Because of the unpredictability of motorsports, especially with how some of the tracks are in NASCAR – I’m looking at you, Daytona, Talladega and Atlanta – predicting the 16-driver playoff field for the Cup Series is no easy task. If you correctly pick 12 out of the 16 drivers at the beginning of the season, you’ve done a pretty good job. Here’s my attempt at predicting the 16 drivers that will make the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

*These rankings are in alphabetical order, not by how likely I believe the drivers are to win the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship.

Christopher Bell
Christopher Bell is good for at least two-to-three wins every season. He won three last year in his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota. He’s been in the top five in the point standings over the previous three years. He also has one of the best average finish stats in the sport. He should be a lock for the playoffs.

Ryan Blaney
Coming out of the penultimate race at Martinsville last season, I believed Ryan Blaney would become the first back-to-back Cup Series champion in over a decade. It wasn’t to be. But Blaney is one of those you should pencil in for multiple wins every season (though he did go winless in 2022). He won three races in 2024 with 12 top-5 finishes.

Alex Bowman
My prediction of Alex Bowman making the 2025 NASCAR Cup Playoffs is more a mark of faith in Hendrick Motorsports than Bowman himself. If you drive for that team, you’re likely bound to win a race in the first 26 events of the season to qualify for the playoffs. However, Bowman surprised me last year by doing that at the Chicago street race.

Chase Briscoe
Like all of the now-defunct Stewart-Haas Racing team, Chase Briscoe didn’t have a very good 2024 season, but he still found himself in the playoffs by winning the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. He’s now with the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing team, opened by the retirement of Martin Truex Jr., and finds himself with the best ride he’s had in the Cup Series. Look for a significant improvement for Briscoe in 2025 and potentially his first multi-win season.

Chris Buescher
​I was shocked that Chris Buescher failed to make the NASCAR Playoffs in 2024 after a surprising 2023 campaign that saw him win three times. He won a race in the playoffs at Watkins Glen, which is probably the most surprising of his six career wins. He was the best driver in ’24 to miss out on the playoffs, and I don’t expect to see it happen again. He has a three-season winning streak right now, and I’m sure he’ll find a way to make it four in a row.

Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch’s talent and the way Richard Childress Racing looked in the last third of the 2024 season are the only reasons I’m predicting a return to the playoffs for Busch after missing out last season. It was the first season of his career in which he didn’t win a race, which can’t possibly sit well with him. I think he will do whatever it takes to find his way into Victory Lane in 2025, and if he and RCR can’t do that, it might be time for him to consider hanging up his steering wheel.

William Byron
William Byron has been among the winningest drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series over the last two seasons, winning nine races. Between that and his Hendrick Motorsports equipment, it would be dumb not to think he will win at least once in the regular season to make the playoffs. For some reason, Byron seems to be an early-year driver who tends to fade, at least as far as winning races late in the season, despite finishing third in the standings in the last two years.

Ross Chastain
Ross Chastain not making the NASCAR Playoffs in 2024 shocked me. He had won two races each in the two seasons prior, and there was no reason to believe that he and Trackhouse Racing would take a step back. Chastain, like Buescher, did win a race in the playoffs. There may be a reason to believe Trackhouse takes a step back this season with the addition of a third car potentially pulling resources. Still, I look for at least somewhat of a resurgent year for Chastain, even if it’s only him returning to his two wins in 2022 and 2023.

Chase Elliott
Statistically, Chase Elliott was one of the best and most consistent drivers in the Cup Series in 2024 despite only winning once. He had 11 top-5s, 19 top-10s and an average finish of 11.7. He also led 431 laps. The wins will start coming more often again for the driver, who has seen a couple of down years since winning five races in 2022.

Ty Gibbs
This has to be the year Ty Gibbs finally wins in the Cup Series, right? Frankly, the fact Gibbs hasn’t won a race in his first two full-time seasons is one of the more shocking things I’ve seen in recent NASCAR. He drives for one of the two-to-three best teams in the sport for his grandfather’s Joe Gibbs Racing team and has a ton of talent, which we’ve seen in the Xfinity Series. His top-10s and average finish weren’t all that better in his sophomore year over his rookie year, despite his playoff debut, he did lead more than 300 more laps than the prior year. They say the 100-race mark is the key number for drivers in the Cup Series, and Gibbs will reach that around the 1/3 mark of the season.

Denny Hamlin
Denny Hamlin is the elder statesman of the NASCAR Cup Series now, which seems wild. We’ve seen with drivers of his ilk that once they get to around his age, they begin to win less and perform worse. However, Hamlin has managed to win multiple races every season since his winless campaign in 2018. Regression at this point wouldn’t be surprising, but he also won three races in 2024 and led more than 900 laps. I don’t see him falling off a cliff, which is what he’d need to miss the playoffs.

