The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to the Midwest Saturday for the Nu Way 200 Sauced by Blues Hog at World Wide Technology Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The CW App will air Xfinity Series qualifying earlier Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. A 50-minute practice session is scheduled for Friday at 5:05 p.m. ET, also airing on The CW App.
NASCAR will consider altering its eligibility standards for awarding a point to the driver with the fastest lap after another last-place car earned the bonus at Darlington Raceway.
After wrecking in the second turn of the Southern 500, Josh Berry went to the garage for repairs that took several dozen laps. He returned to set the fastest lap (29.038 seconds) on the 1.366-mile oval despite completing only 239 of 367 laps in a 38th-place finish.
During the latest episode of the “Hauler Talk” podcast, managing director of communications Mike Forde said NASCAR executives discussed a review of tweaking the fastest lap rule, possibly by making it necessary to be on the lead lap while setting the mark.
“I think that’s some of the conversation in the offseason, nothing’s going to be changing over the next nine races, but that is something we plan to look at as we move forward into 2026,” Forde said.
Kyle Larson has earned the bonus point twice after returning to the track following major repairs to his No. 5 Chevrolet. He set the fastest laps despite finishing 42 laps down in 36th at Mexico City and 15 laps down in 39th at Watkins Glen. Having also set the fastest laps at Circuit of The Americas and Kansas, those four extra points helped Larson finish ahead of teammate Chase Elliott in the 2025 regular-season standings and gain an extra playoff point.
Just as Larson’s car went through postrace inspection scrutiny at Watkins Glen, Forde said Berry’s No. 21 Ford also passed body and underbody scans after Darlington to ensure its legality.
Forde said “there are conversations on both sides” about whether to change the eligibility for the fastest lap, which helps incentivize teams to continue racing after being caught in an early crash or suffering a mechanical problem.
“Fans of Kyle Larson came out to watch him, and they want to continue seeing him strive and compete for something when you’re double- or triple-digits laps down,” Forde said. “So there are good reasons to keep it in there.”
“I imagine if you ask the teams, they probably are for it. They’re competitors, and it gives them something to race for … no one’s knocking down the doors of the hauler to gripe about it.”
Other topics covered by Forde and NASCAR senior director of racing communications AmandaEllis during the 31st episode of “Hauler Talk,” which explores competition issues in NASCAR:
— How NASCAR officiated the overtime restart of the Xfinity Series race at Portland International Raceway after race winner Connor Zilisch missed the first turn and several drivers missed the second corner.
— Whether NASCAR will make any policy changes after the latest instance of a driver stop in another team’s pit stall for service.
— The new Goodyear tire this weekend for World Wide Technology Raceway after getting tested in June.
Click on the embed above to listen or search for “Hauler Talk” wherever you download podcasts to hear it on your phone, tablet or mobile device.
Nate Ryan has written about NASCAR since 1996 while working at the San Bernardino Sun, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA TODAY and for the past 10 years at NBC Sports Digital. He is a contributor to the “Hauler Talk” show on the NASCAR Podcast Network. He also has covered various other motorsports, including the IndyCar and IMSA series.
If Hendrick Motorsports wants to win its first NASCAR Cup Series championship since 2021, it will have to find a way to improve at Phoenix Raceway.
That plan is in progress, with visible steps forward on similar shorter tracks in August, like at Iowa Speedway — where William Byron won — and Richmond Raceway — where Alex Bowman finished second. But another flat track is ahead Sunday at the 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App). Has the team improved enough to be true title contenders if any of its four Chevrolets advance to the Championship 4?
“I think we’ve been sneaking up on it,” Byron told NASCAR.com in a recent teleconference. “I think we’ve been making progress at those tracks. Definitely the focus point after last season was, how do we get better at those tracks? Because I feel like we feel like we were actually better in 2023 than we were last year at Phoenix, and we knew we had to go to work and just figure out this 1-mile aero package and just how the car needs to drive and everything.
“We put a lot of work into that this year, development-wise, behind the scenes, a lot of people back at the race shop, and it seems like we’re starting to see some of those gains in small ways at those tracks. Still got a ways to go, but I think we’re getting there.”
