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Allmendinger toured the 0.533-mile concrete short track in 15.117 seconds (126.930 mph) to earn the top starting spot for Saturday's Bass Pro Shops Night Race, the Round of 16 elimination event.

The lap held up against an onslaught of Playoff drivers. Ryan Blaney (126.905 mph) came closest with a lap just 0.003 seconds slower than Allmendinger's. Austin Cindric, just 11 points above the current elimination line for the Round of 12, will start third after a lap at 126.804 mph, far better than his average Bristol starting spot of 21.4.

The Busch Light Pole Award was Allmendinger's first of the season, first at Bristol and fifth of his career.

"We just had a really good practice," said Allmendinger, driver of the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. "We had a solid race in the spring, so good notes to go off of, for sure. You never know. They were saying the (softer right-side) tires were going to be a little different, but our practice was really good.

"I was pretty happy with that lap... The tire doesn't feel a ton different. You can feel the softness--the car kind of moves around on it--but it's not a massive difference to me. We'll see how it races (on Saturday), once you get 125 laps on it."

Non-Playoff driver Ty Gibbs (126.720 mph) qualified fourth in the fastest Toyota, with six Playoff drivers behind him. Kyle Larson (126.670 mph), winner of the last two Cup Series races at Bristol was fifth, with Last week's Gateway winner Denny Hamlin (126.312 mph) sixth fastest.

William Byron, Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell and Josh Berry will start sixth through 10th on the grid, respectively.

Berry is 16th in the Playoff standings, 45 points below the cut line for the Round of 12 and needing a victory to advance past the Round of 16. But Berry was fastest among the four drivers below the elimination line.

Alex Bowman, 35 points in arrears, qualified 15th. Austin Dillon, 11 points behind Cindric, will start 23rd. And Shane van Gisbergen, 15 points below the cut line, will start 28th.

Other Playoff drivers qualified as follows: Ross Chastain 13th, Tyler Reddick 14th, Chase Elliott 16th, Joey Logano 22nd and Chase Briscoe 31st.

NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying -- Bass Pro Shops Night Race

Bristol Motor Speedway

Bristol, Tennessee

Friday, September 12, 2025

1. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 126.930 mph.

2. (12) Ryan Blaney (P) @, Ford, 126.905 mph.

3. (2) Austin Cindric (P) @, Ford, 126.804 mph.

4. (54) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 126.720 mph.

5. (5) Kyle Larson (P) @, Chevrolet, 126.670 mph.

6. (11) Denny Hamlin (P) @, Toyota, 126.312 mph.

7. (24) William Byron (P) @, Chevrolet, 126.187 mph.

8. (23) Bubba Wallace (P) @, Toyota, 126.170 mph.

9. (20) Christopher Bell (P) @, Toyota, 126.121 mph.

10. (21) Josh Berry (P) @, Ford, 126.121 mph.

11. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 126.071 mph.

12. (77) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 126.054 mph.

13. (1) Ross Chastain (P) @, Chevrolet, 125.914 mph.

14. (45) Tyler Reddick (P) @, Toyota, 125.856 mph.

15. (48) Alex Bowman (P) @, Chevrolet, 125.757 mph.

16. (9) Chase Elliott (P) @, Chevrolet, 125.650 mph.

17. (7) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 125.642 mph.

18. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 125.633 mph.

19. (42) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 125.633 mph.

20. (60) Ryan Preece, Ford, 125.568 mph.

21. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 125.494 mph.

22. (22) Joey Logano (P) @, Ford, 125.428 mph.

23. (3) Austin Dillon (P) @, Chevrolet, 125.150 mph.

24. (38) Zane Smith, Ford, 125.052 mph.

25. (71) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 124.914 mph.

26. (41) Cole Custer, Ford, 124.800 mph.

27. (43) Erik Jones, Toyota, 124.695 mph.

28. (88) Shane Van Gisbergen # (P) @, Chevrolet, 124.630 mph.

29. (35) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 124.622 mph.

30. (4) Noah Gragson, Ford, 124.581 mph.

31. (19) Chase Briscoe (P) @, Toyota, 124.347 mph.

32. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 124.339 mph.

33. (33) Austin Hill(i), Chevrolet, 123.953 mph.

34. (51) Cody Ware, Ford, 123.000 mph.

35. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 122.905 mph.

36. (34) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 122.756 mph.

37. (10) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 122.552 mph.

38. (67) Corey Heim(i), Toyota, 122.427 mph.

39. (66) Chad Finchum, Ford, 119.522 mph.

What better place to knock out four drivers than Bristol? The short track has a long history of putting racers out of contention and ending their visits with battered cars skidding down the concrete, half-mile bullring.

Austin Dillon (-11 points), Shane van Gisbergen (-15), Alex Bowman (-35) and Josh Berry (-45) lurk below the cut line and need a big Saturday night in the Blue Ridge Mountains in order to advance to the Round of 12 and keep title hopes alive.

It's a terribly tall task for all four.

Of the quartet, Dillon, Bowman and Berry have the short-track background to perhaps work their way to a clutch victory that would propel them to the next round, whereas SVG's problems have occurred on ovals, superspeedways and anything other than road-course layouts.

Dillon has a pair of victories at Richmond in his No. 3 Chevrolet, while Bowman has also won at Richmond and Martinsville, so the possibility exists for more short-track checkers if one hits on the right setup.

Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon hasn't written off his driver Bowman and the No. 48 team, saying, "They're going to have to get a gift at Bristol. I'm not counting them out yet."

After notching career win No. 59 outside St. Louis on Sunday, 44-year-old Denny Hamlin said on his "Actions Detrimental" podcast that he doesn't need to reach the 60-win mark this season because he has 80 races left to drive the No. 11 on his contract that runs through 2027.

But the Joe Gibbs Racing star, a four-time victor at Bristol, may be better off winning that 60th race and not having it hang over his head -- especially as it can help him score that elusive first Cup title.

Taking the checkers first in two of the past four Bristol races, including the lone event in 2023 and the first of two last season, Hamlin cruises 11th in modern-era Cup wins, one behind Kevin Harvick and four behind Kyle Busch. After that, it's a baker's dozen to catch Dale Earnhardt.

