We all knew Daytona could be a wildcard, but I don't think anyone was prepared for how close it came to turning the Playoff race upside down.

When the checkered flag flew, only two of the top-11 drivers already had wins and just three of the top-25.  Fortunately for all those folks hovering around the cut line, the winner was one of those.

But the lack of winners in the top-25 is not really the headline here; it's who the winless drivers were and how low they currently are in the point standings.  Of the 17 winless drivers in the top-20, only three of them would currently qualify for the Playoffs.

Doing some quick math, that means that 14 of the top-20 at Daytona, would they have won, would have knocked someone in the top-11 in points below the 16-driver Playoff cutoff.

We already have Austin Dillon in…and he's 21st in points.  Paul Menard, Michael McDowell, Chris Buescher, A.J. Allmendinger and David Ragan all posted top-10 finishes and are currently 24th-28th in points.

Can you imagine a couple of drivers in the top-10 in points missing the playoffs?  It could still happen, but the odds just got a lot longer.