2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs
See below for an explanation of the playoffs.
Races are official at either the halfway point of the race or the end of stage 2, whichever comes first.
| Date | Race |
Track | Winner (wins) |
| Sun., Feb 19 | DAYTONA 500 | Daytona International Speedway | #47-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (1) |
| Sun., Feb 26 | Pala Casino 400 | Auto Club Speedway | #8-Kyle Busch (1) |
| Sun., Mar 5 | Pennzoil 400 | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | #24-William Byron (1) |
| Sun., Mar 12 | United Rentals 500k | Phoenix Raceway | #24-William Bryon (2) |
| Sun., Mar 19 | Ambetter Health 400 | Atlanta Motor Speedway | #22-Joey Logano (1) |
| Sun., Mar 26 | Echopark Texas Grand Prix | Circuit of the Americas | #45-Tyler Reddick (1) |
| Sun., Apr 2 | Toyota Owners 400 | Richmond Raceway | #5-Kyle Larson (1) |
| Sun., April 9 |
Food City Dirt Race | Bristol Motor Speedway (dirt) | #20-Christopher Bell (1) |
| Sun, Apr 16 | NOCO 400 | Martinsville Speedway | #5-Kyle Larson (2) |
| Sun., Apr 23 | GEICO 500 | Talladega Superspeedway | #8-Kyle Busch (2) |
| Sun., April 30 | Würth 400 | Dover Motor Speedway | #19-Martin Truex, Jr. (1) |
| Sun., May 7 | AdventHealth 400 | Kansas Speedway | #11-Denny Hamlin (1) |
| Sun., May 14 | Goodyear 400 | Darlington Raceway | #24-William Byron (3) |
| Sun., May 28 | Coca-Cola 600 | Charlotte Motor Speedway | #12-Ryan Blaney (1) |
| Sun., Jun 4 |
Enjoy Illinois 300 | World Wide Technology Raceway | #8-Kyle Busch (3) |
| Sun., Jun 11 | Toyota / Save Mart 350 | Sonoma Raceway | #19-Martin Truex, Jr. (2) |
| Sun., Jun 25 | Ally 400 | Nashville Superspeedway | #1-Ross Chastain (1) |
| Sun., Jul 2 | Grant Park 220 | Chicago Street Course | #91-Shane Van Gisbergen (ineligible) |
| Sun., Jul 9 | Quaker State 400 | Atlanta Motor Speedway | #24-William Byron (4) |
| Sun., Jul 16 | Crayon 301 | New Hampshire Motor Speedway | #19-Martin Truex, Jr. (3) |
| Sun., Jul 23 | HighPoint.com 400 | Pocono Raceway | #11-Denny Hamlin (2) |
| Sun., Jul 30 | Cook Out 400 | Richmond Raceway | #17-Chris Buescher (1) |
| Sun., Aug 6 | FireKeepers Casino 400 | Michigan International Speedway | #17-Chris Buescher (2) |
| Sun., Aug 13 | Verizon 200 | Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course | #34-Michael McDowell (1) |
| Sun., Aug 20 | Go Bowling at the Glen | Watkins Glen International | #24-William Byron (5) |
| Sat., Aug 26 | Coke Zero Sugar 400 | Daytona International Speedway | #17-Chris Buescher (3) |
| Playoffs Round of 16 | |||
| Drivers in the Round of 16: #19-Martin Truex, Jr. (regular season champion), #24-William Byron, #17-Chris Buescher, #8-Kyle Busch, #11-Denny Hamlin, #5-Kyle Larson, #20-Christopher Bell, #1-Ross Chastain, #22-Joey Logano, #45-Tyler Reddick, #12-Ryan Blaney, #34-Michael McDowell, #47-Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., #4-Kevin Harvick, #6-Brad Keselowski, #23-Bubba Wallace. |
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| Sun., Sep 3 | Cook Out Southern 500 | Darlington Raceway | #5-Kyle Larson (3) |
| Sun., Sep 10 | Hollywood Casino 400 | Kansas Speedway | #45-Tyler Reddick (2) |
| Sat., Sep 16 | Bass Pro Shops Night Race | Bristol Motor Speedway | #11-Denny Hamlin (3) |
| Drivers in the Round of 12: #5-Kyle Larson, #11-Denny Hamlin, #45-Tyler Reddick, #24-William Byron, #20-Christopher Bell, #6-Brad Keselowski, #17-Chris Buscher, #8-Kyle Busch, #12-Ryan Blaney, #1-Ross Chastain, #19-Martin Truex, Jr., #23-Bubba Wallace. | |||
| Playoffs Round of 12 | |||
| Sun., Sep 24 | Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400 | Texas Motor Speedway | |
| Sun., Oct 1 | YellaWood 500 | Talladega Superspeedway | |
| Sun., Oct 8 | Bank of America ROVAL 400 | Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL | |
| Playoffs Round of 8 | |||
| Sun., Oct 15 | South Point 400 | Las Vegas Motor Speedway | |
| Sun., Oct 22 | Dixie Vodka 400 | Homestead-Miami Speedway | |
| Sun., Oct 29 | Xfinity 500 | Martinsville Raceway | |
| Championship Race | |||
| Sun., Nov 5 | Season Finale 500 | Phoenix Raceway | |
Playoffs Explanation
- The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs consist of 16 drivers.
