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Week Twenty - 2025 StatChat Power Rankings After Sonoma

Photo by Ralph Garcia for Racing Refresh
Photo by Ralph Garcia for Racing Refresh

By Adam Carabine


A look at the Top Ten in our weekly Power Rankings, plus the biggest movers! 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.

 

Christopher Bell – This week: 10 – Last week: 14

Christopher Bell had a quick dip outside of the Top 10 of our Power Rankings, but it was short-lived.  While Bell’s day in Sonoma wasn’t perfect, he wound up bringing his car home P5, which was enough to crack the Top 10 again.

 

AJ Allmendinger – This week: 9 – Last week: 7

Known for his road course prowess, AJ Allmendinger unfortunately struggled in Sonoma this past weekend.  He even spun off the course at one point – seemingly of his own doing.  He was still able to finish P18, which speaks to his abilities on road courses more than it shows what a bad day it was.  Many other drivers would have fared worse with the cards he was dealt. 

  

Chase Briscoe – This week: 8 – Last week: 16

Briscoe breaks into the Top 10 of the Power Rankings this week after a solid P2 finish at Sonoma.  Out of his previous five races (which are weighted more heavily in the Power Rankings formula), Briscoe has a win, a P2 and a P7.  It’s taken a little time, but it seems that he’s growing into the 19 car, and things are starting to click.

 

Ty Gibbs – This week: 7 – Last week: 9

Gibbs can’t seem to catch a break – he continues searching for his first career win.  He was really solid at Sonoma, though likely didn’t have a winning car.  A P7 was his second Top 10 in a row, Things are going well for the youngster, but I’d be willing to bet he won’t be satisfied until he gets his Cup car into Victory Lane.

 

Chris Buescher – This week: 6 – Last week: 5

Buescher has been lurking around the Top 10 in our Power Rankings for a few weeks.  It was far from a perfect day at Sonoma for Buescher, who has been notably better at road courses lately, but he earned a respectable P16.  He falls one spot, and he’ll want to earn that back pretty quickly to push for the playoffs.

 

Denny Hamlin – This week: 5 – Last week: 2

Hamlin has struggled at Sonoma in the past, and this weekend was no exception.  His car looked like it was missing something and they didn’t seem able to find it in time to make a difference.  Denny is still in the Top 5 of the Power Rankings after a solid few weeks, but he’ll likely be happy to see just left turns ahead.

 

Alex Bowman – This week: 4 – Last week: 12

Sometimes the formula’s focus on the previous five weeks can give you some weird scenarios – enter Alex Bowman.  In the races 6 and 7 weeks ago, Bowman finished 37th and 36th.  As Sonoma comes and goes – and Bowman has a decent, not too flashy day – now his most recent five races no longer have any finishes outside of the Top 20.  He jumps up to 4th in our Power Rankings, even with Sonoma being the worst of this most recent five.

 

Tyler Reddick – This week: 3 – Last week: 4

What seemed like a fairly frustrating day for Tyler Reddick and the 45 team turned into a nicely salvaged finish.  It appeared to be a difficult day handling-wise for Reddick and co, and yet they managed to bring it home P6 at the end of the day.  That’s how championship teams work, they maximize tough days.  He’s still looking for a win, though and if any more new winners come into play, he could find himself in a tough spot.

 

Chase Elliott – This week: 2 – Last week: 1

Chase Elliott had a really great day at a track that is one of his best – Sonoma.  To be honest, he really didn’t do anything wrong that warranted a fall from the top spot of the Power Rankings.  He just happened to be up against a road course juggernaut in SVG.  Once we return to ovals, Elliott might be the favourite to take back the top spot.

 

Shane Van Gisbergen – This week: 1 – Last week: 3

I suppose if you’re shocked by the new Top Dog in our Power Rankings, you haven’t been paying attention.  Not only did he get the win at Sonoma this past weekend, but he’s got three wins in his past five races.  SVG is unstoppable at road courses, it seems, and he gets rewarded with the top spot this week because of it.

 

Biggest Movers

 

Kyle Larson – This week: 13 – Last week: 6

Falls 7 places

 

Chase Briscoe – This week: 8 – Last week: 16

Gains 8 places

 

Alex Bowman – This week: 4 – Last week: 12

Gains 8 places

 

Michael McDowell – This week: 18 – Last week: 26

Gains 8 places

 

Rest of the List

11.

Ryan Preece

LW: 10

-1

12.

Erik Jones

LW: 8

-4

13.

Kyle Larson

LW: 6

-7

14.

Ryan Blaney

LW: 11

-3

15.

William Byron

LW: 13

-2

16.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

LW: 17

+1

17.

Kyle Busch

LW: 18

+1

18.

Michael McDowell

LW: 26

+8

19.

Ty Dillon

LW: 25

+6

20.

Ross Chastain

LW: 15

-5

21.

Justin Haley

LW: 22

+1

22.

Bubba Wallace

LW: 19

-3

23.

JH Nemechek

LW: 24

+1

24.

Joey Logano

LW: 23

-1

25.

Brad Keselowski

LW: 21

-4

26.

Zane Smith

LW: 20

-6

27.

Austin Cindric

LW: 27

--

28.

Cody Ware

LW: 28

--

29.

Todd Gilliland

LW: 32

+3

30.

Daniel Suarez

LW: 31

+1

31.

Noah Gragson

LW: 30

-1

32.

Carson Hocevar

LW: 29

-3

33.

Josh Berry

LW: 33

--

34.

Cole Custer

LW: 36

+2

35.

Austin Dillon

LW: 34

-1

36.

Riley Herbst

LW: 35

-1

 

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