From Brad Keselowski to Austin Dillon, Which NASCAR Drivers Need to Shift Gears if They Want to Stay In the 2025 Playoff Hunt?

It’s that time of year again: when NASCAR Cup drivers and their teams really start worrying about whether they’re going to qualify for the playoffs.

Sure, teams and drivers worry about making the playoffs all year, starting with the season-opening Daytona 500, but it’s when the first half of the regular season ends and the second half begins that things start moving in a much higher gear.

Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 marked the end of the first 13 races of NASCAR Cup’s regular season, and this Sunday’s race in Nashville marks the start of the second 13 races of the regular season. And looking at the standings, several drivers are starting to look like they’re in big trouble already.

Now, admittedly, a win for any driver who hasn’t won a race yet this season will cure all their playoff ills and give them an automatic berth in the 16-driver post-season. But there are only so many wins and so many spots left to go around.

Only eight drivers have won a race thus far this year. That’s why it’s incumbent upon veteran drivers who’ve gotten off to poor starts and are way down in the standings, to try and steal a win in the next 13 races, no matter how they do it.

Right now, Chris Buescher is just above the cutoff line, in 16^th place. But there are several other key drivers below Buescher — and some way below — that better turn their seasons around quick, lest their seasons be essentially over by the time the playoffs begin and they are left out in the cold.

Those drivers in the biggest trouble right now — and where they’re at in the standings — are Daniel Suarez (30^th), Brad Keselowski (32^nd), Shane van Gisbergen (33^rd) and the last vestige of the old Stewart-Haas Racing, Cole Custer (35^th).

Suarez is a much better driver than he’s shown thus far this year. He’s currently 64 points behind Buescher but frustration within the team is starting to show — and it’s not been a pretty picture.

Keselowski, a former Cup champ, has just one top-five and five DNFs. He’s the guy on whom most eyes should be. If he fails to make the playoffs, don’t be surprised if next year is his final season in full-time Cup competition.

Van Gisbergen is really struggling to adapt to the Cup Series, particularly racing on ovals. But with four of the next 11 races being on road or street courses — well within SVG’s wheelhouse — he just needs one win to make the playoffs.

Custer is one of the most unique of the group in that he’s always done well in the Xfinity Series, including a championship and three other runner-up finishes, but when it comes to Cup racing, well, not so much.

Several others are closer, but still some distance away

Three other drivers that should be paid attention to — although at least from a standings standpoint, they’re in better shape than Suarez, Keselowski, SVG and Custer — are Austin Dillon (24^th), Ty Gibbs (25^th) and Erik Jones (27^th).

Dillon only has three top-10 finishes and really hasn’t been much of a factor in his other races. You don’t make the playoffs — let alone be a championship contender — if your performance doesn’t pick up and fast.

Gibbs has one top-five and another top-10, but consistency — or lack thereof — has been his middle name. Has grandpa Joe started wondering if maybe he should have kept Kyle Busch for a few extra years?

Meanwhile, Jones has just one top-five and no other top-10s. He has also been beset by the same issue as most of the other drivers in trouble right now, namely, lack of consistency.

There’s one other name that isn’t in the top 16 and that’s Kyle Busch. The two-time Cup champion had a good start to the season but he’s struggled lately, with finishes in five of the last nine races being 20^th or worse. He is at the lowest he’s been in the standings thus far this season (19^th). But we’re not overly worried about Busch just yet: he’s only eight points behind 16^th-ranked Buescher.

We’re not slighting other drivers like AJ Allmendinger (18^th), Michael McDowell (20^th), John Hunter Nemechek (21^st), Carson Hocevar (22^nd), Todd Gilliland (23^rd), Zane Smith (26^th), Noah Gragson (28^th) or Justin Haley (29^th). They’re all in the same boat as the others we’ve mentioned.

So, for all those drivers, let’s remember what a wise man once said, and you’ll find a cure to what ails your playoff hopes: “Just win, baby!”