Playoff Pulse: Hendrick, Team Penske in peril after Talladega bust

For the first time in the Cup Series Playoffs, Talladega Superspeedway hosted the midpoint in the Round of 8 -- and it did not disappoint. From the green flag to the checkered flag, intensity to solidify Championship 4 position was on display all 500 miles, and the postseason picture took a big shift on the final lap for a handful of drivers. Only two races remain in the Cup Series season, but to determine the Championship 4, a short-track affair lies ahead at Martinsville Speedway next Sunday (2 p.m. ET, NBC, Peacock, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Before that, let's see the fates of our remaining playoff drivers after a Talladega thriller. WINNER Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. It was a split-second decision by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs to get off the gas and drop behind the No. 19 driver in Turn 3 on the final lap to push Briscoe to his third victory of 2025. It's Briscoe's first Championship 4 berth in his fifth Cup season, and he's a past winner at Phoenix (spring 2022). Two JGR drivers are going to race for the Bill France Cup in the Arizona desert, as Denny Hamlin won a week prior at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It's the first time JGR has put multiple cars in the Championship 4 since 2021. RELATED: Race results | At-track photos WHO'S HOT? Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Bell is the only playoff driver, minus Briscoe, to snag positive momentum going to Martinsville. While not the biggest superspeedway aficionado, the Norman, Oklahoma native placed eighth Sunday afternoon to go to plus-37 above the cutline. The caveat to that is he's only one point above Kyle Larson, who is the last driver into the provisional Championship 4, and Martinsville is known to produce walk-off winners. Last year, Bell was eliminated at Martinsville on the final lap due to a safety violation. WHO'S NOT? Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford. This was the one. If it was going to be a bid to go for championship No. 4 in the Cup Series, Logano needed to get the job done Sunday. While in a perfect spot with teammate Ryan Blaney up front, the pack scrambled into a three- and four-wide fray in the closing laps, washing out the bottom lane as the Nos. 12 and 22 faded to the back of the field. When the checkered flag waved, Logano was 16th. Now, it's win-or-go-home at Martinsville. Logano has finished in the top 10 in every Martinsville race since the fall of 2019, but his last win at the short track came in 2018. William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. The 2025 regular-season champion was in a spot for a top 10 in the tri-oval, but squirrely, aggressive pushes to the start/finish line ultimately spun Byron around, making 500-plus miles all for naught. Byron parachuted to a 25th-place result and all of a sudden, a disastrous Round of 8 so far now sees him 36 points below his teammate Larson at the cutline. It's now a virtual must-win for the No. 24 team at Martinsville. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Trying to grab stage points in the opening 60 laps, Elliott was involved in a multicar incident as Noah Gragson and AJ Allmendinger crashed from the lead. As the two drivers came down the track, along with 2024 Talladega fall winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the No. 9 driver had nowhere to go and was hit by Austin Cindric and Daniel Suárez trying to get to the apron of Turns 3 and 4. Elliott collected a mere point with a 40th-place result and will be in a must-win situation entering Martinsville for the Round of 8 elimination race. BUBBLE WATCH [table id=587 /] QUOTABLE

"It's pretty apparent the second we lost control of the race. I'm only driving one car, so I couldn't really control the race. The car behind me was saving gas, that didn't help us and killed the whole bottom lane. Cars were pulling in front of us, and we were just getting demoted from the first two cars in line to the back of the line. We just can't be saving gas at the end of the race. Ryan [Blaney] was not, but I was frustrated. You just get demoted in the lane as cars move to the front. You're helpless. You're sitting there just driving in circles, knowing the right thing to do, and just can't do it. I drive one car." — Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford, on how he and Blaney fell out of the lead late at Talladega.

NEXT RACE It's time to set the Championship 4 as Martinsville hosts the penultimate race of the 2025 season next Sunday. Blaney enters as the two-time defending winner of the event. Elliott walked off at the Virginia short track in 2020, which resulted in his lone series championship. Four of the last five winners in the Martinsville playoff race have been won by drivers beneath the cutline.