The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs are scheduled to get underway this Sunday night at Darlington Raceway with the Cook Out Southern 500, and qualifying for this crown jewel race is scheduled to take place on Saturday to set the full 38-car starting lineup.
From 2020 to 2024, the qualifying order was determined by a four-variable metric (found here), but for 2025, NASCAR simplified things and created a two-variable metric, based 30% on the car's rank in the owner standings and 70% on the car's finish in the most recent race.
Lower metric scores are obviously better than higher metric scores, and because there are no more qualifying groups (and thus no row-by-row lane designations), as well as no more second round qualifying shootouts for non-superspeedway races, qualifying order is arguably more important this year than it has been in previous years.
NASCAR qualifying order sees small playoff tweak
Add in the fact that, as we've seen in past years, NASCAR has once again slightly changed the rules ahead of the playoffs when it comes to qualifying order.
The playoff drivers are no longer factored into the metric until all the non-playoff drivers have been solidified in their respective order. This guarantees that the remaining playoff drivers (16 for the round of 16, 12 for the round of 12, eight for the round of 8, and four for the Championship 4) are set to be at the end of the line in all qualiyfing sessions.
This effectively means that NASCAR is now creating two qualifying orders: one for the non-playoff drivers, and one for the playoff drivers, with the non-playoff drivers qualifying first to set the starting lineup.
It may seem insignificant, but it's not.
You generally want to make a qualifying attempt at the end of the line, and even though the playoff drivers are inherently higher than the non-playoff drivers in the standings, the fact is that the metric may not necessarily slot them into the final 16 spots, since most recent race result is also weighted heavily.
Specifically at tracks where track position is key, this change could have a quiet yet major impact on who advances and who doesn't, especially if the cut line battles come down to a handful of points.
The Cook Out Southern 500 is set to be shown live on USA Network from Darlington Raceway beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET this Sunday, August 31. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss any of the action!