Week Twenty-Nine - 2025 StatChat Power Rankings After Bristol
- Adam Carabine
- Sep 19
- 5 min read
By Adam Carabine
With the Cup Series playoffs now 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.
Josh Berry – This week: 36 – Last week: 35
In possibly the worst ever playoff appearance, Josh Berry finished last in all three races of the first round. Understandably, he didn’t move on to the next one. Berry is better than this three-race showing, but I’m sure he’d like a do-over.
Austin Cindric – This week: 26 – Last week: 22
Cindric survived the first round, partly due to some poor showings from Berry and Alex Bowman. But in this playoff system, you need some luck as well as skill. The second round is a grind, with three difficult tracks, but Cindric enters just one point under the cutline.
Alex Bowman – This week: 24 – Last week: 26
Bowman’s late surge at Bristol was unfortunately too little, too late. He had a rough showing in the first two races at Darlington and WWT Gateway, and was unable to undo the damage.
SVG – This week: 22 – Last week: 12
There was a small chance that SVG might make it through to Round Two of the playoffs, and mostly because of the insane playoff point lead he had over others. Ovals not being his forte just yet, he wasn’t able to hold serve and stay alive. The other drivers are likely counting their lucky stars – watch for him to contend at the Charlotte Roval later in this round.
Austin Dillon – This week: 21 – Last week: 18
Austin Dillon didn’t have a great first round. His best finish was P18 at WWT Gateway, and he was essentially below the cutline the entire run. With both him and teammate Kyle Busch having down years so far, there might be something festering at RCR as a whole, but as long as they keep returning to Richmond, Dillon might be okay to sneak into the playoffs each year.
Chase Elliott – This week: 17 – Last week: 16
Chase falls in the Power Rankings again after a rough finish to the first round. P38 is not the way to get it done, but luckily he had built up enough points to make it through to the next round. He’s going to want some more consistency in the next round if he’s going to make it to the end.
Bubba Wallace – This week: 12 – Last week: 9
Aside from a tough finish at Bristol, Bubba Wallace’s first round was really solid. Two top 10s in the previous two races was enough to ensure his safe passage into the Round of 12. Wallace has shown some veteran-like poise this season, and the results are showing up as a result.
Ross Chastain – This week: 11 – Last week: 10
Ross Chastain was neither terrible nor amazing in the first round of the Playoffs. In these uncharacteristically quiet first three races, he earned enough to make it through to the next round, but it was close. He’ll need to step up his game for the next round.
Tyler Reddick – This week: 8 – Last week: 7
Reddick did well enough in the first race to be able to coast a little more through the next two of Playoff Round One. His runner-up finish at Darlington was solid, but Reddick fans still need to see more. Going for his first win of the season in Round Two might be just the place to start.
William Byron – This week: 7 – Last week: 5
Also having a quiet first round was William Byron. The nice thing about his playoff points is that if he can survive the round, he starts the next one with a nice lead again. He enters the Round of 12 +24 to the cutline – a nice buffer in case things go sour for him.
Christopher Bell – This week: 6 – Last week: 6
Things didn’t look great after a P29 at Darlington to kick off his playoffs, but Christopher Bell rebounded and won at the Bristol Night Race to secure his spot. He was already in a decent position, points-wise, but the win cemented things for him. Maybe more importantly, it was finally a return to Victory Lane after he won three in a row near the start of the season. While he’s been solid, he hasn’t won again since. This momentum could be hitting at the right time.
Joey Logano – This week: 5 – Last week: 8
The reigning champion still just keeps finding a way to get things done. Two Top 5s in a row to finish out the Round of 16, and Logano is still looking to defend his title. While it hasn’t seemed like the 22 car has had the speed lately, Logano is crafty and finds other ways to capitalize on others’ mistakes.
Denny Hamlin – This week: 4 – Last week: 4
Not sure if this really is truly “Hamlin’s Year This Year” ™, but he’s off to a strong start in the first three races. He won at WWT Gateway to secure his spot in the next round, which afforded him the ability to have a rough finish at Bristol and still move forward. He remains competitive year after year, is this the year it pays off?
Kyle Larson – This week: 3 – Last week: 3
It was also a weirdly quiet Round of 16 for Kyle Larson, though he had enough of a lead in points to still make it into the next round. Bristol was not nice to Larson, as he finished 5 laps down, in 32nd place. However, like his teammate Byron, the points have reset for Round Two, and he’s +24 to the cutline heading into New Hampshire.
Ryan Blaney – This week: 2 – Last week: 1
Blaney falls from the top spot despite a really solid first round of the playoffs. He opened at Darlington with a P18, but finished strong with two P4s in a row. He was a threat all night at Bristol, but came up a few spots short in the end. He falls a spot due to Chase Briscoe’s sudden surge in the last few weeks.
Chase Briscoe – This week: 1 – Last week: 2
Briscoe took all of the pressure off of himself with a win at the opening race of the playoffs, but continued to keep the pressure up on his opponents with two other solid finishes at WWT Gateway and Bristol. He came 2nd in St. Louis and a respectable 9th place in Bristol. The new addition to the Joe Gibbs Racing camp this year is starting to click really well, and that should worry the others.
Biggest Movers
SVG – This week: 22 – Last week: 12
Falls 10 places
Ty Gibbs – This Week: 9 – Last Weekend 19
Gains 10 places
Best of the Rest:
9. | Ty Gibbs | LW: 19 | +10 |
10. | Brad Keselowski | LW: 17 | +7 |
13. | JH Nemechek | LW: 14 | +1 |
14. | Ryan Preece | LW: 11 | -3 |
15. | Chris Buescher | LW: 13 | -2 |
16. | Erik Jones | LW: 15 | -1 |
18. | Carson Hocevar | LW: 25 | +7 |
19. | Kyle Busch | LW: 23 | +4 |
20. | Zane Smith | LW: 29 | +9 |
23. | Todd Gilliland | LW: 24 | +1 |
25. | Michael McDowell | LW: 27 | +2 |
27. | AJ Allmendinger | LW: 20 | -7 |
28. | Justin Haley | LW: 31 | +3 |
29. | Daniel Suarez | LW: 21 | -7 |
30. | Cole Custer | LW: 30 | -- |
31. | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | LW: 28 | -3 |
32. | Ty Dillon | LW: 33 | +1 |
33. | Cody Ware | LW: 32 | -1 |
34. | Noah Gragson | LW: 34 | -- |
35. | Riley Herbst | LW: 36 | +1 |
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