In last summer's Bristol 500-lapper under the lights, Bowman topped 34 circuits, but Kyle Larson completely dominated by pacing the way for 462 laps to beat teammate Chase Elliott by over seven seconds.

However, the 2021 Cup champ might be looking over his shoulder at times Saturday night.

In Illinois last weekend, Larson clearly spun out Ryan Blaney as the pair of former title-winners were racing together off Turn 4 with nearly 100 laps to go, though Blaney's No. 12 Ford rallied to finish fourth.

The top-five showing didn't soothe the Team Penske racer.

"I just wanted to know what I did to deserve it," Blaney said after speaking with Larson. "He just said he made a mistake. That's fine, make mistakes, but at the end of the day I still got turned. ... That's just one I gotta remember."

And Bristol surely ranks first in the standings of speedways that are a place of remembrance for past grievances.

Bowman's crew will feature two new tire changers, a new tire carrier and a new jackman for Saturday night's Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Bowman enters the event in 15th place, 35 points below the playoff cutoff line (top 12 advance).

The new additions are front tire changer Daniel Bach, rear tire changer Rod Cox, tire carrier Jarius Morehead and jackman Cody French. All four crew members had been part of Carson Hocevar's pit crew, which Hendrick Motorsports provides for Hocevar's Spire Motorsports team. The only member that remains from Bowman's previous crew is fueler Jacob Conley.

Bowman opened the playoffs in 16th place, just five points off the cut line. Then came a few gaffes in the first two playoff races, which included a 40-second pit stop two weeks ago at Darlington in which an air hose got disconnected and the crew couldn't fix the issue right away. The delay caused Bowman to fall two laps down and, though he later got back on the lead lap, he finished 31st.

In Sunday's race just outside St. Louis, Bowman was cruising in the top 10 when his car had to be jacked up again because the left rear tire was not placed correctly before the jack was dropped. That elongated stop lasted 23.9 seconds and contributed to Bowman's eventual 26th-place finish.

Saturday's race in Bristol, Tenn., will get underway at 7:30 p.m. ET.

Hamlin and Briscoe, teammates at Joe Gibbs Racing, wound up second and third behind leader Brad Keselowski on the final restart with 24 laps to go.

Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota, which led a race-high 75 laps, easily passed Keselowski's No. 6 Ford on old tires and beat Briscoe by 1.620 seconds for Hamlin's series-best fifth win and 59th of his career.

Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano were the top-five finishers in the 10-caution race that featured 15 lead changes and 52 caution laps.

JGR and Toyota have won the first two races of the playoffs.

Hungry for a win after last tasting victory on May 11 at Kansas, Kyle Larson swept by Hamlin on Lap 8 and drove off from the Toyota.

Kyle Busch, who last won two years ago in Illinois, looped his No. 8 Chevrolet by himself on Lap 27 for the first caution, bringing Larson and most of the cars to pit road.

With 10 laps remaining, No. 21 driver Josh Berry -- 16th in the playoff standings -- wrecked in Turn 2 after contact with Elliott and damaged his Wood Brothers Ford terminally.

Leading with four to go in Stage 1, Briscoe and Larson raced each other as if it were the final circuit of the 240-lap, 300-mile race. Briscoe held on to grab the 10 points followed by Larson, Hamlin, William Byron and Blaney.

However, Briscoe locked up his right-front tire on down the frontstretch and punted Daniel Suarez's No. 99 Chevrolet into the wall. To compound matters, Briscoe's No. 19 crew had a left-rear hang-up on the pit stop.

Wallace grabbed the point early, less than halfway through 95-lap Stage 2, and paced the way for Logano and Christopher Bell, both just under three seconds behind as the segment neared its end.

Following a spin of Blaney by Larson, Wallace's 23XI Racing Toyota scored a win in the one-lap shootout to end the stage. Keselowski, Logano, Larson and Bell were the top five. Playoff driver Austin Dillon stayed out on old tires and finished sixth.

With a lap at 139.190 mph (32.330 seconds) on Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, Hamlin claimed the pole position for the second time in two Playoff races and will lead the field to green in Sunday's Enjoy Illinois 300 (3 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Hamlin's No.19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was 0.021 seconds faster than the No. 5 Chevrolet of Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson (139.099 mph), the only Playoff driver to participate in a Goodyear tire test at the 1.25-mile track in June.

The Busch Light Pole Award was Hamlin's first at Gateway - and the first for Toyota - his third of the season and the 46th of his career, tying him with NASCAR Hall of Famer Junior Johnson for 11th all-time.

Coincidentally, Hamlin is also 11th on the career victory list with 58 but has converted only six of his pole-position starts into wins.

Hamlin enters the second race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs second in the standings behind Darlington winner Chase Briscoe, who qualified third on Saturday at 138.902 mph. After a seventh-place finish from the pole at the Lady in Black, Hamlin is 43 points above the current elimination line for the Round of 12.

"We were able to, very similarly to last week, make some great adjustments from where we were in practice," Hamlin said. "And again, there is so much that is different from practice to qualifying when you're going for one lap.

"Air pressures at a track like this are dramatically different, certainly, the intensity from which I drive is a lot different in practice than qualifying. They gave me all of the adjustments that I needed to have a really good handling car there, and we were able to capitalize on it."

Ross Chastain (138.855 mph) was fourth in time trials in the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. Ryan Blaney, who won at Iowa on the same tire combination in use this weekend at Gateway, qualified fifth at 138.752 mph in the fastest Ford.

With Playoff drivers accounting for the top nine starting positions, William Byron qualified sixth, followed by Tyler Reddick, Christopher Bell and Austin Cindric. Tenth-place Zane Smith was the fastest non-Playoff driver in the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford.

Josh Berry, 19 points below the cut line after finishing last at Darlington, will start 12th, followed by 2022 Gateway winner Joey Logano, who comes to the second Playoff race three points below the elimination line.

Other Playoff drivers qualified as follows: Bubba Wallace 14th, Austin Dillon 15th, Shane van Gisbergen 18th, Chase Elliott 19th and Alex Bowman 25th.

NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying - Enjoy Illinois 300

Madison, Illinois

Saturday, September 6, 2025

1. (11) Denny Hamlin (P) @, Toyota, 139.190 mph.

2. (5) Kyle Larson (P) @, Chevrolet, 139.099 mph.

3. (19) Chase Briscoe (P) @, Toyota, 138.902 mph.

4. (1) Ross Chastain (P) @, Chevrolet, 138.855 mph.

5. (12) Ryan Blaney (P) @, Ford, 138.752 mph.

6. (24) William Byron (P) @, Chevrolet, 138.602 mph.

7. (45) Tyler Reddick (P) @, Toyota, 138.457 mph.

8. (20) Christopher Bell (P) @, Toyota, 138.410 mph.

9. (2) Austin Cindric (P) @, Ford, 138.160 mph.

10. (38) Zane Smith, Ford, 137.724 mph.

11. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, 137.661 mph.

12. (21) Josh Berry (P) @, Ford, 137.623 mph.

13. (22) Joey Logano (P) @, Ford, 137.535 mph.

14. (23) Bubba Wallace (P) @, Toyota, 137.451 mph.

15. (3) Austin Dillon (P) @, Chevrolet, 137.375 mph.

16. (43) Erik Jones, Toyota, 137.363 mph.

17. (16) AJ Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 137.346 mph.

18. (88) Shane Van Gisbergen # (P) @, Chevrolet, 137.342 mph.

19. (9) Chase Elliott (P) @, Chevrolet, 137.199 mph.

20. (42) John Hunter Nemechek, Toyota, 136.978 mph.

21. (54) Ty Gibbs, Toyota, 136.824 mph.

22. (8) Kyle Busch, Chevrolet, 136.562 mph.

23. (6) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 136.542 mph.

24. (4) Noah Gragson, Ford, 136.393 mph.

25. (48) Alex Bowman (P) @, Chevrolet, 136.343 mph.

26. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 136.207 mph.

27. (77) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 135.816 mph.

28. (71) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 135.554 mph.

29. (41) Cole Custer, Ford, 135.538 mph.

30. (34) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 135.420 mph.

31. (7) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 135.330 mph.

32. (60) Ryan Preece, Ford, 135.208 mph.

33. (35) Riley Herbst #, Toyota, 134.662 mph.

34. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 134.176 mph.

35. (10) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 133.789 mph.

36. (51) Cody Ware, Ford, 133.730 mph.

The switch to Chevrolet also creates a new technical alliance with Hendrick Motorsports, which will provide engines in the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

The team currently uses Ford bodies and engines in both series.

"First and foremost, we want to thank Ford for its partnership," said Joe Custer, president of Haas Factory Team. "Their support allowed us to establish Haas Factory Team and we remain dedicated to delivering results for them in Cup and Xfinity all the way through the season finale in Phoenix."

The team's owner, Gene Haas, is no stranger to Chevrolet, which he utilized from the time he entered NASCAR with Haas CNC Racing in 2002 until the end of the 2016 season when the switch to Ford was made.

"Personally, I have a deep history with Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports," Haas said. "Both helped in establishing not only my presence as a team owner in NASCAR, but also the presence of Haas Automation. Together, we were able to build a race team that competed for wins and championships while growing the use of Haas CNC machinery throughout the racing and manufacturing industries."

The owner of Hendrick Motorsports also called out the group's past with Haas.

"We have a long history with Gene and his organization, including winning championships together, so this feels almost like a homecoming," said owner Rick Hendrick. "Our relationship started many years ago with Haas CNC machines in our facilities, and I've always admired the passion that he and Joe Custer have for the sport and their desire to win. We're proud to support Haas Factory Team and thrilled to work together to deliver more victories for Chevrolet."

The new partnership will make its debut at the Cook Out Clash at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C., on Feb. 1.

Haas Factory Team also announced that their 2026 roster will stay intact, with Cole Custer driving the No. 41 entry in the Cup Series, and Sheldon Creed and Sam Mayer behind the wheel for the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, the new name for the Xfinity series starting in 2026.

The NASCAR Cup Series' postseason continues Sunday afternoon with the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill., the opening round's second stop.

Elliott Sadler won the inaugural NASCAR outing in 1997, claiming the Xfinity Series race on a brutally hot summer day outside of St. Louis, when the track was called Gateway Motorsports Park.

Three years after its first Cup race, WWTR will hold Sunday's event that is anything other than "just another race."

It's a title-round showdown in a fairly short 300 miles and less than three hours.

Talk about a track's meteoric rise in stock car racing.

Relatively speaking to the other nine tracks in the championship hunt, WWTR is pretty much an unknown in terms of expectations.

The Roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway has only hosted seven races, but we know what it is -- an experience that almost every driver dislikes. But everything else from Bristol to Phoenix is a known commodity.

Ford drivers have done well at WWTR in its early existence: Joey Logano won the first race and Austin Cindric the most recent. Both Team Penske racers could use a repeat, checker-filled performance this weekend.

The defending Cup champ, Logano has hoisted the trophy in November three times, putting him in rare company that includes Lee Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip and Tony Stewart.

But the Darlington winner in 2022 stumbled last Sunday night in the Southern 500 and finished a mediocre 20th, never contending and only running in the top 10 during the cycle of pit stops.

"I think we're very close to where we need to be," assessed Logano. "I think our speed has gotten better. I think we're in a comparable place to where we were last year. ... But knowing these guys the way I know them, and being able to do it multiple times, I feel like we're in a good spot."

For Logano to advance to the Round of 12, he will have to bump a driver, and the best candidate appears to be the Down Under road-racing daredevil right in front of him -- Shane van Gisbergen.

SVG is Superman on road courses, but ovals are his kryptonite. And the kryptonite the next two weeks comes in the shapely, round form of WWTR and Bristol. The Trackhouse Racing hotshot only holds a three-point lead over Logano.

Chase Elliott (+9), Christopher Bell (+11) and Cindric (+12) all ride in front SVG, so there are opportunities for Logano to leapfrog the cut line.

Trailing Logano by five points, Richmond winner Austin Dillon (-8) is also in a position where he cannot afford a St. Louis slip-up Sunday.

