THE ROAD TO PHOENIX BEGINS NOW; 2025 PLAYOFF PREVIEW

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs are just around the corner and the 16-driver field was made available to the media ahead of Sunday’s Southern 500.

The 2025 Playoffs will begin unlike most years, strictly because no one driver truly elevated themselves from the competition by a wide margin. Uncertainty is the theme with only 30 points separating first from 16th on the grid and the doors are wide open for unexpected outcomes.

Now, it’s time to meet the field.

No. 1 Seed: Kyle Larson | +26

Larson sits atop the Playoff grid for the second straight season, though with nine less points than in 2024. After rattling off three wins in the first 12 races, Larson’s summer yielded mixed results.

“We’ve just been through a lot throughout the summer,” Larson said. The 2025 Playoff schedule included several short, flat tracks, which had been a point of weakness for Larson and Hendrick.

“I do think we’ve gotten our cars better on those places but we still need to probably be better,” Larson said. “We’ll see when we get to Gateway and New Hampshire.”

No. 2 Seed: William Byron | +26

The 2025 regular season champion of Byron is a candidate for his third-consecutive title attempt in Phoenix. Byron begins with 32 Playoff points, tied with his teammate Larson for the most.

“I think our strength is just that we’re fast at all the different tracks,” Byron said. “At the same time you never know what everyone else is going to bring and how fast they’re going to be.”

Throughout the course of the year, Byron believes his team made significant strides in strategy. Byron said “I feel like our team is much more aggressive,” in decisions during a race weekend.

No. 3 Seed: Denny Hamlin | +23

With a new baby at home and impending lawsuit with the sanctioning body, Hamlin will juggle several hats throughout the 2025 Playoffs. But with four wins, Hamlin appears as poised as ever.

“It’s just another chance to roll the dice,” Hamlin said about his record 19th Playoff run. “I don’t feel any better or any worse than what I have last year or the year before that or the year before.”

The veteran driver for Joe Gibbs Racing expects to be fast at conventional ovals. “There’s truthfully about four or five of us that are the fastest cars every single week,” Hamlin said.

No. 4 Seed: Ryan Blaney | +20

There may not be a driver with more confidence to start the Playoffs than Blaney. The highest seeded Team Penske driver and 2023 series champion rides a six-race streak of top-eight results.

“I feel like this group has been more united than we’ve ever been and it keeps getting better and better each year,” Blaney said. “We’ve had a bunch of DNFs, but don’t really let it get to you.”

“I don’t really think this team has a ton of weaknesses,” Blaney said Wednesday. “It's how do you handle these situations, but this team is really strong both on the track and bonded together.”

No. 5 Seed: Christopher Bell | +17

Bell is a three-time winner in 2025, tied for the second-most trophies with Larson, but they came in the first four races. Bell ranks only 11th on laps led and 10th in stage points across the season.

“We have come off kind of a slump leading into the Playoffs,” Bell said. “It has been tough sledding through the summer months, but I’m excited for what is ahead of us.”

Bell asked crew chief Adam Stevens what he would have to do to get back in victory lane. Bell was met with confidence and both agreed on nothing different than when winning three-in-a-row.

No. 6 Seed: Shane Van Gisbergen | +16

If Van Gisbergen can survive the Round of 16, there’s a good chance he could win at the Roval. But his four victories on tracks with left-handers may not keep the rookie afloat for very long.

“It’s always fun to have your back against the wall, right, and have to push hard,” Van Gisbergen said about pressure. “I don’t use it for motivation or anything, but it’s cool being the underdog.”

Van Gisbergen remains hopeful to approach tracks like Darlington and Bristol for the second time this year. Should Van Gisbergen move on, he’s a favorite for a fifth road course win.

No. 7 Seed: Chase Elliott | +7

Elliott scored a win in Atlanta's second race, one of just two victories since 2022. “Consistency’s great, but it’s not the end goal by any stretch,” Elliott said, with a 12.0 average finish in 2025.

“10 weeks is a long time,” Elliott said about the Playoffs. “It’s almost enough time for someone to have a good few weeks, go through a stretch of not so good weeks and then get good again.”

The sport's most popular driver wants to be in better positions on a weekly basis. “I’m not stressed over the playoffs you know, I just want to do better, I want to run better,” Elliott said.

No. 8 Seed: Chase Briscoe | +4

In just 26 starts with Joe Gibbs Racing, Briscoe has matched a pre-season expectation; win. The 30-year-old from Mitchell, Indiana did just that, punching his Playoff ticket at Pocono Raceway.

