A few weeks ago at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Josh Berry earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory.
The win was Wood Brothers Racing's 101st, and after Harrison Burton's Daytona International Speedway win was their 100th back in August 2024, Berry's win meant that, for the first time since 1982 and 1983, the historic team have won at least one race in back-to-back seasons.
But one thing that needed to be pointed out after Berry's win was that he was not yet locked into the playoffs, even though the format has long been considered a "win and in" format.
Because of how the playoff format works, there can technically be more regular season race winners than playoff spots, and if that happens, the playoff field is not expanded from 16 drivers.
Since Berry's win, Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson and Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin have added their names to the list of winners in 2025. As a result, there have now been five different winners in seven races, which means there is still a decent chance that there will indeed be more than 16 winners before the regular season concludes.
The 16 playoff spots go to the regular season champion and the 15 drivers who rank next highest in wins. There can only be up to 13 multi-race winners during the regular season, so Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell is the only driver who is technically locked in thus far, as he has already won three times.
So although he came oh-so-close to beating Hamlin on the final restart and claiming his fourth victory of the year in Sunday's Cook Out 400, he could still leave Martinsville feeling pretty good about himself.
But Josh Berry, not so much.
The other three single-race winners, Hendrick Motorsports' William Byron, Larson, and Hamlin, find themselves in first, second, and seventh place in the point standings, respectively.
After a 32nd place finish on Sunday, Berry finds himself all the way down in 19th.
So though Byron, Larson, and Hamlin aren't technically locked in either, they can feel pretty good about themselves; there is nobody who truly doubts that they're in, even if it is not yet mathematically official.
But if there do end up being more than 16 winners, Berry could end up being in a bit of a precarious position. If he hovers around the 19th place range in points, there could very well be a scenario where there are more than 16 winners, and he ends up losing out on a points tiebreaker.
It's not likely, but it's also one reason he probably doesn't want to see any more new winners emerge over the next few weeks, as there are still 19 races remaining on the regular season schedule. And there are far more than 11 or 12 drivers capable of winning any of those 19 races who haven't yet found victory lane in 2025.
Of course, winning takes care of everything. If he wins again, he is indeed locked in. But if not, then he can't mathematically clinch a playoff spot for a few months yet, and that timeline would be extended if there are more new winners during that stretch.
While the modern playoff format, which was introduced in 2014, has never presented a scenario in which there have been more than 16 regular season race winners, there have been exactly 16 before, and there have been as many as 19 total winners during a season before.
So to discount that possibility, especially amid a run of three straight new winners, would be taking a lot for granted.
Darlington Raceway, where Brad Keselowski and Chase Briscoe won in 2024, is scheduled to host the Goodyear 400 this Sunday, April 6. Live coverage is set to be provided by Fox Sports 1 beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET. Will a sixth different winner emerge? Start a free trial of FuboTV today and be sure to catch all of the action from the "Lady in Black"!