How the 12 Playoff Drivers Historically Perform at New Hampshire
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs have been whittled down from 16 drivers to now just 12.
Following last Saturday's Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol, the final race in the "Round of 16", the following four drivers were removed from contention in the post-season, due to their poor points position: Austin Dillon, Josh Berry, Alex Bowman, and Shane van Gisbergen.
With the field of championship contenders now further refined, the "Round of 12" is set to kick off this weekend in New England, as the NASCAR Cup Series has its 54th race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, located in Loudon, New Hampshire.
Of the 12 drivers still in contention to secure the championship, only three (Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, and Joey Logano) have been to Victory Lane at the 1.018-mile short track. There is one driver in particular, Christopher Bell, who has not only won two of the last three NASCAR Cup Series events at the track, but has also won four of the last six NASCAR Xfinity Series events, and is the most recent NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series winner.
RELATED: Playoff Race Tight Heading Into Round of 12
Denny Hamlin went to Victory Lane at New Hampshire in 2007, 2012, and 2017, while Joey Logano earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory at the racetrack in 2009, and returned to Victory Lane in 2014.
Aside from Hamlin and Logano, who have made 31 and 26 starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, respectively, no other driver currently in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs has made more than 14 starts at the racetrack. Kyle Larson (14), Ryan Blaney (12), and Chase Elliott (11) are the only drivers that have made double-digit starts.
Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, William Byron, and Tyler Reddick have never scored top-five finishes at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, but potentially even more surprising, is the fact that both Austin Cindric and 2025 NASCAR Cup Series regular-season champion William Byron have never finished inside the top-10 at the racetrack.
That's not to say that the Hendrick Motorsports driver has had terrible results at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. In seven NASCAR Cup Series starts at the racetrack, Byron has finished inside the top-15 on four occasions, including a pair of 11th-place finishes in 2020 and 2022.
RELATED: NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Grid After Bristol Night Race
With an extremely tight cutline to begin the "Round of 12" in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, performing solidly in Sunday's Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway could be an extremely crucial part of advancing to the postseason's semi-final round. The Mobil 1 301 will take place on Sunday, September 21, at 2:00 PM ET on USA Network, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Driver | Starts | Wins | Top 5 | Top 10 | Avg. Fin | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ross Chastain | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 16.5 | 3 |
Austin Cindric | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19.0 | 0 |
Kyle Larson | 14 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 11.2 | 22 |
Chase Elliott | 11 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 14.7 | 140 |
Denny Hamlin | 31 | 3 | 11 | 19 | 9.9 | 798 |
Ryan Blaney | 12 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 14.6 | 69 |
Chase Briscoe | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 13.5 | 6 |
Christopher Bell | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 12.2 | 192 |
Joey Logano | 26 | 2 | 9 | 14 | 14.8 | 132 |
Bubba Wallace | 7 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 20.0 | 0 |
William Byron | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17.0 | 9 |
Tyler Reddick | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 11.2 | 53 |
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Joseph Srigley covers NASCAR for TobyChristie.com, Racing America, and OnSI, and is the owner of the #SrigleyStats brand. With a higher education in the subjects of business, mathematics, and data analytics, Joseph is able to fully understand the inner workings of the sport through multiple points of perspective.
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