- The regular season points leader qualifies for the playoffs, even if they don’t have a win.
- Additional drivers automatically qualify for the playoffs with a win (as long as there are no more than 16 winners) in the first 26 races.
- Any playoff positions not filled with a race winner are filled based on point standings.
- There are 4 rounds of playoffs:
- Round of 16: Darlington, Richmond, Bristol
- Round of 12: Las Vegas, Talladega, Charlotte
- Round of 8: Kansas, Texas, Martinsville
- The Championship race at Phoenix
- A win during a playoff race automatically advances the driver to the next round.
- The bottom 4 drivers at the end of each round are eliminated.
- The highest finishing driver at Homestead is the Champion. Playoff drivers do not earn any stage points at Homestead.
Playoff Structure
- After the third playoff race, there will be 12 drivers. After the sixth playoff race, the field will drop to eight drivers, and following the ninth playoff race, only four drivers will remain in championship contention.
- Round of 16: The first round (races 27-29) is the Round of 16. If a playoff driver wins a race in this round, the driver automatically advances to the next round (Round of 12). The remaining available positions 1-12 that have not been filled based upon wins will be based on points. Each will then have their points reset to 3,000, with any awarded playoff points added.
- Round of 12: The second round (races 30-32) is the Round of 12. Likewise, if a driver in the top 12 in points wins a race in this round, the driver automatically advances to the next round (Round of 8). The remaining available positions 1-8 that have not been filled based upon wins will be based on points. Each will then have their points reset to 4,000, with any awarded playoff points added.
- Round of 8: The third round (races 33-35) is the Round of 8. If a driver in the top eight in points wins a race in this round, the driver automatically advances to the next round (Championship 4). The remaining available positions 1-4 that have not been filled based upon wins will be based on points. Each will then have their points reset to 5,000.
- Additionally, drivers who are eliminated in the Round of 12 and Round of 8 will have their points readjusted. Each eliminated driver will return to the playoff-start base of 2,000 with any awarded playoff points and any accumulated points starting with race No. 27 added. This will allow all drivers not in contention for the title to continue to race for the best possible season-long standing, with final positions fifth-through-16th still up for grabs
Playoff Eligibility
- The top 15 drivers with the most wins over the first 26 races will earn a spot in the playoffs – provided they have finished in the top 30 in points and attempted to qualify for every race (except in rare instances). The 16th playoff position will go to the points leader after race No. 26, if he/she does not have a victory. In the event that there are 16 or more different winners over 26 races, the only winless driver who can earn a playoff spot would be the points leader after 26 races.
- If there are fewer than 16 different winners in the first 26 races, the remaining playoff positions will go to those winless drivers highest in points. If there are 16 or more winners in the first 26 races, the ties will first be broken by number of wins, followed by points.
- Prior to the start of the playoffs, all playoff drivers will have their points adjusted to 2,000, with all playoff points added to their total.
Playoff Points
- In addition to points awarded to drivers based on their finish at the end of stages and the race itself, the winner of a race stage is awarded one playoff point, and the race winner receives 5 playoff points.
- At the end of the regular season, the points leader is awarded 15 playoff points. Second place receives 10 playoff points, 3rd place 8, 4th place 7, 6th place 5, 7th place 4; 8th place 3, 9th place 2, and 10th place 1 playoff point.
- As the start of the playoffs, each eligible driver’s point total is reset to 2000 points, plus the total number of playoff points they earned during the regular season.
- Playoff points are also awarded during each round of the playoffs.
- At the start of each following round of the playoffs, the points are again reset (3000, 4000, and 5000) among eligible drivers and playoff points are added to that amount, with the exception of the Championship race at Homestead-Miami. For the championship race, the final four drivers start with 5000 points, earn no bonus points, and the highest finisher is the Champion.