NASCAR’s regular season has all come down to this.
Twenty-five races have led to Saturday night’s regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway, the final chance for drivers to snag a win and earn their way into the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
The regular season finale has seen its fair share of thrilling points battles for playoff spots over the years, but that won’t be the case this year. Alex Bowman currently holds the 16th and final provisional playoff spot by 60 points over Chris Buescher, putting every driver below the cut line in a must-win situation.
A new winner from below the cut line could knock out either Bowman or Tyler Reddick (+89) should Bowman surpass Reddick in the standings at race’s end.
Here’s where the drivers stack up at the “World Center of Racing” as they look for a win that could transcend their 2025 campaign.
–Chris Buescher (17th): Of all the drivers needing a win, Buescher might be in the best position. He won at Daytona in August 2023, and the RFK Racing Fords he drives are always quick at Daytona and Talladega. The bad news? He likely won’t get too much drafting help from teammates Ryan Preece and Brad Keselowski, both of whom also need to win on Saturday to make the playoffs.
–Ryan Preece (18th): Like Buescher, Preece is a capable superspeedway racer and will have a fast car on Saturday evening. Unfortunately, his race cars tend to emulate the airplanes at the nearby Daytona Beach International Airport whenever he tries to make a late push at the 2.5-mile speedway. Preece has gone airborne twice in the last four Daytona races, but if he can keep all four wheels on the ground, he’ll be in the mix for his first career win.
–Kyle Busch (19th): Everything looked like it was coming together for Busch at Daytona a year ago — until Harrison Burton surged past the two-time champion on the final lap and stole a win and a playoff berth away from the No. 8 team. Just like last year, Busch is in a must-win situation. But with another year added to his winless drought and the prospect of missing the playoffs for the second year in a row staring him down, one has to wonder if the future Hall of Famer will be more aggressive than he was here a year ago. He’ll have a Richard Childress Racing teammate in Richmond winner Austin Dillon to push him in the closing laps.
–Ty Gibbs (20th): Aside from a fifth-place finish at Daytona in August 2024, NASCAR’s most iconic track hasn’t been very kind to Gibbs in his short Cup Series career. Drafting tracks aren’t necessarily his specialty, but he needs to win to make the playoffs for the second straight year. Unlike the aforementioned RFK trio, all of Gibbs’ Joe Gibbs Racing teammates are already in the playoffs, which should pay off when he needs a late-race push.
–Driver to watch below the bubble: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (28th): The season has spiraled since Stenhouse and the No. 47 HYAK Motorsports team were battling on the playoff bubble in early June. But Daytona could be the great equalizer for Stenhouse, who has won at Daytona twice and has won four Cup races at drafting tracks. He has shocked the world here before, and the closing laps of superspeedway races are always where Stenhouse makes his money.
–Samuel Stubbs, Field Level Media
