The 2018 NASCAR Cup Series regular season is in the books, and the playoffs are set to get started this Sunday. Here is the full playoff schedule.
Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski is set to enter the playoffs as the hottest driver in the field after winning the 25th and 26th races of the 26-race 2018 NASCAR Cup Series regular season at Darlington Raceway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, respectively.
In the final race of the regular season, the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard, more commonly known as the Brickyard 400, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch sealed the regular season championship with an eighth place finish.
Also in this race, the final two playoff positions were secured, as only 14 of the 16 playoff positions had been secured before the race began.
The two drivers who secured these two positions, Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Alex Bowman, are the drivers who many people expected to secure them, as the odds of a first-time winner in 2018 emerging at Indianapolis Motor Speedway were not all that great heading into the race.
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With the regular season in the books, Keselowski, Busch, Johnson, Bowman and the other 12 drivers in the playoff field had their point totals reset to 2,000. The playoff point totals that they have earned throughout the course of the regular season were then added to their respective point totals.
The 16 drivers who are in the playoff field can continue to add to their playoff point totals by winning playoff races and stages in playoff races. That said, playoff points will not matter once the Championship 4 rolls around. The four drivers who advance to the Championship 4 will not be able to apply them to their overall point totals, as they will all enter the race with 5,000 points.
Only the four-round, 10-race playoffs remain before the 2018 Cup Series champion will be crowned, so let’s look at when each of these 10 pivotal playoff races are scheduled to be held.
The playoffs are scheduled to begin next Sunday, September 16, and they are scheduled to go through Sunday, November 18. Here is a round-by-round schedule.
Round of 16
| Race # | Race | Track | Date | Time (ET) | Channel |
| 27 | South Point 400 | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | Sunday, September 16 | 3:00 p.m. | NBC |
| 28 | Federated Auto Parts 400 | Richmond Raceway | Saturday, September 22 | 7:30 p.m. | NBC Sports Network |
| 29 | Bank of America Roval 400 | Charlotte Motor Speedway | Sunday, September 30 | 2:00 p.m. | NBC |
Round of 12
| Race # | Race | Track | Date | Time (ET) | Channel |
| 30 | Dover 400 | Dover International Speedway | Sunday, October 7 | 2:00 p.m. | NBC Sports Network |
| 31 | 1000Bulbs.com 500 | Talladega Superspeedway | Sunday, October 14 | 2:00 p.m. | NBC |
| 32 | Hollywood Casino 400 | Kansas Speedway | Sunday, October 21 | 2:00 p.m. | NBC |
Round of 8
| Race # | Race | Track | Date | Time (ET) | Channel |
| 33 | First Data 500 | Martinsville Speedway | Sunday, October 28 | 2:30 p.m. | NBC Sports Network |
| 34 | AAA Texas 500 | Texas Motor Speedway | Sunday, November 4 | 3:00 p.m. | NBC Sports Network |
| 35 | Can-Am 500 | ISM Raceway | Sunday, November 11 | 2:30 p.m. | NBC |
Championship 4
| Race # | Race | Track | Date | Time (ET) | Channel |
| 36 | Ford EcoBoost 400 | Homestead-Miami Speedway | Sunday, November 18 | 2:30 p.m. | NBC |
Be sure not to miss any of the 10 races in the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, as each and every one of them will be extremely important in the long run when it comes to determining who the 2018 champion will be.