NASCAR insiders offer surprising picks for best driver of 2025 NASCAR season after Darlington

Now eight races into the NASCAR Cup Series season, the outlook for the playoffs is becoming a little bit clearer. But the question of which driver is the best on the circuit right now is a bit open-ended.

There have been a lot of ebbs and flows to the early season. Christopher Bell has a three-peat. Denny Hamlin has won back-to-back races.

In between, there have been a slew of impressive performances. A pair of NASCAR insiders from The Athletic weighed in on the topic of the best driver of the 2025 season so far and came away with three primary names.

“It’s funny you bring this up, because I’ve asked drivers over the last 10 days or so this question: ‘Who do you think has emerged as the guy to beat? Or is it too soon?’ That kind of thing,” Jordan Bianchi said on The Teardown podcast. “And I asked Denny Hamlin this yesterday in his press conference, and he’s like, ‘It’s going to be the same guys.’ The answer is like, ‘It’s going to be the same group of guys. It always is. It just depends on who gets hot at the right time and who cycles up.'”

So who are those guys? Well, it’s mostly the usual suspects.

Kyle Larson has a win, as well as three top-five finishes and a top-10. He’s currently sixth in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings.

“I would probably put the 5 in there just because it’s Kyle Larson and Cliff Daniels and they get the benefit of the doubt and they do have speed most weeks,” Bianchi said. “Regardless of where they’re at.”

How about another NASCAR driver? Bianchi circled one without a win but with some impressive finishes so far.

“(Ryan) Blaney is probably 1B on that list, just because, again, they’re fast every week,” Bianchi said. “Outside of a road course there isn’t a track you don’t feel like he can go to and not run well. Darlington had been a track he never had a top-five finish at in his career. Which is a little hard to believe, but he comes here and he leaves with a top-five finish. Should have left with a win.”

Finally, the third driver in contention for best driver of the early NASCAR Cup Series season is the current points leader. That’s William Byron.

“Byron’s consistency is really impressive,” Bianchi said. “Really, really impressive. And they just continue to knock it out. So probably those three guys, and you could put them in any order.”