After a seven-month regular season, the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs are finally here and begin Sunday with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway (6 p.m. ET, USA Network).
The series’ top-16 drivers made the playoffs — though that wasn’t without a little drama with Austin Dillon emerging as the race winner in the regular-season finale last weekend at Daytona International Speedway — and will compete in a 10-race shootout for the trophy.
The NASCAR playoffs consist of three rounds of three races each, after which the bottom four playoff drivers will be eliminated, and then a one-race fourth-round finale at Phoenix Raceway in November. If a playoff driver wins a race in one round, he automatically advances to the next round with the remainder of the playoff field being based on points.
Of the 16 playoff drivers this year, five have won the championship before with Kyle Busch being the only active driver with more than one title on his resume: Busch (2015, 2019), Kyle Larson (2021), Chase Elliott (2020), Joey Logano (2018) and Kevin Harvick (2014).
So ahead of Sunday’s playoff opener at Darlington, here’s a look at the odds to win it all for each playoff driver this season, according to Tipico Sportsbook as of Tuesday.
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