NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Grid (After Darlington)

Aug 31, 2025; Darlington, South Carolina, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Chase Briscoe (19) leads driver Denny Hamlin (11) out of turn four during the Cookouts Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

With a win in Sunday night's NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, Chase Briscoe will not have to stress out over the next two races as he will automatically advance to the Round of 12 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Race Results: Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway

However, after an up-and-down night for the 16 drivers in the Playoff field, there are some drivers not feeling as great leaving the 1.366-mile track known as The Lady in Black. Shane van Gisbergen dropped to 12th in the championship standings, and he finds himself just three points above the cutline after a 32nd-place finish.

Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, and Alex Bowman will head into next weekend's race at World Wide Technology Raceway below the cutline.

Here is the updated NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Grid following the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (two races remaining in the Round of 16):

Rank	Car	Driver	Points	+/- Cutline	Playoff Pts
1	19	Chase Briscoe (w)	2070	LOCKED IN	17
2	11	Denny Hamlin	2067	+43	29
3	5	Kyle Larson	2062	+38	32
4	45	Tyler Reddick	2059	+35	6
5	24	William Byron	2049	+25	8
6	23	Bubba Wallace	2049	+25	32
7	12	Ryan Blaney	2046	+22	26
8	1	Ross Chastain	2045	+21	7
9	2	Austin Cindric	2036	+12	8
10	20	Christopher Bell	2035	+11	23
11	9	Chase Elliott	2033	+9	13
12	88	Shane van Gisbergen	2027	+3	22
13	22	Joey Logano	2024	-3	7
14	3	Austin Cindric	2019	-8	5
15	21	Josh Berry	2008	-19	2
16	48	Alex Bowman	2008	-19	6

(w) indicates a driver with a win in this round that has locked advancement to Round of 12