DARLANDON, S.C. There was fire, and there was rain. And the historic Darlington Raceway, which held its first Cup race in 1950, demonstrated that it is still quite challenging.
With two races remaining in the first round, the result is disorganized playoff standing that places a former champion first and another last.
After 4 hours and 9 minutes of racing on Sunday night, Erik Jones' Southern 500 triumph, who is not in the playoffs, meaning that nobody progressed to the second round.
After finishing fourth, former champion Joey Logano is in first place in the playoff rankings. Before this weekend's Cup race at Kansas Speedway, he has 2,065 points.
After his car caught fire, former champion Kevin Harvick is last out of the 16 playoff drivers. That might be a mild comparison to the criticism he leveled at NASCAR and the Next Gen car.
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Regarding the fire's origin, Harvick remarked, "I'm sure it's just some shoddy parts on the race vehicle like we've seen so many times. "They haven't made any repairs. It is comparable to the safety information. We simply let it continue unabated.
He wasn't the only playoff driver to have a bad night. Chase Elliott, a former champion, crashed, and his crew could not fix it in time for the 10-minute Damaged Vehicle Policy clock to run out.
After winning the regular season, Elliott received the top seed going into the postseason. He finished last on Sunday, moving him up to ninth in the playoff standings. Before leaving for Kansas, he is 25 points from last place and 24 points from the lead.
When asked what he would need to do to advance the rest of the first round, Elliott responded, "Run better than we did today.
Before his engine failed shortly after, teammate Martin Truex Jr., who is not in the playoffs, also experienced a mechanical issue. Kyle Busch, who has not yet announced where he will race next year, appeared to be headed for the victory.
After the race, a Toyota representative said that Truex's engine overheated because the water pump belt had come off. According to a preliminary analysis, Kyle Busch's engine's valve train malfunctioned.
Busch led 155 of the total 367 laps in the race before his engine gave out after 345.
You can't pass, he explained, so being in first place off pit road with 20 laps remaining is a certified five points (for the win) and a certain spot in the next round.
Busch, meanwhile, is still in 11th place in the playoff rankings. Daniel Suarez, who occupies the final transfer position, is six points behind him.
Suarez's car failed inspection three times before qualifying on Saturday. Therefore he was forced to start from the back and serve a pass-through penalty. He returned to the first row after a rain-related early caution.
He pushed forward until a pit road speeding fine ended his chances of finishing in the top 10 and gave him a finish position of 18.
Others exploited their predicament. William Byron came in seventh despite only having one top-10 result in the previous 18 races. He now sits six points behind Logano in the playoff standings.
Byron told NBC Sports, "We maintained our confidence. "We were aware of summertime mistakes. We came to this place knowing what not to do and implemented the strategies that worked, so we weren't surprised to achieve our speed. Despite a challenging summer, we sort of came together this week.
Jones's closest competitor, Denny Hamlin, dropped to third place in the playoff rankings. He is eight points behind Logano and two points behind Byron.
Chris Bell came in fifth. He rose to fourth in the playoff standings as a result. Hamlin is two points ahead of him.
Overall, it was a nice day, Bell said. "Hopefully, we can keep the momentum going during this playoff stretch.
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