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NASCAR power rankings: Kyle Larson dominates the weekend
Kyle Larson dominated Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, leading 411 of 500 laps en route to his second win of the 2025 season. With nine of 36 races completed, here’s where the Cup Series field stacks up a quarter of the way through the season.
1. Denny Hamlin
Hamlin couldn’t capture his third straight win, but he did notch a runner-up finish that gives him four consecutive top-five efforts. He’s a two-time winner at Talladega, where the Cup Series will race on April 27 following a one-week break for Easter.
2. William Byron
A poor qualifying effort forced Byron to roll off the grid from the 26th position, but the Daytona 500 winner methodically made his way through the pack. After finishing 20th in Stage 1 and 11th in Stage 2, Byron eventually clawed his way to a sixth-place finish that marks his sixth top-10 of the season. Byron currently leads the Cup Series standings by 30 points over Hamlin.
3. Kyle Larson
It was nearly a perfect weekend for Larson, who was one spot shy in Friday’s Craftsman Truck Series race from a weekend sweep at Bristol. After crashing twice at Darlington, Bristol was a reminder that Larson could still take the field behind the woodshed when the opportunity arose.
4. Christopher Bell
Surprisingly, Bell wasn’t in the mix for the win on Sunday afternoon. He did, however, earn 13 stage points and come home in eighth, giving the No. 20 team a great points day. Bell enters Talladega as the Cup Series’ most recent winner on a drafting-style track.
5. Ryan Blaney
A week after a heartbreaking loss at Darlington, Blaney had a quiet day at Bristol en route to a fifth-place finish. The No. 12 team has some momentum on its side ahead of Talladega, where Blaney is a three-time winner.
6. Tyler Reddick
Reddick tried an alternative strategy to the leaders in Stage 3 of Sunday’s race, but it didn’t do much to help the No. 45 team on an afternoon when they were searching for speed. Short-track racing continues to be Reddick’s Achilles heel and an area where he needs to improve. The good news for Reddick? He’s the defending winner of the Talladega spring race and is a much-improved superspeedway racer.
7. Ross Chastain
If it wasn’t for Chastain, Trackhouse Racing would be up a creek without a paddle. Despite middling qualifying efforts and a lack of overall speed, Chastain continues to find good finished. The Alva, Fla., native finished seventh on Sunday, earning his fifth top-10 finish of 2025. Chastain won at Talladega in April of 2022, and another win at the 2.66-mile superspeedway would go a long way for a No. 1 team yearning for another victory.
8. Chase Elliott
Elliott was radio silent on Sunday. After qualifying 20th, he finished 16th in Stage 1, 16th in Stage 2 and finished the race in 15th. There just isn’t much race-winning speed to speak of for Elliott, who is a two-time Talladega winner and would love nothing more than to go back to victory lane at the World’s Fastest Speedway.
9. Alex Bowman
If not for an engine issue that relegated him to a 37th-place finish, Bowman was in line for a monster points day. Bowman won the pole on Saturday and collected 16 stage points before his engine expired. Bowman ran inside the top five all afternoon and could be in line for a win soon if the No. 48 team continues to bring fast cars to the track.
10. Chase Briscoe
A week after the No. 19 team laid an egg at Briscoe’s best track in Darlington, they bounced back with a fourth-place finish at Bristol. Briscoe has begun to find more speed as of late, and after winning the pole at Daytona and finishing fourth in the Daytona 500, don’t be surprised if he’s in the mix for the win at Talladega.
11. Bubba Wallace
An ill-timed yellow was a reasonable explanation for Wallace’s less-than-stellar finish at Darlington, but no such excuse can be found this week. Like his 23XI Racing in Tyler Reddick, Wallace was a non-factor all day and resorted to a funky strategy in Stage 3 that only led to a 19th-place finish. Talladega is a great opportunity for Wallace, however, as the track that was the site of his first Cup Series win in 2021 has historically been one of his best.
12. Joey Logano
Logano finished 24th on Sunday after damage incurred in Saturday’s qualifying session hurt what was an otherwise fast car. After playing catch-up all afternoon, the three-time champion had no chance of moving through the field. Logano is, however, one of the best superspeedway racers in the field, and he should spend a considerable amount of time out front at Talladega on April 27.
13. Josh Berry
After two straight races where bad luck bit Berry, Sunday’s race was a nice change of pace. Berry finished 12th on Sunday in what was a calm race for the No. 21 team. The Wood Brothers’ No. 21 is essentially a fourth Team Penske entry, so don’t be surprised if Berry is up front at Talladega when the pay window opens.
14. Ty Gibbs
After a well-documented slump to end 2024 carried over into 2025, Gibbs and the No. 54 team have seemingly rounded the corner over the past three weeks. Finishes of 13th at Martinsville, ninth at Darlington and third at Bristol have the No. 54 team right back in the playoff hunt as the circuit heads to Talladega.
15. AJ Allmendinger
Allmendinger has been quietly consistent to start this season, earning his third top-10 of the year on Sunday with a ninth-place finish. If he keeps running where he has been, Allmendinger will be in the playoff conversation deep into the regular season.
16. Chris Buescher
Now and then, even the most consistent teams can lay an egg. That was the case for Buescher and the No. 17 team on Sunday, as Buescher finished 25th and was hardly ever talked about aside from when he was being lapped. Talladega should serve as an opportunity for Buescher to bounce back, however, as the RFK Fords are usually quick at drafting tracks.
More must-reads:
- With Bristol dominance, Kyle Larson achieves feat not seen in over half a century
- Justin Allgaier continues incredible start to NASCAR Xfinity Series season
- The '30 points-per-game NBA seasons' quiz
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