Below The Cutline: Darlington Did a Number On the Playoff Field

Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

First impressions, you always want to make a good one. However, that wasn't the case for a large portion of the 16-driver NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field in the opening race of the Playoffs Round of 16. While Chase Briscoe, a Playoff contender, dominated the race by leading 309 laps on his path to victory in Sunday's Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, only four Playoff drivers finished inside the top-10.

Race Results: Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington

Due to the mixed bag of results at Darlington Raceway, there will be a lot of anxiety for Playoff drivers heading into this weekend's Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway. Another bad day in Gateway could result in a pressure-packed situation in Bristol Motor Speedway's night race.

Shane van Gisbergen entered the race weekend 16 points above the cutline, thanks to his four road course wins during the regular season, and the driver genuinely felt good about his chances for a good run at Darlington Raceway.

Ultimately, that didn't pan out, as the No. 88 Trackhouse Racing team made some adjustments following Saturday's practice and qualifying sessions, and the adjustments didn't agree with the race car. Van Gisbergen struggled mightily all race long, and the New Zealander ended the evening with a 32nd-place finish after a late-race strategic gamble to try to work their way back onto the lead lap was thwarted by an untimely caution.

But van Gisbergen explained that even with the caution, he had no speed in the car whatsoever.

"Well, yeah, it bit us that the caution came out at the wrong time, but yeah, just had nothing anyway," van Gisbergen said after the race. "Whatever was different from yesterday, the car was horrible. They tried everything they could, but we couldn't make it better, and I couldn't find a way to make speed."

The driver, who was seeing his cushion to the cutline evaporate throughout the long race could do nothing but stew from behind the wheel.

"I was losing my sh-t inside the car," van Gisbergen said, "It didn't feel like [we had turned our race around after getting back on the lead lap in Stage 1]. It's a shame because I had reasonable hopes. We ran good here in the Spring, and our cars are getting better. Yeah, I just felt hopeless out there."

Now, he heads into Gateway just three points above the cutline. It's going to be a tall ask for him to survive and advance to the Round of 12, but there's a reason the races are run.

While SVG is clinging to his Playoff hopes for another week, Joey Logano, Austin Dillon, Alex Bowman, and Josh Berry are the four drivers below the Playoff cutline following Darlington.

Joey Logano (Three Points Below the Cutline)

Logano, the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion, came into the night a point above the Playoffs cutline. However, a so-so performance, which led to a 20th-place finish coupled with Tyler Reddick, who was one point outside looking in, having a runner-up finish, Logano now finds himself three points below the cutline.

The driver was left puzzled after Sunday night's race as he and the No. 22 team have had some great results at Darlington in the past.

“We just had no grip. 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," Logano stated.

While it was a frustrating race, Logano did pull one silver lining from the night -- they didn't take a rough night and make it worse.

Darlington was rough for Logano, but with Gateway, a shorter flat track, being in Team Penske's wheelhouse, it's certainly not time to hit the panic button on the three-time champion just yet.

However, Logano may be the only driver below the cutline not feeling a bit of pressure in the wake of Darlington's 500-miler.

Austin Dillon (Eight Points Below the Cutline)

Austin Dillon, who secured his place in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with an emphatic win at Richmond Raceway a few weeks ago, didn't completely collapse in Sunday's race at Darlington Raceway, but a 23rd-place finish didn't get him off to the start he had hoped for.

Dillon, who rolled from the starting grid in the ninth position, felt great about his chances early in the race as he was hovering in and around the top-10. However, as the track conditions changed as day turned to night, the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team lost the handle on the car, which had them scrambling.

As they improved the car, an untimely caution came out while they were on pit road, and they basically ended any hopes of a solid finish.

“We started OK, and then we just had issues throughout the race," Dillon explained. "We got too tight in that one run and just couldn’t overcome it. We kind of got it back going the other direction; made some passes and got up to around 18th. We hit pit road, and the caution came out. It was just unfortunate."

It was a character-building night for Dillon and the No. 3 team, which are a tight-knit bunch. Dillon says while it wasn't their best effort, he's happy to exit Darlington within range of the cutline, and he remains hopeful going forward.

"We just struggled with our No. 3 BPS/Winchester Deer Season XP Chevrolet and didn’t execute like we needed to. We just have to do better. But all-in-all, we’re not that far below the cutline," Dillon said. "We just need to have a solid finish in the next two races of this round.”

Alex Bowman (19 Points Below the Cutline)

Alex Bowman and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team, who had been one of the most consistent driver/team combinations in the NASCAR Cup Series over the couple of months prior to the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway, stumbled in the opening race of the Playoffs as Bowman recorded a 31st-place finish on a frustrating evening at Darlington.

For Bowman, the performance was unacceptable.

"Yeah, I mean it certainly wasn't for a lack of effort, but just a sh-tty, unacceptable day on kind of all fronts," Bowman anguished. "You know, we weren't great when we unloaded. Didn't qualify well. We got caught up in that first deal a little bit, lost the little bit of track position that we had. Just kind of fell apart from there. And just honestly, without all of that, we were just really, really, really slow."

The driver of the No. 48 machine is now 19 points below the cutline, and he's tied for the final slot inside the Playoff Grid following the opening race of the Playoffs.

Josh Berry (19 Points Below the Cutline)

Josh Berry, who came into the first race of the Playoffs just one point below the cutline, started the weekend at Darlington with optimism, as he had performed well at the 1.366-mile oval in the past. That optimism only soared further after a third-place qualifying run leading into the race.

However, things fell apart quicker than you could ever imagine for the driver and his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing team as Berry went for a spin in the opening turn of the first lap of the race.

16 enter, but only one can be champion.

The #NASCARPlayoffs kick off now with the #Southern500 at @TooToughToTame but there's trouble early! pic.twitter.com/eTBDcitTb5

— NASCAR (@NASCAR) August 31, 2025

It turns out, Berry's car was too low due to tire pressures or perhaps a post-qualifying adjustment, which led his No. 21 Ford Mustang Dark Horse to bottom out hard several times in Turns 1 and 2, which resulted in the bad day.

"It bottomed out like five or six times, I don't know. I saw a video of it from the 1 car while they were fixing it, and you could see it throwing up smoke," Berry explained. "Not sure what happened there, if we missed something, but yeah, you just can't drive these things when they're hitting the track that hard. Especially on the first lap when you're not expecting it."

Berry would return to the race and would complete the Xfinity Fastest Lap, which would earn him an additional championship point, but the driver would register a 38th-place finish in what was a frustrating day.