After a grueling 26 regular season races, it’s time to go playoff racing.

Sixteen of NASCAR’s best drivers will battle it out over the next 10 weeks for the Bill France Cup, on NBC, Peacock and USA Network.

The upcoming schedule of races will challenge playoff drivers both physically and mentally, with tests at short tracks, intermediates, a road course and a superspeedway.

Here’s everything to know for the playoffs:

Who made the NASCAR playoffs?

Sixteen of the 36 full-time drivers qualified for the 2025 NASCAR playoffs.

Here’s who will compete for the championship (car number, driver name, team name):

No. 1, Ross Chastain, Trackhouse Racing

No. 2, Austin Cindric, Team Penske

No. 3, Austin Dillon, Richard Childress Racing

No. 5, Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports

No. 9, Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports

No. 11, Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing

No. 12, Ryan Blaney, Team Penske

No. 19, Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing

No. 20, Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing

No. 21, Josh Berry, Wood Brothers Racing

No. 22, Joey Logano, Team Penske

No. 23, Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing

No. 24, William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports

No. 45, Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing

No. 48, Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports

No. 88, Shane van Gisbergen, Trackhouse Racing

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NASCAR playoff standings and bracket

Sixteen drivers make the playoffs by either winning a regular season race or being the highest-ranked winless driver. Since there were 14 different race winners, there were two spots left for the winless drivers with the most points scored over the regular season.

As far as playoff seeding goes, drivers can accumulate playoff points throughout the regular season in three ways — winning races (5 points), winning stages (1 point) or finishing in the top-10 of the overall points standings (15 points for first, 10 for second, eight for third, seven for fourth, etc).

Here’s how the seeding and bracket looking heading into this year’s playoffs:

Kyle Larson, 32 points (3 race wins, 9 stage wins, third in standings)

William Byron, 32 points (2 race wins, 6 stage wins, first in standings)

Denny Hamlin, 29 points (4 race wins, 4 stage wins, sixth in standings)

Ryan Blaney, 26 points (2 race wins, 6 stage wins, second in standings)

Christopher Bell, 23 points (3 race wins, 2 stage wins, fifth in standings)

Shane van Gisbergen, 22 points (4 race wins, 2 stage wins)

Chase Elliott, 13 points (1 race win, 1 stage win, fourth in standings)

Chase Briscoe, 10 points (1 race win, 2 stage wins, eighth in standings)

Bubba Wallace, 8 points (1 race win, 3 stage wins)

Austin Cindric, 8 points (1 race win, 3 stage wins)

Ross Chastain, 7 points (1 race win, 2 stage wins)

Joey Logano, 7 points (1 race win, 2 stage wins)

Josh Berry, 6 points (1 race win, 1 stage win)

Tyler Reddick, 6 points (2 stage wins, seventh in standings)

Austin Dillon, 5 points (1 race win)

Alex Bowman, 2 points (ninth in standings)

How does the NASCAR playoffs work?

We’ve already broken down how drivers make the playoffs, but here’s how it works once they get there.

All 16 drivers battle over the first three races. At the end of the third race in the Round of 16, the bottom four drivers will be eliminated. Drivers can advance to the next round by either winning a race in that round or being above the bottom four spots in the standings.

With the field then cut to 12, the same process is repeated over again. The standings are reset to the original playoff points earned at the beginning of the round, and they fight for three more weeks before the bottom four are eliminated.

The same thing happens in the Round of 8. In the Championship 4, the four qualified drivers enter tied — whichever driver finishes first at Phoenix wins the title. It’s one race for all the marbles, playoff points don’t matter.

NASCAR schedule for playoffs and elimination races

The 10 playoff tracks are all unique in shape, size and track surface.

The Round of 16 features an egg-shaped oval in Darlington, South Carolina, a flat oval in Madison, Illinois and a high-banked concrete short track in Bristol, Tennessee.

After that, the Round of 12 goes to a one-mile flat track in Loudon, New Hampshire, a 1.5-mile intermediate in Kansas City, Kansas, and a combined road course/oval in Concord, North Carolina.

The Round of 8 begins in Las Vegas for a high-speed intermediate, then the superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama, and the paperclip-shaped short track in Martinsville, Virginia.

It all wraps up in Avondale, Arizona, for the championship race in the desert.

RoundTrackDate and timeTV/streamRound of 16Darlington RacewaySunday, Aug. 31, 6 p.m. ETUSA Network/NBC.comRound of 16World Wide Technology Raceway (Gateway)Sunday, Sept. 7, 3 p.m. ETUSA Network/NBC.comRound of 16Bristol Motor SpeedwaySaturday, Sept. 13, 7:30 p.m. ETUSA Network/NBC.comRound of 12New Hampshire Motor SpeedwaySunday, Sept. 21, 2 p.m. ETUSA Network/NBC.comRound of 12Kansas SpeedwaySunday, Sept. 28, 3 p.m. ETUSA Network/NBC.comRound of 12Charlotte Motor Speedway Road CourseSunday, Oct. 5, 3 p.m. ETUSA Network/NBC.comRound of 8Las Vegas Motor SpeedwaySunday, Oct. 12, 5:30 p.m. ETUSA Network/NBC.comRound of 8Talladega SuperspeedwaySunday, Oct. 19, 2 p.m. ETNBC/PeacockRound of 8Martinsville SpeedwaySunday, Oct. 26, 2 p.m. ETNBC/PeacockChampionship 4Phoenix RacewaySunday, Nov. 2, 3 p.m. ETNBC/Peacock

NASCAR playoffs and championship predictions

The 2025 NASCAR playoffs are closer than ever. Unlike past season, there wasn’t a single dominant driver who enters with a massive points advantage.

In the first round, there’s typically a major upset — one driver who is a surprise elimination. This year that could be Reddick, who made the Championship 4 last season but hasn’t won in 2025.

All eyes will be on Shane van Gisbergen in the opening round as the New Zealand rookie makes his playoff debut. He’s won four times this year, but all on road courses. He has to survive the Round of 16 to get to the road course in the Round of 12, which could be a difficult task.

When looking at the title contenders, it’ll likely come from the group of five that has been best all season — Larson, Byron, Hamlin, Blaney and Bell. Elliott, Briscoe and the defending champion Logano could sneak into that group, too.

The prediction for the Championship 4 is Larson, Hamlin, Blaney and Briscoe, with the Team Penske star winning his second title for the Captain. Blaney has thrived at Martinsville and Phoenix, the last two tracks on the schedule. He’s shown a knack for big moments in recent years, and that continues in 2025.

Get to know NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney.