As nine races wrap up, the Cup season has surpassed a third of its 26-race regular stretch. With the playoff picture taking form, a victory guarantees a driver a playoff berth, provided there aren’t more than 16 different winners in the first 26 races.
Chase Elliott clinched his victory this past Sunday at Texas, becoming the sixth different winner of the season.
This leaves 10 playoff spots determined by points. As of now, former Cup champions Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski find themselves on the outside.
Busch last missed the playoffs in 2012, while Keselowski missed out in 2022, his inaugural season as co-owner/driver of RFK Racing. It marked Keselowski’s first absence from the postseason since 2013.
Currently, Busch and Joey Logano are tied for the 16th and final playoff spot, with Logano holding the tiebreaker based on his better finish this season—a second-place result at Richmond compared to Busch’s third-place finish at Atlanta.
Keselowski trails Logano and Busch by just one point. Following Keselowski are Legacy MC teammates Erik Jones (38 points below the cutline) and John Hunter Nemechek (57 points below the cutline).
Chase Briscoe’s sixth-place finish at Texas elevated him from being outside the playoff picture after Martinsville to 13th on the playoff leaderboard, displacing Busch from the top 16.
Next up, the series heads to Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday (3 p.m. ET on FS1). The regular season concludes with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on September 1st on USA Network, followed by the playoffs’ kickoff at Atlanta Motor Speedway on September 8th on USA Network.