“We need to go and perform,” Briscoe said on what comes next. “I’m glad we were able to win a race and make the Playoffs, but now that we’re here, we need to do something about it.”

The former SHR driver believes his Playoff odds are solid. “This is really the first time I’ve ever legitimately thought I could win a Cup championship,” Briscoe said to wife Marissa weeks prior. 

No. 9 Seed: Bubba Wallace | +2

2025 marks Wallace’s first time in both driver and owner Playoffs. Wallace and new crew chief Charles Denike have found the spark for speed over summer, capitalizing to win at Indy.

The duo strung together four top-eight results from Dover to Watkins Glen and led 123 laps in Richmond before a pit road mistake set them laps down. Can this team win during the Playoffs?

“Absolutey,” Wallace said. “I’m good at winning in the Playoffs when I’m not in the Playoffs.”

No. 10 Seed: Austin Cindric | +2

Making his third Playoff appearance for Team Penske is Cindric. The first round favors Cindric as he enters World Wide Technology Raceway as the most recent winner at the 1.25-mile oval.

“I would love to be invisible for the first two rounds because then I’ll make it to the Round of 8,” Cindric said. According to Cindric, execution will dominate the grid and decide who advances. 

Two top-10 finishes aided Cindric past the opening round last season, but fellow Playoff driver Hamlin picked Cindric as an early exit. “I don’t care,” Cindric said about his underdog status.

No. 11 Seed: Ross Chastain | +1

Chastain, the Coke 600 winner in May, enters the Playoffs without any momentum on his side. The Trackhouse Racing driver posted a single finish inside the top-10 in the past 11 races.

“That’s the ultimate question for Trackhouse, in my mind is, can we go fast?” Chastain said of the recent lack of raw pace during media availability. “And if we can do that, can we execute?”

Chastain made the Championship 4 before, but is in his worst statistical season since joining Trackhouse. His key to success is “making the most out of our race on Sunday,” Chastain said.

No. 12 Seed: Joey Logano | +1

Defending champion Logano finds his path to Phoenix similar to 2024. His year-to-year stats vary by one less top-five and top-10 finish, but Logano’s average finish and laps led improved.

Yet, Logano flourishes in even-numbered years, winning titles in 2018, 2022 and 2024. “I don’t understand the whole even, odd thing. I’d really like to break that cycle this year,” Logano said.

“Until you are out, you are not out,” Logano joked, as he advanced into the Round of 8 because Bowman was disqualified. Logano said, “The key lesson of all that is you’re never out of it.”

No. 13 Seed: Josh Berry | -1

Berry was the third driver to lock himself into the post-season, winning for the Wood Brothers in race five at Las Vegas. Through the first 26 races of this season, Berry matched his 2024 stats.

“I feel like we haven’t finished as well as we’ve ran a lot of races, and it’s been a number of different issues,” Berry said. Despite the win, they were ranked outside the top-20 in points.

“We just have to execute,” Berry said of the next 10 race weekends. “Have good days on pit road and score some stage points, have solid finishes and find ourselves in contention.”

No. 14 Seed: Tyler Reddick | -1

Reigning regular season champion Reddick has not shown the consistent race-winning speed from one year ago. But that is not to say Reddick isn’t competing at the front of the field.

“We’ve been in a position to win and lose,” Reddick, who finished seventh in the regular season with 167 stage points, said. Reddick’s only glaring weakness is the zero in his win column. 

“Yes, we’re behind the cut line and everything else but the points margins are all closed up quite a bit,” Reddick said. “We’ve just got to go out there and do what we’ve been capable of all year.”

No. 15 Seed: Austin Dillon | -2

Dillon returns to the Playoffs for the first time since 2022, giving Richard Childress Racing its first Playoff berth since 2023. The 2025 Richmond winner was the lowest in points to qualify.

“I think the cool part for our team is we've been executing, I think, at a high level lately,” Dillon said. The short ovals such as Iowa and Richmond have been a source of strength for this team. 

“Winning freaking helps,” said Dillon on the swing in momentum on track and in the raceshop. “We're at our win luncheon, at RCR, and it's like, we've got winners here now,” Dillon said.  

No. 16 Seed: Alex Bowman | -5

Last, but certainly not least, Bowman who advanced with Blany’s Daytona win. “It’s a very uncomfortable situation and your anxiety and stress is spiked through the roof,” Bowman said.

“We were pretty good on points, then we crashed for like two months straight and then kind of got back to it,” Bowman said, carrying eight top-11 finishes in the last 11 races into the Playoffs.

Bowman has yet to miss the Round of 12 in his six previous Playoff runs. However, no driver starting with the No. 16 has ever managed to advance beyond that point in the post-season.