Team Penske will be in Sunday's spotlight, and some in NASCAR feel that Logano, crew chief Paul Wolfe and the rest of the 22 team have the format figured out, especially after he was dismal most of last season, entered the playoffs 15th and won for the third time.

Some believe it's like the 22 has a secret playoff playbook hidden away in a safe like gold in Fort Knox. When it comes September, the Penske folks square up the tumblers, pluck it out and start thumbing their way to a title.

Spawned from the old Chase for the Nextel Cup, this championship simply isn't that easy to win.

Even in this 12-year-old format that could stand some serious tweaking.

Last year's victor at one of NASCAR's crown-jewel races, which qualified him for the playoffs, the Mitchell, Ind., native conquered The Track Too Tough to Tame again by scorching the 38-car field and leading a career-high 309 laps.

His No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota held a 0.409-second advantage over Tyler Reddick's Toyota, which mounted a dive-bomb try on the final lap between Turns 3 and 4.

Briscoe's fourth career Cup win advances him to the Round of 12.

Legacy Motorsports drivers Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek finished third and fourth followed by AJ. Allmendinger.

With the first dozen positions occupied by playoff drivers, polesitter Denny Hamlin, a five-time Darlington winner, led them to green. However, Josh Berry, in his first playoff start, looped the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford in Turn 2 on Lap 1 for the first caution. Berry got into Reddick's No. 45 Toyota, which suffered slight damage.

Briscoe grabbed the lead early Hamlin, his JGR teammate, and dominated 85 of the 115 laps in Stage 1. Reddick rebounded to come in second followed by Hamlin, Ross Chastain and Bubba Wallace as the top points earners.

The 367-lap race around the high-banked superspeedway restarted with the Toyotas of Hamlin and Briscoe swapping the lead.

Cody Ware spun to bring out the fourth caution. After Ryan Blaney was spun for the fifth yellow, the No. 19's domination continued in easy fashion, topping Reddick, two-time Southern 500 winner Jones, Kyle Larson and Allmendinger for the top-five positions in Stage 2.

With a healthy lead, Briscoe pitted on Lap 275 and got back at it while the stops cycled around to Chastain and Hamlin taking turns at the point. Briscoe's Toyota again found the lead and lapped title contender Chase Elliott with 70 laps left in the playoff opener.

Derek Kraus' engine failure brought out the seventh caution and sent the leaders to pit road again with just over 50 laps remaining.

Gaining enormous time through Turns 3 and 4 on his single qualifying lap at Darlington Raceway, Hamlin knocked Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Chase Briscoe off the provisional pole for the first NASCAR Cup Series Playoff race.

A five-time winner at Darlington--most among active drivers--Hamlin covered the 1.366-mile distance in 28.694 seconds (171.381 mph), beating Briscoe (171.255 mph) by 0.021 seconds. Briscoe had won the pole position for the previous three Crown Jewel races--DAYTONA 500, Coca-Cola 600 and Brickyard 400.

The Busch Light Pole Award was Hamlin's second at Darlington, his second of the season and the 45th of his career. He is the first driver to reach 40 poles in a Toyota, with his first five coming when JGR ran Chevrolets.

"It turned," Hamlin said of the performance of his No. 11 Camry. "We struggled with balance all through race practice, but we made some good adjustments to run one lap."

Hamlin acknowledged his car still needs work to enhance its performance in race trim.

After a stellar first two corners on his qualifying lap, Briscoe wasn't as aggressive as he needed to be at the narrow end of the egg-shaped track.

"That one stings," Briscoe said. "My 1 and 2 was really good, and I didn't want to go into (Turn) 3 and hit the wall or something, so I under-drove it."

Playoff drivers occupy the first 12 spots on the grid for Sunday's race. Josh Berry qualified third at 170.578 mph in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. Tyler Reddick was fourth at 170.466 mph in the No. 45 23XI Toyota, followed by Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports in the top Chevrolet.

Ross Chastain, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon, Austin Cindric, William Byron and Ryan Blaney will start from positions six through 12, respectively.

The remaining four Playoff drivers qualified as follows: Joey Logano 14th, Shane van Gisbergen 20th, Chase Elliott 21st and Alex Bowman 29th.

Berry's qualifying performance was his best since starting second at Atlanta nine races ago.

"I'm super proud of that effort," he said. "Our big focus was trying to qualify better here, and the guys did a great job. I feel like our car is really strong, and I'm excited for (Sunday). The biggest thing I feel like I've fought here is starting position, so starting up front I think we can just manage the race easier and obviously score some stage points.

"That's going to be important, so just having a mistake-free day by taking care of the car and having good pit stops will help keep us in the hunt."

The level of expectations is exponentially higher for Sunday's opening Playoff race at the Lady in Black (6 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

For the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series career, Briscoe believes he has a championship-caliber team.

That wasn't the case last year when the Southern 500 was the final race in the regular season. Briscoe needed a victory just to make the Playoffs, and after a near-perfect run, he took the checkered flag and qualified for the postseason.

Last year, Briscoe drove for moribund Stewart-Haas Racing. This year, he's driving the potent No. 19 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, an organization that expects to win and compete for championships.

"Last year, nobody expected us (to win), and truthfully, as a race team, we weren't coming into Darlington and being like ‘This is our weekend,'" Briscoe said. "At SHR (Stewart-Haas), you really couldn't go to the race track each weekend and say we are going to win this weekend, or we are going to have a shot at it.

"We knew that we would be good, because we had been solid at Darlington, but I don't think we thought we would have race-winning speed, I would say. So, this (the Playoff race) feels more pressure-packed than a win-or-go-home situation, because we all kind of made up our minds that we were probably going home anyways, and it just so happened that we won the race, and we were in."

Josh Berry looks for mistake-free performances in first round of Playoffs

In baseball parlance, Josh Berry isn't looking to hit a grand slam. Three solid singles should do nicely.

That's Berry's approach to the first round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, where Berry believes three well-executed races should be enough to put him in the Round of 12.

