Victory Lane Racing

Nate Bishop picked up his first win of the 2021 season, fourth of his career, and climbed out of last place at Daytona on Saturday night. The race, which was the final of the regular season, was exciting and a great way to head into the playoffs.

With the 2021 Victory Lane Racing NASCAR Cup Series playoff field set, we take a quick look at who will be competing for the title.

The regular season champion was Steve Ruth, who will enter the playoffs for the 5th time in his career, and will be the #2 seed. Zach Kruep will be the #1 seed, after scoring 3 wins and 50 playoff points (including regular season-ending bonus points) during the regular season. It is Zach's third appearance in the playoffs.

Greg Miller enters the playoffs for the 13th time, and Donald Hardison Jr is competing for the 11th time. 2020 Cup Champion Scott Schmitt is in again, as is Kevin Sullivan, the 2019 champion of the series.

Donald Hardison Jr has missed the playoffs for the last three straight seasons, but will compete in the 2021 version thanks to locking himself in with a win this past weekend at Michigan! The win, Donald's 18th career win, moved him into second in points. He will now compete in the playoffs for the 11th time and try to win his second cup series title.

Dawn Keller finished second, but still has work to do if she wants to make the playoffs. She is ranked 26th in points and doesn't have a win. Conan Hultgren finished third, Nick Hagen was fourth and Janet Sebern rounded out the top five in the FireKeepers Casino 400.

Steve Ruth, who has held the points lead for most of the season, locked up the regular season title and the 15 bonus points that go along with it. He leads 2nd place Donald Hardison by 65 points with only one regular season race to go.

Zach Kruep has been on fire this season, and moves back into the points lead following his second win in the last five races. Zach's 8th career win comes after a four-way tie for the win. Zach won the Clash back in February, and has now scored 5 top 10 finishes in the season's first 9 races along with his two points paying wins!

Finishing in second is Steve Ruth, who only lost because Zach was higher in points. It was Steve's third top five finish of the season. Scott Schmitt was third (also tied for the win), and Steve Scanlan fourth (again, tied for the win) and Todd Bevering finished 5th with the second highest score of the week.

Zach Kruep moved back into the points lead by just one point over Donald Hardison Jr, who maintains second after a seventh place finish. Kruep joins Shane Burton as the only two-time winners on the season. Both Kruep and Burton should be locks for the playoffs. Should be.

It's been a minute since Conan Hultgren pulled into Victory Lane in the Cup Series, all the way back to the 2019 season. But he ended that losing streak this weekend at Martinsville, scoring 275 points en route to his 17th career win in the series! The win moves him into a tie for 5th on the all-time wins list in the series.

Bryan Birmingham scored his second top five finish of the season in second, Scott Schmitt finished third, Rick Paintin was fourth and Janet Sebern rounded out the top five finishers at Martinsville.

Shane Burton finished 18th but was able to maintain the points lead. He now leads by just 1 point over Donald Hardison Jr, who finished 7th for his third top ten finish of the season.

I don't know if Zach needed groceries on Sunday, but he scored a huge win in the Instacart 500 at Phoenix! The win, the 7th of his Cup Series career, moves him back into the points lead, where he was before the Vegas race last week. Kruep and Shane Burton are dominating the season early on, as this was now Zach's second top five and fourth top ten finish (in five races).

Al Allison finished second at Phoenix, his second top five finish of the season. Al was also the biggest mover in points this week, up 16 spots to 18th. Rookie Rob Kuczmrski was third, Stephen DiCaprio finished fourth and Julie Taylor rounded out the top five in the Instacart 500 at Phoenix!

As noted, Z Kruep and Burton are dominating at this point, with Kruep leading Burton by 5 points. The next closest competition is Donald Hardison, who is quietly in third, but 28 points back.

If you look up the definition of the word momentum, you'd see a picture of Shane Burton front and center. Shane picked up his second win in a row in the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas on Sunday, and his 6th career win in the series! Shane's win was a narrow 2 point victory, and earned him another 6 playoff points. He now has the most playoff points in the series - 16 points.

Kevin Sullivan finished second, his second top five finish in the first four season. He is now third in points. Greg Miller finished third, his first top ten finish of the season. Ray Perrotta finished fourth, and Scott Polohonki rounded out the top five at Las Vegas.

With the win, Shane Burton took over the points lead, no wleading Zach Kruep by 9 points. He has finished in the top 10 in three of the four races this season!

Marvin Jones picked right on Sunday, scoring a whopping 268 points in a race filled with attrition. He scored 36 points more than his closest competition to pick up the win, which was the fourth win of his career. Marvin hadn't won a race since 2018, as a matter of fact he hadn't finished in the top FIVE in a race since 2019. What a way to turn that around, now a Daytona 500 Champion!

Scott Polohonki finished second, starting his year on a strong note. He, too, struggled in 2020, only scoring 2 top five finishes. Well, he's half way there after only one race in 2021! Conan Hultgren finished third, Gary Dadey was fourth and Donald Hardison Jr rounded out the top five in the 500.

2020 Champion Scott Schmitt begins his title defense with a disappointing 41st place finish. He will be back in victory lane before we know it though!