2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Power Rankings

As the regular season came to an exciting close in Daytona, Jey and I convened to discuss how we would rank the current playoff drivers and how they stack up for the first round.

Normally, Jey and I write these rankings together and trade off blurbs, but I took a sabbatical to let Jey cook (and to give me some time to complete work on some other projects coming soon!)

Without any further ado, here are our rankings with blurbs solely by Jey.

1. Ryan Blaney

Last Six Races: 8th, 7th, 4th, 6th, 3rd, 1st

Ryan Blaney enters the playoffs as an early favorite for the Championship 4. Despite seven DNFs so far this year, Blaney generated momentum at the perfect time, riding a top-10 streak that extends all the way back to Dover in June and capping it off with a win at Daytona last week.

Darlington and Gateway should both treat the 12 team well in the Round of 16 as he was in contention to win each of these races late in the running in our most recent visit to both facilities.

2. Denny Hamlin

Last Six Races: 1st, 3rd, 24th, 25th, 10th, 25th

Denny Hamlin is having one of the best years of his career, even more impressive with the weight of his team team’s current lawsuit against NASCAR. Denny has four wins on the season and should be pegged as a favorite to compete for a title he’s so desperately sought.

Darlington and Bristol should treat Hamlin quite well since he won at the Lady in Black in the spring and finished second at Bristol this spring as well.

3. Kyle Larson

Last Six Races: 4th, 2nd, 28th, 39th, 6th, 6th

Kyle Larson seems to have recovered from his post Indy 500-World 600 double attempt “slump” now that the 5 team boasts back-to-back sixth place finishes in the last two regular season races. If he and the team can build on this momentum, they should be set for a deep playoff run.

Despite issues at Darlington in the spring over the last few years, Larson touts a 4.75 average finish at the Southern 500 in the last four years. He is also the winner of the last two Bristol races, so the Round of 16 lines up quite well for the 5 team.

4. William Byron

Last Six Races: 31st, 16th, 1st, 4th, 12th, 19th

William Byron weaved his way to the regular season championship this year; despite this, the team is not carrying a ton of momentum into the postseason. Outside of his Iowa win. the 24 team recorded just two top-5 results since the Coke 600. They’ve shown speed, but they haven’t earned the finishes to reflect that speed.

Byron looks to Darlington in the Round of 16 to settle back in as he led the first 243 laps of the spring race just five months ago. Byron also logged a strong sixth-place finish at Bristol, giving the team a result to build from as well.

5. Bubba Wallace

Last Six Races: 7th, 1st, 6th, 8th, 28th, 37th

Bubba Wallace is in the midst of the best year of his career. Though he’s collected seven DNFs, Bubba flashed more pace than any other year as well as claiming a crown jewel victory at the Brickyard 400. Bubba looked poised to contend at the spring Darlington race, but he failed to produce a solid result.

However, Bubba’s history at Bristol remains great. Wallace and first-year crew chief Charles Denike still have the proverbial chips on their shoulder and doubters to prove wrong. We should see them use this as motivation as they make a bid for a championship.

6. Chase Briscoe

Last Six Races: 2nd, 18th, 2nd, 5th, 13th, 23rd

Chase Briscoe looks to have adjusted to his new ride at Joe Gibbs Racing quite well, notching a win at Pocono as well as six pole awards on the year. He’s also finished on the lead lap in all but the three races where the 19 car failed to finish.

Briscoe won the Southern 500 for Stewart-Haas Racing last year and will be looking to back up that effort. As Briscoe and crew chief James Small make a bid for the Bill France Cup, they must master how to get finishes reflective of their Saturday speed.

7. Christopher Bell

Last Six Races: 18th, 8th, 17th, 2nd, 21st, 13th

Christopher Bell won three races in a row in the early stages of the season but has not made it back to victory lane since. It isn’t for a lack of trying though, as the team has flashed good pace. They just haven’t produced the results to show for it.

Bell sets his sites on another Championship 4 appearance. He needs to survive the Round of 16 first. He finished third at Darlington and eighth at Bristol in the spring, so the 20 will definitely be leaning on that notebook to get Bell into prime position for the next round where Loudon — one of his best tracks — awaits.

8. Chase Elliott

Last Six Races: 6th, 13th, 14th, 26th, 38th, 10th

Chase Elliott remains a marker of consistency in a season where the term has so few applications. The 9 team continue to grind, quietly entering the conversation as the “best of the rest” all year. This quiet consistency should be enough to get them through the Round of 16.

