The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs got underway on Sunday night at Darlington Raceway with the Cook Out Southern 500, a race dominated and won by Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe to punch his ticket to the round of 12.
Briscoe was one of seven winners from the regular season who would have gotten into the playoffs even without winning. Two winless drivers did get in on points, but seven others only got in because of the fact that they found victory lane at some point during the regular season.
Of course, if the 16-driver playoff field were decided by points alone, four of those drivers still would have been in.
Only three drivers from outside of the top 16 in the point standings managed to make it into the playoffs thanks to the fact that they won: Wood Brothers Racing's Josh Berry (21st), Trackhouse Racing's Shane van Gisbergen (25th), and Richard Childress Racing's Austin Dillon (26th).
4 other NASCAR playoff drivers who wouldn't have made it
But the points cutoff ended up being between the ninth place driver, Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman, and the 10th place driver, RFK Racing's Chris Buescher, with Buescher missing the postseason despite a top 11 finish in the regular season points for the second year in a row.
The four drivers who finished in the top 16 in points, but would not have been in had they not won (due to Buescher being higher in the standings), were 23XI Racing's Bubba Wallace (11th), Team Penske's Joey Logano (12th), Trackhouse Racing's Ross Chastain (13th), and Team Penske's Austin Cindric (15th).
Had Wallace not won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he'd have been beaten by Buescher for the 16th and final spot by 15 points. Had Logano not won at Texas Motor Speedway, he'd have been 16 points behind Buescher for that spot.
Had Chastain not won at Charlotte Motor Speedway, he'd have missed out for the second year in a row by 25 points. And had Cindric not won at Talladega Superspeedway, he'd have been a whopping 111 points below the cutoff.
Combined with Berry, van Gisbergen, and Dillon, there were seven drivers who ended up getting in because of their wins, meaning that at least three drivers whose wins saved their seasons are guaranteed to join Briscoe, among others, in the round of 12, with at least one likely to go further.
Last year, Logano was 15th in the regular season standings and got in because of his regular season win at Nashville Superspeedway in a five-overtime fuel mileage race. Buescher, who finished 11th, would have been in otherwise.
Logano still went on to win his third championship.
The round of 16 is scheduled to conclude with this Sunday's race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway and next Saturday night's race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Both races are set to be shown live on USA Network, so begin a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss these or any of the other upcoming playoff races!