3 NASCAR drivers who suffer most in playoff race after Bubba Wallace triumphs at Indy

Bubba Wallace outlasted rain, overtime restarts, fuel tanks, and the weight of a 100-race winless streak to capture NASCAR's 2025 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. With four races left in the regular season, the win locked Wallace into the Cup Series Playoffs, shrinking the points-based qualification window.

Wallace, who was on the cutline, now becomes the 13th different race winner in 2025, leaving only three points spots remaining in the postseason field. The likes of Tyler Reddick (+138), Alex Bowman (+63), and Chris Buescher (+42) occupy those final three positions, for now. But that margin is growing slimmer, and for several others, Sunday's chaos at Indy dealt a hard blow to an already narrowing road to qualification.

Here are the three drivers who suffered the most at the NASCAR Cup Series race at Indy:

---

3 NASCAR drivers whose 2025 playoff hopes take a major hit after the Brickyard 400

#3 Ty Gibbs - Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54

Brickyard finish: 21st | Points from cutline: -95

NASCAR Cup Series driver Ty Gibbs (54) after the Brickyard 400. Source: Imagn

Ty Gibbs is leaving Indy a million dollars richer but no closer to the playoffs. The 22-year-old JGR driver won NASCAR's inaugural In-Season Challenge by outpacing Ty Dillon, but that cash prize didn't come with a postseason berth.

Sunday was another display of raw speed with no reward. Gibbs rolled off from a strong fifth-place starting spot, but faded through the pack as the race wore on, eventually ending the day in 21st. He remains 95 points below the NASCAR playoff cutline with only four races to make up the ground.

Making matters worse is that Joe Gibbs Racing already has eight wins this year. Gibbs is now the only JGR driver yet to qualify, a fact that looms heavier with every week.

---

#2 Erik Jones - Legacy Motor Club No. 43

Brickyard finish: 36th | Points from cutline: -147

Erik Jones before the NASCAR Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma. Source: Imagn

Erik Jones needed a clean day at Indy. For a while, it looked like he was getting exactly that, after starting from the second row. But the No. 43 Toyota went behind the field after a late Stage 2 pit stop, where the right-front tire was improperly fitted.

Moments after rejoining the track, Jones slammed the outside wall when the wheel detached mid-corner. The result was a totaled car, a 36th-place DNF, and a suspension looming for his tire changer.

It's his fourth consecutive finish of 25th or worse, and it drops him to 147 points behind the cutline. With that kind of gap and only four races to go, it's win-or-bust for Jones. While he's shown superspeedway skill before, Daytona could offer one last Hail Mary.

---

#1 Kyle Busch Richard Childress Racing No. 8

Brickyard finish: 25th | Points from cutline: -81

NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Busch sits in his garage at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Source: Imagn

It’s hard to imagine a NASCAR postseason without Kyle Busch. But for the second year in a row, that’s exactly where things are heading. Sunday at Indy was a microcosm of his 2025 campaign, where glimpses of speed were undone by bad fortune.

Busch worked his way into the top 10 by the end of Stage 1, scoring five stage points and positioning himself for a solid run. But damage sustained in a multi-car incident during an overtime restart left the No. 8 Chevy with diminished pace. He eventually ended 25th.

Now 81 points below the cutoff, Busch finds himself in a precarious spot, too far to claw back on consistency alone. The two-time Cup champion's tenure at RCR has been marred by missed opportunities, inconsistent setups, and a growing sense that the old Kyle Busch magic might no longer be enough.