Week Twenty-Six - 2025 StatChat Power Rankings After Daytona
- Adam Carabine
- Aug 29
- 6 min read
By Adam Carabine
With the Cup Series playoffs starting, 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: 23 – Last week: 26
Josh Berry comes in as the lowest Power-Ranked playoff driver. Since his win at Las Vegas in the fifth race of the season, he hasn’t scored another Top 5. While decent finishes (two Top 10s) in his last two races show some forward momentum, he’s going to need to perform well to make it farther in the playoffs. Good news for him, he’s known as a short-track performer, and both WWT-Gateway and Bristol might play into his hands.
Austin Cindric – This week: 22 – Last week: 12
Since Cindric won at Talladega earlier this year, he also hasn’t been super solid. He has one single Top 5 to speak of, and that was at Richmond two weeks ago. Due to some stage wins throughout the year, Cindric is currently above the playoff cut-off line, but only by 2 points.
Austin Dillon – This week: 21 – Last week: 17
Dillon is riding some positive momentum from his dominating win at Richmond two weeks ago, but he still doesn’t have a whole lot else to show for this season so far. His win was his sole Top 5 this year, and his average finish is just over 20.
Ross Chastain – This week: 19 – Last week: 27
Since Ross Chastain had his big win at the Coca-Cola 600, it’s been a bit slower in that 1 car. No Top 5s since, and an average finish just under 20. Those kinds of numbers won’t cut it in the playoffs, and he starts only +1 to the cut line.
Alex Bowman – This week: 18 – Last week: 5
Bowman barely squeaked his way into the playoffs after crashing out at the regular season finale at Daytona. Despite his P36, Blaney’s win at the race ensured no new winners, and Bowman clung onto his final playoff berth. However, he hasn’t been terrible – a P2 the week before at Richmond helped him get into a position where he could crash at Daytona and still make it in on points.
Chase Elliott – This week: 16 – Last week: 8
As the Power Rankings formula places a heavier emphasis on the last five races, Chase Elliott fell out of the Top 10 after a rough patch here. In fact, his P10 at Daytona this past weekend was the best finish he’s had since Dover. While he was Mr. Consistency all season, he trailed off a little and wound up losing the Regular Season Championship to William Byron.
Joey Logano – This week: 15 – Last week: 21
Logano faced some harsh criticism over winning the championship last year, despite a relatively poor regular season by comparison. However, if we know anything about the Team Penske camp, it’s that they place a lot of emphasis on the playoffs. Joey Logano probably would have liked to come into the playoffs on a bit of a higher note, it’s far too soon to count him out.
Bubba Wallace – This week: 11 – Last week: 6
Bubba Wallace creeps just outside of the Top 10 in the Power Rankings, but his results haven’t always echoed how his car looks. This 23 team is firing well right now, and Bubba seems to have been able to leave some nerves behind. They might not be championship contenders yet, but they’ll be interesting to watch over the coming weeks.
Tyler Reddick – This week: 10 – Last week: 13
Weird to think that last year’s Regular Season Champ is still winless this season, but things have been particularly bad in this final push to the playoffs. With he and Bowman being the only two winless drivers to make the playoff field, he’ll be up against it early with the lack of playoff points he’s amassed this year.
Denny Hamlin – This week: 9 – Last week: 3
Hamlin is tied for the most wins this season so far, and that playoff point lead will help him navigate these first few rounds. He starts +23 on the cutline this year. Denny has been endlessly asking “is it our year this year?” Throw on top of that some major distractions with the lawsuit he and his team, 23XI are in the midst of against NASCAR, and a championship could be some major drama.
SVG – This week: 8 – Last week: 14
Obviously, we are all familiar at this point with SVG’s road course prowess, but his oval program has been slowly improving all season. If his playoff point cushion can help push him into the second round, he could easily find his way into the Round of 8 with a win (or solid finish) at the Charlotte Roval. He’s not likely to win the Championship, but there is a path to getting to the Final Four that isn’t completely far-fetched.
Kyle Larson – This week: 7 – Last week: 10
Kyle Larson is now considered a perennial favourite to make some noise in the playoff hunt, and this year is no exception. A poorer showing at Iowa, and a major incident at Watkins Glen have coloured his Power Rankings position right now, but he certainly has the driving chops to make a push for the Championship this year.
Christopher Bell – This week: 5 – Last week: 7
Since Bell won three races in a row this year, he’s remained out of Victory Lane. Does that mean Bell fans need to be worried? I wouldn’t say so just yet. He’s got the 2nd best average finish of any Cup driver this year, and has traditionally done well in the playoffs. He’ll certainly be hoping that he can make some noise in the Championship hunt this year.
Chase Briscoe – This week: 4 – Last week: 4
Briscoe’s inaugural season with Joe Gibbs Racing has been a bit of a yo-yo. You’ve got a win at Pocono followed by a P35 at Atlanta. You’ve got two runner-up finishes at both Sonoma and Dover (two very different tracks, mind you), but you’ve also got a pair of P23s scattered in there too. Briscoe is in the best equipment he’s had in the Cup Series, and has been much more consistent lately. He could do some damage this year in the playoffs.
William Byron – This week: 2 – Last week: 2
The Regular Season Championship under his belt, and with it the extra bonus playoff points, put Byron in a solid position to start this year’s playoffs. He’ll be +26 once they kick off this weekend – which isn’t 100% guaranteed, but it’s certainly a good starting point on his quest to his first Cup Series Championship.
Ryan Blaney – This week: 1 – Last week: 1
Ryan Blaney has been on a hot streak lately, and as we know, the playoffs can be all about getting hot at the right time. He’s riding a six-race Top 10 streak right now, including his most recent win at Daytona last weekend. When you consider that he finished 2nd in Regular Season Points, while also being tied for most DNFs on the season so far, it goes to show that when he’s not crashing out of a race, he’s been excellent.
Biggest Movers
Alex Bowman – This week: 18 – Last week: 5
Falls 13 places
Ross Chastain – This week: 19 – Last week: 27
Gains 8 places
Ryan Preece – This week: 3 – Last week: 11
Gains 8 places
Best of the Rest:
3. | Ryan Preece | LW: 11 | +8 |
6. | Brad Keselowski | LW: 9 | +3 |
12. | Chris Buescher | LW: 15 | +3 |
13. | Daniel Suarez | LW: 19 | +6 |
14. | JH Nemechek | LW: 20 | +6 |
17. | Todd Gilliland | LW: 24 | +7 |
20. | Ty Gibbs | LW: 18 | -2 |
24. | AJ Allmendinger | LW: 28 | +4 |
25. | Kyle Busch | LW: 16 | -9 |
26. | Erik Jones | LW: 29 | +3 |
27. | Cole Custer | LW: 30 | +3 |
28. | Justin Haley | LW: 34 | +6 |
29. | Carson Hocevar | LW: 23 | -6 |
30. | Zane Smith | LW: 22 | -8 |
31. | Michael McDowell | LW: 31 | -- |
32. | Ty Dillon | LW: 35 | +3 |
33. | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | LW: 25 | -8 |
34. | Cody Ware | LW: 36 | +2 |
35. | Noah Gragson | LW: 33 | -2 |
36. | Riley Herbst | LW: 32 | -4 |
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