By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service

The “Lady in Black” lies in wait for NASCAR Cup Series title hopefuls

There’s one consistent theme as the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs get under way with Sunday night’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. ET on USA, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

William Byron, driver of the #24 Axalta Chevrolet, leads the field during the NASCAR Cup Series Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on April 06, 2025 in Darlington, South Carolina. (Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images)

Drivers who eliminate or minimize mistakes are likely to survive the Round of 16, but at treacherous Darlington, that’s easier said than done.

“That’s the biggest thing about Darlington for me is just avoiding mistakes and racing the race track and kind of letting the rest happen,” said Alex Bowman, whose Playoff spot wasn’t secure until the last second of last Saturday’s regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway.

“If we can just put together solid weeks through this first round, we should be OK… Darlington’s an easy place to make mistakes. It’s such a long night, a lot of opportunities for mistakes, a high-risk-level race track in general. So, trying to limit those is definitely important.”

Bowman has no margin for error. He starts the Playoffs 16th on the 16-driver grid, five points below the current elimination line for the Round of 12. On the other hand, Bowman is only 12 points out of seventh place in a cluster of 10 drivers fighting to stave off elimination.

Two of Bowman’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates—Regular Season Champion William  Byron and 2021 series champion Kyle Larson—are in far more enviable positions as the Playoffs begin.

Both Byron and Larson start the postseason with 32 Playoff points, 26 above the elimination line.

“I think, in our position, we’ve had that conversation of just trying to stack some more points and stack some more race wins,” Byron said. “I think we’ve been in this position before, and we feel like we kind of understand the cadence of the first round.

“It’d be really nice to go out there and win one of these just to take the pressure off and have some forward momentum as well. They’re good tracks for us. I think Darlington’s the best in the first round for us. The other two (WWT Raceway and Bristol) can be hit-or-miss for us, but who knows? We could be really fast at those. So just, yeah, we’ll see.”

Three-time and defending champion Joey Logano is 12th on the Playoff grid, one point above the cut line entering the time of year when his team tends to excel. The only full-time active driver with three titles, Logano is optimistic about his chances despite his precarious position in the standings.

The driver of the No.22 Team Penske Ford also knows that he’ll be a target for the 15 other drivers because of his championship runs in 2022 and 2024.

“I think we’ve kind of ruined the under-the-radar thing at this point, which is fine,” Logano said. “It’s just kind of a unique position for us to be in. I think if you look at our stats, people would say you’re under the radar, but I think they look at the whole body of work over the last 10 years and they’d say, ‘Well, I don’t think they’re under the radar that much.’

“It’s a very unique spot to be in. I think we have a really solid race team in the Playoffs and that’s why I look forward to this part of the year every year.”

Chase Briscoe is the defending winner of the Cook Out Southern 500, which was last year’s regular-season cutoff race, not the first Playoff event. Briscoe is eighth in the standings, four points to the good.

“We’re already starting 20, 30 points behind, so that’s the big thing I think for us is we have to be able to execute in these first two rounds and hopefully win a race or two,” Briscoe said. “If we can do that and shorten that gap Playoff-point-wise, I think it puts us in a better spot.

“For me, just from an execution standpoint, that’s the biggest thing and just trying to win a race these first two rounds, just trying to get more Playoff points to set us up for (an) easier way to that final four.”

NASCAR Xfinity Series regular season features two very different battles

At the top and bottom of the NASCAR Xfinity Series standings there are plenty of unresolved issues with two races left in the regular season.

Those issues should gain considerable clarity, however, after Saturday night’s Pacific Office Automation 147 at Portland International Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET on CW, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

In the battle for the Regular Season Championship, Justin Allgaier holds a three-point lead over JR Motorsports teammate Connor Zilisch, a seven-time winner this season.

Zilisch, who got a major assist from relief driver Parker Kligerman in his victory last Friday at Daytona, has accumulated 36 Playoff points. Allgaier has 24, and no other driver in the series has more than eight.

Nevertheless, the race for the regular-season title can’t be characterized as a two-driver affair. Though Sam Mayer, who is highly skilled on road courses, has only eight Playoff points, he is only 26 points behind Allgaier in the regular-season standings.

Despite posting just one victory, Mayer has stayed close with consistent performances, equaling Allgaier’s totals for top fives (12) and top 10s (15) in 24 starts.

“Yeah, it’s great to be consistent and all, but you want to win, because when it comes to the Playoffs, the bonus points you get are the only thing that matters,” said Mayer, who ran third on the 1.967-mile Portland road course in 2023 and won the pole last year before finishing 28th.

“We’re going to keep working on that. We have two more shots at it, and I think we’ll be good at both of those races, so it’s just a matter of getting the job done. The ‘W’ is the only thing on the mind right now.”

To get the win, however, he’ll have to beat Zilisch, who has won three road course races this season and five of the last six races overall.

At the bottom of the standings, there are still four Playoff spots to be decided. Harrison Burton currently leads cousin Jeb Burton by 36 points for the final postseason berth.

Corey Heim starts NASCAR Truck Series Playoffs as clear favorite

There’s an unmistakable frontrunner as the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoffs open with Saturday’s Sober or Slammer 200 at Darlington Raceway (12 noon ET on FS1, NRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

A seven-time winner this season, Heim enters the first round of the Playoffs with a 62-point margin above the current elimination line—more than a full-race “mulligan.”

However, the TRICON Garage driver knows a crash or part failure can change the dynamic of the Playoffs in short order.

“I feel like our mind-set as far as our 11 crew and the organization with TRICON is to prepare to the best of our ability in the same way that we have for most of the races this year and just to really hone in on everything, if not elevate everything, to make sure that we cannot have any failures or anything crazy like that.

“And also, just continue to bring the speed that we have throughout the year.”

Heim enters the Playoffs on a two-race winning streak, but 1.366-mile Darlington has been a trouble track for the series leader. In four starts at the Lady in Black, Heim has a best finish of eighth and an average finish of 20.5.