Erik Jones needs a win to qualify for this year’s NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. He and more than 20 other drivers have just two weeks to secure the four remaining spots. That’s because of modern NASCAR’s unforgiving championship format, where no driver can win the title until the final round of the year.

Jones sits a distant 27th in the points standings after a successful season with his team, Legacy Motor Club, and an injury that sidelined him for two races. Jones and his competitors have just two races left to make it – Daytona and Darlington – and he’s more than an outside chance: His three career Cup Series wins came at those two tracks.

“The mentality is completely different at both races,” Jones told Motorsport.com. “Darlington is a technical race and I think you need to have a plan for it: how you plan your day and what you want from your car when the race turns from day to night. The Daytona race is less about your plan and more about what everyone else is doing around you.”

Like the championship itself, qualifying for the NASCAR Cup playoffs is a playoff game: A win secures one of 16 spots, while all the remaining spots are filled by the winless drivers with the most points. But that elusive victory is still up for grabs in the final round of the regular season, and anyone between 17th and 34th in the points standings could claim it — by knocking out a driver who is still tentatively “in” and changing the postseason landscape.

For several years, the final round of the regular season was run at Daytona International Speedway. This year, Daytona will be the second-to-last race before the playoffs, while the regular season finale will take place elsewhere: the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. So Jones – and likely many other playoff contenders – will tackle these two starkly contrasting and challenging tracks at the end of the NASCAR regular season.

Daytona: Preparing for chaos

This weekend sees Daytona’s chaotic 2.5-mile oval, stereotypically known as a gamble due to crashes and three-driver races that even out the field. Not every driver liked the uncertainty of Daytona as a season finale, but Jones did.

“I think I heard Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. put it well,” Jones told Motorsport.com. “The guys who are fast and are racing for the championship are probably already in the playoffs. They’re not in a situation where they have to win Daytona to advance, so why not go for the last-second winner to make it exciting?”

To be successful at Daytona, Jones said drivers need to be in tune with their car and the air around them. Drivers use slipstream studies and reports to plan the best position on the track, but Jones said they also need hands-on experience.

“It’s only when you get out there and feel it yourself, when you’re pushing and being pushed – that’s when you really learn,” Jones said. “At Daytona, you see the same guys at the front over and over again. They’re much more calculated than what’s shown on TV and what everyone sometimes perceives. When you realize what moves these guys are making and why they’re making them, things become clearer.”

Drivers and teams come to Daytona with plans to work with teammates and manufacturer alliances. Jones and Legacy Motor Club were with Chevrolet until this year, when they moved to Toyota Racing Development. Toyota has the smallest group of Cup cars.

“We had meetings at Chevrolet, but there were so many cars that it was pretty difficult to come up with a plan where everyone could stay consistent,” Jones said. “You almost had to split into two groups and have two different plans for how you were going to get through the race.”

“When TRD has eight cars, sometimes it’s easier to get more speed than with such a big bunch. It’s pretty easy for us all to stick to the same plan, and it’s fun to be part of those plans when you can come up with something that throws everyone off track. That’s the part of speedway racing that I find exciting: seeing if you can outsmart everyone.”

Jones doesn’t yet know Toyota’s plans for Daytona, as they will have to be decided on race morning depending on the group’s speed and racing prospects, but he knows plans are never perfect.

“The way the race goes depends on so many factors, whether it’s a lot of green flag laps or a lot of chaos and yellow flag laps,” Jones told Motorsport.com. “Sometimes it doesn’t matter how good a position you put yourself in, there are things that you always end up being unable to control. You’re at the mercy of everyone around you.”

Darlington: The race of the thinking driver

This year, the regular-season finale is next weekend at Darlington: a 75-year-old racetrack known for tearing apart tires and forcing drivers to change their technique mid-race. Jones said Daytona is about racing against the field, while Darlington is about racing against the track — especially in the Southern 500, which starts during the day and ends at night.

“At Darlington, you’re pretty much in control of your own destiny with your decisions and your position,” Jones said. “The temperature is very sensitive there, and even if it’s cloudy and you qualify, that’s a huge advantage. When the air temperature drops 15 degrees, the track changes significantly, and it feels like it gains a lot of grip. It seems like you can run a little bit faster when the track cools down and the pace really picks up.”

For drivers, Daytona is about finding a place in the lane. Darlington is about finding the lane, which shifts with the temperatures and rubber buildup on the track.

“During the day, you’re driving pretty high up on both ends of the track,” Jones said. “Right along the wall. Sometimes when it gets dark, you can turn around and get the lower part rolling. That’s the part I enjoy: You still have the opportunity to drive high up, but the lower part also comes where you can get your car running pretty well and make a lot of passes.”

Many NASCAR tracks are less rough than Darlington, giving drivers the opportunity to stay out during a lap of pit stops to improve their position on the track. But with the tire wear at Darlington, the field would eat up those drivers. Jones said with the current condition of the track surface, three or four laps would be enough to require new tires if a caution period came and everyone pitted.

Drivers can’t prevent tire wear at Darlington, but they can influence it through their driving style. Jones said the better shape the tires are in, the better they perform – literally.

“You want to keep the tire round,” Jones said. “The tire will no longer be round if you steer too much and let it fold, if you let it bounce around the track or if you give it too much throttle and do the same thing to the rear tires. The tire will not be very happy. But if you keep it round, you’re probably pretty happy.”

Once drivers become proficient at maintaining the trueness of their tires, they can wear them down in specific areas to improve vehicle handling.

“Sometimes you get a feeling for which way your car is going, whether it’s loose or tight, and you can influence that by the way you drive. Whether it’s using a little bit more of the rear tire when the car is tight, or trying to drive the right front hard and build up some air. Ultimately, sometimes you can’t overdo the balance, but you can definitely influence which way the balance will go as you drive.”

Jones grew up with short track racing in the USA, where tire protection is of the utmost importance and the track surfaces are old, rough and sensitive – just like in Darlington.

“Darlington was a place I felt comfortable pretty quickly,” Jones said. “The biggest thing is realizing how hard you can push. Growing up, I had raced a lot at the tracks I raced at. It was about conserving equipment. Darlington offers a lot of that: If you can get through the day, your car is clean, you’ve been improving it all night and your pit crew has done a good job, you’re probably going to be in the race.”

The NASCAR Playoffs: An Intentional Last Resort

Modern NASCAR is built for excitement, where anything can happen, from qualifying for the playoffs to winning the championship. Jones is confident he can compete at Daytona and Darlington, but he knows he – like all the other drivers – has his work cut out for him.

“Unfortunately, we weren’t as fast as we wanted (at the Legacy this year),” Jones said. “But Darlington has been pretty good for me, even at times in my career when the cars just weren’t what we needed.”

“To say that it won’t be difficult to fight for the win would simply be a lie. But Darlington still gives you the opportunity to decide the race and stay in the race, even if you don’t have the best car.”