It would be an exaggeration to say Hendrick Motorsports has been terrible at Phoenix, where the championship has been decided each November since 2020. But the team has been vocal in acknowledging its place a step behind Team Penske.
In last year’s title race, Byron was the team’s lone Championship 4 contender and finished third after leading 19 laps — with teammates Kyle Larson fourth, Chase Elliott eighth and Bowman 14th. In 2023, both Larson and Byron were title-eligible and placed third and fourth, respectively, behind race-runner-up Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, who claimed that season’s championship. Under the current playoff format, all that matters at Phoenix is finishing the best of the four title contenders that day. Since 2022, no one has toppled Team Penske at Phoenix in the fall, with Joey Logano winning the 2022 and 2024 titles to bookend Blaney’s triumph.
Phoenix’s layout separates it from most tracks — a perfectly straight backstretch connects the flat, sweeping Turns 1 and 2 to a more steeply banked Turns 3 and 4, leading to a high-banked tri-oval that leads to plenty of action. Hendrick Motorsports Vice Chairman and NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon expressed a cautious optimism for the season finale based on the late-summer performances he saw at Iowa (0.875 miles) and Richmond (0.75 miles). But Gordon is still holding his breath for two early postseason tests as Gateway (1.25 miles) and New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1.058 miles) join the 2025 postseason schedule.
Logan Riely | Getty Images
Hendrick Motorsports has just three top 10s at Gateway through 12 combined starts — its worst total at any track with at least 12 starts — and the team has not won at New Hampshire since Kasey Kahne went to Victory Lane in 2012.
“Let’s look at Gateway. Let’s look at New Hampshire,” Gordon said. “Because I feel like Iowa, as well as Richmond, although they’re short tracks and we’ve made gains, they’re still not Phoenix. That’s a flatter track, unique to itself. You need to have good braking stability, but you need to have good turn. You got to have long-run (speed), short run. So it’s a tough, tough place to get right. I like the direction we’re heading, though.”
Larson was one of three drivers who participated in a Goodyear tire test at Gateway earlier this summer, representing Chevrolet as Erik Jones (Toyota) and Brad Keselowski (Ford) joined him. Larson owns Hendrick’s lone top five in three Cup races at Gateway — a fourth-place finish in 2023. According to Larson, there are reasons to believe the team has made meaningful gains, and that could be realized Sunday in the second race of the 2025 Cup Series Playoffs.
“I think still the shorter, flatter tracks [are a challenge], so seeing Gateway and New Hampshire in the playoffs is not something that I was thrilled about,” Larson said during Playoffs Media Day. “But I do think we’ve made our package better on that style of track. I look at Iowa, we were fast, William won, Chase was fast, Alex was fast. We went to Richmond, we were all really good again. So I do think we’ve gotten our cars better on those places, but yeah, still need to probably be better, but we’ll see when we get to Gateway and New Hampshire.”
The four-car team could use a dose of positivity after a dismal-by-its-standards showing in last week’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Elliott was the team’s highest finisher in 17th place ahead of Larson (19th), Byron (21st) and Bowman (31st, two laps down). A breakout performance at Gateway in St. Louis could serve to turn around a bad postseason start and pivot Hendrick Motorsports toward a championship run.
Jordan Anderson spent hours playing on the PlayStation while growing up in South Carolina, allocating most of that time to racing games.
That’s where his initial desire to become a team owner came into play.
Anderson remembers designing paint schemes on NASCAR Racing 2003, customizing a schedule and starting an organization from scratch. Fast forward more than two decades, and he’s built a multicar company using similar techniques at the NASCAR Xfinity Series level.
“Back then, I always enjoyed the driving part, but I was intrigued by [ownership] almost as much as I was the driving,” Anderson told NASCAR.com. “Growing up, I never had the opportunity to go run for people. I’d be working on the car and drive it to the race track. I was learning [the business] side of it and not realizing what I was learning along the way.”
That way of living changed as Anderson made it to the NASCAR national series level in 2014. With the need for longevity, Anderson kick-started a Craftsman Truck Series team in 2018. After three years of running the full schedule, it was time to make the Xfinity Series jump in 2021.
