After 9 of 26 races in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season, five drivers have locked themselves into the 2025 playoffs.
Seventeen races remain as some teams may have already lost their chance to qualify, with others a moment away from locking in.
William Byron, Christopher Bell, Josh Berry, Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin have all locked in by securing at least one race win.
The 31 remaining full-time drivers continue to compete for 11 remaining spots.
By race 9 in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, 9 of the 10 drivers 10th or higher in the standings made the playoffs, Bubba Wallace was the lone exception.
After 9 races in 2025, the top 10 in points are William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace, Joey Logano and Alex Bowman.
Winning guarantees a spot in the playoffs but drivers can point their way in if not all 16 spots are filled by race winners.
Winning means everything in the quest for a playoff spot, 2024 saw 14 drivers lock in into the playoffs with a win, eight of those 14 only won once during the regular season.
However the remaining races in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series regular season are not one-to-one copies of the 2024 schedule.
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Homestead Miami Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway and Watkins Glen International Raceway were added to the regular season.
Meanwhile, WWT Raceway, Darlington Raceway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway were removed from the regular season and added to the playoffs.
In 2024 Austin Cindric won at WWT Raceway while Chase Briscoe won at Darlington Raceway, neither driver would have made the playoffs without those wins.
Alternatively, Chris Buescher missed the 2024 playoffs but stole a win at Watkins Glen International Raceway during the playoffs, winning at The Glen in 2025 would lock him into the 2025 playoffs.
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez remains a wild card as the NASCAR Cup Series prepares for its inaugural race in Mexico City on June 15, 2025.
The last time NASCAR added a road course to the schedule in 2023 Trackhouse’s Shane Van Gisbergen stole the show at Chicago and hopes to do it again to lock himself into the 2025 playoffs.
Superspeedways and Road Courses remain the biggest wild cards of the regular season, since the NASCAR Cup Series switched to the Next Gen car in 2022, there have been eight instances of a driver locking into the playoffs solely by winning one Superspeedway or Road Course race.
Of the 10 tracks that make up the 2025 playoffs, seven appear in the regular season, giving teams a chance to fine-tune their setups before the playoffs.
The NASCAR Cup Series enters its lone off week, but teams will continue preparation for the next race scheduled at Talladega Superspeedway on April 27, 2025.
