2018: How Talladega shook up the NASCAR Playoffs

The middle event in the three-race Round of 12 in the Monster Energy Series Playoffs lived up to its tumultuous billing Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, with plenty of movement in the postseason picture. Aric Almirola joined last week's winner, Chase Elliott, in securing an automatic berth into the next round. For the rest, there's still work to be done in next week's elimination race at Kansas Speedway. A quick look at Talladega's playoff impact on the 10 remaining championship-eligible drivers.

KEVIN HARVICK

Position on cut line: +63

Talladega fate: Harvick led 46 laps and added a stage win to bolster his postseason cause, but limped to a 28th-place finish after a late stop for fuel. He's a virtual lock for the next round.

Quotable: "That's great for the team mentally to give the guys and Rodney (Childers, crew chief) and everybody kind of a mental break in this part of the season to just go to Kansas and be able to race the car and not have to worry about points or stage points or anything like that is what you want to do. ... It's all about survive and advance at this point."

KYLE BUSCH

Position on cut line: +46

Talladega fate: Busch led for just one lap Sunday. A final-lap crash behind the lead pack snared the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota, dropping him to a 26th-place result and a slight dip in his comfort zone for Kansas.

Quotable: "We tried everything today and struggled to get up front."

JOEY LOGANO

Position on cut line: +39

Talladega fate: Logano finished in the points in both stages, but -- like many -- was unable to crinkle the Stewart-Haas Racing stronghold up front. The three-time Talladega winner came home fifth, adding to his postseason cushion.

Quotable: "We scored some stage points and then a solid top five, so I'm proud of that. I think it puts us in a decent spot to where we can go to Kansas and race hard, so not that we didn't race hard today, but it was just gonna take a lot to beat the teamwork and the cars that (Stewart-Haas) had today."

KURT BUSCH

Position on cut line: +30

Talladega fate: Sunday's polesitter led a race-high 108 laps and was out front on the final restart, but came up short on fuel. A Stage 1 win and valuable points in Stage 2 give him a solid cushion heading into Kansas' elimination.

Quotable: "It was a very different Talladega for me. I really enjoyed leading the race, working with my teammates. I'm really happy a Stewart-Haas car won, but the four of us, I've never seen so much synergy. … We had 21(-point cushion) coming into this and if you can bank nine and get the heck out of Talladega, that sounds good."

CLINT BOWYER

Position on cut line: +21

Talladega fate: Bowyer rode the SHR wave to a points bounty with finishes of second place in every stage, including the final one. That boost lifted him from a 10-point deficit to far more solid postseason footing.

Quotable: "We have to go home, at Kansas take care of business. I think we can do that. We needed an opportunity here. For whatever reason, I came here (and) had a good feeling that maybe I was due for a good race. Certainly we were."

MARTIN TRUEX JR.

Position on cut line: +18

Talladega fate: The No. 78 driver struggled with his car throughout the entire afternoon and came out slightly above the cut line (after dipping below during the race) with a 23rd-place finish. He'll need a decent run at Kansas to maintain that position.

Quotable: "Overall it was a positive finish and we went from what was going to be a real bad day to not such a terrible day. … I think (Kansas is) a place we can go to, even if we had to win, and feel pretty confident about it. ... It's racing, a lot can happen as we see today. But we'll give it all we got."

BRAD KESELOWSKI

Position on cut line: -18

Talladega fate: Keselowski led 21 laps -- best of the non-SHR contingent -- but faded to a 27th-place outcome. He notched just one point in the first two stages, signaling a precipitous slide from plus-21 in the points after Dover to an 18-point deficit post-Talladega.

Quotable: "We ran out of gas from what I could tell, so we'll go through and look at it and see. … It's certainly not ideal, but it is what it is."

RYAN BLANEY

Position on cut line: -22

Talladega fate: Blaney ran with his Team Penske teammates the majority of the afternoon, but was one of the unfortunate few who ran out of fuel when the race extended into overtime. His 29th-place result puts him in a hole.

Quotable: "Really disappointing way to end our day. We didn’t have the fastest car today, but we were in a good spot before the caution came out. We have a lot of work to do to keep our championship hopes alive, but Kansas has been a good track for us in the past."

KYLE LARSON

Position on cut line: -26

Talladega fate: After starting from the rear, Larson struggled for speed throughout the race and spun at Lap 105 to bring out the caution. He survived to finish 11th, but didn't bank any stage points heading into likely a must-win situation at Kansas.

Quotable: "We just had a terrible race car and were really slow all weekend. We were able to salvage a decent finish, but the Fords are so fast here and can rack up a lot of stage points. Even when they have a bad day, they still gain points on us. It is what it is. We'll just go to Kansas and try and win."

ALEX BOWMAN

Position on cut line: -68

Talladega fate: The Hendrick Motorsports driver earned two points in the opening stage, but triggered a multi-car incident on Lap 187, sustaining damage to his No. 88. He limped to a 33rd-place result and needs to win at Kansas to advance to the next round.

Quotable: "These things just don't drive very well. Everybody is out of control. That's why you see so much single-file racing. The cars are just all over the place. So, we got to racing there and the No. 6 (Trevor Bayne) kept blocking the top. We were just trying to make something happen there. I drove in the middle and just turned sideways … I was just trying to make something happen there at the end. And, we'll move on to Kansas."