Anderson was set for the full 2021 slate, but an untimely rain shower hit Daytona International Speedway, canceling qualifying. The No. 31 team didn’t have owners points to make the race and didn’t tally its first start until the 11th race of the year at Circuit of The Americas, with Tyler Reddick piloting the No. 31 Chevrolet. That got the ball rolling, leading to three consecutive top-10 finishes with Reddick and Josh Berry.
“It’s kind of been the story of our team,” Anderson said of catching a break. “From the outside looking in, a lot of things that people would say are bad things happening to us. In hindsight, it was one door closing and another door opening. When qualifying got rained out, I thought we were going to be shut down and out of business before it even started.”
Over the last five seasons, drivers with something to prove have joined JAR. Myatt Snider made a one-year stop in 2022 before the team expanded to multiple entries in 2023 with Jeb Burton and Parker Retzlaff. Blaine Perkins replaced Retzlaff in the No. 31 car for 2025, though the team is inflating once again and has frequently entered three cars into events. Notably, Katherine Legge, Austin Green and Rajah Caruth have made attempts with the No. 32 team.
David Jensen | Getty Images
The recipe for success has grown in a mere half-decade, with Anderson frequently making personnel changes behind the scenes. Shane Whitbeck, formerly with Brad Keselowski Racing and recent crew chief for Burton, became JAR’s first competition director in 2025. It was a move that benefited the entire organization.
“I would say Jordan has some good people around him that helps,” Burton said of Anderson’s leadership. “Shane Whitbeck steers the ship and does a lot behind the scenes. He can be a crew chief, a shop floorman — a jack of all trades — and does a lot to keep this place moving.”
The company has more than 30 full-time employees and operates on a set schedule. Rarely does the team work extended hours, which is one of the benefits of Whitbeck’s organizational skills.
“One thing [Anderson] has preached to me all year is we all have to work together 33 weeks out of the year, so we all have to make sure we get along,” Perkins said. “We work together as one team between the 31 and 27. That’s been 100% preached to us: teamwork and camaraderie.”
Despite a sizable partnership with Chevrolet, Anderson knows the best shot his company has at winning is at superspeedways. Burton was ruled inches behind Austin Hill at Talladega Superspeedway in the spring when the caution flew on the final lap. The No. 27 car won that same race in 2023.
Jordan Anderson Racing is continuing to build a stable foundation for years to come.
“We joke about building this LEGO tower, but when you build a LEGO tower and you have four or five missing at the bottom, that thing is going to topple over when you get it big enough,” Anderson said. “We’re making sure the foundation is big, wide and strong and has some depth to it. We are continuing to work on the sponsor side of things, driver side and keep growing our relationship with Chevrolet.”
Anderson won’t let his organization fail. Late in 2021, John Bommarito, a Midwest entrepreneur, became an official team partner. The pairing has become best friends away from the race track as Anderson learns from the automotive juggernaut.
“This is my baby; this is what I eat, sleep, breathe,” Anderson said of his race team, noting that he doesn’t have any outside businesses. “Outside of my wife and future son that’s coming, this is all I care about, making sure the people are taken care of, the team is growing, we have the funding to keep pushing.
“This is my whole life. I love it and wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. I think that’s what has pushed us — when you have that from the top down — hopefully everyone else starts that culture and looks at it that way.”
Admittedly, Anderson doesn’t know what the next five-year plan looks like, but he intends on being around as a team owner for an extended amount of time, “20, 30, 40, 50 years,” he said. The likelihood of expanding to three full-time entries in 2026 is even on the team’s radar.
“We’ve transitioned from surviving to thriving and getting better every year,” Anderson said. “We want to keep getting better. We’re hungry. In the corporate world, there are challenger brands that exist and go against the status quo and go against the grind. That’s what we want to do. That’s how things have been done since we’ve been here, and we’re trying to do things a little differently.”
With finishes of seventh, eighth and ninth last weekend at Portland International Raceway, JAR had its three entries in the top 10 finishes for the first time in a single race. Anderson returns to the driver’s seat this Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), making his second start of the campaign. Burton, meanwhile, currently sits 31 points below the cutline — the first driver outside the 12-driver playoff grid — heading into the regular-season finale.
