Three NASCAR drivers under the most pressure at Richmond

Saturday's Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network) marks the penultimate race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series regular season. With the regular season championship and playoff berths on the line, it's safe to say that Richmond could be a pivotal race in determining the outlook for the 2025 Cup Series playoffs. 

Here are the drivers under the most pressure at "The Action Track."

William Byron | No. 24 Chevrolet | Hendrick Motorsports

Byron enters the weekend with a 42-point advantage over Chase Elliott in the regular season standings. For Byron, who has only two victories this season, the 15 playoff points that come with the regular-season title would be massive as he looks to get to the Championship 4 for the third straight year. 

The two-time Daytona 500 champion has a sizable gap to his Hendrick Motorsports teammate and has been great at Daytona, but wrapping up the regular season title at Richmond would take plenty of weight off his shoulders. Byron hasn't finished worse than 15th at Richmond since 2017, but Elliott will be driving with nothing to lose and everything to gain. 

Ryan Preece | No. 60 Ford | RFK Racing 

You could argue that Preece's RFK Racing teammate, Chris Buescher, deserves to be on this list too, as it's Buescher who currently holds the final playoff spot by 34 points over Preece. But Buescher is a former Richmond winner and has a half-race points cushion to work with, while Preece — a talented short track racer — likely sees Richmond as his best chance at either a win or a huge points day. Going into Daytona — another track Buescher has won at — with a similar or larger deficit to Buescher could be the death knell for Preece's playoff hopes, placing more emphasis on Saturday's showdown at Richmond. 

Austin Dillon | No. 3 Chevrolet | Richard Childress Racing 

In the controversy and chaos that surrounded the conclusion of the 2024 Richmond fall race that Dillon won by wrecking Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin, it's easy to forget that Dillon was going to win on pure pace before a late yellow. Dillon is a previous Daytona winner and could win at the 'World Center of Racing' again on Aug. 23, but no team ever wants to put all their eggs in the superspeedway basket. The pressure is on for Dillon and the No. 3 team to rekindle the magic they found at Richmond a year ago and score another victory — this time, one without controversy that actually counts toward a playoff bid.