Cook Out 400

The penultimate race of the 2025 NASCAR regular season is this week’s Cook Out 400, as the drivers only have two more chances to claim a spot in the postseason. This one will be on the short track at Richmond Raceway, which had two races from 2021-24 and 1959-2019, but only has one event for this year. At least that means we have a lot of data points.

There are 36 total races on the books, including the Cup Championship Playoffs, with the championship race at Phoenix Raceway on November 2.

 

How to Watch The Cook Out 400

When: Saturday, August 16, 2025

Where: Richmond Raceway in Richmond, VA

Time: 6:30 p.m. ET

Channel: USA

2025 NASCAR Cup Series Standings

This will shock you, but Shane van Gisbergen won the road course race last week at Watkins Glen. SVG still sits 25th in points, even though he’s won four of the last nine races. That lets you know how well he’s done on oval tracks and we’re back to one here.

William Byron’s top-five finish last week extended his points lead out to 42 over Chase Elliott. Denny Hamlin finished 25th last week, but still sits slightly ahead of Christopher Bell, who was second last week in New York. Kyle Larson is tied with Bell with 727 points after having last week’s fastest lap, but he still finished 39th.

The rest of the top 10 features Ryan Blaney, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman, and Chris Buescher.

The race winners so far are Byron (2), Larson (3), Bell (3), Hamlin (4), van Gisbergen (4), Blaney, Chastain, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, Briscoe, Elliott, and Wallace through 24 points races with 16 playoff spots in total up for grabs and 13 taken by race winners as of now. There are only two races left until the Cup Series Playoffs begin, so all of the race winners are safe for playoff berths.

Cook Out 400 Winners

Austin Dillon actually won last year’s race on the 0.75-mile oval. The spring version at Richmond went to Hamlin. Over the last 10 races at Richmond, the top active driver is Hamlin with two wins and eight top-five finishes. Logano actually has seven top-10 finishes and five top-five finishes in that span. Bell also has seven top-10 finishes. Elliott also has four top-five finishes in that span.

Cook Out 400 Predictions

For the latest odds and VSiN’s NASCAR Best Bets, head to our NASCAR Hub to see Steve Makinen’s simulation results and more stats on the drivers.