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Alex Bowman Replaces Chris Buescher On NASCAR Playoff Bubble As Austin Dillon Wins At Richmond

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
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Alex Bowman

In becoming the 14th different winner of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, Austin Dillon knocked Chris Buescher off the NASCAR playoff bubble on Saturday night at Richmond Raceway.

Buescher, who entered the race clinging to the 16th and final playoff spot, finished 30th and now trails Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman by 60 points for the final transfer spot. But with 61 being the maximum number of race points a driver can collect at Daytona this weekend and Bowman guaranteed to earn at least one point, Buescher can’t under any scenario mathematically pass Bowman in the regular season finale.

Buescher’s only ticket into the playoffs is to win the race at Daytona — a tall order but certainly one that’s not impossible.

NASCAR Playoff Bubble Has Entirely Different Look After Richmond

Polesitter Ryan Preece, Chris Buescher’s RFK Racing teammate, started from the pole at Richmond but finished 35th despite leading 60 laps. With their respective results and Austin Dillon’s win, Preece and Buescher are no longer in a battle for the final playoff transfer spot.

That’s because Alex Bowman can only fail to make the playoffs if a 15th different winner emerges at Daytona. However, Bowman — who finished second at Richmond — is only 29 points behind fellow winless driver Tyler Reddick.

So if a first-time 2025 winner prevails at Daytona and Bowman makes up his deficit to Reddick, the 23XI Racing driver — not Bowman — would be the first driver out of the playoffs.

“Looks like we maybe can get to the 45 (Reddick),” Bowman said of the points situation after Saturday night’s race at Richmond. “Just got to go to work. That’s all we can do at this point. That’s what we’ve been doing, right? We’ve been doing a lot of good things. Unfortunately, just one spot short tonight.”

Despite Great Night At Richmond, Alex Bowman Feeling The Pressure Heading To Daytona

After Austin Dillon’s playoff-clinching win at Richmond, only Alex Bowman and Tyler Reddick still have an opportunity to make the playoffs on the basis of points. Everyone else not already locked into the playoffs will need to win at Daytona to make the cut for the 16 driver field of championship contenders.

Bowman doesn’t plan to take a conservative approach at Daytona, even though he’s in unless a new face shows up in Victory Lane.

“Yeah, certainly really stressful on a lot of fronts,” Bowman said of being on the bubble headed to the notoriously unpredictable high-speed 2.5-mile track. “I mean, I think with the way that race normally goes, it’s about a must-win at that point, because I think you’re most likely going to have a new winner.

“Yeah, just need to go execute and try to win the race. That’s all we can really do.”

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
Jared Turner is a motorsports writer who has covered NASCAR for 20 years. He has interviewed over 20 NASCAR Hall of Famers and around 100 drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners, both past and present. He has also covered the sport for FOX Sports (where he was a two-time recipient of the FOX “X” Award for “Xtraordinary” job performance), NASCAR.com, Sporting News, NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, the SPEED network, and plenty of other online and print-only publications throughout his career. Notably, Jared has penned dozens of articles for NASCAR souvenir programs, including several featured prominently in Daytona 500 keepsakes. A Virginia Press Association award winner and former member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Jared has racked up accolades both for his writing and his academic work. He studied both Communication and Psychology at Virginia Tech, where he was permanently enshrined in Phi Beta Kappa — the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Jared excels at feature writing and opinion writing, much of which stems from his dedication to all levels of racing.
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