If they intend to go much further, they’ll need to turn up the wick and turn those top-10 days into top-5 days and compete for more wins. They were solid at Darlington and Bristol in the spring and will be looking to replicate those performances in the coming weeks.

9. Alex Bowman

Last Six Races: 3rd, 9th, 7th, 20th, 2nd, 36th

Alex Bowman’s season displays a brutal dichotomy. When they’ve been on track, they run on par or ahead of their teammates, but they’ve been in a ton of accidents and have had mechanical failures that almost sunk them out of the playoffs entirely.

Bowman and crew chief Blake Harris need to iron out these issues and hope for a bit better luck if they want to make a deep playoff run. Their relative speed at the end of the regular season and how the first round lines up offers the 48 team a high chance to advance.

10. Tyler Reddick

Last Six Races: 12th, 29th, 19th, 9th, 34th, 21st

Tyler Reddick and crew chief Billy Scott have to learn how to finish races again, plain and simple. The team puts together good efforts but repeatedly lose ground in the last 25 percent of races, preventing them from finishing out races and getting finishes reflective of their overall pace.

If the 45 squad can’t, last year’s regular season champions could easily be a surprise first-round exit, which would be an absolute travesty for the team after making it to the Championship 4.

11. Joey Logano

Last Six Races: 14th, 32nd, 9th, 14th, 4th, 27th

Joey Logano enters the playoff on the cutline after he and the 22 team put together a solid year, notching an early win at Texas to lock the 22 crew into the postseason. That said, it was nothing remarkable.

Logano needs to find some of teammate Ryan Blaney’s summer speed if he wants to make it out of the Round of 16 to avoid a sequel of his 2023 title defense. Logano is a grizzled veteran and can’t be counted out, so I look for him to make a charge starting at Darlington this weekend.

12. Austin Cindric

Last Six Races: 16th, 15th, 12th, 16th, 5th, 39th

Austin Cindric performed better this year than the stat sheet would imply. He does own a win at Talladega this spring, but he showed race-winning speed at other drafting tracks as well as Indianapolis before cutting a tire in the Brickyard 400 while leading.

Cindric is the darling of the early rounds of the playoffs, advancing much further than anyone predicted. The 2 crew will look to recapture 2024’s magic this year as he tries to make a bid for his first championship.

13. Shane van Gisbergen

Last Six Races: 30th, 19th, 31st, 1st, 14th, 16th

The rookie phenom Shane Van Gisbergen from New Zealand looks to do something we haven’t seen before: entering the sport as a road course ace and figuring out the ovals as he goes. As far as the road courses are concerned, SVG quieted the doubters, claiming wins on four of the five road courses in the regular season.

Getting through the first round of the playoffs will be tough for the 88 team as the Kiwi still does not have an oval top-10 in the Cup Series. However, he shows improvements week after week. If Shane can avoid the chaos, he could very well advance.

14. Ross Chastain

Last Six Races: 33rd, 39th, 11th, 10th, 19th, 15th

Ross Chastain shocked the world in May as he won the World 600 from shotgun on the field in a backup car. Outside of that, Ross hasn’t shown much race-winning pace.

If Chastain wants to make a run for a title, the 1 team needs to replicate what they had in Charlotte this spring and get a bit of luck to get out of the Round of 16. There exists no doubt that the Melon Man possesses the talent; it’s just a matter of whether the team can put the car underneath him to give him a chance.

15. Josh Berry

Last Six Races: 28th, 22nd, 13th, 35th, 8th, 9th

Josh Berry is in just his second full-time season in the Cup Series and his first driving the legendary #21 for the Wood Brothers. Berry was able to get an early victory at Las Vegas this year but failed to net a top-5 finish after that race, the fifth of the year.

It will be a tall task for the Hendersonville, Tenn. native to make it out of the Round of 16, but if the team can find their groove and get a good bit of luck, the 21 team could be an upset advancement into the second round.

16. Austin Dillon

Last Six Races: 15th, 38th, 10th, 15th, 1st, 24th

Austin Dillon finally got his “redemption” for the fiasco he caused at the end of last year’s Richmond summer race by dominating the latter half of this year’s Richmond race and locking himself into the playoffs with a win this time around.

Unfortunately for Dillon, the Cup Series only goes to Richmond once a year, and that’s not in the Round of 16. Unless the team finds a massive amount of speed or a cataclysmic event occurs, Dillon is unlikely to advance from the first round of the playoffs.

(Top Photo Credit: Getty Images)