“What we’re building here is special,” Anderson said. “I want to make sure that I can protect that opportunity and put as much into that as we can.”
The NASCAR Xfinity Series will conclude the 2025 regular season at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in the Nu Way 200 Sauced by Blues Hog on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Only 20 points separate JR Motorsports teammates Connor Zilisch and Justin Allgaier to decide the Regular Season Championship. In terms of the looming postseason, Harrison Burton is 31 points clear above the playoff cutline, with his cousin, Jeb, currently the first driver outside the 12-driver playoff grid.
Truck Series Playoffs driver Daniel Hemric will pilot the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, while Jordan Anderson, owner/driver of Jordan Anderson Racing, will race in the No. 32 Chevy.
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs are officially underway, and the Round of 16 continues with the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
After Darlington Raceway acted as the opening Round of 16 contest, Gateway will set the stage for an elimination race to follow at Bristol Motor Speedway. Four drivers will be eliminated from postseason play following the conclusion of the three-race round and before the beginning of the Round of 12.
SOUTH BOSTON, Virginia — The battle for the 2025 South Boston Speedway Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division championship can’t get any closer or more intense than it is for seven-time South Boston Speedway champion Peyton Sellers and Trevor Ward, who is seeking his first championship.
Their championship hopes what is one of the closest championship points battles in track history rests with the final points event of the season, the Halifax County Farm Bureau Championship Night event on Saturday night, September 6, and one last race, the 100-lap Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division race that headlines the night’s four-race card.
“It’s winner take all now,” remarked Sellers, who is seeking a record-breaking eighth career South Boston Speedway championship. “Trevor has had some bad luck throughout the season, and I’ve had a few bad races, and here we are. The fans will get a good show.”
Ward entered the twin-race event on August 23 trailing Sellers by seven points. A win and a second-place finish by Ward coupled with finishes of fourth and fifth by Sellers created a tie for the track championship.
“It was unexpected,” Ward said of the tie for the track championship. “I knew being seven points down going into the event we were just trying to chip away at it (Sellers’ point lead). It (the championship) will come down to that last checkered flag. It all comes down to who finishes in front of who. We’ll walk out of here with our head up either way.”
Sellers has a second-place finish, third-place finish, fourth-place finish and a fifth-place finish in his last four starts. For the season, the two-time NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national champion has six wins, five pole awards and 13 top five finishes in his 17 starts.
Ward appears to have a slight edge in momentum with two wins, a second-place finish and a 10th-place finish in his last four starts. For the season, Ward has six wins, 14 top five finishes and 15 top 10 finishes in his 17 starts.
As far as pressure goes, Sellers sees it being similar to the August 23 event.
“It’s not any more pressure than it was last week,” he pointed out. “We’re going to sleep the same next Saturday night regardless. The championship wasn’t won or lost on the last night.”
Ward said he isn’t feeling pressured heading into Saturday night’s 100-lap race.
“I’m going to race to win, and whatever happens happens,” he pointed out. “I’m happy just to be a part of it and knowing we have this prestigious of a battle going.
“I came into this season just wanting a South Boston Speedway win,” Ward added.
“I’m grateful having six wins. I hope we can check off another one championship night.”
A win and runner-up finish in the most recent event at South Boston Speedway have Trevor Ward in prime position to claim his first championship at the historic Virginia venue. (Photo: Joe Chandler/South Boston Speedway)
There is one other driver in the midst of the championship points chase – Landon Pembelton. Pembelton trails Sellers and Ward by eight points entering the 100-lap Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division race that will be the feature event of Saturday night’s event.
There are multiple scenarios in which Pembelton could win the championship, but they are more complex than the scenario facing Sellers and Ward. Among the three drivers, Pembelton has the best results in looking at each driver’s last three starts. The Amelia, Virginia resident has a second-place finish, a third-place finish and a win in his last three starts.
While Pembelton has a shot at the championship in the season’s final points race he, too, says he is not feeling any pressure.
