Two NASCAR Cup Series Playoff wins have gone to two different non-playoff drivers. Yes, this happened!

Recently, the #45 driver of 23XI Racing made it to the winners’ list in Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. Bubba Wallace won the race just by a second ahead of the #11 driver of Joe Gibbs Racing, a contender for the playoffs championship. The first comes by Erik Jones in Darlington.

This second win at playoffs by Wallace led to a blunt response from the Hendrick Motorsports legendary crew chief, Steve Letarte, in the show Backseat Drivers.

In that show, the host asked, “Explain why non-playoff drivers are able to go out and steal wins from under the playoffs drivers? Because it’s not something we regularly see during the championship run.”

To which Letarte replied, “There’s no explanation for it. It shouldn’t be happening. These playoff drivers should hang their heads that it is happening because i believe the 16 best teams made the playoffs.”

He then also added, “You could argue that Truex should have been in there, but he’s not the one winning races. It was Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace.”

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Hendrick’s legend, in the end, said, “You’re supposed to elevate your game in the playoffs so I can’t explain how these other 16 drivers can’t find their way to victory lane.”

What happened in the first NASCAR race of the 2022 season’s playoffs?

On the 4th of September, Erik Jones got his first Cup Series win this season with the iconic #43 car in Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, making this race his third career win.

In that race, he similarly held off, #11 driver, Denny Hamlin like Wallace did in Kansas Speedway just before the finish line and ended up going to the victory lane by less than a second time.

This was the first time since the introduction of the elimination format back in 2014 that a non-playoff driver win a post-season race ever in NASCAR.

In the post-race interview, Jones said, “We’ve been so close all year, and I didn’t think today was going to be the day,” Jones said afterward. “It was going to be a tough one to win, but no better fitting place. I love this track; I love this race.”

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With 18 new winners already this season. Let’s hope there are more surprises in the coming races in the NASCAR playoffs.