A Southern 500 win is a prize in itself. One of NASCAR’s most historic and most physically grueling races, getting the trophy is a lifetime achievement for any driver in the Cup Series. But there’s another prize on offer: a spot in the next round of the Playoffs.
Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (airing at 6 p.m. ET on USA, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) is the opening race of NASCAR’s postseason and the first of a round of three races which will see three championship hopefuls eliminated from contention at the end of it.
That means points are paramount. But winning any of the three races also confers a guaranteed berth in the next round.
Odds via BetMGM
+500 – Kyle Larson
+550 – Tyler Reddick
+600 – Ryan Blaney
+600 – Denny Hamlin
+600 – William Byron
+1200 – Christopher Bell
+1200 – Chase Briscoe
+1800 – Joey Logano
+2000 – Bubba Wallace
+2000 – Chase Elliott
In this first round, composed of Darlington as well as Gateway and Bristol, some of NASCAR’s classic and most difficult shorter ovals, survival is key. Mistakes are easy to make at Darlington, so advancing can be as simple as securing a solid points day while others struggle.
Avoiding mistakes is the name of the game for Shane van Gisbergen this round. His four wins this year are tied for as much as anyone, but those have all come on road courses while he’s struggled on ovals. If van Gisbergen can advance, a road course awaits in the next round.
“Darlington is one of my favorite ovals, but the next three races aren’t going to be easy,” he admitted. “We are in a decent spot and have earned some nice playoff points, which is cool, but now we have to execute; no mistakes and get good results every week. That will help us achieve our goal.”
SVG’s average of 23.0 in two races at Darlington is barely worse than Larson’s average of 20.6 in seven races in the Next Gen car, the result of several wrecks for Larson at this track. However, Larson consistently has the speed to run up front, while SVG will need to continue the improvements he has been making on ovals every week.
He carries a points cushion of Playoff points from wins and stage wins meaning, after the points reset, SVG starts the round with 2022 points. Last year, it took 2075 points to advance which means that van Gisbergen would need to pick up 17 or more points in each of the three races.
Steve’s Letarte’s Inside the Race podcast pointed out that he’s been scoring a little over 11.6 points on average on these shorter ovals all year, but two weeks ago at Richmond he earned 23 points in a very good day. The question is whether he can repeat that three times.
Playoff Bubble Entering Darlington
9. Bubba Wallace (+2)
10. Austin Cindric (+2)
11. Ross Chastain (+1)
12. Joey Logano (+1)
——————————
13. Josh Berry (-1)
14. Tyler Reddick (-1)
15. Austin Dillon (-2)
16. Alex Bowman (-5)
For all of his concerns, SVG enters in far more comfortable position, at least on paper, than most. The bottom half of the 16-driver field is separated by just eight points in total entering Darlington, a margin so close that there is no guarantee who will be on the right side of the provisional cutline leaving.
Austin Dillon, one of those drivers who starts the postseason in that bubble battle, said that drivers in that position cannot afford any mistakes or missteps.
“I think the strategy for the Southern 500 is to get better throughout the race,” Dillon said. “Execution is key. You can’t have a setback, but as it gets cooler throughout the night you’ve got to make the right adjustments so the car is the best at the end of the race.”
Defending Southern 500 winner Chase Briscoe enters the Playoffs in seventh, just out of that picture, with a four-point advantage to the cutline. Last year, his clutch win at Darlington earned him a spot in the Playoffs in a final year for Stewart-Haas. This year, it would carry him deeper in an impressive first year with Joe Gibbs Racing.
Briscoe knows that his performance all year means he is capable of fighting for the overall championship, not just advancing out of this round. His concern, then, is getting a win for the Playoff points that would confer to help in future rounds.
“For me, just from an execution standpoint, that’s the biggest thing and just trying to win a race these first two rounds, just trying to get more Playoff points to set us up for [an] easier way to that final four,” Briscoe said.
On the other side of the table are the drivers with big advantages already because of the Playoff points they earned from wins, stage wins, and regular season points position.