“It is going to be a lot of fun,” Pembelton said of Saturday’s race. “The pressure really isn’t on me, it’s on those two guys. If we can keep bringing fast cars to the racetrack and qualify well, we’ll get a good finish.”
In addition to the 100-lap Sentara Health Late Model Stock Car Division race, fans will see the season’s final points races for the Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division, the Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division and the Dollar General Hornets Division.
Zach Peregoy holds an 18-point edge over Tristan Brunelli entering Saturday’s 50-lap Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division race with Drew Dawson occupying third place, 28 points out of the lead.
B.J. Reaves holds a 25-point advantage over Dillon Davis entering the 25-lap Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division race. Jason DeCarlo leads Landon Milam by 14 points heading into the 20-lap race for the Dollar General Hornets Division.
A special Championship Night Fireworks Show presented by Italian Delight Family Restaurant will follow the final race of the night.
Advance adult tickets for the Saturday, September 6 Halifax County Farm Bureau Championship Night event are priced at $12. Tickets at the gate on race day will be $15 each. Suite tickets are available for $40 each. Seniors ages 65 and older, military, and students (with ID) can purchase tickets for $12 each at the gate only on the day of the event.
The tentative race-day schedule has registration and pit gates opening at 2 p.m. and practice going from 3:25 p.m. to 5:05 p.m. Frontstretch grandstand gates open at 3:30 p.m. and backstretch and Turn 4 trackside parking gates open at 5:30 p.m. Qualifying starts at 6 p.m. and the first race of the night will get the green flag at 7 p.m.
The latest news and updates about the September 6 Halifax County Farm Bureau Championship Night event and all South Boston Speedway events can be found on the speedway’s website, www.southbostonspeedway.com, by calling the speedway office at 434-572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540 during regular business hours, and through the track’s social media channels.
Chase Briscoe reminded everyone on Sunday night why Joe Gibbs elected to turn to the Indiana native to replace the future Hall of Famer Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 JGR Toyota, capturing a second straight Southern 500 crown-jewel win at Darlington Raceway. Will Austin Cindric, Briscoe’s former Brad Keselowski Racing teammate back in their Craftsman Truck Series days, join him in the Round of 12 this weekend?
NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola ranks the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs contenders after the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway and before Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
Analysis: The defending Southern 500 champion delivered a dazzling show of dominance at Darlington, leading 309 of 367 laps to become the first driver to win two in a row since Greg Biffle accomplished the feat in 2005 and 2006. With his Round of 12 spot locked in, Briscoe heads to Gateway, where he’s yet to land in the top 15, but will be confident in his No. 19 team’s current form and his ability to control his own playoff destiny.
Analysis: The top playoff seed struggled to 19th at Darlington, but his 38-point cushion provides comfort heading to Gateway, where he finished fourth in 2023 and 10th in 2024. Despite concerns about his summer form, Larson’s proven playoff track record and solid Gateway history (8.7 average finish) position him well to rebound as the championship favorite.
Analysis: The Darlington master started on the pole but couldn’t convert, though still walked away P7 with a 43-point buffer to keep him secure. The veteran also has strong Gateway credentials, riding consecutive runner-ups as he looks to inch closer to Round of 12 status this weekend.
Analysis: Reddick hustled valiantly at the end but ultimately secured a strong second at Darlington to jump from 14th to fourth in points, now sitting 35 points above the cutline after his clutch performance. He ran fourth at Gateway in 2024 and crashed out in 2023 while running competitively, but his recent form and ability to rise under pressure make him a serious Round of 12 threat and in good position to advance.
Analysis: The Regular Season Champion struggled to 21st at Darlington, one of his best tracks in a race he was expected to compete for the win, dropping to sixth but maintaining a 25-point cushion. His Gateway record shows some minor inconsistency, but Byron’s Hendrick Motorsports team typically finds speed when it matters most in the playoffs — and, particularly, when it needs to rebound.
Analysis: As expected at one of his lesser venues, Blaney got off to a slow start to the playoffs but still sits seventh with a 22-point buffer heading to Gateway, where his Team Penske organization has won twice in three Cup races. His first two races at Gateway averaged a top five, and he turned in a near-win in 2024 (led until running out of fuel), showing he has the speed to contend for a Round of 12 spot this weekend.
