NASCAR
2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Preview: Team Trackhouse & Richard Childress Racing
Outside of the Hendrick foursome, three other Chevrolets are represented in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Playoffs. Coming from both Trackhouse Racing and Richard Childress Racing, these three contenders all won their way into the 16-man title fight. Here’s a look at the respective chances over the next 10 weeks for van Gisbergen, Chastain, and Dillon.
Shane Van Gisbergen – 2,022 points
Perhaps the easiest or the hardest man to handicap for 2025’s NASCAR Playoffs is Shane van Gisbergen. The four-time road course winner enters the postseason as the sixth seed, with a 16-point cushion to the cut line. Should he advance onto the Round of 12, the Charlotte Roval is an almost assured pathway to the Round of 8 for the 88. This semifinal dream run is much easier said than done, however. SVG has never competed at Worldwide Technology Raceway at Gateway. Darlington and Bristol are also two of the most technical ovals in the sport to open this 10-week chase. Alas, SVG knows he has no pressure or expectations ahead as a rookie and is looking to have fun regardless of his results.
“It’s a privilege I guess to be here and we’ve had an amazing year and run, so hopefully keep going,” van Gisbergen said. “It’s taken me a long time to learn the ovals, particularly because I haven’t done them before. So finally starting to go to tracks for the second time and yeah, hopefully go better.”
“I remember last year [in Xfinity], the way it was approached was different to the rest of the season. We got caught up in the moment a little bit too much. We did a silly strategy at the Roval. It was an unexplained mistake really. I think this year it’s been good… just trying to stay level-headed, take it week by week. We’re in an amazing spot to be here and we have no expectation to make it through the second round. No one knows what we’re going to do. If we go and perform, we can surprise some people.”
Is 16 points enough of a gap for SVG to cruise through to the Round of 12? Likely no, he may have to find a way to earn stage points over the next three weeks. He will have to find a way to out-score several hungry and experienced drivers ranked below him. Whether in contention or not, however, SVG will be the overwhelming favorite at the Roval in a few weeks. Already having won Rookie of the Year for 2025, SVG is simply playing with house money from this point forward.
Ross Chastain – 2,007 points
SVG’s teammate Ross Chastain yearns for another shot at the Championship 4. Chastain is nothing short of a man filled with a few recent Playoff highlights. The famed Hail Melon move put Trackhouse Racing on the precipice of winning the Cup title in 2022. A year later, Chastain won Phoenix as a spoiler. Despite missing the Playoffs last year, Chastain was an upset winner once again at Kansas. Now in the championship hunt again thanks to winning Charlotte, Chastain has new life for bringing home the ultimate trophy. Driver 1 does have some glaring concerns about his team though. Is Trackhouse on their back foot to start these 10 weeks?
“It’s just, are we going to be fast?” Chastain asked. “Are we going to roll off the truck fast for practice at Darlington? Are we going to be able to stay fast on lap 10 of that run, lap 20, lap 30, and transfer that through into qualifying for one lap, and then back to long run for the race? That’s the ultimate question for Trackhouse, in my mind is, can we go fast? And if we can do that, can we execute? We can call strategy right. We’ll miss calls. All the little things, I think we can do really well. But it’s holding ourselves accountable to keep doing them well. I don’t just rest on what we’ve done, but you need to make sure we do the little things right.”
Execution and the No. 1 team are a perfect pairing this season. Chastain won the Coca-Cola 600 in a backup car and after starting last following a qualifying crash. That night his crew scrambled until the early morning hours to get their eventual winning car race-ready. With only three top-10s since, the summer months have not been as kind to Chastain. These results have Chastain rolling into Playoff race one as the eleventh seed. The 1 will hope to be number 1 when the dust settles in Darlington and over the next nine weeks. Chastain’s championship path may seem slim now, but the Melon Man hopes to bust a few brackets en route to Phoenix.
Austin Dillon – 2,005 points
Making his sixth Playoff appearance thanks to his dominant Richmond win is Austin Dillon. The RCR 3 team has made the Round of 12 twice before. Alas, only five bonus points has them starting out ranked 15th. At the time of his win, Dillon was 28th in Cup standings. A recent performance uptick has this team beaming at an opportunity to turn some heads.
“I always use [doubters] as fuel, but I feel like I have really a good confidence and a calm about it,” Dillon said. “I don’t have anything to prove in that sense. I’m just really happy with where we’re at as an organization because first quarter of the season I would have said differently. But now I feel confident. I feel good that we can execute and make a good push. We’re one of the last teams to win on a regular oval, so.”
“After Dover, I think we probably took a different approach of like, all right, what can we do? What are the things that we’re not looking at as an organization to get better? And I think all things opened up a little bit more during those times. Like just a more group effort of really resetting, let’s start from scratch and kind of start there. But there were some things happening even before Dover that we probably didn’t get the fruits of all the labor that’s been going in. It’s just that Dover is truthfully probably historically a horrible track for us as an organization, so it kind of came to a head. But then we’ve been working hard and my team’s pretty in its infancy if I look at it that way. (Richard) Boswell and I were one year in, and like we’re really building that atmosphere, and it’s just kind of coming together at the right time for the 3 team and I think that’s what it’s kind of come down to. You have winners in the group. I mean, we were at our win luncheon at RCR and it’s like we’ve got winners here now and that means something, and it feels good and makes you know that you can execute in a tight situation and not fall apart. And I think RCR’s always kind of had that execution factor, and we’re doing a better job of putting better product on the tracks, so that all comes together nicely.”
“I want to start with the first round. I think we are very capable of transferring to the next round. So that’s where I would start. That’s success. I would have said making the playoffs at one point this year would have been a huge goal. But now, at this point, like, we’ve got an opportunity. It’s like when momentum hits in the sport, in sports worlds, you’ve got to take advantage of it. Momentum is fickle. So, you got to take advantage of it when you’re hot. I feel like our team’s a little hot right now and we don’t want to cool down. I think the picture changes and evolves throughout the playoffs, but there’s no one running away with it.”
Richmond win aside, an Iowa top-10 and a quiet Watkins Glen 15th showed that Dillon can put together consistent results. Starting out so close to the bottom of the totem pole, though, Dillon’s almost already in must-win territory. Darlington was the site of a near upset victory for Dillon in the 2020 Playoffs. Gateway and Bristol are likewise strong RCR tracks. Dillon’s back is definitely against the wall to start these Playoffs. Any issues for contenders ahead of him may open the door just wide enough for the 3 to sneak onto the next round.
Chevrolet trumps all other manufacturers with seven cars included in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Playoffs. Looking past the Hendrick fabulous four, however, are three legitimate chances at making noise past the opening round. SVG is learning more with every lap ran on ovals. Chastain can never be counted out of a deep run. Dillon also has a shot at capturing the retribution postseason he had taken away last year. All three of these drivers are spread equally throughout the Playoff grid, with equal shots at advancing onward. It will be fun to see how they all thrive or flounder over the next three weeks.
Written by Peter Stratta
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Photo Credits to Chris Graythen, Samuel Corum, and Logan Riely/Getty Images