"We don't have to go hit a home run," Berry said on Saturday morning at Darlington Raceway, site of Sunday's Playoff-opening Cook Out Southern 500 (6 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). "We just need to go be solid. I think we feel like three top 10s will be enough points probably to make it to the Round of 12.

"That's where our head is at, so as long as we keep doing that, there's not too much to think on until something changes."

The Playoffs mark a reset of goals for Berry and the No.21 Wood Brothers Racing team. At the start of their first season together, the primary goal was simply to make the Playoffs.

"It's a big deal," said Berry, who qualified for the Playoffs by winning the fifth race of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "It's our biggest goal setting out this year. Obviously, to win my first race and if you do that, more than likely, you make the Playoffs, and here we are.

"It's really cool. It's been a fun year working with these guys. Everybody at the Wood Brothers has done a really good job. It's been a lot of fun, and I'm proud of the gains we've made with the 21 car compared to the last couple of years, and I feel like we're set up to keep on doing that.

"Making the playoffs is fun, but, obviously, we want to be competitive and have a good start to this deal."

A Wood Brothers driver hasn't advanced past the first round since Ryan Blaney made the Round of 8 in 2017. Matt DiBenedetto was eliminated in the first round in 2020, and Harrison Burton suffered the same fate last year.

Kyle Larson must overcome potential pitfalls in first two Playoff rounds

After a lackluster stretch of races during the summer, top-seeded Kyle Larson enters the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs fresh from back-to-back sixth-place finishes at Richmond Raceway and Daytona International Speedway.

Larson expects to be fast in Sunday's Cook Out 400 at Darlington Raceway, one of his best tracks, but there are challenges on the horizon in each of the first two rounds--specifically World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (second race in the Round of 16) and New Hampshire Motor Speedway (first race in the Round of 12).

"Yeah, I think still the shorter, flatter tracks (are potential weaknesses), so seeing Gateway and New Hampshire in the Playoffs is not something that I was thrilled about," Larson acknowledged. "But I do think we've made our package better on that style of track. You know, I look at Iowa--we were fast and (Hendrick Motorsports teammate) William (Byron) won.

"Chase (Elliott) was fast. Alex (Bowman) was fast. When we went to Richmond, we were all really good again. Alex finished second, and I think I was in sixth. Chase was probably one of the best cars that night. William was good, as well. I do think we've gotten our cars better on those places, but we still need to probably be better. We'll see when we get to Gateway and New Hampshire."

In three starts at WWT Raceway, Larson has one top five, a finish of fourth in 2023. At New Hampshire, the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet has posted six top fives in 14 outings, including third- and fourth-place results in his last two races there.

That would be demanding Darlington Raceway's 1.366-mile egg-shaped track, the sport's oldest superspeedway, where Sunday night's Cook Out Southern 500 in Darlington, S.C., will go down.

Only the tiny track in Martinsville, Va., has racing roots that run as deep in the colorful lore of stock car battles and feuds as Darlington, so we'll just put that flat bullring into our coat pocket and wait until it rolls around as the playoffs' penultimate race on Oct. 26.

By then, everyone in southern Virginia will probably need a coat, but nothing can cover up the fact that this Sunday's race is a seriously difficult opener that will start the process of leading to one of 16 playoff drivers -- 14 with wins, two without -- being crowned the 2026 champion.

In all, four winless drivers behind Blaney could have used a Daytona victory to deprive Bowman's Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet from advancing -- Suarez, Justin Haley, Cole Custer and Erik Jones.

Those four drivers have combined for just seven wins, with Suarez and Jones owning five of them, in 941 starts, meaning those drivers' tenure in the postseason would have likely lasted just three races.

While drivers can unexpectedly get hot like RFK Racing's Chris Buescher did in the summer of 2023, earning checkers in three of five starts, the likelihood of that among the regular non-winners is slim.

As for this week, only five of the title-seekers have won at "The Track Too Tough to Tame": Five-time victor Denny Hamlin, plus solo winners Kyle Larson, William Byron, Joey Logano and defending Southern 500 champ Chase Briscoe.

"It's a racer's track, and the history there is so special," said No. 3 Chevrolet driver Austin Dillon, who narrowly ran second to Kevin Harvick in the 2020 Southern 500. "It's one of the hardest races to win. ... The track gets slick and wears tires quite a bit."

So with all that talk last week about a first-timer booting Bowman at Daytona, maybe this is the week when a winless driver holds up the trophy for claiming a crown jewel race.

Two-time Southern 500 winner Jones is a strong choice, as are any of the top drivers at RFK, which had an extremely disappointing season but has been stout at the South Carolina track before. Twice victorious in South Carolina, Brad Keselowski won in May 2024 in a race teammate Buescher appeared to be headed toward winning.

In 2022's opening playoff round, Jones, Bubba Wallace and Buescher, all without regular-season wins, took checkers at Darlington, Kansas and Bristol, respectively.

A Sunday repeat would make it all about points for the 16 chasers and not victories, at least for one week.

Which is a big part of that playoff format debate, right?

Sixteen drivers will begin the postseason with dreams of hoisting the Bill France Cup at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 2, but after a grueling 10-race stretch, only one will emerge victorious.

The Round of 16 is the first of three three-race rounds that sets the stage for the championship race. Following the Bristol Night Race on Sept. 13, four drivers will be eliminated from playoff contention.

As teams prepare for a 500-mile war of attrition in Darlington, S.C., here's the outlook for every Cup Series playoff driver in the Round of 16.

NEAR LOCKS

--Kyle Larson, No. 5 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

It's hard to classify any driver as a lock for the Round of 12 in an inherently chaotic sport, but Larson is as close as it gets. He won the Southern 500 in 2023 and also is the defending winner of the Bristol Night Race. The 2021 champ should cruise through the first round.

--William Byron, No. 24 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

The two-time Daytona 500 champion comes into the 2025 playoffs looking for a third consecutive Championship 4 berth. He's tied with Larson at the top of the standings, and while Gateway potentially could trip him up in the first round, he should easily skate through to the Round of 12.

--Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing

Is this finally Hamlin's year? That's a question that's been asked over and over again through the years, but Hamlin's 19th playoff appearance could be his best one yet. He's won four races in 2025 to lead the Cup Series, and Darlington is one of his best tracks. The No. 11 should scoot through the Round of 16 quite easily.

--Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Ford, Team Penske

Blaney has gotten tripped up in the Round of 16 before -- see 2020 -- but the 2023 champion is a much more refined driver now. Like Byron, he's searching for a third consecutive Championship 4 appearance, and Team Penske likely will be looking to Blaney to carry the flag for the organization throughout the playoffs.

--Christopher Bell, No. 20 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing

Bell hasn't won since March, but his three consecutive victories still carry plenty of weight in August. At the very least, he shouldn't have to worry all that much at Bristol -- but it's worth noting that of all the drivers in the near lock category, Bell is the least recent winner.

FEELING GOOD

--Chase Elliott, No. 9 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

The main reason that Elliott didn't join two of his HMS teammates as a near lock is because, aside from his Atlanta win on June 28, he hasn't looked like a consistent race-winning threat in 2025. The No. 9 team needs more speed if it wants to make a title run, but Elliott should get through the Round of 16 relatively easily.

--Tyler Reddick, No. 45 Toyota, 23XI Racing

Yes, Reddick will start the playoffs below the cut line, but there's no reason for the No. 45 team to panic. He has yet to win this season, but that could easily change at Darlington on Sunday. At the least, he should be able to outperform four other drivers near him at the bottom of the standings and move on.

--Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Toyota, Joe Gibbs Racing

Stepping into shoes as big as the ones that Martin Truex Jr. left at JGR was a daunting task for Briscoe, but he's assimilated to the team's culture quite nicely. That was headlined by a victory at Pocono and 10 top-five finishes -- a mark that ties him for second in the Cup Series this season.

--Alex Bowman, No. 48 Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports

Bowman may be the lowest seed in the playoffs, but the car he has underneath him automatically favors his chances of advancing to the Round of 12. He's been one of the most consistent drivers in the Cup Series this season, and unless a string of horrendous luck decides to unload itself on the No. 48 team, Bowman is more than capable of getting to the second round.

--Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Toyota, 23XI Racing

Call this pick crazy for assuming that Wallace, a driver making just his second playoff appearance, should be feeling good about his chances of advancing to the Round of 12, but the No. 23 team has gotten hot over the last month. After a Brickyard 400 win, Wallace scored top-10s at Iowa and Watkins Glen and would've been in the mix for a win at Richmond if not for a pit road penalty. He could be a dark horse pick to make a deep playoff run.

DANGER ZONE

--Joey Logano, No. 22 Ford, Team Penske

The defending champion in the danger zone? Yes, it may be unwise to bet against Logano, but the No. 22 team has shown little speed this season. That's not an easy dial to turn up on a weekly basis, and one bad race could have Logano staring down a first-round exit.

--Austin Cindric, No. 2 Ford, Team Penske

Cindric has taken a small step forward this season, but it's hard to imagine a scenario where he's not scuffling for a spot in the Round of 12. He may very well make the second round of the playoffs, but the Talladega winner won't get there easily.

--Ross Chastain, No. 1 Chevrolet, Trackhouse Racing

Like Logano, Chastain has the ability to drive a Hall of Fame-caliber race at any moment. Unfortunately for Chastain, his cars are rarely quick off the truck, a problem that will have to be remedied if he wants to make any semblance of a championship run.

--Austin Dillon, No. 3 Chevrolet, Richard Childress Racing

Unless NASCAR decides to put Richmond on the Round of 16 schedule at the last minute, Dillon advancing to the Round of 12 seems very unlikely. He's been decent at Darlington over the years, but the No. 3 team has been radio silent for much of the year -- not exactly the formula for advancing in the playoffs.

--Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Chevrolet, Trackhouse Racing

SVG may be 16 points above the cut line, but that's a relatively thin advantage that can easily be erased in one race. Van Gisbergen has never raced at Gateway and is admittedly "terrible" at Bristol. He'll have to have a solid effort at Darlington and cut his losses at both Gateway and Bristol to have a shot at advancing.

--Josh Berry, No. 21 Ford, Wood Brothers Racing

There was a point where Berry, who earned his first Cup win at Las Vegas in March, looked to be having a breakout season with the Wood Brothers. Since the first quarter of the season, however, the eam has regressed significantly. Darlington and Bristol are decent tracks for Berry, but he'll need to find the speed his No. 21 Ford had in February, March and April, or his playoff run will be a short one.

Jordan, a co-owner of 23XI Racing team who, along with Front Row Motorsports, declined signing a charter with NASCAR earlier this year and is instead now involved in a lawsuit against the organization, commented on the case following the Thursday hearing, during which some of his personal text messages were also revealed.

"Teams are going to regret not joining us," Jordan wrote to business partner Curtis Polk in one text exchange, calling one team, JGR an expletive for not joining his team in rejecting the charter, and calling every team electing to sign their charters another expletive.

In another text exchange, about the expense of potentially acquiring a driver, Jordan wrote, "I have lost that in a casino. Let's do it."

Afterward, Jordan pointed to the airing of those messages as being an effort to paint his team as being overly profitable, when according to other teams' financial records, 75 percent of teams were unprofitable.

"(Profitability is) not the point," Jordan said. "The point is that the sport itself needs to change, for the fans, teams as well as for NASCAR, too. I feel like we made a good statement today about that."

The two teams entered litigation late last year, arguing that the current charter doesn't protect the teams well enough, crucially preventing them from filing future lawsuits.

Charters provide a guaranteed starting position in points races, and signers of the charter also receive a bigger piece of the race purse.

23XI and Front Row won an injunction to be able to continue to run as charter teams earlier this year, but NASCAR had that ruling overturned on appeal. NASCAR now wants to transfer their charters -- three for each team -- to new ownership. The current injunction brought by teams is aimed at preventing NASCAR from doing that, at least until the lawsuit gets resolved.

Jordan said, "If I have to fight this to the end, for the betterment of the sport, I will."

As part of ongoing litigation requirements, NASCAR's Sanctioning Body filed a legal notice that it plans to issue a charter to a new entity, the identity of which was redacted, if a district court judge does not rule against the proposed agreement.

