The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series playoffs are now set. If you look ahead though, I can make a case to where the second round of the postseason may be the actual toughest among the three.

The first round, you can make a case to where Aric Almirola, Alex Bowman and William Byron may be in the danger zone. Almirola, hasn’t scored a top five finish since Phoenix. He hasn’t had a top 10 since Daytona. In Vegas, he does have three top 10’s since he joined SHR but at Richmond he finished 23rd in the spring and 17th last spring. On the ROVAL, he was 19th last year with finishes of ninth and 12th respectively on road courses in 2019.

Bowman, has one top 10 finish since his Chicagoland win and only one top five in his last 14 races. In Vegas and Richmond, he’s never even scored a top 10 before.

For Byron, out of his last eight races, he has just three top 10’s. His best finish in Vegas is 16th. His best finish in Richmond is 12th. He finished 34th in the ROVAL last year with finishes of 19th and 21st respectively on road courses this year.

See why they may not make it out of the first round of the playoffs?

Well, the next round is where it gets tough. You have 12 quality drivers and four have to be eliminated.

Brad Keselowski is hot on the season, five top 10’s in his last seven but in the three Rd 2 tracks, he has just two top fives in his last nine Dover starts, has zero top 10’s in his last nine superspeedway starts (Talladega) and despite winning at Kansas in May, has two top fives since 2016 there. See where he could either be really good or in trouble?

Ryan Blaney could too. His best Dover finish is eighth. His best Talladega finish is fourth as he’s scored just two top 10 finishes in nine career tries. In Kansas, his last three finishes are 37th, sevcenth and 32nd respectively.

This Penske duo are typically strong but this round could be tough for them.

Then you have guys that are fringe guys who can make it through. Chase Elliott has six top five finishes in seven Dover starts. He won in Talladega in April and won the playoff race in Kansas last year while finishing fourth in the spring as well.

Kyle Larson has three top five finishes in his last five Dover starting including a third place run in May. He does struggle on superspeedways but in Kansas, the cutoff race, he has four top eight finishes in his last five tries.

Erik Jones finished fourth in last year’s Dover playoff race and sixth in the spring. He’s typically pretty good on superspeedways and in Kansas, he has three straight top seven finishes including a third place run in May.

Clint Bowyer has three top 10’s in his last four Dover starts, is normally good at Talladega and finished fifth at Kansas back in May.

I didn’t even mention Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick. Four of these guys will be eliminated. But whom?

See why this round could be the hardest?