There are still 11 races remaining on the 26-race 2025 NASCAR Cup Series regular season calendar, but you know what they always say: every point counts.
And right now, there are zero points separating the bottom driver above the provisional playoff cut line and the top driver below it.
Richard Childress Racing's Kyle Busch entered Sunday's FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway sitting two points above RFK Racing's Ryan Preece for the 16th and final spot in the playoff picture.
Kyle Busch drops out of NASCAR playoffs
Busch finished one spot ahead of Preece in Sunday afternoon's 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.0-mile (3.219-kilometer) Brooklyn, Michigan oval. But he ironically dropped out of a provisional playoff spot anyway, with Preece taking his place at No. 16.
Busch finished in eighth place ahead of Preece in ninth, but Preece collected three more stage points than Busch did (5-2), meaning that the pair are now tied for 14th the point standings.
With two drivers below them in the standings, Team Penske's Austin Cindric and Wood Brothers Racing's Josh Berry, having found victory lane this year, the tie is for the 16th and final playoff spot rather than the 14th, and despite having had his career-high second place finish stripped from him at Talladega Superspeedway, Preece still owns the tiebreaker.
Preece's official best finish of the 2025 season is third place, which he recorded at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, while Busch's is only a fifth place effort at Circuit of the Americas.
As for the rest of the cut line picture, things are still tight. RFK Racing's Chris Buescher and Hendrick Motorsports' Alex Bowman sit just 20 and 13 points ahead, respectively, while Spire Motorsports' Carson Hocevar, Kaulig Racing's A.J. Allmendinger, and Hyak Motorsports' Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are 18, 18, and 20 points back, respectively.
The Viva Mexico 250 is set to be the first ever NASCAR Cup Series race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, and it is scheduled to take place on Sunday, June 15. Amazon Prime Video is set to provide live coverage beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET.