Martinsville certainly whelmed the audience this week. While the Cook Out 400 might have been the best Gen7 spring race at the track, it still was a far cry from what fans saw last fall. The softer tire did not factor in as much as the expectation was, which stagnated the field for most of the afternoon. Certain cars could weave their way forward, but those were the exceptions. On the bright side, at least the race did not devolve into what the Xfinity Series offered up on Saturday. To be fair as well, Martinsville is truly the first race that could be considered bad this season. It has been a hot start for the Cup Series, so hopefully that will pick back up next week. As for the FitStop Performance 2025 Week 7 Power Rankings, could there be more shuffling after last week’s massive slides up and down the rankings?
#10 – Ryan Preece
Previous Ranking: Honorable Mention
One RFK driver falls out, another one replaces him. Ryan Preece is on a streak of 3 straight Top-10s, the first time he has accomplished this in his Cup career. Resiliency has been the name of the game for the 60 team. The car has seldomly fired off well but Preece and his team find the speed as the race goes. At Martinsville, Preece slowly crept his way forward until the string of cautions benefitted him and he was restarting Top-10 for the final green flag run.
#9 – Joey Logano
Previous Ranking: Honorable Mention
Although Martinsville marks Joey Logano’s first Top-10 of the season, that does not mean the 22 has been off the pace. Bad luck has been striking Logano, which is a turn of fortunes from the past few seasons. It appeared that bad luck was going to prevent Logano from scoring a Top-10 this week, as he was sent spinning on Lap 310. However, the fresh tires allowed Logano to pick his way forward for his final spot of 8th. Also, Logano picked up the Stage 1 win.
#8 – Alex Bowman
Previous Ranking: 5
Free falling a bit in the rankings, Alex Bowman had a potentially solid day turn miserable after a loose wheel brought him to the back. Bowman lost all of his early speed once he got marred in traffic. The 48 did not run well in the back, as Bowman struggled to surge past the usual back markers. After starting third, his 27th place finish was a fitting end to a miserable day.
#7 – Bubba Wallace
Previous Ranking: Honorable Mention
A huge jump in the power rankings for Bubba Wallace this week. Back-to-back third place finishes will help surge you ahead though. Over the past 2 weekends, Wallace has been a factor at the front of the field. Homestead saw him lead laps and put himself in a spot to win. While Martinsville never saw him at that level, he ran inside the Top-3 for the bulk of the final stage.
#6 – Chase Elliott
Previous Ranking: 9
Martinsville has been Chase Elliott’s best track in recent history. While questions about his race winning speed have been called into question, Elliott answered those concerns with arguably the best car on track. However, the clean air for Denny Hamlin became too much to overcome. Plus, the 9 crew struggled on pit road, forcing Elliott to claw his way back toward the front after pit stops. Still, the race-winning speed demonstrated this week could be a promising sign for things to come. That or the 9 team is only really good at Martinsville.
#5 – Ryan Blaney
Previous Ranking: 6
For those who expected Ryan Blaney to perform better this week, fall Martinsville in the playoffs is where the 12 truly shines. It was going to be an uphill battle for Blaney on Sunday after he qualified 32nd. He managed to get into the Top-10 in Stage 2, where he sat for the majority of the race from there. However, he faded enough in the closing laps to miss out on his 7th straight Top-10 at Martinsville.
#4 – William Byron
Previous Ranking: 1
A significant drop from the reigning number 1 in the power rankings. However, the margins among the Top-4 are very thin. A poor race can ship a driver back a few spots if the others perform well. This is what happened at Martinsville. William Byron qualified 10th and then proceeded to go backwards throughout the race. In an unusual spring outing for the 24 driver, Byron struggled with his car all day. Ultimately, Byron barely held onto the lead lap as he finished outside the Top-20.
#3 – Denny Hamlin
Previous Ranking: 4
A dominant performance from Denny Hamlin sees him pick up his first Martinsville win in a decade. After staying out during the caution on Lap 131, Hamlin assumed the lead and never truly relinquished it. Once in clean air, no one was going to catch the 11 car. A master of tire management, Hamlin held off his teammate during the initial run on the final restart. By the end of the race, Hamlin drove out to a 4 second lead to gather his sixth grandfather clock.
#2 – Kyle Larson
Previous Ranking: 2
A Top-5 effort keeps Kyle Larson stagnant in second in the rankings. By Kyle Larson standards, Sunday was a bit ho-hum. The 5 never looked to be a race winning car but usually ran inside the Top-10. Larson managed to pick up points in both stages, overcoming the drivers who stayed out before the end of Stage 1. If he ran closer to the front a bit more, maybe Larson could have unseated his teammate for the top spot this week.
#1 – Christopher Bell
Previous Ranking: 1
Returning to the top spot in the FitStop Performance Power Rankings is Christopher Bell. After a dreadful Homestead race, Bell bounced back with a strong weekend in Virginia. He qualified the 20 car on pole and led the initial 23 laps. Being shuffled down the leaderboard a bit due to varying strategies, Bell returned to the front at the end of the race. He fought valiantly against Denny Hamlin to try to pry the lead away from him. Ultimately, all it accomplished was burning up his tires and almost leading him to losing second. Still, it was enough to secure the top spot this week in the rankings.
Honorable Mention
Chris Buescher – An ugly day at Martinsville sees Chris Buescher drop out of the power rankings this week.
Tyler Reddick – Martinsville is not one of Tyler Reddick’s strong tracks. He struggled in the teens most of the day, unable to prevent from falling out of the power rankings.
Ross Chastain – A week after completely falling off the power rankings article, Ross Chastain bounced back with a 6th place finish at the paper clip.
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