whitt's first five races of the nascar playoffs resulted in finishes outside the top 30. at chicagoland, he ran into various problems and finished 35th, 10 laps down, followed by runs of 30th and four laps down (loudon), 32nd and eight laps down (dover), 34th and 42 laps down (charlotte), and 34th and 25 laps down following a wreck with michael mcdowell (talladega). in the return to kansas, he ran 24th. on the final lap of martinsville, cars stacked up in front of him, and he was pushed into erik jones, causing the latter to spin. he avoided the crash and finished 25th. whitt closed the season by finishing 29th, 36th, and 28th at texas, phoenix, and homestead, respectively.