Projected final standings for the 2018 NASCAR playoffs

The 2018 NASCAR playoffs get underway Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. ET at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as 16 drivers are set to compete in 10 races with a championship on the line. We've simulated the entire NASCAR playoffs 10,000 times to come with some surprising picks for the final standings. 

Developed by DFS pro and SportsLine predictive data engineer Mike McClure, our proprietary NASCAR prediction computer model takes factors such as track history and recent results into account.

It's made some huge calls in NASCAR late in the year, including correctly projecting wins for Kyle Busch at Chicago and Martin Truex Jr. at Sonoma. It also nailed three of the top four finishers at Michigan, and was high on 20-1 long shot winner Kurt Busch at Bristol and Brad Keselowski at 12-1 at Indianapolis. Anybody following its picks this season is up huge.

One pick we'll give away for the NASCAR playoffs: Clint Bowyer, who is going off at 15-1, makes a surprising run for the top five. He's a much better value that his odds imply. A driver to avoid: Kyle Larson at 10-1, who barely cracks the top 10 despite being one of the top Vegas favorites. There are far better values available in this loaded field of contenders. 

The model is also targeting three monster underdogs with odds of 20-1 or longer to make a serious run at winning it all. Anyone who bets on these long shots could hit it BIG.

So who wins the 2018 NASCAR Playoffs? And which long shots will come out of nowhere to make a serious run? Join SportsLine here to see the full projected final NASCAR playoffs standings from the model that is crushing its NASCAR picks this year!