1. Chase Briscoe Has Arrived
In sports, it’s sometimes difficult to pinpoint the exact moment when someone makes the transition from talented athlete to star. NASCAR is certainly no exception in that regard. But with Chase Briscoe, we will always be able to look back and say Aug. 31, 2025 was the day (or night, if you want to nitpick) it happened.
It wasn’t the date of Briscoe’s first Cup Series victory, nor was it even his first Southern 500 win. It’s just hard to imagine that fans and observers look at him the same way going forward.
His performance warrants looking at him differently. Briscoe flat out dominated one of the sport’s crown jewel races, leading more than 300 laps. Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones got close to him in the closing laps, but never close enough to inspire the feeling they would take the win from him.
Stardom requires more than that, though. It’s something that’s hard to define, but it’s something like performance plus ability to come through when the spotlight is brightest plus personality.
Doesn’t that admittedly loose description fit Briscoe now? He’s won multiple races for the first time in one Cup Series season, is the first driver ever to sit on the pole for the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 and Brickyard 400 in the same year and now owns the Southern 500. He comes across as likable and earnest, confident without being cocky.
That is someone NASCAR would want to promote in ads, even if they haven’t before now. That sounds like a star.
And there’s no question when that definitively became true.
2. It Will Be Pretty Silly If Connor Zilisch Doesn’t Win the Xfinity Series Championship
For all the momentum that Briscoe has at the moment, one thing he hasn’t quite earned yet is the status of Cup Series championship favorite. It’s a little more clear cut in the Xfinity Series, where Connor Zilisch has been smacking the field around for three solid months.
Zilisch’s win at Portland was his third straight, the second time he has accomplished that feat in 2025. Since his previous hat trick was separated from this one by just one race, that means he’s now won six of the last seven races (albeit with a fill-in driver for most of one of them), and is in the midst of a ridiculous 13-race span where his worst finish was fifth. Please let that sink in.
Justin Allgaier is only 20 points behind him, so mathematically speaking he still has competition. But whether you value wins or season-long consistency more, it doesn’t matter, because the 19-year-old has aced both criteria.
Given his level of dominance, it would be wild if Zilisch did not win the least ever Xfinity Series championship. Yet of course he might not, because even with more playoff points than any other three drivers combined, if he blows an engine on the first lap at Phoenix this fall, someone else will — not could — claim the crown.
That would be the strongest anti-playoff argument the sport has ever seen. Except for one thing …
3. It Will Be Equally Silly If Corey Heim Doesn’t Win the Truck Series Championship
That’s right, something very similar is happening in the Truck Series. Corey Heim hasn’t had quite as much good fortune as Zilisch (on track, of course, since Zilisch had the unluckiest moment of the season getting out of his vehicle) or the same kind of lightbulb-went-on run, but he’s crushed his competition in very similar fashion.
Heim’s visit to victory lane at Darlington marked his third consecutive win and fourth in five races after he could “only” muster a third at Indianapolis Raceway Park. In 19 events this season, he has eight victories and has finished in the top three five other times. He probably knows only too well that’s no guarantee of a championship since he won six races in 2024 and finished second at Phoenix only to see Ty Majeski win the race and the title.
Last year could have been exactly what NASCAR wanted when it created the playoff system: a final battle between two drivers who both had good seasons, with the ultimate victory going to the one who came up big when it counted most.
This year? There’s still a long way to go in the Truck Series playoffs, but it’s possible that someone without a victory until the Championship 4 race — perhaps even Majeski, who is winless so far in 2025 — could upset Heim.
The unspoken part of any debate over the NASCAR playoffs is what the proverbial camel-back-breaking straw would be. Maybe this is it: Two drivers who have been so clearly superior to everyone they are vying with on a weekly basis that it would absolutely defy logic if they keep this up through the fall and one of them doesn’t win their series championship.
Both Heim and Zilisch deserve to be champions. Barring an unexpected and multi-week dip in form, it would be hard to imagine anyone arguing against that statement. And if the nightmare scenario happens and both end up getting upset on championship weekend, NASCAR would have as much explaining to do as it ever has about why the playoffs need to remain.
4. Was That a Blip or Something More Sustainable for Legacy Motor Club?
Since the playoffs are still around for now, we should talk about them too. One of the more interesting aspects to discuss is which teams and drivers not in contention show something they might be able to build on next season, and at Darlington, that was definitely Legacy Motor Club.
Jones trying to hunt down the leader probably shouldn’t be a surprise. He’s won the Southern 500 before after all, and is generally just good at Darlington. John Hunter Nemechek, not so much, and he finished a career-high fourth.
The hunch here is that it might just have been a night where everything went right for Legacy. The rest of the playoff races will reveal a lot more, as Jones was absolutely miserable after Darlington in 2024 (eight finishes outside the top 20 in the final 10 races) while Nemechek was even worse.
If both cars can consistently show top-15 or better speed all the way to Phoenix, then we can reasonably conclude they might be onto something. Failing that, they may just be looking forward to the next Southern 500, and that’s going to be a pretty long wait.
5. Can Enough Calamity Strike Other Drivers to Keep Shane van Gisbergen in the Hunt?
I’m not the only person who thought that Shane van Gisbergen would have to up his oval game to make it beyond the first round of the playoffs, where a potential ROVAL triumph could improbably send him to the Round of 8. He definitely didn’t pull that off at Darlington, finishing two laps down in 32nd.
Yet he remains not only alive but on the right side of the cut line headed to Illinois thanks to even worse nights for some of the other playoff drivers. Josh Berry finished dead last after an early incident, Alex Bowman experienced the pit stop from Hell, and Christopher Bell, though he remains ahead of van Gisbergen in points, had a miserable time as well.
So it’s possible my thinking was wrong. Maybe all van Gisbergen needs to do is not finish last himself and then hope for the best. It might still be difficult, because he’s never raced a Cup car at Gateway and came home 38th at Bristol in the spring, but I can’t say I won’t get a weird fascination watching to see if he can pull it off.
