RICHMOND, Va. — With two races remaining to settle the 16-driver NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field, there are three drivers currently in title contention via points standings. But a new race winner in Saturday night‘s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) or next week in the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway changes the outlook dramatically.
23XI Racing‘s Tyler Reddick holds a 117-point advantage over the cutoff line and would only need to earn 30 points Saturday night to formalize his 2025 playoff opportunity.
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The other two drivers above the playoff elimination line include Hendrick Motorsports‘ Alex Bowman, who holds a 60-point cushion to the good and Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing‘s Chris Buescher, who is only 34 points up on his RFK teammate Ryan Preece. Their other RFK teammate, team co-owner and the 2012 series champion Brad Keselowski, is also in need of a victory to vie for another title.
“I think ideally we would have all liked to have either won by now and kind of locked ourselves in, but when you look at the past however many weeks, 24, to be right there with each other and both of us have penalties. …It‘s not like one of us had a penalty and all that, where we‘ve been neck and neck,” the driver of the No. 60 RFK Racing Ford, Preece, said of racing his teammate for that last points position.
“I‘m just grateful to be a part of this opportunity or to have this opportunity because it‘s been a lot of fun.”
“I think Chris and I are both trying to figure out what‘s the best strategy for us,” Preece continued. “I know crew chiefs Scott (Graves) and Derrick (Finley) are working hard on that. I have really fast race cars and need to go execute great races. If you‘re in a position for a green-white-checkered and you have an opportunity to win, when it comes Monday, I don‘t think about what I should have done different.”
As with Preece, Buescher, driver of the No. 17 RFK Ford, tends to have a very easy-going personality. He said he wasn‘t surprised either that, after two-thirds of the season, the final playoff position may ultimately come down to RFK teammates.
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Keselowski and Buescher have previous wins at both Richmond and Daytona tracks. Keselowski won at Richmond in 2014 and 2020 and the summer Daytona race in 2016. Buescher won at both tracks in 2023.
“We‘ve had some really good days and just needed to get the detail right really,” Buescher said of finding himself in this tenuous position. He said he genuinely does not spend time worrying or even thinking about it.
“There‘s a whole lot of racing that got us to this point and a whole lot of racing left in the year,” Buescher said. “It‘s a big part of our year and obviously the game we‘re playing, but it‘s not something you‘re living in that little tiny box. It‘s the same focus every week, figuring out how we can set ourselves up to win a race and be fast. Points come with all that stuff. It‘s not that we‘re just hyper-focused on it.”
“We plan on us being the new winner, that‘s the first priority,” he added with a smile.
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