CHARLOTTE -- The Southern 500 kicks off a grueling, 10-week stretch culminating with one driver celebrating as the Cup Series champion. For some drivers, it's just another week, but for many others, it's like diving headfirst into a pressure cooker.
"I think it depends on who you are," Denny Hamlin said in response to a question from AltDriver on Wednesday. "If it's your third or fourth time doing this, you're probably still very nervous today and tomorrow and the next day.
"I am certainly not. It's not even a thought of mine. This is just, it's another race. It's another opportunity for me to win. I try not to think about too much or hyper focus on these small moments that will decide whether you move on or not."
Each season, drivers approach the Round of 16 echoing a common refrain -- "don't make mistakes and eliminate yourself." Don't speed on pit road, don't trigger a multi-car wreck, and don't needlessly put yourself in danger.
Just take each race as it comes to you.
Many playoff drivers say this each season, but some still make mistakes. The pressure just gets to some of them, especially if they don't have as much experience in this elimination format.
16 drivers. 10 races. One champion.
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"I've just noticed it more year after year," Christopher Bell told AltDriver. "I go back to 2021. I got eliminated in the Round of 12 off of just a stupid mistake of Las Vegas. We were at Las Vegas and it might have been pit stop number one of the day. I ran into the back of a guy.
"We had a stackup coming on pit road, and I knocked the front end in and ruined my day off of like why? Like I didn't have to do that, right? Like it meant nothing, and I learned from that. And it's just that's an example of what happens whenever you're young and inexperienced."
This mistake took place in Bell's first playoff appearance, and it proved to be a major learning moment for the Oklahoma native. He has gone on to make fewer mistakes as he has gained experience in the Cup Series and with the elimination format.
Bell has learned how to approach certain situations and make on-track decisions based on what he needs at each particular moment. This was not the case before he reached the Championship 4 for the first time.
"The more amped up you get, the more the pressure gets to you, the more likelihood you have of making mistakes," Bell said. "So the calmer you can be and the more times you do it, you get more comfortable with it and you understand how to do it and how to play the game.
"And sometimes you need a home run. Sometimes you need to win the race. Other times you just need a couple points."
Said Austin Dillon, "I think there's definitely times when certain people, when their back's against the wall, press too hard and you can see it in their driving styles and stuff or the moves or choices they make.
"And then teams too, it's very easy for a team to tighten up coming down pit road make bold strategy moves that might not have been the same call that you would have made in the regular season."
This game has certainly changed since the early years of the elimination format. It was almost the Wild West in terms of strategy. Teams just set out to win. They didn't think about the other opportunities they had to beat their fellow playoff drivers or how certain decisions could alleviate some pressure.
"I remember those first couple years. I don't think people realized how valuable the stage points were in my first couple seasons," Chase Elliott said. "And there were, like, lots of stage points up for grabs. And no one really kind of knew how to balance that."
This has certainly changed over the years. Drivers and teams have emphasized the stage points, especially in the second and third races of each round. Once they have a clearer picture of what they need to do to advance, they pursue that goal.
If they can win a race, great. If not, they just try to accumulate as many points as possible.
This focus on what is at stake is actually one reason why Kyle Larson takes a different view of the elimination format than his fellow drivers. He pushes back against the notion that the pressure of the opening rounds affects each driver differently.
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"Honestly, in my opinion, I feel like the racing has always calmed down a little bit once you get to the playoffs because everybody's so conscious of, like, finishing and trying to just get the best finish possible that day," Larson said.
"Obviously, when you get to, like, the cutoff races and stuff, maybe it might ramp up a little bit or teams' pit calls might get a little bit more desperate. But I feel like it kind of calms down because we're trying to finish."
Will drivers just approach the next few weeks as just another race, as Larson expects? Will they make more rational moves while just trying to get the finish they need? Or, will some crumble under the pressure due to what is at stake?
The Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway will provide the first semblance of an answer. This will be the first opportunity for drivers to capitalize on the available opportunities or make ill-timed mistakes that put them below the cutline heading to World Wide Technology Raceway.
"It's a very interesting 10 weeks that's going to come at us here," defending champion Joey Logano said. "It's unpredictable. I don't know exactly how it's going to play out. Nobody knows.
"That's why the plan is one week at a time because you just don't know what the next race is going to bring at you. You handle what's ahead of you and you just take it one week at a time. If you handle today, tomorrow will take care of itself."