Brad Keselowski
Brad Keselowski finally snapped his long winless streak in 2024, winning for the first time as a car owner at Darlington Raceway. His consistency wasn’t all that special; in fact, he had fewer top-10s and a slightly worse average finish than the year before. There’s also some thought that Roush-Fenway-Keselowski Racing could take a step back this season by adding a third team. If there’s one driver in my predictions I’m most on the fence about, it’s Keselowski.

Kyle Larson
Kyle Larson is pretty much the year-in-year-out favorite to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship despite not having won the title since 2021. He led the series with six wins in 2024 and has won 13 races over the last three years. He’s going to get his share of trophies. It just comes down to if he can get them at the right time in the playoffs.

Joey Logano
Defending champion Joey Logano has won two of the last three NASCAR Cup Series titles. There’s this trend that I don’t believe in, that he’s only really a threat in even years. He finished 12th in the point standings in the year between his two most recent titles. His first title also came in an even year in 2018. He’s combined for eight wins in the last two even years and only two in the previous two odd years – but again, that must be a coincidence. I expect he’ll find his way into the playoffs, whether winning multiple races or not.

Tyler Reddick
Tyler Reddick came into 23XI racing in 2023 and instantly became the top driver of that team. He’s won five races over his two seasons with the organization and made it to his first Championship Four appearance last season, finishing fourth in the standings. He’s one of the most consistent drivers in the sport, and there aren’t many weaknesses in his game – though he’s yet to win at a short track. Look for him to win multiple races again this season.

Shane Van Gisbergen
Shane Van Gisbergen is an odd duck for NASCAR. If I had to place money on one driver to qualify for the NASCAR Playoffs, it would be Van Gisbergen. But then, if I had to put money on the playoff driver least likely to win the championship, it would also be Van Gisbergen. There’s zero chance he fails to win at least one of the five road course races in the regular season, which would qualify him for the playoffs. I suspect he’ll be average to less than average at the ovals. 

One of the most common posts I’ve seen on various social media sites leading up to Sunday’s Super Bowl LIX has been a variation of “I’m boycotting the Super Bowl” or “Boycott the Super Bowl.”

There are numerous reasons why people want to boycott the Super Bowl this year. President Donald Trump will be in attendance, the NFL is removing the phrase “end racism,” which has appeared on the end zones the last few years, there is a (wrong) perception that the Kansas City Chiefs are being helped by unfair officiating, Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker is a controversial misogynist, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce gave a diplomatic answer this week when asked about playing in front of the President, and I’m sure a plethora of other reasonings.

I agree with many of the reasons people want to boycott the Super Bowl, except for the “NFL is rigged” one—those people are bonkers.

If you want to boycott the Super Bowl because of any or most of these, I applaud you for being that strong.

However, I’ll watch the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles battle in Super Bowl LIX.

It’s been a hard few weeks for many of us. But we should try to enjoy the things in life we enjoy. One of those things for me is watching major sporting events, and though it may not be my favorite, there aren’t any bigger in this country than the Super Bowl.

The NFL, at times over the last decade, has driven me insane with some of the stupidity in which it operates, mainly the Colin Kaepernick controversy that should never have been controversial at all. I find both President Trump and Butker to be heinous, despicable men with harmful ideas and statements. I wish Kelce had given a better answer than the basic one he did.

However, I wouldn’t hurt the NFL, President Trump, Butker or anybody else if I don’t tune in to the game tonight. I would merely be depriving myself of something I enjoy.

And if I boycott the Super Bowl. I’d have to boycott next weekend’s Daytona 500, an event more significant to me than the Super Bowl, because President Trump is rumored to be attending the event for the second time in the last six years and attended last year’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. I’d probably have to give up country music, a genre I enjoy. There’s no telling what I’d have to boycott over the next few years.

Maybe this makes me weak? Perhaps somewhat complicit.

But here’s one thing I know to be true. It will be a challenging four years, at least, for many of us in this country—perhaps the majority of us—so we need to take care of ourselves as best we can.   

For me, that means enjoying what I like.  

You do what you must to get by.

JS: Super Bowl LIX is this Sunday, February 9, on Fox at 5:30 p.m. (CST). For the second time in the last three years, America’s biggest sporting event will see the NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles facing the AFC Champion Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs won the matchup two years ago and are looking to become the first team in NFL history to win three straight Super Bowls.
​
JS. Let’s talk about which team has the advantages at the key positions. Regarding the all-important position of quarterback, which team has the advantage?

EF: I like Jalen Hurts as much as the next person, but this is a no-brainer. It is Patrick Mahomes, and he has had a chance to win four Super Bowls in the last six years. It is his and Kansas City's fifth Super Bowl in the past six years, which is incredible. It is something we probably will never see again. It is truly remarkable. Don't get me wrong, Hurts making his second Super Bowl in three years is great, but Mahomes is having a fantastic run.

