Darlington Raceway once again reigned supreme as several playoff drivers experienced issues to open the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. Chase Briscoe, on the other hand, was not one of them in a dominant performance to go back-to-back at The Lady in Black on Sunday night.
Despite a late push from playoff driver Tyler Reddick and non-playoff driver Erik Jones, Briscoe could not be stopped, leading a career-high 309 laps in the process.
Chase Briscoe is a two-time Southern 500 winner! pic.twitter.com/bnCQuVXjVH
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 1, 2025
Rounding out the top 10 behind the trio of Briscoe, Reddick and Jones were John Hunter Nemechek, AJ Allmendinger, Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Carson Hocevar and Chris Buescher. While Briscoe clinches a spot in the Round of 12 of the playoffs with his Darlington win, some drivers find themselves in a more precarious position following a mistake-filled night.
No driver experienced issues earlier in the race than Josh Berry, who spun on the first lap and finished last in the race. While he did get an extra point for posting the fastest lap of the race when he returned to the track 124 laps down, his playoffs certainly got off to a rough start.
It was much of the same for the Hendrick Motorsports group of Chase Elliott (17th), Kyle Larson (19th), William Byron (21st) and Alex Bowman (31st), not to mention Blaney (18th), defending champion Joey Logano (20th) and three-race 2025 winner Christopher Bell (29th).
NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings after Darlington
With the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington in the books, the opening round of the playoffs is down to its final two races. The next stop is at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway on Sunday, followed by the Bristol Night Race on Sept. 13.
Position/Driver | Wins/Points Above or Below Cutline |
|---|---|
*1. Chase Briscoe | 1 win |
2. Denny Hamlin | +43 |
3. Kyle Larson | +38 |
4. Tyler Reddick | +35 |
5. Bubba Wallace | +25 |
6. William Byron | +25 |
7. Ryan Blaney | +22 |
8. Ross Chastain | +21 |
9. Austin Cindric | +12 |
10. Christopher Bell | +11 |
11. Chase Elliott | +9 |
12. Shane van Gisbergen | +3 |
13. Joey Logano | -3 |
14. Austin Dillon | -8 |
15. Alex Bowman | -19 |
16. Josh Berry | -19 |
* Advanced to Round of 12
Despite coming away empty-handed, Hamlin is in the best position on points (+43) after a seventh-place finish at Darlington. Even though he came away 19th, Larson's advantage coming into the playoffs paid dividends, as he finds himself a reasonable 38 points to the good with the Darlington runner-up Reddick close behind (+35).
Wallace (+25), Byron (+25), Blaney (+22) and Ross Chastain (+21) have a decent gap to the cutline, but are by no means safe with two races remaining in the Round of 16. Austin Cindric (+12), Bell (+11), Elliott (+9) and Shane van Gisbergen (+3) are clinging to the final four spots on points after failing to create some separation on Sunday night, leaving Logano (-3), Austin Dillon (-8), Bowman (-19) and Berry (-19) on the outside looking in.
While no driver has completely eliminated themselves yet after just one race, there are few that have separated from the pack as well after everything that transpired on Sunday night. If that is any sign of what is to come in this round and beyond, this could be an unpredictable playoff stretch all the way through.