Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe and Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson are set to battle for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship this Sunday afternoon at Phoenix Raceway.
But none of the four actually lead the Cup Series in points scored during the first nine races of the four-round, 10-race postseason.
Heading into Sunday's 312-lap race around the four-turn, 1.022-mile (1.645-kilometer) Avondale, Arizona oval, the highest scoring driver of the playoffs so far is Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell with 343 points.
NASCAR's top playoff driver not championship eligible
Larson is second with 340, and Briscoe is third with 337. Byron is fifth with 288, while Hamlin is only eighth with 270. Yet those are the four drivers set to battle for the right to be crowned 2025 champion.
For the second year in a row, Bell entered the round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway in the best points position among all drivers not locked into the Championship 4.
And also for the second year in a row, a new winner emerged from below the cut line, and Bell lost out on the points battle he needed to win to advance, resulting in another abrupt elimination.
In 2024, it was Team Penske's Ryan Blaney who won and Byron who beat Bell on points after Bell entered the round of 8 as the points leader. In 2025, Bell was actually further above the cut line than he was in 2024, but Byron won from below the cutoff and Larson beat Bell on points to advance.
Still, the fact that no driver has scored more points during the playoffs than Bell leading into Sunday's race will only further empower those who absolutely love to criticize the modern knockout playoff format, which has been in place since 2014.
NASCAR is reportedly considering changes to the postseason format for 2026. A full-season points format, a pre-2014 10-race playoff format, and a four-race championship format are said to be under consideration as potential replacements for the current four-round win-and-advance format featuring a single-race championship decider.
Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race is set to be shown live on NBC from Phoenix Raceway starting at 3:00 p.m. ET. If you have not yet started a free trial of FuboTV, do so today and don't miss any of the action to wrap up the 2025 season!