2025 NASCAR Power Rankings, Week 18: Atlanta

After a treacherous trip to the Tricky Triangle, Chase Briscoe stretched his fuel mileage over 10 miles longer than expected en route to his first victory of 2025 and his first with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Much like SVG before him, Briscoe’s victory failed to produce enough of a bump to make our list, but we do have what we believe are the top-10 best drivers in the sport as we approach the season’s midway point.

While there’s no change at the top, a number of drivers were unable to find the right angle around Pocono’s three-turn layout, falling from their spots — and, in some cases — out of the list entirely.

Time is of the essence, so let’s start at the top!

1. Denny Hamlin (Last Week: 1)

Last Four Races: 16th, 3rd, 1st, 2nd

Tanner: A week away to tend to his fiancee and newborn child failed to hold Hamlin back from finding success as he nearly bracketed his Mexico City absence with victories, falling just short to teammate Chase Briscoe.

Hamlin remains tied for first in victories in the series with three and sits second in the series with eight top-5s. Looking ahead to Atlanta, Hamlin wants to make a good impression in the debut race of the In-Season Tournament, an idea the wily veteran produced two years ago that the sport decided to incorporate for 2025.

2. Christopher Bell (Last Week: 2)

Last Four Races: 10th, 16th, 2nd, 17th

Jey: Christopher Bell started inside the top-10 this past weekend at Pocono where he would stay until about lap 57; from there, the 20car never sniffed the top-10 again, finishing 17th after not being able to make much ground up after being caught up in a lap 83 accident.

Pocono has proven to be one of the toughest tracks to make a pass in the NextGen car, so Bell aims to rebound in Atlanta at the track he won at this spring when he was on his hot streak.

3. Kyle Larson (Last Week: 3)

Last Four Races: 8th, 5th, 36th, 7th

Tanner: In spite of another poor qualifying effort from the 5 team, Kyle Larson logged what could be described as one of the quietest seventh-place finishes of his career at Pocono last week.

Due to teammate William Byron’s recent run of poor luck, Larson keeps narrowing the points gap to the 24 for the regular-season title. If he can replicate his third-place finish from the spring Atlanta race, Larson has a good chance to keep his hopes alive in the In-Season Tournament as well as the regular-season crown.

4. Ryan Blaney (Last Week: 5)

Last Four Races: 1st, 32nd, 14th, 3rd

Jey: Ryan Blaney overcame a very long and very hot day after a cool suit failure, though the additional strain didn’t hinder him to much as he finished in the third position. Pocono represented a micorcosm of the 12 team’s season: car issues and pit-road issues mired them back in the pack before Blaney comes them anyway.

Blaney will look for himself and his crew to have a flawless race this week in Atlanta. If they do that, the team could be hoisting its second trophy of the year on Saturday night.

5. William Byron (Last Week: 4)

Last Four Races: 5th, 28th, 9th, 27th

Tanner: A wreck on his qualifying lap at Pocono last week set William Byron in the back of the pack at the drop of the green flag, and it just seemed that the No. 24 Valvoline machine had no fight left for the race as his car never really left the midpack on his way to a 27th-place result.

The back-to-back Daytona 500 winner flashed speed at Charlotte and Michigan, but he hasn’t landed a victory this season when he’s had the dominant car. As other teams start to ramp up, it seems like Byron is sliding into the familiar summer skid, but he is the one of two drivers to have multiple wins on the new Atlanta layout.

6. Chase Elliott (Last Week: 6)

Last Four Races: 15th, 15th, 3rd, 5th

Jey: Chase Elliott finished fifth this past weekend at Pocono and notched his first back-to-back top-5 finishes of 2025. This could be a sign that the team has sorted out their earlier pace issues as we hit the summer stretch.

Elliott and the 9 crew seek to replicate their homecoming win from 2022 in Atlanta this weekend. The familiar crowd will almost certainly blow the proverbial roof off the place if their hometown hero is the one holding the trophy at the end of the night.

7. Ross Chastain (Last Week: 7)

Last Four Races: 11th, 6th, 16th, 26th

Tanner: While Chastain has run well at Pocono in the past, it felt like the 1 team couldn’t find the handle at the Tricky Triangle, ending their trouble-free day a disappointing 21st.

Now that the series rolls into Hotlanta, Chastain might possess a more optimistic outlook as he took the front row for the overtime restart in the spring prior to Carson Hocevar taking him three-wide. With a million dollars on the line for the In-Season Tournament, Chastain looks to harvest a great result in the ATL.

8. Chris Buescher (Last Week: 9)

Last Four Races: 14th, 2nd, 10th, 4th

Jey: Chris Buescher qualified up front and ended the day up front at Pocono, but everything in between was a mess until closer to the end of the race. Crew chief Scott Graves played pit strategy games that put the 17 in the field where its hard to pass.

Buescher drive paired with his team’s strategy playing out put him back up front to finish inside the top-5. Buescher will look to carry this momentum into Atlanta as he and his RFK teammates aim to work together to get one of them into the playoffs with a win this Saturday.

9. Alex Bowman (Last Week: 10)

Last Four Races: 36th, 36th, 4th, 11th

Tanner: Beginning the day deep in the pack, Alex Bowman and crew chief Blake Harris worked on their car throughout the weekend and eventually produced a top-10 car for the final run to the finish. Unfortunately, a vibration late saw them fall just outside of the top-10, ending the race in 11th.

While the old Atlanta configuration suited Bowman better, a fifth-place finish in last year’s fall race gives the 48 team confidence that they can compete for a great finish on the superspeedway layout this weekend.

10. Bubba Wallace (Last Week: 8)

Last Four Races: 6th, 4th, 12th, 36th

Jey: Bubba Wallace cannot catch a break. He made solid progress through the field when his right-front brake rotor failed on lap 55, ending his day early and collecting his seventh DNF of the year. This puts Bubba closer to the points cutoff than he should be given his pace when things don’t go wrong.

Bubba should take solace in the fact that we’re headed to Atlanta this weekend, a track where he has two top-10s and a top-5 since the reconfiguration of the track in 2022.

Honorable Mentions: Chase Briscoe, John Hunter Nemechek, Ryan Preece

(Top Photo Credit: Taj Falconer/Pocono Record)