Analysis: A solid sixth-place finish at Darlington in a banner night for Toyota moved him into a tie for fifth in points with a crucial 25-point cushion above elimination. Wallace finished 21st at Gateway in 2024 for his “best” showing there yet, but his breakthrough Brickyard 400 win earlier this season proves he can deliver when pressure ramps up. He should keep it rolling.
Analysis: Chastain showed some life at Darlington despite ultimately finishing 11th to sit eighth in points with a 21-point buffer, though his inconsistency lingers as he searches for the speed that carried him early in the Next Gen era. He finished eighth in his first Gateway start in his revelatory 2022 season, but has since finished 22nd in 2023, 12th in 2024, showing decent results at the track where his aggressive style could either pay dividends or create trouble.
Analysis: The defending Gateway winner enters the weekend 12 points above the cutoff after a 12th-place showing at Darlington, returning to the scene of a raucous triumph could provide the spark he needs to escape the Round of 16. Anything close to the dominant performance like last year (scored 56 points) should have him very well positioned before he enters the gauntlet that is the cutoff race at Bristol a week later.
Analysis: Bell did not enjoy the wholesale Toyota success at Darlington, finishing 29th despite entering as a title favorite and now sitting 10th with only 11 points separating him from elimination. He was strong at Gateway in 2024, before engine issues, and averaged a top 10 in the other two races, showing he could have the speed to bounce back if he can avoid the mechanical gremlins that have haunted him lately.
Analysis: The Hendrick driver’s 17th-place finish at Darlington was Hendrick’s best result — which … yikes — and he now sits 11th with just nine points above the cutoff heading into a crucial stretch. His Gateway record is concerning, with finishes of 21st (2022) and 13th (2024) — with one fewer start on his resume than others after missing the 2023 race — and needs to find speed quickly or risk becoming a former champion eliminated in the opening round.
Analysis: The three-time champion finds himself in familiar territory below the cutline, sitting 13th and three points behind after a 20th-place finish at Darlington. However, Logano won Gateway’s inaugural Cup race in 2022 and has an exceptional track record there (wins in 2022, third in 2023, fifth in 2024), making him extremely dangerous despite his precarious points position.
Analysis: Major pit-road issues relegated Bowman to 31st at Darlington, leaving him tied for last in points and likely needing either a win or chaos ahead to survive. His Gateway results are concerning, but Bowman has proven he can deliver clutch victories, though the mountain appears steep this time.
Analysis: The Cup Series rookie sits 12th with just three points above elimination after a respectable but unspectacular Darlington playoff debut, in a race he was counting on big time. Gateway represents more uncharted territory, and he’ll really need to surprise us over the next two weeks to stay above that elimination line.
Analysis: Dillon’s 23rd-place finish at Darlington left him 14th and eight points below the elimination line, but he has legitimate reason for optimism heading to Gateway. The Illinois track is one of the few bright spots for Richard Childress Racing in the past handful of years, with teammate Kyle Busch winning there in 2023 and Dillon, himself, turning in a P6 there last year.
Analysis: Berry’s playoff debut couldn’t have gone worse, spinning on Lap 1 and finishing 38th to sit dead last in points, 19 behind the cutoff. The No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing driver also crashed out of his Gateway debut last year and faces an uphill battle requiring near-perfect execution and significant help from competitors’ misfortunes to advance.
DARLINGTON, S.C. — It was a race that didn’t follow form — not anywhere close.
The presumptive favorites for the NASCAR Cup Series championship didn’t perform like favorites in Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500, the opening race in the 2025 playoffs.
Defending series champion Joey Logano, whose Fords typically spring to life in the postseason, drove a lethargic No. 22 Mustang to a lackluster 20th-place finish at Darlington Raceway.
“Yeah, it was surprising,” conceded Logano, who heads for next Sunday’s playoff race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway three points below the current cutline for the Round of 12.
“I thought we would be able to run in the top 10, just based off of history and because we’ve been there in the past, but when everyone got better, we didn’t.”