A district court judge had previously ruled that NASCAR could not move the charters until a decision has been rendered from a hearing scheduled for Thursday in Charlotte, N.C., and that NASCAR must notify all involved parties should they reach an agreement to transfer either of the disputed charters.

23XI Racing -- whose owners include Michael Jordan and NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin -- and Front Row Motorsports refused to sign a take-it-or-leave-it charter agreement NASCAR presented last September, while the other 13 organizations in the Cup Series proceeded to sign.

The two holdouts filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR the following month and have been going back and forth in court since.

While that news hardly was surprising given Zilisch recorded seven victories in the Xfinity series, the 19-year-old still became emotional when reality settled in that Trackhouse Racing signed him to a multi-year contract.

This day has been a dream of mine for a long time," said Zilisch, who has been a Trackhouse developmental driver since 2024.

"Cup racing has been the goal since joining with Chevrolet and Trackhouse, and while I didn't know it would come this soon, I feel like I'm ready. I know the challenge that awaits entering the Cup Series as a full-time driver, but I feel that with the support of Trackhouse and Chevrolet, this is the right situation for me. I won't be making any predictions for success next year. All I promise is to put in 100 percent effort, learn all that I can, plus have a little bit of fun along the way!"

Zilisch, who will replace Daniel Suarez, will race alongside teammates Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen.

"Connor is a rare talent that comes along every few decades," Trackhouse team owner Justin Marks said. "I have watched Connor grow from a kid racing go-karts at the Trackhouse Motorplex to an up-close seat as he beat all of us in the Trans Am races a few years ago. He quickly adapted to everything we have put him in, and what he is doing with JR Motorsports in Xfinity this season is historic.

"Connor is very mature, poised, and I know ready for Cup racing in 2026. He's been mentored along the way by former racer Josh Wise and Dr. Eric Warren at General Motors. I can speak for everyone at Trackhouse Racing when I say we have a tremendous amount of faith in this young man."

Zilisch was medically cleared to return to the track and will drive the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet in Friday's NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

He fractured his collarbone on Aug. 9 after his celebration in Victory Lane went awry at Watkins Glen International. Three days later, he underwent surgery that required doctors to add a plate and screws to his collarbone.

Running 13th with two laps left, the Team Penske driver stormed past Cole Custer on the final lap and nipped Daniel Suarez by 0.031 seconds for his second win this season and first for Ford since Blaney won at Nashville on June 1.

Justin Haley, Custer and Erik Jones completed the top five.

Points contenders Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman, 15th and 16th, respectively, got caught up in wrecks not of their making within the first 30 laps. The second one, a giant pile-up that damaged Bowman's ride, solidified Reddick in the 16-car championship field made up of 14 winners, Reddick and Bowman, who made it in despite a destroyed Chevrolet.

The playoffs begin next Sunday night with the Round of 16 at Darlington in the Labor Day classic Southern 500.

The 160-lap race's first major incident occurred when Todd Gilliland's car moved left off Turn 4 while running beside Reddick's No. 45 Toyota, which hit the inside wall beside the apron and had its nose buckle significantly.

But "The Big One" happened on Lap 27 when contact to third-place Bubba Wallace turned the No. 23 Toyota down the track, pinched Joey Logano's Ford and sparked a hefty mess on the 2.5-mile track's frontstretch.

In the 12-car carnage, Bowman's No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet crashed against the outside wall under the flagstand, crumpling the front area of the car, sending it to the garage and creating a brief red-flag condition on Lap 29.

Mired in a slump since mid-May, Kyle Larson captured Stage 1 and earned the maximum 10 points. Florida native Ross Chastain finished second followed by Blaney, who started from the pole.

As Stage 2 neared its close, Carson Hocevar's No. 77 Chevrolet expired, setting up an eight-lap shootout headed by leader William Byron, who was assessed a penalty to start the race for unapproved adjustments after inspection. Chastain won the sprint over Christopher Bell and Logano.

Logano spun on his own off Turn 4 in tight racing to fly the eighth caution and set up the wild finish.

The No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was seen having adjustments made to the splitter at the front end following a passed inspection, leading to further adjustments to the struts, which NASCAR tested and found to be in violation of measurement standards.

Fugle was ejected, and the team lost its pit-stall selection. In addition, Byron will start from the rear and must serve a stop-and-go penalty after taking the green flag.

Byron leads the NSACAR Cup Series standings with 839 points.

The team announced that engineer Brandon McSwain would be the interim crew chief.

The No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevy driven by BJ McLeod was also penalized for failing two inspections. Team chief Lee Leslie was likewise ejected, with the team also losing its pit-stall choice.

With the qualifying session for Saturday night's Coke Zero Sugar 400 canceled because of inclement weather, Bowman will start on the outside of the front row next to Ryan Blaney in the race that will determine the final two positions in the postseason.

When time trials are canceled, grid positions are determined by NASCAR's metric formula, comprised of owner points position, finishing position from the previous race and fastest lap rank from the previous race.

Bowman is 60 points above the current elimination line entering the last regular-season race. If one of the 15 drivers above him in the playoff standings happens to win on Saturday, Bowman will clinch a berth on points.

The danger lies in the possibility of a driver below the cut line winning the pivotal race. If that happens, either Bowman or Tyler Reddick will be eliminated. Reddick, who starts 27th, enters the Coke Zero Sugar 400 with a 29-point edge over Bowman.

The driver of the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet views the second starting spot as extremely helpful.

"A good pit stall selection is good," Bowman said, highlighting an important perk of a top starting position. "Speedway racing has become entirely more difficult to pass at, I feel like. So starting up front is definitely a good thing."

It also gives Bowman options in trying to overtake Reddick on points.

"I think with the points deal with the 45 (Reddick), we need to get stage points," Bowman said. "Stage 1 will determine how we race Stage 2 and kind of go from there. I need to do all we can to catch and beat the 45 on points. It's a really tall order, but it is doable.

"If it doesn't look like we're going to do that, then I'm going to switch to just track position at the end and go try to win the race. We're going to do everything we can to win the race regardless, but if we've got to burn some fuel to try to win stages, I think we're definitely looking at points, too."

