a lot of races lead a lot of laps but he'll also be caught up in a ton of different accidents engine issues just have dnfs that take him out of really good contending opportunities if this team gets it straightened out they are one of the best in NASCAR and they've proven also they're one of the most clutch and Bell is one of the most clutch drivers he's a short track and flat track Ace as well he either wins on them or he should have won on them and because of that and being good just about any where they go if he gets to Phoenix he can finally break through and win the championship after being in the championship four in previous years next up is Denny Hamlin which for all of you fans of Greek mythology out there is the Copus of NASCAR he's the guy who's cursed to just push the boulder up the mountain never to reach the summit but always to be tantalizingly close to the end of his job and with it Hamlin has everything it takes to win a championship he is one of the best drivers in NASCAR history I don't care what you think of him he's an amazing driver he has the team all around him topnotch you don't see dumb mistakes very often from the 11 team a crew chief who is one of the best in all of NASCAR and he has experience now to get ahead of different mistakes he would have made in his younger past the problem is bad luck whether it's tape on the grill when it's not supposed to be there no matter what else it is is look at the penalty he had a penalty head start on all these problems before the playoffs even started due to something the 11 team didn't do losing 10 playoff points losing a ton of positions in the regular season and possibly losing his best shot at a championship yet after the least popular driver let's talk about the most popular Chase Elliott Chase Elliott is under the radar big time in 2024 a lot of people look at last year the big falloff he had the injury and not making the playoffs after missing a couple races and I think that's natural for drivers to have after some kind of incident like that they look at 2022 how consistent he was how much he won and the fact that he hasn't won very much since then only one win at Texas this year kind of reminiscent to a post2 2007 Jeff Gordon if you look at it that way but he doesn't crash either he's not as flashy as Kyle Larson but he's not as crashy as Kyle Larson he's been solid but he hasn't been up with his teammates Elliot is the definition of under the radar which is insane for the most popular driver in NASCAR he's been solid enough consistency wise to keep Pace this year with Kyle arson and Tyler reic without any of the glitz and glamour around it Chase Elliott is one you need to watch out for because a lot of people might not see him coming as one of the top guys in the round of say maybe eight final four who knows one of the guys who has finally gotten his flowers is Tyler reic who I talked about before he is I would say in my personal opinion the best driver of 2024 so far he's consistent in the top five top 10 now he's getting wins he's leading laps Tyler reck is the real deal this year and I think it's a start of a very big window for this 45 team he now has the wins to show for it beforehand he only had that Talladega win and he has taken a huge step year-over-year with the insane consistency no true weaknesses and a driver who seems to have his head on straight this 45 team in Tyler reic could go all the way back in the vein of Chase Elliot though there is Brad keslowski I think he's more under the radar than anyone else in the playoffs right now he's as fast as anyone overall at different points you look at his Darlington Race for instance meaning that he has the ability to be malleable he has the ability to go against the toughest tracks and win he's experienced in very high pressure situations he is no slouch when it comes to getting into championship scenarios looking at his old team the two team of Austin syndric well they were in the right place at the right time of Gateway they're performed they deserve the win but let's not pretend that they didn't need some divine intervention and lack of fuel in other cars to help win anything pass the round of 16 is a success this year let's just go down the Pensky ladder with Ryan blay now blay is the defending champion of 2023 he is the one who wants to be the first first to go back to back since the elimination style playoffs began he has had a better regular season than 2023 he is another very solid short track flat track kind of driver and once again he's being overlooked to be fair I think he deserves a little more than say a Brad kazlowski or a Tyler reic for a while or a Chase Elliott but Ryan blay is somebody again who could get hot at the right time the playoffs set up very well for him when it comes to tracks in each round the toughest will be the round of 16 but I do think this driver in team are good enough to get past and exercise Demons of the past so Ryan bayy is somebody you need to keep an eye out for and he might be a good one to bet on to go back to back his teammate Joey loano on the other hand is underwhelming yeah I get it he got a victory in Nashville after five overtimes but that doesn't really impress me he was nowhere near the front during that race and in all honesty probably didn't deserve to win it something just feels off with the 22 team now they another one though team driver alike who could pop off like Ryan blay did last year but this team just seems to be its most uncompetitive since say 2017 or driver-wise with legano since 2012 now there's Alex Bowman also in with his win in Chicago this is a popup guy in every way his 2021 season a pop-up season with four wins and an outlier but he's an outlier kind of guy he's quietly consistent at one point he was as consistent as Tyler reck and he's in a hyper competitive hendrik Motorsports where he's going to be overlooked by his star studded cast of characters around him don't overlook him this is the theme of the playoffs don't overlook these guys including the driver of the 48 Car Harrison Burton was the last man to win before tonight's race in Darlington he had a feel-good win at Daytona the worst chartered team though in NASCAR is the 21 team and he is a guaranteed round of 16 exit the sentimental pick for this year's playoffs is Martin TRX JR this is his retirement year and since announcing retirement this team has been ice cold he's been terribly inconsistent in just about every way the team seems off the driver seems off and it's almost like they're going through the motions in a lot of ways TRX and this team have the ability to compete with the best and the best in NASCAR they're just Underachievers in a lot of ways now Ty Gibbs is in his sophomore jump season he has the speed but just can't close the deal yet and that's difficult for a young driver it's not very often anymore you see rookies go up and just outright Dominate and win races like they used to in the greatest rookie era in the 2000s Bristol will be circled on the calendar I think he can really Dominate and win this race it's been one of his best and fastest tracks but he's also a guy who has I think a wide window here because we don't know really what to expect he can be in the round of 16 and exit out there or he can make to the round of eight and anything can happen from there I still think Gibbs and the 54 team alike are about a year or maybe on the large end two away and then there's Chase Brisco who got the walk-off win from Darlington in the southern 500 listen I think it's a really nice story I think that him winning in the 14 car possibly being the last win for Stuart H racing and growing up Tony Stewart fan and winning at Darlington after the connection that that track has to his personal life Amazing Story take that away though this team has been nothing but mediocre this year I don't see them really competing in any reasonable way in the playoffs and if they make the round of 12 that will be a success if they make it any further that will be an absolute Miracle but it's a great story and you know what if any of these Underdog guys that probably people would say don't deserve to be in could make it further Brisco is probably the most likely so those are all the drivers are in who is my final four in Championship pick well I'm going to kind of go chalk on a little bit of it and I'm also going to go a little outside the box on some of it so Tyler reck and Kyle lson for sure for me I think these guys are good enough and set up with the tracks in the round of eight that they should be able to easily qualify for the final four I think that Christopher Bell is another one he's been inconsistent but he is a clutch driver he's good in the playoffs and a lot of these rounds end very well for him trackwise and then I'm going to go William Byron he's been off but this team turns it on in the playoffs and I think they can do it for a third year in a row and with the wins he's a crude and playoff points he has it might just be enough to get him to the final four my Championship picking this because it's at Phoenix Christopher Bell I don't think there will be a Ford in the final four I think it'll be two Toyotas and two Chevys because of that Bell will probably go not unopposed but I think we'll go as the clear favorite into this race and there you have it all 16 NASCAR playoff drivers so who are your final four picks and Championship picks let me know down the comments below and while at leave a like on this video share this video And subscribe to this channel for more great and fun NASCAR content thank you so much to all my channel members for your continued support and until next time have a good [Music] one Str I got to follow I'm spe