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NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs: Drivers eliminated after Round of 12 finale at Charlotte Roval

Brian Jones Profile Picby: Brian Jones10/05/25brianjones_93
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Brady Klain/The Republic, Arizona Republic via Imagn Content Services, LLC

The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs continued on Sunday with the Charlotte Roval, and four drivers were eliminated from the Round of 12. The drivers who will not compete in the Round of 8 are Austin Cindric, Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, and Ross Chastain.

We are now one step closer to finding out which four drivers will compete for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship. Here’s a look at the current playoff standings heading into the three Round of 8 races.

Rank Driver Playoff Points
1Denny Hamlin+8
2Ryan Blaney +6
3Kyle Larson+4
4William Byron+4
5Christopher Bell-4
6Chase Elliott-14
7Chase Briscoe-14
8Joey Logano-19

Cindric, Wallace, Reddick, and Chastain were below the cut line heading into the Charlotte Roval. However, it looked like Chastain was going to make his way to the Round of 8, as he was ahead of Joey Logano during the final laps of the race.

That changed when Denny Hamlin passed Chastain, which led to Logano taking back the lead in the standings and finishing four points above the cut line. After the race, Chastain was asked how he came to terms with the mistakes he made, including two pit road errors.

Ross Chastain talks about being eliminated from NASCAR playoffs at Charlotte

“Knowing that no one else had a hand in it but me,” Chastain told NBC Sports. “The Wise program gave me everything I needed, GM, Chevrolet, Trackhouse. So I can go to bed knowing that they’re building me to be the best I can be, but I’ve got to make those right decisions in those moments where I’m not on autopilot, but I come out of the pit stall, I’m just getting to my lights, and I pull twice. When I went to the end of pit road, I didn’t turn because I wanted to get to the end of the yellow line, and I needed to just turn the wheel. It’s really simple.”

The playoff field is now down to eight drivers, and they will have three races to be one of the four drivers to compete in the championship race. Of the eight drivers who remain, four of them have won titles in the past. Ryan Blaney won it in 2023, Kyle Larson won it in 2021, Chase Elliott won it in 2020, and Logano is a three-time champion.