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NASCAR power rankings: Ross Chastain's heroic drive shoots him up the charts
Ross Chastain outdueled William Byron in the closing laps of the Coca-Cola 600 to take home his first win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season. Here’s where the Cup Series field stacks up halfway through the regular season.
1. William Byron
Byron led 283 laps and swept the stages at Charlotte, but was unable to hold off a hard-charging Chastain in the closing laps. Despite showing winning speed at various races this season, Byron’s Daytona 500 victory is still his lone win of the year.
2. Christopher Bell
Bell was unable to defend his 2024 Coke 600 victory, instead taking a quiet path to an eighth-place finish. Still, it was a positive sign for the No. 20 team to run a clean race in the midst of a major team shake-up, as spotter Stevie Reeves left the team after North Wilkesboro and pressed new spotter Matt Philpott into action.
3. Kyle Larson
Between a crash in the Indianapolis 500 and another crash in the Coca-Cola 600, Larson had a miserable Memorial Day weekend as he tried to pull off the ‘Double’. While Charlotte was frustrating for the No. 5 team, they’re likely to be back in the mix at Nashville, where Larson won in 2021.
4. Ross Chastain
If we learned nothing else from the Coca-Cola 600, Ross Chastain should be talked about as a top-five talent in the Cup Series. Chastain drove his way to a win in a crown jewel race in a backup car from a last-place starting position after a crash in practice on Saturday, and had to pass the dominant driver of the night to earn the win. Like Larson, Chastain is also a past Nashville winner, as he won at the track in 2023.
5. Tyler Reddick
A pit road penalty relegated Reddick to a 26th-place finish, but that result isn’t at all indicative of how he ran on Sunday. Reddick earned 24 stage points on the evening and ran one of his best races of the season, but mistakes on pit road - especially late in the race - have to be cleaned up.
6. Chase Elliott
Elliott was quiet all night long, and despite losing positions on several restarts, brought his No. 9 home in sixth. It’s been a consistent year for the 2020 champion, but he’s yet to visit victory lane.
7. Chase Briscoe
After winning the pole, Briscoe finished third at Charlotte and notched his third top-five finish in the last five races. After stumbling a bit out of the gate, the No. 19 team is finally living up to its potential, and a trip to victory lane soon seems likely.
8. Alex Bowman
Bowman didn’t have much of a chance to race on Sunday, as contact with the wall and a subsequent spin on Lap 98 put him behind the eight ball for the rest of the night. He eventually finished 29th.
9. Denny Hamlin
Hamlin only finished 16th at Charlotte, but like Reddick, it was a pit road mishap that doomed him. Hamlin’s pit crew did not get his No. 11 full of fuel on the final scheduled pit stop of the night, forcing Hamlin to crawl down pit road in the closing laps while his competitors drove past. A total of 22 stage points softens the blow a little bit, but if not for the mistake, Hamlin would’ve finished inside the top five.
10. Joey Logano
A 17th-place finish likely felt like a win for the No. 22 team on a night where Logano ran as low as 31st. Finding consistent speed still seems to be a struggle for the three-time champion, but he does go into the June 1 race at Nashville as the defending winner at the 1.33-mile track.
11. Ryan Blaney
Blaney was an innocent bystander in a Lap 244 crash that also involved Larson, Daniel Suarez and Justin Haley. He finished 38th, picking up his fifth DNF of the season. When Blaney stays out of trouble, he’s bound for a top-five finish, but the DNFs are starting to pile up.
12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Stenhouse finished 11th at Charlotte and 13th in the Cup Series standings. The No. 47 team entered the year with middling expectations, but it’s risen far above them through the first half of the regular season.
13. AJ Allmendinger
Allmendinger started fifth and held on to his track position all night long. The No. 16 finished fifth in Stage 1, sixth in Stage 2, sixth in Stage 3 and eventually finished the race in fourth on a banner day for Allmendinger and Kaulig Racing.
14. Chris Buescher
Buescher was caught up in a crash when Carson Hocevar’s engine expired on the Lap 308 restart. It was an unfortunate result for a team that makes a living off of silently making their way to the front.
15, Michael McDowell
McDowell earned a much-needed seventh-place finish at Charlotte. Spire has shown plenty of speed at intermediate tracks this season, and it should be noted that the No. 71 that McDowell drives finished second at Nashville with Zane Smith in 2024.
16. Brad Keselowski
Keselowski showed speed at both Kansas and North Wilkesboro, but was unable to earn the finishes to show for it. That wasn’t the case at Charlotte, where he finished fifth, earning his first top-10 finish in what has been a tumultuous season.
More must-reads:
- NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 takeaways: Ross Chastain makes history in NASCAR's longest race
- Why Coca-Cola 600 was a magnum opus for NASCAR
- The 'MLB 30/30 club' quiz
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