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NASCAR power rankings: Talladega win provides big jump in the rankings
Austin Cindric earned his first win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season at Talladega, beating Ryan Preece to the line by 0.022 seconds to claim the third victory of his Cup Series career. With 10 of 36 races complete, here’s where the NASCAR Cup Series field stacks up.
1. William Byron
Despite steering issues that gave Byron a “sketchy” ride through the first two stages of the race, the No. 24 team persevered and came out of Talladega with a strong fourth-place finish. Byron also retained his lead in the points standings after Talladega, leading his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson by 31 points.
2. Kyle Larson
Two weeks removed from his dominant showing at Bristol, Larson drove what could easily be considered the best superspeedway race of his career. Larson held off the pack to win Stage 1, finished third in Stage 2 and finished the race in third before being bumped up to a second-place result due to the disqualification of Ryan Preece. With a great stretch of tracks on the horizon for the No. 5 team, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Larson in the No. 1 spot soon.
3. Denny Hamlin
A late block from Ross Chastain as Hamlin’s pack attempted to catch the leaders dashed whatever hopes Hamlin had of getting to the front. A 21st-place finish isn’t indicative of the speed the No. 11 had on Sunday, but there’s no reason to worry in the Hamlin camp. He should have plenty of opportunities to get back to victory lane over the next month.
4. Tyler Reddick
Reddick only moves up due to the misfortune of those who were above him, as a 14th-place finish wasn’t anything special for the defending winner of the Talladega spring race. Like Larson, the next stretch of races lines up well for Reddick and the No. 45 team as they go for their first win of 2025.
5. Chase Elliott
Like Reddick, Elliott mainly moves up due to the misfortune of those who were directly above him in the rankings. It was another quiet day for the 2020 champion, who finished fourth in Stage 1 and is credited with a fifth-place finish after both Preece and Joey Logano were disqualified. Despite a year in which he hasn’t been in contention to win a race yet, Elliott is as consistent as ever and is fourth in the standings.
6. Christopher Bell
Despite all the individuals in the Talladega infield who partied too hard this weekend, Bell left the speedway with the biggest headache of anyone. A vicious hit in a Lap 52 crash took Bell out of the race, but there’s no reason for the No. 20 team to worry about anything other than making sure their driver is 100 percent going into the May 4 race at Texas.
7. Alex Bowman
After a stretch of three straight finishes of 27th or worse, Bowman and the No. 48 team got back on track with a seventh-place finish at Talladega. It’s safe to say the off weekend was a welcome one for Bowman as he looks to start another string of top-10 runs.
8. Ryan Blaney
Like Bell, Blaney wasn’t even allowed to race for the win thanks to an early crash. A wreck during green flag pit stops on Lap 43 took Blaney out of the race at one of his best tracks. It’s also the fourth DNF of the 2025 season for Blaney, who still sits eighth in the standings despite not finishing 40 percent of the races run so far in 2025.
9. Bubba Wallace
After finishing 21st at Darlington and 19th at Bristol, Wallace and the No. 23 team also got back on track at Talladega. Wallace finished fifth in Stage 1, won Stage 2 and ended up finishing eighth. Wallace is seventh in the Cup Series standings and has an 86-point cushion to the playoff cut line as he continues to enjoy his best start to a season in his Cup Series career.
10. Ross Chastain
Chastain could only muster a 20th-place finish at Talladega, but he did lead 11 laps and showed decent speed. The next month will be crucial for the No. 1 team, and could be the point of the season where they solidify themselves as either a dark horse playoff threat or a team that won’t be taken seriously as a championship contender.
11. Chase Briscoe
Briscoe and the No. 19 put together a quiet day at Talladega, which isn’t always the worst thing. A 15th-place finish leaves more to be desired, but Briscoe is 12th in the Cup Series points standings - not a bad mark considering how poor his start to the season was.
12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
It’s time for the garage to start taking notice of Stenhouse, who finished 12th on Sunday and is only seven points out of a playoff spot. The 2023 Daytona 500 champion has six top-20 finishes through the first 10 races of the season. After a disappointing 2024 campaign, the No. 47 team is back to where they were in 2023, when they were inside the playoff picture for much of the regular season, even without the Daytona 500 win that guaranteed them a berth.
13. Austin Cindric
Cindric’s third career win gives the fourth-year driver his third playoff berth in his fourth Cup Series season. After a major penalty following an incident at COTA dropped Cindric to 35th in the standings, he and the No. 2 have bounced back. Following their win on Sunday, Cindric is 14th, but unlike the other drivers around him, he doesn’t have to worry about the playoff bubble.
14. AJ Allmendinger
Allmendinger only finished 24th on Sunday, but he did earn five stage points and is currently holding on to the 16th and final provisional playoff spot. Allmendinger and the No. 16 team have been quietly impressive this season, and as the summer schedule heats up, they’re out to prove that their fast start is no fluke.
15. Carson Hocevar
Don’t look now, but Hocevar is up to 20th in the standings following his sixth-place finish at Talladega on Sunday. It was a rocky start to 2025 for the No. 77 team, but the speed is beginning to show as the circuit heads to Texas, where Hocevar scored the first top-10 of his Cup Series career in 2024.
16. Joey Logano
Logano had speed on Sunday, as a second-place finish in Stage 2 and a fifth-place finish in the race proved. Unfortunately, the three-time Cup Series champion was disqualified in post-race inspection, relegating him to a 39th-place finish. While Logano still sits 11th in the points standings, it’s safe to say the championship hangover has bit him - no defending champion has gone this long into a season without a top-five finish since 1950, which was just the second year of Cup Series competition.
More must-reads:
- Watch: Austin Cindric wins NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega in photo finish
- Two top-five finishers in NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega disqualified
- The 'No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft' quiz
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