Top of that list is Kyle Larson and regular season champion William Byron, both with a 26-point advantage to the cutline, closely followed by Denny Hamlin (+23), Ryan Blaney (+20), Christopher Bell (+17), SVG (+16), Chase Elliott (+7), and Briscoe (+4).
Practice starts at 9 a.m. ET on Saturday followed by qualifying at 10:10 a.m. ET. Both sessions will air on truTV and MRN.
Xfinity Goes for a Different Coast and Different Vibe
On the east coast at Darlington, both the NASCAR Cup Series and Truck Series are beginning their Playoffs this weekend at the Darlington oval. On the west coast, the Xfinity Series regular season continues on at the Portland road course.
In fact, Saturday’s Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland International Raceway (airing at 7:30 p.m. ET on CW, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) marks two races to go in the regular season and the points battles are heating up. That’s true on two sides of the points table.
At the top, it’s a battle for the regular season championship. Justin Allgaier enters with a three-point lead over rookie teammate Connor Zilisch. However, Zilisch has run one fewer race than Allgaier because of a back injury sustained at Talladega earlier in the year and has seven wins to Allgaier’s three.
Portland is a 1.967-mile road course, too, and Zilisch has a road course background, having won his class in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona in his first attempt last year before moving to NASCAR.
However, Zilisch is recovering from a scary fall as he climbed out of his car to celebrate winning the last time the series visited a road course at Watkins Glen, and he had to step out of his car last week at Daytona to allow relief driver Parker Kligerman to get in and drive it to victory.
Whether Zilisch is back to his characteristic dominance or needs a little more time to get back to his best might determine the outcome of that championship, which not only confers a trophy but pays some valuable Playoff points that can make the difference in advancing through the postseason to get the overall championship.
On the other side of the standings, there are still four Playoff spots available on points and two races for a new winner to clinch an automatic berth.
The points battle isn’t particularly tight: Harrison Burton, who provisionally sits in the twelfth and final spot on points, enjoys a 36-point advantage over cousin Jeb Burton in 13th. However, that’s not insurmountable and any new winner would reduce the number of spots available also.
Practice starts at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday followed by qualifying at 4:05 a.m. ET. Both sessions will air on The CW App.
Two Drivers on the Hotseat as Truck Series Playoffs Opens at Darlington
There might not be much of a question as to who will advance at the top of the Truck Series points, but there certainly is further down. The Playoffs open with Saturday’s Sober or Slammer 200 at Darlington Raceway (airing at 12 noon ET on FS1, NRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
On the top of the standings, Corey Heim enters the first round with a 62-point advantage to the provisional cutline, meaning he could fail to finish one of the three races in this round and still be in comfortable position. However, he’s not prepared for any failures.
“I feel like our mindset as far as our [No.] 11 crew and the organization with TRICON is to prepare to the best of our ability in the same way that we have for most of the races this year and just to really hone in on everything, if not elevate everything, to make sure that we cannot have any failures or anything crazy like that,” Heim said. “And also, just continue to bring the speed that we have throughout the year.”
At the bottom end of the Playoff standings, though, things get more interesting. There are just ten drivers in this first round of the Playoffs, meaning two will be eliminated heading into the Round of 8.
Truck Series Playoff Bubble Entering Darlington
7. Grant Enfinger (+4)
8. Rajah Caruth (+2)
——————————–
9. Kaden Honeycutt (-2)
10. Jake Garcia (-3)
For drivers in the bubble range, every point matters. But as always a win would make it much simpler by conferring an automatic spot in the next round.
Practice starts at 3:05 p.m. ET on Friday followed by qualifying at 4:15 p.m. ET. Both sessions will air on FS2.
- Slimmed Playoff Field Faces the Grind of the Magic Mile - September 18, 2025
- From Spinning to Winning: Riggs Punches Ticket to Next Round - September 11, 2025
- Denny Hamlin Knows His Career Expiration Date - September 8, 2025