For the second straight week, Joe Gibbs Racing claimed the checkered flag. This time, Denny Hamlin went to Victory Lane and punched his ticket to the second round. Now the first round of the NASCAR playoffs comes to an end with the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Night Race.
Will another playoff driver win and advance, or could this be the race where someone outside the playoff plays spoiler?
Let’s dive in.
2025 Bass Pro Shops Night Race Entry List
The entry list for Saturday night’s race features the Truck Series Championship favorite, Corey Heim, in the #67 car for 23XI. Xfinity regular Austin Hill also makes another start in the #33 for Richard Childress Racing.
Rounding out the list of non-weekly drivers is Chad Finchum, making a start in the #66.
Burton vs. Earnhardt Jr.
— NASCAR Classics (@NASCARClassics) September 11, 2025
Johnson vs. Gordon.
Gordon vs. Wallace.
The list goes on. And on. And on.
It was hard to keep track of all of the action at @ItsBristolBaby in 2002. pic.twitter.com/WqESZr80Vq
As for the racing at Bristol, NASCAR and Goodyear are supposedly bringing a different tire compound to increase fall off for Saturday’s race and improve the NASCAR NextGen short track product. We did see better racing than usual, thanks to the tires at Richmond, but I maintain some doubts about the racing.
We did witness some wild falloff at the Bristol spring race a couple of years back, but I don’t expect anything quite like that in the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Night Race.
Playoff Picture Heading into Bristol
Two drivers have punched their second-round playoff ticket courtesy of victories in the first two races of this postseason. Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe both advance to the Round of 12. 10 spots remain up for grabs, but realistically, I feel pretty confident in saying both Kyle Larson and Bubba Wallace will advance. Let’s take a look at the playoff picture.
- Denny Hamlin – One Win
- Chase Briscoe – One Win
- Kyle Larson +60
- Bubba Wallace +50
- Ryan Blaney +42
- William Byron +39
- Tyler Reddick +37
- Christopher Bell +32
- Chase Elliott +28
- Joey Logano +21
- Ross Chastain +19
- Austin Cindric +11
- Austin Dillon -11
- Shane Van Gisbergen -15
- Alex Bowman -35
- Josh Berry -45
Unfortunately for the drivers currently below the cutline, I don’t see any of them either winning their way in or scoring enough points to move above the cutline.
I expect the current standings to hold serve going into the second round.
2025 Bass Pro Shops Night Race Predictions
For the past few races at Bristol, one driver has dominated. I’m not going to beat around the bush here. Kyle Larson is a force at this track, and barring any kind of major issue, Larson will be the race winner when the checkered flag is waved on Saturday night.
He's won the last two races at @ItsBristolBaby.
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 11, 2025
A third consecutive win would send @KyleLarsonRacin to the Round of 12 with all the momentum. pic.twitter.com/hnqTAFzjKJ
Denny Hamlin will be one to keep an eye on, depending on tire fall off, but Larson feels like a no-brainer pick here.
Check out the schedule below so you don’t miss any on-track action.
Thursday 09/11
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Qualifying – 3:10 p.m. CT on FS2
Bush’s Beans 200 (ARCA Menards Series) – 4:30 p.m. CT on FS1
UNOH 250 presented by Ohio Logistics (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series) – 7:00 p.m. CT on FS1
Friday 09/12
NASCAR Xfinity Series Qualifying – 2:05 p.m. CT on the CW App
NASCAR Cup Series Qualifying – 4:40 p.m. CT on TruTV
Food City 300 (NASCAR Xfinity Series) – 6:30 p.m. CT on the CW
Saturday 09/13
Bass Pro Shops Night Race (NASCAR Cup Series) – 6:30 p.m. CT on USA and HBO Max
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