Week Twenty-Seven - 2025 StatChat Power Rankings After Darlington
- Adam Carabine
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
By Adam Carabine
With the Cup Series playoffs now underway, 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: 27 – Last week: 23
Imagine the unluckiest start to the playoffs you can think of, and Josh Berry had worse. He wrecked before lap 1 was even complete. While he was able to make some repairs and return to the track, he finished 128 laps down, in last place. Berry was already a longshot to make it far in these playoffs, and this certainly doesn’t help. He’s now -19 to the cut line.
Alex Bowman – This week: 24 – Last week: 18
Bowman had an equally bad night at Darlington, but it was more to do with setup and execution than luck. For whatever reason, all of the Hendrick cars were behind the eight-ball to start the race, and Bowman suffered the most. P31, and he’s tied with Berry with -19 to the cut line.
Austin Cindric – This week: 20 – Last week: 22
Cindric was unremarkable at Darlington, which might actually be just enough to get him to the next round. I suppose a P12 is plenty to write home about at one of NASCAR’s toughest tracks, but the real win here is not getting bogged down in trouble like many of the other playoff drivers did. 20th in the Power Rankings isn’t Championship worthy, but at this point it might be enough to make it to the next round. He’s +12 to the cut line.
Chase Elliott – This week: 19 – Last week: 16
Even though he was the best out of Hendrick Motorsports’ very bad no-good day, his P17 isn’t enough to cut it. Elliott would probably point out that a successful year for the 9 team is either championship or bust. His performance at Darlington erased his cushion over the cut line, and now he’s just +9. It’s better than being in the negatives, but he’ll need to hope HMS brings something better to WWT Gateway next weekend.
Austin Dillon – This week: 18 – Last week: 21
Austin Dillon is another driver that isn’t likely anyone’s Championship pick, but could find his way into the next round if he manages to stay out of trouble. P23 at Darlington isn’t going to cut it, but he’s also lucky that some of the other big-time names also struggled, so the deficit could be much worse. He had a league-worst -23 passing differential, but Darlington is also one of the toughest tracks on the schedule. He heads to WWT Gateway next week 8 points below the cut line.
Bubba Wallace – This week: 15 – Last week: 11
Bubba Wallace actually had a solid day at Darlington. The reason his Power Rankings spot fell four spots is because his win at Indianapolis just fell into the 6-week-ago range (the Power Rankings formula weighs the most recent 5 races more heavily). He’s been running really well lately, though, and he’s comfortably +25 to the cut line.
Joey Logano – This week: 13 – Last week: 15
It’s been an inconsistent year for Logano, and while he did earn his spot in the playoffs with a win, it was a lacklustre performance at Darlington. He finished P20, with an average running position of 16th. His 6th-ago race (similar to what happened to Bubba Wallace above) was a DNF at Indianapolis, so his Power Rankings spot moved up this week. He’s -3 to the cut line.
Denny Hamlin – This week: 11 – Last week: 9
It was a good day to be driving a Toyota this past weekend in Darlington. Denny Hamlin challenged for the lead at a few different times during the race. He led 12 laps, earned some stage points, etc. His P7 finish could have been better based on how he ran the day, but he’ll take it. That puts him as the 2nd best driver in the standings right now, +43 to the cut line.
Kyle Larson – This week: 10 – Last week: 7
Another victim of the Hendrick Motorsports Darlington Debacle of 2025, Kyle Larson finished P19. He got himself some stage points along the way, led two laps, and wasn’t horrible overall, but it’s not the championship-worthy performance we’re used to seeing out of Larson, especially at this time of year. He’s +38 to the cut line.
SVG – This week: 9 – Last week: 8
SVG’s finishing position at Darlington doesn’t actually quite tell the full story. Not necessarily known for his oval prowess, he was trying out an alternate strategy which appeared to be working okay. He led a couple of laps, spent some time up front, etc. An untimely caution put him two laps down at a really bad time, and he was unable to recover from it. He’s +3 to the cut line, and I’m not ready to count him out just yet.
