![\"\u2018Fanbase](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2230526516.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAustin Dillon won his way into the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with victory at Richmond Raceway. Image: Getty Images<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAustin Dillon won his way into the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with victory at Richmond Raceway. Image: Getty Images<\/p>\n
With one round remaining in the regular season, 14 drivers have locked themselves into the NASCAR Cup Series<\/a> Playoffs via the win-and-you\u2019re-in format.<\/p>\n Just two spots remain based on points. In the event of there being another first-time winner, one of either Tyler Reddick or Alex Bowman<\/a> would be bumped out of the top 16.<\/p>\n Their predicament comes off the back of Richard Childress Racing\u2019s Austin Dillon winning his way into the Playoffs at Richmond<\/a>, despite being a lowly 25th in the points with just five top 10 finishes and no top fives.<\/p>\n Reddick and Bowman are winless in 2025 but have been consistent enough to be top 10 runners on points.<\/p>\n Reddick, driving for 23XI Racing in the #45 Toyota Camry, is seventh with five top fives and nine top 10s. He was the runner-up in this year\u2019s Daytona 500.<\/p>\n Bowman, who drives the #48 Chevrolet Camaro for Hendrick Motorsports, is ninth in the standings with six top fives and 14 top 10s.<\/p>\n Reddick is +89 while Bowman is +60 to the cut line.<\/p>\n Drivers currently locked into the playoffs who aren\u2019t top 10 in the points include Joey Logano (12th), Ross Chastain (14th), Austin Cindric (15th), Josh Berry (22nd), Shane van Gisbergen (24th), and Dillon (25th).<\/p>\n NASCAR has continued to court controversy for its win-and-you\u2019re-in Playoffs format that pits 16 drivers against each other in a football-style knockout finals.<\/p>\n The system whittles the drivers down to four, starting with a Round of 16, then a Round of 12, and Round of 8, and finally the championship-deciding race at Phoenix.<\/p>\n Alex Bowman drives the #48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro. Image: Ally Racing<\/p>\n There are some concerns that Reddick and Bowman will be eliminated from the Playoffs by someone like Cody Ware, who has singled himself out as a Playoffs candidate.<\/p>\n The driver of the #51 Rick Ware Racing Ford Mustang is 36th in points but said he has a good shot of winning at Daytona on Sunday (AEST).<\/p>\n Daytona is the where he scored his best finish in his 131 starts, claiming fourth at the same 400-mile race a year ago.<\/p>\n The same day, Harrison Burton won his way into the Playoffs with a famous win for Wood Brothers Racing in the #21 Ford Mustang. Burton did not advance past the Round of 16 in 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cWe always seem to do well at Daytona every time we go there, but I think even more so in the summer, so why not us?\u201d said Ware about winning at the beachside speedway.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what it is about the night race, whether it\u2019s the heightened aggression of the field and being able to capitalise on it even more than in the Daytona 500, but I\u2019d say we have just as good a shot as anybody to win on Saturday night.<\/p>\n \u201cAt Daytona, it\u2019s about as equal as it gets. The name of the game is survival, and it\u2019s more of a mental game. It\u2019s like playing chess at 200 mph versus beating and banging. It\u2019s not traditional stock car racing.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve honed my craft at the superspeedways and the results show. And now more than ever, we\u2019ve put ourselves in position where we\u2019ve had great results. Now is the time to capitalise and put the 51 in victory lane.\u201d<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t Golf or Tennis where it\u2019s basically one athlete vs another. This is a team sport. Arguably the best team sport of them all because it takes everyone doing their job almost perfectly.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a team thing Austin. https:\/\/t.co\/OEoG4J5LEN<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Mamba Smith (@MambaSmith34) August 17, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Growing criticism of the Playoffs was renewed on social media this weekend when NASCAR\u2019s \u2018Chief Hype Officer\u2019 Mamba Smith made a controversial post about the format.<\/p>\n The comment has since received more than 1.4 million views and more than 1000 replies.<\/p>\n \u201cThe point isn\u2019t to crown the best driver,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s to crown the best team who executed the best when the pressure was at its highest and the lights were the brightest.\u201d<\/p>\n Totally guessing but I think everyone on this website would say welcome to the playoffs Cody you sure deserve it, we\u2019re happy you\u2019re here! Nobody would be mad, from our limited and very vague experience<\/p>\n \u2014 Wood Brothers Racing (@woodbrothers21) August 18, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin took issue with the Tweet and cited the predicament Reddick and Bowman find themselves in.<\/p>\n He said it would be a cruel end to the regular season if either of them is knocked out of the Playoffs despite being regular top 10 runners.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we\u2019re talking about the format in general, nothing against Cody Ware, but he has no top fives. I don\u2019t know if he has any top 10s this year, but Cody Ware could eliminate Alex Bowman or Tyler Reddick from the Playoffs,\u201d said Hamlin.<\/p>\n \u201cSo everything that Tyler Reddick and Alex Bowman did for the first 25 races can be eliminated by what happens on a green-white-chequered on the 26th race by someone in the mid-30s in points.<\/p>\n \u201cCould you imagine? And we\u2019re supposed to just be, \u2018Cool \u2013 that sounds fair\u2019. The fanbase is over it.\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, the Playoffs reward drivers who win their way in and perform at their best during the final 10 races of the year rather than those who are consistent over the course of the season \u2013 that much is evidenced by the predicament of Reddick and Bowman.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not the first time the Playoffs have been criticised. Last year, Joey Logano won his way in with victory at Nashville but was only 17th in the points.<\/p>\n A Round of 16 win at Atlanta booked his place in the Round of 12 and then a Round of 8 win at Las Vegas got him into the title-deciding Championship Four race at Phoenix, which he won.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not a fan of this playoff format.<\/p>\n Full episode here. \ud83c\udf99\ufe0f: https:\/\/t.co\/f3ZfPUjGfG<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/fIAKST0L1l<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GyhF7cQXIAA6piE.jpg\")
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