The calendar has turned to 2025, and anticipation is building for some of the biggest races on the schedule. With that in mind, it's time for power rankings looking at the top drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series.
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Note: These rankings rely heavily on last season, but they also take into account the entire Gen 7 era.
Top 10 Cup Series Power Rankings
1. Ryan Blaney — Blaney only has one championship to his name but has remained incredibly consistent throughout the Gen 7 era. He has at least 17 top-10 finishes in each season and three wins in each of the last two seasons. Blaney has made the Championship 4 twice in the last two seasons while winning one title and finishing second in the standings once.
2. Kyle Larson — Larson hasn't won the championship since the final season of the Gen 6 era yet has led the Cup Series in multiple statistical categories in the Gen 7 era. He has the most wins (13) since 2022 and has led a series-high 3,462 laps. Larson missed one race last season but still tied for the series lead with 15 top-five finishes. He led the series with six wins. Larson is the only driver to lead at least 1,000 laps in multiple seasons of the current era.
3. Joey Logano — The only driver with multiple championships in the Gen 7 era, Logano slots into third place due to his overall track record since 2022. He won four races in each of the even years (2022, 2024) and he ended each season as the champion. In 2023, however, he only won one race in 2023 while becoming the first reigning champion in the elimination era to fail to move beyond the first round of the playoffs.
This @joeylogano resume keeps getting better and better!
34 Years Old
3 Championships
6 #Championship4 Appearances
36 Wins
167 Top 5s pic.twitter.com/K3YhTamaZs— NASCAR (@NASCAR) November 11, 2024
4. Christopher Bell — Bell has flourished in the Gen 7 era while gaining experience as a Cup driver. He has eight wins since 2022 and a series-high 62 top-10 finishes. Bell has reached the Championship 4 twice in three seasons and is one of only three drivers to lead at least 1,000 laps in a season in the Gen 7 era.
5. Denny Hamlin — Hamlin is in his 40s yet continues to beat back Father Time. He has adapted to the Gen 7 car while winning eight races since 2022 and posting at least 10 top-five finishes in each season. He has reached the Round of 8 of the playoffs in all three seasons. The biggest thing moving Hamlin down the power rankings at this point is his failure to reach the Championship 4, something he did four times between 2014-21.
6. Chase Elliott — An injury shortened Elliott's 2023 campaign, but he has delivered consistent performances in the other two seasons of the Gen 7 era. He led the series with five wins in 2022 and finished fourth in the standings due to another driver crashing him in the finale. Elliott only won one race last season but led the series with an average finish of 11.7.
CHASE ELLIOTT WINS AT TEXAS! pic.twitter.com/6Anw83DuN3
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 14, 2024
7. Tyler Reddick — The Gen 7 era has been good for Reddick, who scored his first career Cup win in 2022. He was already a playoff contender early in his career, but he has taken his performance to another level. Reddick has eight wins in three seasons — three with Richard Childress Racing and five with 23XI Racing. He has reached the Round of 8 twice and the Championship 4 once while delivering wins at a variety of tracks. Inconsistency has disrupted Reddick at times, but he continues to show he can be a championship contender.
8. William Byron — Eleven of Byron's 13 Cup wins have been in the Gen 7, which includes the Daytona 500. He is one of three drivers to lead at least 1,000 laps in a season since NASCAR moved to the new car. Yet he slots in lower in the power rankings due to a fascinating trend. In two of the last three seasons, Byron has won multiple races in the first eight weeks of the season and then gone winless in the remaining 28. The exception is 2023 when he led the series with six wins and reached the Championship 4 for the first time.
9. Chris Buescher — Buescher has delivered big moments for RFK Racing since the start of the Gen 7 era. He has scored five of his six career Cup wins in this car while showing his ability as an all-around driver. He has two short track wins, a superspeedway win, an intermediate win, and a road course win.
10. Alex Bowman — Bowman closed out the Gen 6 era with a career-best four wins in a single season. Since moving to the Gen 7 era, he has shown an ability to contend for wins while also dealing with numerous setbacks. He won a race in 2022 and put himself in contention for a spot in the Round of 8 but then missed five races due to a concussion. Bowman missed three more races in 2023 due to a back injury. He returned to victory lane last season and delivered a consistent playoff run in the first two rounds. However, he was eliminated in the Round of 12 due to a penalty for his car being underweight at the Charlotte Roval.
