The pressure has increased on bubble drivers after the opening race of the playoffs. Alex Bowman and Josh Berry, in particular, face significant hurdles as they head to Gateway.
The two drivers entered the Southern 500 in close proximity to the cutline. Berry only sat one point out of a spot in the Round of 12. Bowman sat five points below the cutline. Yet, the situation changed after major issues at Darlington Raceway.
Berry crashed on the opening lap and finished last in the 38-car field. Bowman finished 31st after a night of handling issues and pit road miscues. Now, they are both 19 points below the cutline and Shane van Gisbergen, the last driver in position to move to the Round of 12.
The #NASCARPlayoffs picture following the #Southern500. pic.twitter.com/y2d3gdO0MH
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 1, 2025
"It's just disappointing," Berry said after Sunday night's race. "It looked like a lot of people had a bad night, which we know how this goes. We just need to avoid a bad night.
"I obviously haven't seen (the points) yet, but I feel like we're still within striking distance that if we just go have two good weeks, we'll at least be in the mix once we get to Bristol."
Bowman and Berry had the most high-profile issues at Darlington on Sunday, but they were not the only drivers who fell further below the cutline. Austin Dillon qualified inside the top 10 but finished 23rd without any stage points. His car could not handle the track the way he needed. He left Darlington with only 14 points and fell to eight points below the cutline.
Joey Logano, the only active three-time champion, didn't have the speed or handling in his Ford Mustang, something that plagued all of the Team Penske drivers. He also missed out on stage points and finished 20th.
Logano fell to three points below the cutline heading to Gateway, also known as World Wide Technology Raceway. Yet, he has a better path to the Round of 12 than some other drivers.
This is the track where Logano has finished no worse than fifth in three starts. He also won in 2022 en route to his second Cup championship.
While four drivers fell below the cutline, one driver previously in peril capitalized on opportunity. Tyler Reddick ran inside the top five for nearly the entire Southern 500. He scored 18 stage points, the second-most in the series, and he finished second behind Chase Briscoe.
This locked up 53 points overall and helped Reddick gain 10 spots in the playoff standings. He is now 35 points above the cutline heading to Gateway.
Reddick was not the only 23XI Racing driver to take advantage of the Southern 500. Teammate Bubba Wallace built a cushion to the cutline with a solid performance overall, albeit one in which he had to recover from a slow pit stop.
Wallace ran solidly inside the top 10 all night. He finished fifth in stage 1 and seventh in stage 2 while scoring 10 stage points. He finished the race in sixth place and locked up 41 points. This was the third-most among playoff drivers, and it helped Wallace gain four spots in the standings. He is now 25 points above the cutline.
"It was a good night. Just base hits, man," Wallace said on pit road after the race. "Lap by lap. Got in the wall a little bit. Had some mistakes on pit road. But we rebounded really nice, so I appreciate everybody's effort.
"Our guys are solid. Our team is solid. And if we just do our job, nothing fancy, we can go really, really far. And I think putting runs together like today, capitalizing on others' mistakes, will help us even achieve that goal. So just really pleased with the night. Nothing to hang our head about."
The Round of 16 continues next weekend with an afternoon race at Gateway. This is the middle race of the opening round, and it's another opportunity for a playoff drivers to win their way into the Round of 12.