2025 NASCAR Power Rankings, Week 15: Michigan

The dam broke open this past week for Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 team as they claimed their first victory of the season in dominating fashion at Nashville Superspeedway.

Some of the other top-flight drivers in our rankings suffered troubles, which is essentially a reversal of fortunes for the 2025 season thus far given Blaney’s run of bad luck.

Now that Jey and I have had time to reconvene, we look forward to showing our latest iteration of the top-10 drivers in the Cup Series with some drivers falling out entirely after being mainstays on the list.

Without any further ado, let’s hop back in!

1. Christopher Bell (Last Week: 1)

Last Four Races: 9th, 2nd, 8th, 10th

Jey: Christopher Bell day failed to live up to expectations, but it could’ve gone much worse for the DeWalt Tools Toyota Camry. On a lap 119 restart, Erik Jones stuck his nose to the inside of Bell fighting for a top-5 position and refused to yield to Bell’s efforts to reclaim the bottom, sending Bell into the outside wall.

Despite this setback, Bell and crew chief Adam Stevens rallied the team back to a 10th-place finish that allowed Bell to retain his shaky hold on the top of our power rankings. He will need a better week at Michigan to hold off his competitors nipping right at his heels.

2. Kyle Larson (Last Week: 2)

Last Four Races: 4th, 1st, 37th, 8th

Tanner: Kyle Larson’s “Double” hangover drifted into the following race weekend’s qualifying session as the 5 team set the 28th-fastest time in qualifying. A terrible stage 1 saw the 2021 champion fighting for his life to stay on the lead lap, but after that, their championship pedigree was on full display for the rest of the night.

Larson submitted a blue-collar performance, pitting seven times between the first two stages to get the car right prior to ending the night in eighth place. Michigan holds a special place in Larson’s career as the site of his first win, so perhaps, he can grab the top spot there and rise back to the top of our rankings.

3. Denny Hamlin (Last Week: 3)

Last Four Races: 38th, 36th, 16th, 3rd

Jey: Denny Hamlin looked to have the best car once again in Nashville, at least for the first half of the race. Once Blaney got to the front on a brilliant strategy call he was able to just gap Hamlin on the long run.

Hamlin and crew chief Chris Gayle tried some strategy late to have fresher tires at the end for a caution that never fell, but Hamlin still managed a stout third-place finish. Hamlin heads to Michigan this week, a track where he’s scored the most points of any driver in the NextGen era and poised to follow up what has been a string of races with great pace for the 11 team.

4. Ryan Blaney (Last Week: 5)

Last Four Races: 3rd, 3rd, 38th, 1st

Tanner: The 2025 season took Ryan Blaney for a ride in the first 13 weeks, suffering five DNFs in that time. After this week’s impressive effort that put them in victory lane for the first time this year, Blaney notched his seventh top-10 (and sixth top-5) as well as rising to fourth on the laps led list with 339.

The 2023 champion shook the proverbial monkey off his back, and I suspect that the 12 team won’t slow down now that they have Michigan and Pocono ahead of them where they’ve won in the past.

5. William Byron (Last Week: 4)

Last Four Races: 13th, 24th, 2nd, 5th

Jey: William Byron qualified third at Nashville and stayed in or around the top-5 basically all day. It seemed that his Raptor High Heat Chevrolet lacked just a bit of bite to really move up to the podium positions late in the going in the Music City.

If not for Ryan Blaney having an absolutely dominant performance, Byron would be moving up our rankings. Unfortunately for him, he will have to look ahead to Michigan where the 24 team hopes to carry their top-5 pace and momentum into the summer stretch.

6. Ross Chastain (Last Week: 7)

Last Four Races: 2nd, 18th, 1st, 11th

Tanner: NASCAR’s favorite farmer harvested an 11th-place finish at Nashville, which was about where he ran all night after qualifying fifth. Just one stage point simply won’t cut it going forward, but it’s hard to be too tough on the 1 team after their virtuosic performance in the World 600.

Chastain pushes his car to the limit week-in and week-out. At a track like Michigan, his driving style opens up the possibility for more mistakes both mechanically and behind the wheel. Even still, I expect Ross continues his solid stretch of races and powers into the top-5 of our rankings.

7. Chase Elliott (Last Week: 6)

Last Four Races: 16th, 15th, 6th, 15th

Jey: Chase Elliott coasted for another week where he managed to score stage points in the first stage but just seemed to fall further and further back as the race progressed. In a race where he had one teammate run top-5 all day and another work their way into the top-10 after starting below 25th, that definitely raises some alarms.

Now Chase is still in a great points position and seems to be safe, but the No. 9 team could find themselves in big trouble if a slew of new winners pops up on top of their middling performances.

8. Joey Logano (Last Week: Not Ranked)

Last Four Races: 1st, 9th, 17th, 4th

Tanner: Joey Logano just logged the quietest fourth-place result of his career. The defending series champion held his qualifying spot for the duration of stage 1 prior to jumping to the top of the running order with a two-tire pit call to start stage 2. From there, he remained in the top-5 for the rest of the race.

Team Penske found themselves totally lost at Charlotte, and while Joey made the most of that night, it seems like he maximized his result at Nashville. Heading into Michigan with a Roush Yates engine and a blue oval on his car, Logano will be seeking his second win of the season to help his seeding in the playoffs.

9. Bubba Wallace (Last Week: Honorable Mention)

Last Four Races: 33rd, 33rd, 35th, 6th

Jey: Bubba Wallace started his night great, working his way into the top-10; however, a speeding penalty on the first set of green-flag pit stops trapped Wallace a lap down.

The team didn’t give up though, and after catching the Free Pass, Wallace drove all the way back up to a sixth in a night that he and the entire No. 23 Chumba Casino Toyota Camry team needed desperately after a slew of sour luck. He returns to Michigan seeking vengeance for two wins that got away from him at the 2-mile oval.

10. Tyler Reddick (Last Week: Honorable Mention)

Last Four Races: 21st, 17th, 26th, 9th

Tanner: After a fourth-place qualifying effort, Tyler Reddick flew into contention right away, notching second in the first stage. Not long after taking the green flag for stage 2, Reddick cratered down the running order as a flat tire plagued his Pinnacle Toyota.

From there, Reddick mounted a miraculous charge, driving through the field all the way back to ninth by race’s end. Reddick looks to carry this determination into Michigan where he claimed his second win of 2024 and lock himself into the postseason.

Honorable Mentions: Carson Hocevar, Austin Cindric, AJ Allmendinger

(Top Photo Credit: NASCAR)