If there was a positive side to Logano’s performance in the first playoff race, at least he kept his car out of harm’s way for most of the evening.
“We just had no grip,” Logano said. “There isn’t much to say outside of that. It wasn’t good enough. This has been a good track for us in the past, but I don’t know. Some of our cars were decent at times, but not like we have been here.
“It’s a bit of a head scratcher to try to understand. I don’t know where we are in points, but it’s obviously not the day we wanted. We just did a good job of not making a bad day worse.”
Clearly, it was an inauspicious start to Logano’s title defense and to Team Penske’s hopes of winning a fourth straight championship for the organization.
The night was perhaps even more disappointing to Hendrick Motorsports, which entered the postseason with the top two seeds on the playoff grid — 2021 champion Kyle Larson and Regular Season Champion William Byron.
It was Chase Elliott, however, who led the Hendrick contingent with a 17th-place finish. Byron never recovered from a slow pit stop, and Larson faded in the final 48-lap green-flag run. Larson finished 19th and Byron 21st. Neither performed like a champion.
“It was a good thing we were able to get those stage points early,” said Larson, who finished sixth in Stage 1 and fourth in Stage 2. “I felt pretty average all night. We had a lot of stack-ups on the restarts. I’m not sure why, but we had a big one there in the final stage, and we just struggled after that.
“I’m not sure if the splitter got bent up or what happened, but it just took all my problems and made it all worse. We also had radio issues and all sorts of other problems, so to have a bad race and still gain on the cutline is rewarding …
“It’s typically a good track for us, so I’m not sure, but we’ll regroup and hopefully rebound in the next two races.”
Larson did gain 12 points on the elimination line and is now 38 points to the good. But neither he nor Byron nor Elliott turned in a performance that suggests a championship may be in the offing.
Their efforts stood in sharp contrast to those of race winner Chase Briscoe, who led 309 of 367 laps and swept the first two stages. Thanks to the victory, Briscoe knows he’ll be racing in the Round of 12. There are no other guarantees issuing from Sunday night’s race.
There was a silver lining to the relative disappearance of a handful of favorites. It allowed others to shine, notably Bubba Wallace, who overcame one slow pit stop to finish sixth.
Fifth in the first stage and seventh in the second, Wallace climbed to fifth on the playoff grid, tied with Byron at 25 points above the cutline.
Then again, it was a night for Toyotas to excel at the expense of the Chevrolets and Fords. Behind Briscoe and runner-up Tyler Reddick, non-Playoff drivers Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek of Legacy Motor Club were third and fourth, as Toyota drivers occupied six of the top seven finishing positions for the first time in Cup Series history.
Byron summed up the outlook for the teams that didn’t perform up to potential.
“As good as we normally are (at Darlington), it’s definitely a bummer,” he said. “ … We’ve definitely got some work to do. We’ll go to Gateway and try to be better there.”
DARLINGTON, S.C. — Chase Briscoe may be a Hoosier by birth, but if the last two years in Darlington’s crown-jewel race have taught us anything, he’s become a full-fledged Southern boy.
After a night where he led 309 of 367 laps and won both stages en route to his second consecutive victory in Sunday’s Cook Out Southern 500, Briscoe asserted himself quickly as a top contender to win the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Championship.
In a year where no one has been dominant enough to secure the moniker as title frontrunner, the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing delivered a masterclass at the South Carolina superspeedway that crew chief James Small envisioned earlier that day.
“I woke up this morning and sent the guys a message, and I just had this feeling it was like we just need to go and lay a old school beat down to them, and that’s exactly what we did tonight,” Small said in Sunday’s post-race press conference. “Chase did a remarkable job lap after lap. The pit crew — on song tonight, they did an incredible job. They’ve been getting better and better all year, and really hit their stride in the last eight weeks or so. Just really proud of everyone.”
The improvements have been noticeable across the No. 19 team since the start of the season.
With a new driver and new crew members all looking to mesh together quickly, 2025 didn’t get off to the best of starts for Briscoe and co. They had just one top 10 through the first five races and struggled in practice and qualifying early in the year, with just three starts inside the top 10 through the first 12 events.
Small attributed it to everyone trying to jell and said that it took one race in early May for the switch to flip.