JS: Yeah, the experience and three rings already on Mahomes' hand mean you have to give him the advantage at QB. He also seems to play at his best on the biggest stage. But you're also right about Hurts leading the Eagles to a second Super Bowl in three years. He's a solid quarterback, and I don't think he gets enough credit for leading this team. He also doesn't turn the ball over much.

JS: Philadelphia has had the best run game all season behind Saquon Barkley, who I believe we've both said over the postseason should be the league's MVP. Barkley ran for over 2,000 yards this season and over three playoff games, has 442 yards, so nearly 150 per game. The Chiefs have been relying a bit more on veteran Kareem Hunt, who they picked up midseason to carry the load on the running game. He has 108 yards over two postseason games on 25 carries. Isiah Pacheco has had just 10 carries this postseason for 30 yards. This one is pretty lopsided in favor of Philly, isn't it?

EF: Yeah, this is not close. Barkley is having an outstanding year. Hunt will probably score a touchdown in this one, but Barkley will have a great game in the Super Bowl.

JS: How many yards do you think Barkley will put on the Chiefs' defense?

EF: Barkley is the reason the Eagles will be in this game. Plus, what works for Saquon is he has the best offensive line in the NFL. He has to be fired up playing his first Super Bowl. I would say he gets about 130 yards on the ground.

JS: I agree that Barkley is the reason the Eagles are in the fight. If the Chiefs defense holds him to under 100 yards, the Eagles won’t have a shot.

JS: I know it’s a bit unorthodox to talk about the defenses before we get to the receiver corps, but let’s do that now. Do you think the Chiefs will keep Barkley from running all over them - even though 130 is a lot of rushing yards, it would be under his postseason per game average. And which of these teams has the best defensive unit?

EF: There have been times when I have seen the Chiefs’ defense exposed. But I think they can make adjustments and get a big stop when they need to, especially if the game is close and we assume it will be close. I will have to give the Eagles a slight edge on defense. I think they have played better than the Chiefs throughout the entire season.

JS: Statistically, this season, the Eagles had the best defense in the league. Teams only averaged 278.4 yards per game against them. The Chiefs defense was ninth in the league allowing 320.6. In the postseason, the teams are a bit closer in this category. The Eagles' D allowed four fewer TDs on the season than the Chiefs. Both have allowed five touchdowns in the postseason, but notably the Eagles have played one more game. I think the Eagles have the advantage on D too.

JS: OK, let's get back to the receiving corps. The Eagles' primary wide receivers are A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Jahan Dotson and tight end Dallas Goedert. The Chiefs’ biggest threat in the passing game is its veteran tight end Travis Kelce, along with receivers Xavier Worthy, DeAndre Hopkins, Hollywood Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster. Which team has the edge?

EF: This feels close between the two teams. I like the Eagles' receiving core with Brown, Smith and Goedert. However, the Chiefs acquired Hopkins in mid-season to go along with the veteran presence of Kelce and the rise of Worthy. I am going to take the Chiefs by an inch.

JS: Hopkins hasn’t done much this postseason. It’s likely because defenses are targeting him more, which has led to good postseason numbers for Worthy. Kelce has turned it up a notch in the postseason. It's no shock, as he’s always been Mahomes’s number one target. What’s wild is how often defenses have been leaving Kelce wide open. I’ll also give the Chiefs a slight edge at receiving.

JS: How do you think the special teams line up?

EF: Both teams have excellent kickers. Neither one has been perfect all season, but this will be a close game, and I have to give a slight edge to Harrison Butker over Jake Elliott.

JS: I know many people out there would love to see Super Bowl LIX end with Harrison Butker missing a game-winning field goal, and I can’t say I blame them. He’s one of the most despicable players in the league. But he’s also been one of the best kickers the game has had during his tenure with KC.

JS: Andy Reid is 3-2 in Super Bowl appearances. Nick Sirianni is 0-1. How big is the gap regarding the coaching advantage for the game?

EF: It feels massive because Sirianni can do some really dumb stuff that could cost the Eagles some games, but the talent overcomes his coaching sometimes. Reid is a mastermind, and I think we should debate the fact that Reid could be the greatest coach ever, especially if he becomes the first coach to win three straight Super Bowls. It is not even close as far as who the better coach is.

JS: So, what’s your prediction for Super Bowl LIX?

EF: It is going to be a great game. I am looking forward to it. I will say the Chiefs win a wild one, 38-35.

JS: I watched SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt a few nights ago, and he asked ESPN NFL analyst Damien Woody for a Super Bowl LIX prediction. This is paraphrasing, but Woody said Chiefs because he doesn’t want to feel like an idiot picking against them and being wrong. It does feel like that because it feels like you need to see them lose first. I didn’t like them to win the AFC Championship two weeks ago, and I immediately had that feeling. But do you know what? I just feel like it’s the Eagle's year. They almost beat them two years ago, and now they have this run game that’s hard to stop. I won’t predict a score but I will predict the Eagles to win Super Bowl LIX with an MVP performance by Barkley.