By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service

Pressure mounts with only three races left in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season

It’s been a headline-making week for the NASCAR Cup Series even before teams arrive at Michigan International Speedway for Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 (2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Bubba Wallace, driver of the #23 McDonald’s Toyota, drives during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 06, 2022 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)

NASCAR ruled Wednesday that last weekend’s Richmond (Va.) Raceway race winner, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon, would not be eligible for the 2024 Playoffs despite the victory – because of the aggressive manner he took to win on the last lap of overtime.

His No. 3 RCR Chevrolet hit the rear of then-race leader Joey Logano’s No. 22 Team Penske Ford, knocking the car from the lead position into the wall. Immediately afterward, Dillon veered low on track and hit new leader Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota just a few yards before crossing the finish line – all resulting in Dillon’s first victory in nearly two years.

NASCAR officials said that although Dillon gets to keep the Richmond trophy, he violated the NASCAR rules book regarding Playoff status. It reads, “Race finishes must be unencumbered by violation(s) of the NASCAR Rules or other action(s) detrimental to stock car auto racing or NASCAR as determined in the sole discretion of NASCAR.”

In addition to losing Playoff eligibility for the Richmond win, Dillon and his team were penalized 25 points in each the driver and owner’s championship. Dillon’s spotter, Brandon Benesch, has been suspended for three races for telling his driver to “wreck him” as Dillon came upon Logano’s car.

Dillon’s team immediately answered Wednesday’s penalties with a statement saying it planned to appeal the punishment.

Logano, who was furious after the race and aggressively drove his car down pit road after the checkered flag was fined $50,000 for “compromising” the safety of others.

With Dillon’s penalties, instead of claiming the 13th position in the championship standings – as the season’s 13th different winner – he instead is ranked 31st. And that shake-up in the standings means that Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s Chris Buescher moves into the final Playoff points position with only three races remaining to set the 16-driver Playoff field.

Buescher and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain are each three-points behind Wallace, but Buescher claims the tiebreaker – and that all-important 16th points position – with a pair of runner-up finishes compared to Chastain’s best showing of fourth.

Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson – who earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at Michigan in 2016 – continues to lead championship standings this week. He’s five-points up on 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick and six-points up on his Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott.

The drama comes as the series returns to the fast Michigan two-miler where Buescher is defending race winner – part of a three-race late summer win total for the Texan last year. And he’s hoping, a sign of good times to come again.

Buescher led a race best 52 of the 200 laps last August in his No. 17 RFK Racing Ford Mustang and finished a scant .152-second over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr., who is retiring at the end of this season and as with Buescher racing for his first victory of the year.

“I don’t want to change the way we approach our races,” Buscher said of the tight Playoff contention. “I’ve just seen it too many times in our sport where you try and get put back on your heels and change up what you’re doing and it can end up costing you. We’ve got to race our races, put our best foot forward and that should be enough to get us where we need to go.”

Winning at the Michigan track is also a big deal for the manufacturers based in nearby Detroit – long considered “the Motor City.” Ford currently holds a nine-race winning streak at the track and its 44 total wins are most among makes. Ford drivers Logano (2019), Ryan Blaney (2021) and Buescher (2023) are the active drivers with victories during that nine-race run.

“It’s huge, we take a lot of pride in that Heritage trophy and obviously with Ford being right there it’s really important,”’ said the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford.

“Edsel [Ford] definitely makes sure that we know that it is important that we keep that there in Detroit at their home base. I was fortunate enough to win there a few years ago and have Edsel there and kind of see that excitement in him. It would be important to keep the streak going, so hopefully we can at least make a run at it and keep that trophy where it belongs.”

NASCAR Cup Practice is at 12:35 p.m. ET on Saturday followed by Busch Light Pole Qualifying at 1:05 p.m. ET. The practice and qualifying sessions will air live on USA Network, MRN and NBC Sports streaming. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell is the defending pole-winner in the No. 20 Toyota.

NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to action after three-week break

After an extra off-week, the NASCAR Xfinity Series returns to competition this weekend at Michigan in Saturday’s Cabo Wabo 250 (3:30 p.m. ET on USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

It’s been a good stretch for the Stewart-Haas Racing duo of championship points leader Cole Custer, who won at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway and his teammate Riley Herbst, who won at Indianapolis – the last two races before the break.

Custer’s victory and a season of solid finishes has separated him among the top four in regular season championship contention. He holds a 56-point edge over JR Motorsports’ Justin Allgaier, an 87-point advantage over Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill and a 100-point gap over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chandler Smith – the top of the standings offering a diverse representation of teams.

Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger is the only current Xfinity Series championship contender with a win at the two-mile Michigan track – claiming the 2021 trophy by a slight .163-second over Brandon Jones – then with JGR now with JR Motorsports. Allmendinger has that victory and a seventh-place finish in his two Xfinity Series starts at the track. He’s yet to win a race in 2024 but is the highest-ranked driver (ninth) without a victory.

Eight drivers have earned race victories to clinch a position in the 12-driver Playoffs with six races still remaining in the regular season.  New Zealander Shane Van Gisbergen leads the Playoff standings – the Kaulig Racing driver boasting a series best three wins. Hill, Chandler Smith and JR Motorsports Sam Mayer have a pair of wins. Custer, Allgaier, Herbst and rookie Jesse Love round out the list of winners.

Allmendinger, Sheldon Creed, Parker Kligerman and Ryan Sieg currently hold the final Playoff positions based on points. Sieg is only three-points up on Sammy Smith, however, for that final transfer position with Brandon Jones next, 69 points below the cutoff.

Defending race winner John Hunter Nemechek is entered this week, driving the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Daniel Dye, who just qualified for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs last weekend, will drive the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. And young standout Carson Kvapil will be in the JR Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet.

Practice is at 3:30 p.m. ET Friday followed by qualifying at 4:10 p.m. ET. Both sessions will air live on NBC Sports streaming.