Week Thirty-Five - 2025 StatChat Power Rankings After Martinsville
- Adam Carabine
- 5 minutes ago
- 6 min read
By Adam Carabine
With the Cup Series playoffs in full swing, Power Rankings will now follow only the 16 playoff drivers (even after they’re eliminated) for the rest of this season.
While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs, with an emphasis placed on the most recent 5 races.
Austin Cindric – This week: 30 – Last week: 33 – Eliminated
A Top-15 for Austin Cindric at Martinsville is certainly nothing to scoff at. It moves Cindric up 3 spots in the Power Rankings, and at least gives him a fighting chance to not finish last after next week’s finale.
Josh Berry – This week: 26 – Last week: 21 – Eliminated
Berry’s Top-10 at Martinsville should seemingly bump him up in the Power Rankings, but because the most recent 5 races are the most heavily weighted, Berry’s P10 comes at the expense of a runner-up finish in New Hampshire.
Austin Dillon – This week: 25 – Last week: 25 – Eliminated
Austin Dillon took a risky gamble early on a pit stop strategy, staying out at the start of Stage 2. It didn’t pay off at the time, but he managed to salvage a P16, on the lead lap at Martinsville, and keep his position in the Power Rankings.
Alex Bowman – This week: 20 – Last week: 19 – Eliminated
Bowman has had an unfortunate string of races, only buoyed by a P7 finish at Las Vegas. His P23 at Martinsville adds to an average finish in the last five races of 21st. It’s 22nd if you count all of the playoffs so far.
Bubba Wallace – This week: 13 – Last week: 13 – Eliminated
The newly-announced new (again) dad-to-be had a mediocre day at Martinsville. You don’t necessarily think of Wallace as being a threat at short tracks, but he had a respectable Top 20 finish. He spent the majority of the day outside of the Top 15, but he manages to maintain his Power Rankings spot.
Ross Chastain – This week: 11 – Last week: 11 – Eliminated
It was a solid effort by Ross Chastain at Martinsville this past weekend. He didn’t have to ride the wall as a Hail Mary to finish the race. He wound up finishing P4. He led a few laps, had a solid average running position, and yet due to the competition ahead of him, was only able to maintain his spot in the Power Rankings.
Ryan Blaney – This week: 10 – Last week: 7 – Eliminated
All he needed was one more spot, and he would have made it to the Championship Four. But William Byron brought the bumper to him, and pushed him out of the way, and he finished P2. It was a solid run all day for Blaney, who started 31st and made his way up front pretty early. A P2 is great in the grand scheme of the Power Rankings, but his last win was 6 races ago, just outside of the 5-race cut-off for more heavily weighted results.
Joey Logano – This week: 9 – Last week: 5 – Eliminated
Logano also got himself eliminated at Martinsville this week, though he wasn’t quite as close as Blaney had been. Logano earned himself some stage points, but never led any laps and finished P8. He falls out of contention to compete for his fourth Cup Series Championship (and second in a row), and also falls in the Power Rankings.
Chase Elliott – This week: 8 – Last week: 10 – Eliminated
Elliott was in major must-win territory at Martinsville, but like Ryan Blaney, came up just short. A P3 finish for NASCAR’s most popular driver, stage points, and an average running position of 5th were enough to give him two extra spots in the Power Rankings, but I’m sure he’d prefer to be fighting for a championship next year.
Chase Briscoe – This week: 7 – Last week: 4
The stakes were lower for Chase Briscoe at Martinsville, and while he certainly wasn’t hanging back and taking a casual Sunday drive, he blew an engine and finished his day early. A friend texted me asking if maybe JGR was trying something experimental because Hamlin’s engine also gave out, but we’ll likely never know. Briscoe finished P37, and is the lowest-scored Championship Four driver in the Power Rankings.
Tyler Reddick – This week: 6 – Last week: 8 – Eliminated
Reddick didn’t seem to have the winning car at Martinsville this past weekend, but some savvy pit strategy might have earned him some more spots than his car deserved. He finished P11, led 6 laps, and earned a few stage points to bump his Power Rankings position up a couple spots.
SVG – This week: 5 – Last week: 9 – Eliminated
Check out this Kiwi breaking his way back into the Top 5 of the Power Rankings! Yes, his spot is pushed up by yet another road course win within his last five races, but he was pretty solid at Martinsville too. He finished P14, earned stage points, finished on the lead lap, and was on the upper end of quality passes made by anyone in the field too. If he continues to improve the way he has on ovals over the next while, he could be one to watch for next year.
Denny Hamlin – This week: 4 – Last week: 3
Like his teammate Briscoe, there may have been some experimentation on the two JGR engines that were locked into the Championship round, and Denny blew up on lap 334, leading to a DNF. While his championship hopes are still intact, he does drop one spot in the Power Rankings. If this was just a random mishap, Denny is probably worried next week. If JGR was trying to gain an advantage, it doesn’t look like it worked.
William Byron – This week: 3 – Last week: 6
Byron wins his way into the Championship Four for the third year in a row with a win at Martinsville, and he did it in convincing fashion. He won the pole, won both stages, led the most laps, and ended up winning the race. If momentum could be measured, Byron would be the favourite in Phoenix, but much can change over the course of one week.
Christopher Bell – This week: 2 – Last week: 2 - Eliminated
All Christopher Bell needed to make it to the Championship Four was for none of the drivers below the line to win, and unfortunately for him, Byron pulled it off, eliminating him in the process. Bell finished P7 in Martinsville, earned stage points, and led everyone with the most Quality Passes of any driver (tied with Austin Cindric). He may still be in the hunt for the Power Rankings trophy, but his championship hopes are done.
Kyle Larson – This week: 1 – Last week: 1
Larson had a safe, solid day at Martinsville. He never led a lap, and he managed his distance to competitor Christopher Bell, who was really the only competition he had all day. As long as he finished within 6 places of Bell, he was going to be in on points, no matter who won. He finished two spots ahead of Bell in P5, and holds onto the top spot in the Power Rankings for another week.
Biggest Movers
Noah Gragson – This week: 34 – Last week: 27
Falls 7 places
Daniel Suarez – This Week: 18 – Last Weekend: 24
Gains 6 places
Best of the Rest:
12. | Todd Gilliland | LW: 12 | -- |
14. | Ryan Preece | LW: 14 | -- |
15. | Ty Gibbs | LW: 20 | +5 |
16. | Chris Buescher | LW: 16 | -- |
17. | Brad Keselowski | LW: 18 | +1 |
18. | Daniel Suarez | LW: 24 | +6 |
19. | Michael McDowell | LW: 15 | -4 |
21. | Kyle Busch | LW: 22 | +1 |
22. | Carson Hocevar | LW: 17 | -5 |
23. | JH Nemechek | LW: 26 | +3 |
24. | Zane Smith | LW: 23 | -1 |
27. | Cole Custer | LW: 30 | +3 |
28. | AJ Allmendinger | LW: 28 | -- |
29. | Ty Dillon | LW: 31 | +2 |
31. | Erik Jones | LW: 29 | -2 |
32. | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | LW: 32 | -- |
33. | Justin Haley | LW: 35 | +2 |
34. | Noah Gragson | LW: 27 | -7 |
35. | Riley Herbst | LW: 34 | -1 |
36. | Cody Ware | LW: 36 | -- |
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