The field of 16 is being whittled down to 12 on Saturday night with the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, as just 10 drivers are set to join Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin in the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Saturday's Bristol Night Race is scheduled to be a 500-lap race around the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked Bristol, Tennessee oval, the second-shortest track on the points-paying portion of the Cup Series calendar.
The April race, as well as last year's September playoff night race, was dominated by a single driver: Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Larson. Larson enters Bristol as the highest driver in the point standings not named Briscoe or Hamlin, who won at Darlington Raceway and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, respectively, to open up the playoffs.
Kaulig Racing's A.J. Allmendinger took the pole position for Sunday's race in Saturday's qualifying session, and Team Penske's Ryan Blaney started beside him on the front row. A full starting lineup can be found here.
Follow along with our race updates from Bristol.
NASCAR playoff race at Bristol: Stage 1 results
1st - Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
2nd - Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
3rd - William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
4th - Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
5th - Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
6th - Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
7th - A.J. Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet
8th - Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
9th - John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota
10th - Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet
NASCAR playoff race at Bristol: Stage 2 results
1st - Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
2nd - Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford
3rd - Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet
4th - Brad Keselowski, No. 6 RFK Racing Ford
5th - Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet
6th - Austin Cindric, No. 2 Team Penske Ford
7th - Chris Buescher, No. 17 RFK Racing Ford
8th - Bubba Wallace, No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota
9th - Zane Smith, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford
10th - Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
NASCAR playoff race at Bristol: Full Bass Pro Shops Night Race results
NASCAR playoff picture after Bristol
The opening race of the round of 12 of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs is the race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a track that hadn't been on the playoff schedule since 2017. It is set to be shown live on USA Network from the Loudon, New Hampshire venue beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 21, so begin a free trial of FuboTV and don't miss the start of the second round!