After 26 regular season races, the last of which being this past Saturday night's historic thriller at Daytona International Speedway, the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs are scheduled to begin at Darlington Raceway with this Sunday night's Cook Out Southern 500.
Last year, this 367-lap race around the four-turn, 1.366-mile (2.198-kilometer) egg-shaped Darlington, South Carolina was moved from its slot as the playoff opener and served as the regular season finale, a knock-on effect of NASCAR's season being extended due to the Summer Olympics break. But now it's back to open up the playoffs, like it did each year from 2020 to 2023.
The qualifying order is still determined by the new two-variable metric (full breakdown here) NASCAR introduced at the start of the 2025 season to replace the old four-variable formula which was used from 2020 to 2024.
The difference between the playoffs and the regular season is that the 16 playoff drivers are now guaranteed to go out after the 22 non-playoff drivers, effectively meaning that there are two qualifying orders, even if there are still technically no groups.
There are also no row-by-row lane designations, and because the "Lady in Black" is not a superspeedway, there is also no second round pole position shootout. Each driver is set to make one single-lap qualifying attempt, and those speeds set the full 38-car starting lineup.
Follow along with our qualifying updates from Darlington.
NOTE: This starting lineup is not official until all 38 drivers are included.
Full Southern 500 playoff starting lineup at Darlington
1st - Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
2nd - Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
3rd - Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford
4th - Tyler Reddick, No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota
5th - Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
6th - Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
7th - Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
8th - Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
9th - Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
10th - Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
11th - William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
12th - Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
13th - Justin Haley, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
14th - Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford
15th - Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
16th - Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
17th - Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
18th - Cole Custer, No. 41 Haas Factory Team Ford
19th - Erik Jones, No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
20th - Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet
21st - Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
22nd - A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
23rd - Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
24th - Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
25th - Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
26th - Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
27th - Ryan Preece, No. 60 RFK Racing Ford
28th - Todd Gilliland, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford
29th - Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
30th - John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
31st - Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
32nd - Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
33rd - Riley Herbst, No. 35 23XI Racing Toyota
34th - Noah Gragson, No. 4 Front Row Motorsports Ford
35th - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
36th - Cody Ware, No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Ford
37th - Derek Kraus, No. 44 NY Racing Team Chevrolet
38th - Timmy Hill, No. 66 Garage 66 Ford
USA Network is set to provide live coverage of the Cook Out Southern 500 from Darlington Raceway beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 31. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoff opener!