Comments from eliminated NASCAR Playoff drivers after Bristol

Four NASCAR Cup Series drivers were eliminated from championship contention following the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway Saturday.

Below is a breakdown how each driver fared at Bristol.

Alex Bowman (-10 points behind cutoff)

Bowman entered Bristol 15th in the standings with a 35-point gap to the cutoff.

After starting 15th, Bowman finished Stage 1 27th, two laps down, and Stage 2 in third, collecting eight stage points.

Bowman led on two occasions for five laps, closing the points gap to Austin Cindric to a few points late in the race. The Hendrick Mototsports driver ultimately finishing eighth.

“Certainly sucks to not transfer, but our back was against a wall coming in here,” Bowman said to USA Network post-race. “We knew it was gonna be a tough thing to do. So, yeah, not a terrible day for us, we’ll keep digging.”

Austin Dillon (-14 points behind cutoff)

Dillon was the closest to the playoff cutoff at 13th in the driver’s standings, 11 points behind Austin Cindric heading into Bristol.

After starting 23rd, Dillon had tire issues early in Stage 1 that forced the No. 3 driver to pit under green flag issues.

Richard Childress Racing driver finished Stage 1 34th, three laps down, and Stage 2 33rd, two laps down.

Dillon finished 28th, four laps down.

“I had to really manage tires and try and keep it underneath me and hope things would have played out,” Dillon said. “And truthfully, they played out as good as we could.

“If we run 15th tonight, we’d probably transfer, but we just things hit us fast there at the beginning being the first car to really go through it.”

Shane Van Gisbergen (-16 points behind cutoff)

SVG entered Bristol 14th in the standings with a 15-point deficit.

After starting 28th, SVG finished Stage 1 29th, two laps down and 34th, three laps down.

The four-time winner in 2025 finished the race 26th, three laps down.

“I just haven’t performed the last couple of weeks and, yeah, didn’t understand the track early enough then, and what the tires were doing and how to save them,” SVG said.

Josh Berry (-56 points behind cutoff)

Berry entered the race 16th in the standings, 45 points behind the playoff cutline.

Despite qualifying 10th and racing inside the Top-10 during the first stage, a fire around lap 80 forced Berry to pit road and he was pulled away from his burning racecar. He finished 39th (last).

“We’ve qualified well,” Berry said. “We’ve had good cars. We just haven’t had the good finishes. That’s just part of it. I don’t think you could ever script three last-place finishes in the ways that we’ve gotten them over the last few weeks.” 

Berry is credited with the statistically worst Round of 16 since the implementation of the current NASCAR Playoffs format in 2014.

Outlook

Now, 12 drivers remain as the playoff grid was reset. The next race is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 21, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.