Christopher Bell – This week: 7 – Last week: 5
Remember when I said it was a good day to be a Toyota driver on Sunday in Darlington? I forgot about Christopher Bell when I said that. He had a rough finish to his race, P29. While he also led a couple of laps and earned some stage points, things really fell off in the latter portion of the race. He’s only +11 to the cut line, so he’ll need to bring some heat next weekend.
Ross Chastain – This week: 5 – Last week: 19
This week’s most improved driver in the Power Rankings, Ross Chastain had a solid day for Trackhouse Racing. He finished P11, led laps, earned stage points, and had the second-most Quality Passes (green flag passes in the Top 15) of any driver. Chastain didn’t have a ton of cushion coming into the playoffs, and he boosted it up a bit. Hopefully this positive momentum can keep him moving in the right direction. He's +21 to the cut line.
Tyler Reddick – This week: 4 – Last week: 10
At the end of the Darlington race, both Tyler Reddick and Erik Jones looked like they were faster than eventual winner Chase Briscoe, but couldn’t get those final passes completed. Reddick started the day off with the ‘Save of the Year,’ as they said on TV, and managed to somehow limit the amount of damage to his car after a collision with Josh Berry on lap one. From there, some astute work on pit road, and some decent strategy calls found him finishing P2 on the day, in a faster car than the leader. +35 to the cut line.
William Byron – This week: 3 – Last week: 2
I’ve ragged on Hendrick Motorsports enough in these Power Rankings so I’ll give it a break here, but Byron wasn’t good enough either. He earned a single stage point, but that was about all that was good on his day at Darlington. He finished P21, and falls down to +25 on the cut line.
Chase Briscoe – This week: 2 – Last week: 4
A really valiant effort from this 19 team, and Chase Briscoe at Darlington got him his second Southern 500 victory in a row. He dominated the day, and didn’t even always have the best car. In fact, his car seemed to be in the worst condition it had been all day in the final stint, but he managed to wheel it home safe anyway. He’s automatically advanced to the next round, and can breathe easy these next few weeks.
Ryan Blaney – This week: 1 – Last week: 1
Blaney might not have had a picture perfect day, but his track record (no pun intended) over the last five races is enough to have him hold onto the number one Power Rankings spot this week. He did show some signs of promise, despite a P18 finish. He had the highest pass differential of any driver (+33). He is +22 to the cut line heading into next week. Honestly, it’s still anyone’s playoffs to lose – anyone that’s below the line right now could still fight their way out, and vice versa!
Biggest Movers
Todd Gilliland – This week: 25 – Last week: 17
Falls 8 places
Ross Chastain – This week: 5 – Last week: 19
Gains 14 places
Erik Jones – This week: 12 – Last week: 26
Gains 14 places
Best of the Rest:
6. | Ryan Preece | LW: 3 | -3 |
8. | Brad Keselowski | LW: 6 | -2 |
12. | Erik Jones | LW: 26 | +14 |
14. | Chris Buescher | LW: 12 | -2 |
16. | JH Nemechek | LW: 14 | -2 |
17. | Daniel Suarez | LW: 13 | -4 |
21. | AJ Allmendinger | LW: 24 | +3 |
22. | Kyle Busch | LW: 25 | +3 |
23. | Ty Gibbs | LW: 20 | -3 |
25. | Todd Gilliland | LW: 17 | -8 |
26. | Carson Hocevar | LW: 29 | +3 |
28. | Zane Smith | LW: 30 | +2 |
29. | Cole Custer | LW: 27 | -2 |
30. | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | LW: 33 | +3 |
31. | Michael McDowell | LW: 31 | -- |
32. | Justin Haley | LW: 28 | -4 |
33. | Noah Gragson | LW: 35 | +2 |
34. | Ty Dillon | LW: 32 | -2 |
35. | Cody Ware | LW: 34 | -1 |
36. | Riley Herbst | LW: 36 | -- |
Comments