The magic ran out for four drivers at Bristol. Four drivers saw their title hopes vanish as the Night Race claimed them and tire rubber as its victims.
That leaves a slimmed-down Playoff field of the 12 drivers who’ve proven they can survive and outlast. All are contenders. At the top, Denny Hamlin has more wins than anyone this year and looks like the driver to beat as he fights for his third title. Near the bottom, Joey Logano is a three-time champion who’s proven he can deliver wins when the lights are brightest.
This isn’t a list of drivers hoping for a magic moment. Instead, it’s the drivers who put magic together. And there’s no better place to do that than NASCAR’s own Magic Mile, New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Sunday’s Mobil 1 301, airing at 2 p.m. ET on USA Network, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, offers all those drivers the tantalizing treat of an automatic berth in the next round in the Playoffs.
Odds via BetMGM
+325 – Christopher Bell
+425 – Denny Hamlin
+525 – Chase Briscoe
+625 – Ryan Blaney
+725 – Kyle Larson
+1000 – Joey Logano
+1300 – William Byron
+1400 – Chase Elliott
+2200 – Tyler Reddick
+2500 – Bubba Wallace
Of those drivers, only a few have ever made magic at the track before, and all have repeated the feat. Denny Hamlin has won three times in Loudon, New Hampshire, while Christopher Bell and Joey Logano have both won twice at the track.
Bell and Logano both enter with a key advantage as well. They both participated in a New Hampshire tire test in late July along with fellow Playoff contender Ross Chastain. Tires were the key story at Bristol and having an understanding of the tire can be critical.
Don’t expect quite the same spectacle as Bristol, though. Goodyear is not bringing the same compound as a week ago but instead the same tire that was used at Bowman Gray Stadium, Martinsville Speedway, North Wilkesboro Speedway, and Richmond Raceway. The tire didn’t produce the same level of wear as Bristol at any of those races, but it did wear more than past years.
Tester Ross Chastain said that he hopes the high volume of laps provided helpful data to his team as they set up the car for the weekend.
“I hope a lot,” Chastain laughed. “Two solid days of testing and over 700 laps. We went through a lot of things up there, some felt good, some did not. Trackhouse and Chevy have been digging through all of the data to see what they think is going to be best.”
Chastain enters the second round in precarious position, below the cutline before the round has even started as accumulated Playoff points give some drivers a bigger starting advantage than others, but it’s only by a two-point deficit. Despite that, Chastain is optimistic as the Round of 12 starts that the tracks should suit him.
“We have New Hampshire this weekend and we did the tire test there so hopefully we learned some things we can apply. Then we have Kansas, which we won last year, so I think that bodes well for us. The Roval is probably going to be the wild card for me in this round but we’ll see how everything shakes out,” Chastain described.
“I’m going to do the things I do to prep for the races and hope the results earn us enough points to get to the next round.”
Playoff Bubble Entering New Hampshire
5. Ryan Blaney (+19)
6. Chase Briscoe (+10)
7. Chase Elliott (+5)
8. Bubba Wallace (+1)
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9. Austin Cindric (-1)
10. Joey Logano (-2)
11. Ross Chastain (-2)
12. Tyler Reddick (-3)
Having an understanding of the setup at New Hampshire might be a critical advantage for Chastain and the other testers. AJ Allmendinger isn’t in the Playoffs but had a very strong qualifying run at Bristol and described the difficulty of setting up a car for a similarly strong performance at Loudon.
“I would say New Hampshire is probably one of the toughest racetracks we go to just in the sense of trying to drive. The seams are difficult and the track being really flat,” described Allmendinger. “So always difficult setup-wise and on the driving side of it to go out there and find speed.”
If there’s anyone to beat currently, in the Playoffs and on the track, though, it’s the Toyota drivers. The brand has swept the first three races, winning all of the first round of the postseason, with three different drivers from Joe Gibbs Racing in victory lane.
“It’s just all the Toyotas are super fast right now. I think I said it last week in my post-race interview that this is the best race cars I’ve had to drive in the Cup Series compared to the competition in my career,” Bell said after winning at Bristol.
“I think it goes from Joe Gibbs Racing to 23XI, they’ve been really good. Even the Legacy cars have had an amazing performance the last couple weeks.”
However, Bell acknowledged that there’s plenty of racing to go before the champion is decided.
“That’s the good news. The bad news is we’re not running Phoenix next week and there’s still a long way to go to get there,” Bell said.
“I can promise you, whenever we get to Phoenix it’s not going to be a runaway. No matter who’s in that Final Four it’s always a dogfight. It’s always a good race.”
It might seem especially long for the other manufacturers if they’re still chasing Toyota the entire way there.
Practice and qualifying will air on Saturday from 3 p.m. ET on on truTV, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
For Two Truck Series Drivers, New Hampshire Will Be the End of the Road
The Craftsman Truck Series is making a long-awaited return to Loudon, New Hampshire. The series has raced at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway 20 times in the past but not since 2017.
Now the series returns with a bang as the race at New Hampshire is an elimination race in the Playoffs, the first of the Truck Series postseason. The championship-contending field will be whittled down from 10 to 8 and two drivers will be out of the fight for the season’s biggest prize.
The Truck Series field has clearly set itself apart throughout the year and that pattern continues heading into New Hampshire with big gaps already opened up between drivers after just two races completed in the round.
At the top, Corey Heim now has eight wins in 20 starts this year by virtue of his win at Gateway, the most of any driver and locking him into the next round. Layne Riggs is also locked into the next round by virtue of his win at Bristol.
Behind Heim and Riggs, no driver is officially locked in on points, but several are close. Daniel Hemric (+51) and Ty Majeski (+46) enter New Hampshire with a large gap to the cutline. Grant Enfinger and Tyler Ankrum come in tied at +29.
In the bubble battle closer to the cutline, Kaden Honeycutt (+18) and Rajah Caruth (+14) enter to the good of Jake Garcia (-14) and Chandler Smith (-24). While those gaps are more than just a few points, they are certainly not insurmountable and neither Garcia nor Smith are out of the Playoff fight.
Of course, the easiest route to the next round would be a win. No driver in the Playoffs has previously won at New Hampshire and only two have even raced at the track in the Truck Series given how long it has been since the series visited the facility.
Practice and qualifying will air on Friday from 4 p.m. ET 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