Predicting the future would be an awesome talent, but unfortunately, it’s not one of the skills we here at For The Win possess. But that’s not stopping us from attempting to predict the winner of every NASCAR Cup Series playoff race this season.
Some of the big on-track storylines of the 2021 season include Hendrick Motorsports’ return to dominance, led by regular-season champion Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick going winless in the first 26 races of the year and Ryan Blaney entering the playoffs on a two-race win streak.
But much of that doesn’t matter now that it’s playoff time with 16 drivers ruthlessly competing in a 10-race postseason all hoping to have a shot at the title in the championship race in November at Phoenix Raceway. To get there, they have to survive three elimination rounds as the playoff field shrinks from 16 drivers to 12 to eight and down to the Championship 4.
Related: NASCAR playoffs guide: Everything you need to know about the postseason format
Now, of course, those 16 drivers aren’t the only ones on the track for the final stretch of the season. So sure, a non-playoff driver could obviously still win a race. But for the purpose of these predictions, let’s limit it to just playoff drivers, eh? Plus, the winners of these races will most likely be playoff drivers anyway.
Let’s dive into our playoff predictions, and remember, we can’t actually predict the future (unless all 10 predictions are correct, in which case, yes we can).
