For the sixth time in the last eight NASCAR Cup Series races, a driver found victory lane who had not yet done so in 2025. Joe Gibbs Racing's Chase Briscoe pulled it off on Sunday afternoon at Pocono Raceway, making him the 11th winner through 17 races this year.
The modern playoff format, largely considered a "win and in" format, is in its 12th season. While no winner (aside from those who have had their wins encumbered, such as Austin Dillon last year) has ever missed the playoffs, there is a legitimate chance that the 2025 regular season could produce more than 16 winners.
There are nine races remaining on the regular season schedule. Eight full-time drivers who won last year haven't yet won this year. And five of those nine races are considered "wild card" races, with two at superspeedways, two at road courses, and one at the only street course in NASCAR history.
NASCAR nearly found itself in a situation where there were more winners than playoff spots in 2022, which was year number one of the Next Gen era. There were exactly 16 different winners in the regular season three years ago, and three more new winners (all non-playoff drivers, obviously) emerged in the first three races of the playoffs.
Kurt Busch was one of those 16 winners, and he made the late decision to withdraw from the postseason due to the head injury he suffered at Pocono Raceway. Had he not withdrawn, Ryan Blaney would have missed the playoffs with a third place finish in the regular season standings.
Even with Blaney in, fourth place Martin Truex Jr. still missed out. Despite a fourth place finish in the regular season standings, he could finish no higher than 17th in the championship standings once the playoffs began, simply because he didn't win a regular season race.
Playoff debate aside, the fact is that NASCAR's second place driver could miss the playoffs entirely.
And it very well might happen in 2025.
Hendrick Motorsports' Chase Elliott is currently the top non-winner in the standings. He is in fifth place, but he is only two points out of third and 26 points out of second.
In the playoff picture, he is currently 12th, and if more new winners keep emerging (other than him), that number will continue to approach 16th.
The 16 playoff spots go to the regular season champion, the multi-race winners, and the top single-race winners in the point standings. So Elliott could technically finish in second place in the regular season standings and miss the playoffs if he doesn't win.
Elliott has just one win since October 2022, that coming last April at Texas Motor Speedway. He has been extremely consistent, as he is the only driver without a finish lower than 20th place this year, but there have now been 18 different winners since he most recently found victory lane.
Even last year, he was third in total points scored with only one win, so a second place finish this year is not far-fetched. Wouldn't it be crazy if he secures second and misses the playoffs anyway?
The only other non-winner in the top 10 in the point standings is seventh place Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing's top driver. He is 53 points behind Elliott. Reddick won last year's regular season championship, which locks in a driver whether he wins any races or not, though he did lock in with two regular season wins as well.
Race number 18 on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series calendar is the Quaker State 400, which is set to be shown live on TNT Sports from Atlanta Motor Speedway starting at 7:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, June 28. This race is still considered a regular season race, though it is also set to serve as the opener for the inaugural five-race in-season tournament.