After 500 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway, the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs field is four drivers lighter.
An intriguing Saturday evening of high stakes and high tire wear produced a compelling Bass Pro Shops Night Race, the elimination event in the postseason’s Round of 16. The dozen who move on will grid back up for the playoffs’ next phase, which begins a week from Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
WINNER
Christopher Bell, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Bell got the best of Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar on the final restart, then fended off Brad Keselowski to lead the last four laps of his fourth win of the Cup Series season. Bell was already in a reasonably safe zone for making the Round of 12 on points, but his Bristol victory gave him an automatic spot, making the math a moot point. The triumph also made it a clean sweep of the opening round for Joe Gibbs Racing, which has won the postseason’s first three races.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Bristol
WHO’S HOT?
Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Team Penske Ford. No driver earned more points than Blaney on Saturday night, thanks to his second straight fourth-place result and first- and second-place finishes at the stages. The former Cup Series champ led three times for 30 laps in his 52-point night, and his No. 12 team was able to sidestep many of the tire issues that short-circuited his fellow competitors. Overall, Blaney has been piping hot in recent weeks, and Saturday’s outcome at Bristol marked his eighth top-10 finish in the last nine races.
Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Briscoe managed quite the rally from an uncharacteristically poor qualifying effort, a season-worst 31st for the driver who leads the series with six pole positions. He ended up leading 127 laps — second only to JGR teammate Ty Gibbs’ 201 — and kept his postseason momentum rolling, even after an ill-timed final caution flag trapped him on pit road and cost him a better finish. Briscoe had already advanced to the Round of 12 on the strength of his convincing Southern 500 victory, but he now has three straight top-10 results as the playoffs enter its next chapter.
WHO’S NOT?
Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. SVG’s oval-track growing pains had an untimely achy night at Bristol, where the affable rookie dipped out of the playoff picture with a 26th-place finish, three laps off the pace. Van Gisbergen was just minus-15 below the elimination line entering the 500-lapper, but lost more ground as the night went on, with a pair of midrace spins just 31 laps apart slowing his progress. A prime opportunity to regroup comes in the next round, where SVG could play the role of playoff spoiler in the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval event Oct. 5.
Josh Berry, No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford. The worst-case scenario spelled an early end to Berry’s brief playoff run, with three Round of 16 races resulting in last-place finishes. Saturday night’s early ouster was a fire that erupted from the No. 21 Ford’s right-front, filling the car’s cockpit with smoke and ending his race after just 75 laps. “We’ll try and win some races here coming up in this stretch,” Berry said, looking at the seven races left on the 2025 calendar. Among those is Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Oct. 12), where he is the Cup Series’ most recent winner.
BUBBLE WATCH
| RANK | DRIVER | +/- |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | Christopher Bell | +20 |
| 9 | Ryan Blaney | +19 |
| 10 | Chase Briscoe | +10 |
| 11 | Chase Elliott | +5 |
| 12 | Bubba Wallace | +1 |
| CUTLINE | ||
| 13 | Austin Cindric | -1 |
| 14 | Joey Logano | -2 |
| 15 | Ross Chastain | -2 |
| 16 | Tyler Reddick | -3 |
QUOTABLE
“Crazy race. I didn’t have that one on the bingo card going into tonight. I don’t know if anyone did — truthfully. I don’t know. It was wild. I don’t know — I’m still processing what we just did.” — Chase Briscoe, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, after tire management emerged early as a crucial strategy element.
NEXT RACE
The Cup Series Playoffs re-racks next weekend with the circuit’s lone stop this year at New Hampshire, which returns to the postseason rotation for the first time since 2017. Toyota drivers have won the last three races at the 1.058-mile Loudon oval, including two by the series’ most recent winner — Bell. He’ll be among the 12 remaining title-eligible aces aiming to get the next round of the playoffs off to a substantial start, carrying his Bristol sword into the fray.
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