Roush Fenway Keselowski drivers Chris Buescher and Ryan Preece, closest to Bowman in the standings, will start 24th and 31st, respectively. Buescher, Preece and those below them in the standings have only one path to the playoffs -- they must win the race.

Daytona 500 winner William Byron, who clinched the regular-season championship last Saturday at Richmond Raceway, starts eighth in his attempt to become the sixth driver to sweep both points races at the 2.5-mile superspeedway in the same season.

A victory by the driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet would assure Bowman, his teammate, of a Playoff berth.

Behind Blaney and Bowman, the rest of the top 10 includes (in order) Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon, Byron, Chase Briscoe and Brad Keselowski.

Twenty-five races have led to Saturday night's regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway, the final chance for drivers to snag a win and earn their way into the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.

The regular season finale has seen its fair share of thrilling points battles for playoff spots over the years, but that won't be the case this year. Alex Bowman currently holds the 16th and final provisional playoff spot by 60 points over Chris Buescher, putting every driver below the cut line in a must-win situation.

A new winner from below the cut line could knock out either Bowman or Tyler Reddick (+89) should Bowman surpass Reddick in the standings at race's end.

Here's where the drivers stack up at the "World Center of Racing" as they look for a win that could transcend their 2025 campaign.

--Chris Buescher (17th): Of all the drivers needing a win, Buescher might be in the best position. He won at Daytona in August 2023, and the RFK Racing Fords he drives are always quick at Daytona and Talladega. The bad news? He likely won't get too much drafting help from teammates Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski, both of whom also need to win on Saturday to make the playoffs.

--Ryan Preece (18th): Like Buescher, Preece is a capable superspeedway racer and will have a fast car on Saturday evening. Unfortunately, his race cars tend to emulate the airplanes at the nearby Daytona Beach International Airport whenever he tries to make a late push at the 2.5-mile speedway. Preece has gone airborne twice in the last four Daytona races, but if he can keep all four wheels on the ground, he'll be in the mix for his first career win.

--Kyle Busch (19th): Everything looked like it was coming together for Busch at Daytona a year ago -- until Harrison Burton surged past the two-time champion on the final lap and stole a win and a playoff berth away from the No. 8 team. Just like last year, Busch is in a must-win situation. But with another year added to his winless drought and the prospect of missing the playoffs for the second year in a row staring him down, one has to wonder if the future Hall of Famer will be more aggressive than he was here a year ago. He'll have a Richard Childress Racing teammate in Richmond winner Austin Dillon to push him in the closing laps.

--Ty Gibbs (20th): Aside from a fifth-place finish at Daytona in August 2024, NASCAR's most iconic track hasn't been very kind to Gibbs in his short Cup Series career. Drafting tracks aren't necessarily his specialty, but he needs to win to make the playoffs for the second straight year. Unlike the aforementioned RFK trio, all of Gibbs' Joe Gibbs Racing teammates are already in the playoffs, which should pay off when he needs a late-race push.

--Driver to watch below the bubble: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (28th): The season has spiraled since Stenhouse and the No. 47 HYAK Motorsports team were battling on the playoff bubble in early June. But Daytona could be the great equalizer for Stenhouse, who has won at Daytona twice and has won four Cup races at drafting tracks. He has shocked the world here before, and the closing laps of superspeedway races are always where Stenhouse makes his money.

A monkey wrench.

The 35-year-old Dillon got his redemption Saturday night after an unpopular, wreck-filled win a year ago on the 3/4-mile track, owning the best car and leading 107 laps to reshape the points standings.

Alex Bowman and Chris Buescher wish it had been just another mediocre showing by Dillon instead of his sixth career Cup Series win in 433 starts.

Getting to the checkers first made him the 14th different victor of the season, pushed winless Tyler Reddick to 15th -- where he is safely in the field of 16 title-seeking wheelmen -- and put Bowman and particularly Buescher in serious peril.

Simply, 16th-place Bowman is in if no first-time winner pops up Saturday at Daytona International Speedway in the regular-season finale, the Coke Zero Sugar 400, a 160-lap summer sizzler that is as hot and uncomfortable as Florida's muggy nights.

The defending race winner is Harrison Burton, who was a 23-year-old lame duck driver last summer at Wood Brothers Racing. Burton handed the legendary Ford organization its 100th career win by passing Kyle Busch on an overtime restart in a thriller that had 16 leaders, 40 lead changes and featured polesitter Michael McDowell in a wild wreck while leading with nine laps left.

The son of Jeff Burton, Harrison Burton managed his first-ever win on the way out the door of Wood Brothers and left Buescher and Bubba Wallace in 16th and 17th, respectively, ahead of the regular-season finale at Darlington.

Buescher finished sixth at Darlington, but Chase Briscoe won the Southern 500 and broke a 73-race winless skid along the way to eliminate Buescher's No. 17 RFK Racing Ford. So Buescher is plenty familiar with life on the playoff bubble.

Bowman finished runner-up to Dillon last week. Currently 60 ahead of Buescher, Bowman cannot lose to him on points, but a 15th first-time winner would deprive him of a title shot because of Reddick's position in front of him.

"(I needed) a couple of favors, and I certainly complained about it on the radio," Bowman said of the Richmond finish. "That's just part of what we do -- vented a little bit. ... (Daytona) will certainly be stressful on a lot of fronts. It's a must-win, and you're likely going to have a new winner."

The 32-year-old Buescher would like to be that guy, like he was two years ago when he won three of five races, including Daytona in late August.

"We are in a must-win heading into Daytona," said Buescher, who finished 30th at Richmond. "It's a terrible spot to be in for a plate race. I know we'll be fast, but so many wild things can happen. We won it before, and we'll certainly regroup from this one and get ready to go."

NASCAR released its 2026 schedule Tuesday, and of note: Mexico City and the Chicago Street Race are gone, while San Diego's road course and Chicagoland, which last raced at the Cup level in 2019, are additions.

North Wilkesboro Speedway's short track will host its first points race since 1996 on July 19. The All-Star exhibition event will move to Dover the Sunday before Memorial Day Weekend, likely a day race.