RICHMOND, Va. - William Byron beamed when asked about his 12th-place run at Richmond Raceway on Saturday night.
"Best 12th place finish we've ever had," he grinned.
That's because it was enough for the driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet to clinch his first NASCAR Cup Series regular season championship and with it, 15 bonus playoff points to begin the postseason. Next week's race at Daytona International Speedway will be the last in the regular season. Byron will enter with a 68-point advantage over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott.
"Proud of this team," Byron added. "Really proud of the effort all year. We've done a good job through a lot of adversity, and it feels really good to check this one off the list. We kind of, in the back of our mind, had that in mind this year - just to try to be consistent and even through some adversity, I feel like we were consistently fast and up at the front."
In terms of current playoff points, Kyle Larson is second in the standings with 23, one behind Denny Hamlin. While he and Elliot have also clinched playoff spots, Alex Bowman will enter Daytona 60 points to the good.
However, Austin Dillon's win on Saturday means that Bowman will have to either: avoid a new winner, outscore Tyler Reddick by 30 or win the race outright to ensure a postseason berth. Should a repeat winner go to victory lane, Bowman needs only to start the race to lock up a spot.
Here's a look at the NASCAR points standings through 25 races:
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NASCAR Cup standings 2025
* clinched regular season championship
| Driver | Wins | Points | Playoff points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Denny Hamlin | 4 | 766 (ADV) | 24 |
| 2. Kyle Larson | 3 | 759 (ADV) | 23 |
| 3. Shane van Gisbergen | 4 | 464 (ADV) | 22 |
| t-4. William Byron | 2 | 839* (ADV) | 17 |
| t-4. Christopher Bell | 3 | 748 (ADV) | 17 |
| 6. Ryan Blaney | 1 | 756 (ADV) | 11 |
| t-7. Bubba Wallace | 1 | 639 (ADV) | 8 |
| t-7. Austin Cindric | 1 | 543 (ADV) | 8 |
| t-9. Chase Briscoe | 1 | 698 (ADV) | 7 |
| t-9. Joey Logano | 1 | 616 (ADV) | 7 |
| t-12. Chase Elliott | 1 | 771 (ADV) | 6 |
| t-12. Ross Chastain | 1 | 589 (ADV) | 6 |
| t-12. Josh Berry | 1 | 476 (ADV) | 6 |
| 14. Austin Dillon | 1 | 460 (ADV) | 5 |
| 15. Tyler Reddick | 0 | 714 (+89) | 2 |
| 16. Alex Bowman | 0 | 685 (+60) | 0 |
| ---------------- | ------- | ------ | |
| 17. Chris Buescher | 0 | 625 (-60) | -3 |
| 18. Ryan Preece | 0 | 591 (-94) | 2 |
| 19. Kyle Busch | 0 | 537 (-148) | 0 |
| 20. Ty Gibbs | 0 | 512 (-173) | 0 |