Once again, the Southern 500 will kick off the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. After serving as the regular season finale last year, Darlington Raceway returns to first race of the playoffs. While Darlington is back in the playoffs, the rounds look a bit different this year. Homestead and Atlanta got the boot while New Hampshire and Gateway make their playoff debuts. Talladega shifts to the Round of 8 to throw chaos into the last 3-race round. Phoenix Raceway will host the Championship Race this year before getting replaced (for at least a year) by Homestead. As for the drivers in the field of 16, it consists of 14 winners and 2 who pointed their way in. Who will emerge as champion this year? Find out who the Pit Pass Network team think will hoist the trophy in the 2025 Cup Series Playoff Predictions.
For the playoff predictions, each round is assigned an amount of points for each correct driver a member gets correct. The points per rounds are as follows:
- Round of 16: 1 pt (maximum of 12 points)
- Round of 12: 2 pts (maximum of 16 points)
- Round of 8: 4 pts (maximum of 16 points)
- Championship Four: 8 pts
Total available points: 52. Since there could be overlap and a tie, there are 5 tiebreaker questions. Those are:
- Which playoff driver will win the most races?
- How many non-playoff drivers will win a race?
- Which non-playoff driver will win a race?
- Which track will host (one of) the non-playoff driver winner(s)?
- Will the eventual champion win Phoenix?
If there is still a tie after the questions, the final tiebreaker will be who guesses the closest amount of laps led by the champion at Phoenix.
Without further housekeeping, here are the Cup Series Playoff Predictions.
Zach Adams
Tiebreakers
Most Playoff Driver Wins: Kyle Larson
Number of Non-Playoff Driver Wins: 2
Non-Playoff Driver to Win: Chris Buescher
Race of Non-Playoff Driver Win: Talladega
Champion Laps Led at Phoenix: 67
Andy Coffey
Tiebreakers
Most Playoff Driver Wins: Kyle Larson
Number of Non-Playoff Driver Wins: 2
Non-Playoff Driver to Win: AJ Allmendinger
Race of Non-Playoff Driver Win: ROVAL
Champion Laps Led at Phoenix: 150
Robert Cwick
Tiebreakers
Most Playoff Driver Wins: Ryan Blaney
Number of Non-Playoff Driver Wins: 4
Non-Playoff Driver to Win: Michael McDowell
Race of Non-Playoff Driver Win: ROVAL
Champion Laps Led at Phoenix: 5
Tiffany Faw
Tiebreakers
Most Playoff Driver Wins: Christopher Bell
Number of Non-Playoff Driver Wins: 3
Non-Playoff Driver to Win: Chris Buescher
Race of Non-Playoff Driver Win: Talladega
Champion Laps Led at Phoenix: 57
Griffin Fuller
Tiebreakers
Most Playoff Driver Wins: Ryan Blaney
Number of Non-Playoff Driver Wins: 4
Non-Playoff Driver to Win: Ryan Preece
Race of Non-Playoff Driver Win: Kansas
Champion Laps Led at Phoenix: 167
Robert Hill Jr
Tiebreakers
Most Playoff Driver Wins: Christopher Bell
Number of Non-Playoff Driver Wins: 1
Non-Playoff Driver to Win: Ricky Stenhouse Jr
Race of Non-Playoff Driver Win: Talladega
Champion Laps Led at Phoenix: 83
Terra Jones
Tiebreakers
Most Playoff Driver Wins: William Byron
Number of Non-Playoff Driver Wins: 1
Non-Playoff Driver to Win: Todd Gilliland
Race of Non-Playoff Driver Win: Talladega
Champion Laps Led at Phoenix: 42
Gregory Latham
Tiebreakers
Most Playoff Driver Wins: Chase Briscoe
Number of Non-Playoff Driver Wins: 3
Non-Playoff Driver to Win: Ryan Preece
Race of Non-Playoff Driver Win: Phoenix
Champion Laps Led at Phoenix: 101
Mark Matthews
Tiebreakers
Most Playoff Driver Wins: Christopher Bell
Number of Non-Playoff Driver Wins: 1
Non-Playoff Driver to Win: Carson Hocevar
Race of Non-Playoff Driver Win: Kansas
Champion Laps Led at Phoenix: 115
Daniel Smith
Tiebreakers
Most Playoff Driver Wins: Denny Hamlin
Number of Non-Playoff Driver Wins: 1
Non-Playoff Driver to Win: Ty Gibbs
Race of Non-Playoff Driver Win: Talladega
Champion Laps Led at Phoenix: 89
Jane Waldrop
Tiebreakers
Most Playoff Driver Wins: Christopher Bell
Number of Non-Playoff Driver Wins: 3
Non-Playoff Driver to Win: Brad Keselowski
Race of Non-Playoff Driver Win: Talladega
Champion Laps Led at Phoenix: 27
Marvin Wingfield
Tiebreakers
Most Playoff Driver Wins: Kyle Larson
Number of Non-Playoff Driver Wins: 1
Non-Playoff Driver to Win: Chris Buescher
Race of Non-Playoff Driver Win: Kansas
Champion Laps Led at Phoenix: 34