“I think it was like Kansas — final stage of Kansas — that was like the light switch when things started coming together and him really understanding it from that point on,” Small said. “There’s been a few hiccups along the way, and there’s been some issues on pit road along the way as well, but qualifying speed came in really well. We’ve been working really hard on that. When you qualify up front, it sets yourself up for a really successful Sunday in terms of getting as many points as you can. I think you’ve seen it not only our average finish, but our stage-point accumulation in that period is ridiculous compared to what we had in the first 10 races.”
What’s starting to blossom for Briscoe in his five-year Cup career so far is a knack for delivering in the brightest of lights. Becoming the first driver to ever win pole awards in the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 and Brickyard 400 during the same year is already a ludicrous stat, but when you think back through the Hoosier’s young career so far, he’s been excelling in pressure-filled moments time and time again.
While driving for the now-defunct Stewart-Haas Racing, Briscoe pointed his way to the Round of 8 in 2022 and nearly clinched the unlikeliest of Championship 4 berths at Martinsville before being passed by now-teammate Christopher Bell with just five laps to go. Briscoe then won his first Southern 500 last year in what was the regular-season finale to secure SHR a playoff berth before closing its doors and rode a top-10 result at Bristol two weeks later into the Round of 12.
From the time he hopped in a stock car, Briscoe has been made for intense moments. For him, it’s been the definition of his racing career.
“I’ve always just loved high-pressure situations,” Briscoe said. “I feel like I just perform better for whatever reason. I feel like my whole career has always been a high-pressure situation, right? Like, there was no backup plan. You might only get one race you had to go perform and show your worth. I’ve always felt like I mean every week, I feel like I’m still auditioning to prove that I belong here. Certainly, the higher the pressure, the better I feel like I do.”
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Amid a crop of Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske and JGR competitors in the playoffs, Briscoe may be the least-discussed name when it comes to winning a championship. While it’s never been a concern for the 30-year-old driver, he now knows that the expectation in his first year with a Gibbs car is to make it deep into the playoffs, rather than having it come as a surprise.
“It seems like at JGR, it’s really the final four, but certainly if you don’t make it at least to the Round of 8, it is a huge failure,” Briscoe said. “When you look at the sport in general, there’s eight to 10 really good cars. If you aren’t one of those top eight, that normally means you didn’t have the most successful season. I mean, for us, I think starting the playoffs, as a team, we feel like we’re definitely capable of being Championship-4 caliber and, truthfully, even a champion. It’s just a matter of putting 10 weeks together, and obviously, we started week one the way we need to.”
Having worked with a past series champion in Martin Truex Jr., Small knows what will be asked of Briscoe and the No. 19 camp for the next nine weeks, and while a victory to start the postseason automatically moves them into the Round of 12, Small is not pumping the brakes heading to Gateway and Bristol.
“We can start focusing a little bit on the next round, but I feel like to win this championship as well, you need to be all in 36 races every time, just come try to beat everybody down,” Small said. “I guess the engineers can go to sleep a little earlier this week and not have to worry as much. But I think all the people on our team … we’re not going to change the level of effort we put into these next two. It’s just, you don’t have to worry, or if there’s a situation that might be opportunistic for not scoring stage points or whatever, but it’s going to set you up to win the race, you get the ability to do that.”
Minus the chaos the Charlotte Roval can bring to end the Round of 12 or the wild card at Talladega, which will be even more pivotal as it moves to the Round of 8, there are very few weak points for Briscoe during the remainder of the postseason.
Both Small and Briscoe dropped the phrase ‘Championship-4 caliber’ after Sunday’s win, but the No. 19’s stats have spoken for themselves this year.
If Briscoe continues to start races out front and be mistake-free, he’ll have more dominant performances over the next two months like he did in Darlington and be the true frontrunner for the Cup Series title.
“I feel like the playoffs really round out well for me statistically, and even at JGR, it’s all really great race tracks,” Briscoe said. “I mean, the Round of 8 is obviously the hard one just because you do have Talladega in there. But I definitely think that, if we can get there, I feel confident going to Phoenix, too.”
