FitStop Performance 2025 Week 20 Power Rankings

Sonoma has come and gone, which thankfully gives the Cup Series a reprieve from road courses for about a month. Once again, Shane van Gisbergen dog walked the field to his third win of the season. Despite that though, Sonoma still was an entertaining race. The In-Season Challenge certainly adds some spice to the races, especially when the lead is a snoozer. Ty Dillon miraculously advanced past another top driver, this time using the bumper in Turn 11 to get around Alex Bowman. The end of the race saw the usual NASCAR chaos on road courses. That calamity led to undeserving names finding their way into the Top-10. However, that is why these rankings look at more than the results. Similar to Chicago, the entire weekend is factored into where drivers rank. Who ran well the entire race and improved their position in this week’s FitStop Performance 2025 Week 20 Power Rankings?

#10 – Shane van Gisbergen

Previous Ranking: Not Ranked

When you win 3 of the last 5 races, that essentially locks you into the Power Rankings for at least one week. Shane van Gisbergen has been putting on a masterclass in road racing for the Cup Series. Easily gliding to victories at Mexico City, Chicago, and now Sonoma, van Gisbergen forces his way into this week’s rankings for the first time. How long will he stay though? Considering he knocked out a couple of drivers with solid runs, Dover might be the end of SVG’s tenure in the rankings. However, he still made it for this week.

#9 – Chase Briscoe

Previous Ranking: Honorable Mention

Chase Briscoe tried in vein to unseat Shane van Gisbergen from victory lane. He raced the New Zealander tough on restarts, but he could not manage to stick with him. Still, Sonoma was another strong weekend for the 19 team. Starting and finishing second, Briscoe re-enters the rankings after a couple of poor results.

#8 – Christopher Bell

Previous Ranking: 10

After weeks of struggles, Christopher Bell finally put together a strong race. At the end of Stage 1 though, it looked to be a lost race for the 20 team. Making contact with Chase Briscoe after pitting, Bell spun out and lost precious track position. However, the contact nor spin did any damage to the car. Bell managed to recover and survive the late race melee to bring home his first Top-5 since Mexico City.

#7 – Ryan Blaney

Previous Ranking: 6

The continually kick to the groin occurred repeatedly for Ryan Blaney and his fans this weekend. No matter the circumstance, Blaney wound up on the rotten end of bad luck. Early in the final stage, contact with Chris Buescher sent the 12 car into the grass past Turn 1. He got beached there, bringing out a caution while losing a lap. Fast forward to the end of the race, Blaney got hit by Kyle Busch while going around to get his lap back. Then he got collected in the Kyle Larson spin. Onto to Dover.

#6 – Kyle Larson

Previous Ranking: 4

On the bright side, Kyle Larson finally led a lap again. Sonoma marked Larson’s first lap led since the Coca-Cola 600. However, that is where the positives end for the 5 team. It has been a grind since the failure of the double this year. Larson is struggling in qualifying, which leads to races where he is marred in traffic to start. Sonoma usually is a strong track for Larson. But this weekend did not see the best out of Larson.

#5 – Tyler Reddick

Previous Ranking: 7

Something still seems off about Tyler Reddick on road courses. While he ran well at Chicago last week, Sonoma was another race mired with mediocrity for the 45 team. Until the last restarts, Reddick was in line to lose his battle with Ryan Preece in the In-Season Tournament. The 45 consistently ran in the teens despite expectations of a stronger performance. While he moves up in the rankings this week, there are concerns for Reddick and that 45 group.

#4 – Chris Buescher

Previous Ranking: 5

Out of the front runners, no one was hurt more by the Cody Ware caution than Chris Buescher. Running in fourth at the time of the caution, Buescher was slowly catching the two Chases in front of him. While he likely would not have been able to race for the win, Buescher could have worked his way up to second. Instead, the final restart saw Buescher consistently pushed into the grass on the outside as he slid back to 16th. Until those final restarts, Buescher looked to be a top-3 car.

#3 – Denny Hamlin

Previous Ranking: 1

What a putrid performance from Denny Hamlin this weekend. Since the Gen 7 car has been established in Cup, Sonoma has not been kind to Hamlin. Sunday marks his best finish in the 4 races since 2022. However, that 20th place finish is largely due to the chaos on the restarts. If not for the Cody Ware tire, Hamlin would have been staring another potential 30th place finish in California.

#2 – William Byron

Previous Ranking: 3

A strong qualifying effort for William Byron had the 24 team off to a good start. After a summer of struggles (once again), Sonoma helped reset the team back to their high standards. Byron scored points in both stages despite flipping them. The speed in the 24 was solid, but not up to the caliber of winning the race.

#1 – Chase Elliott

Previous Ranking: 2

A new driver has hit the top spot in the FitStop Performance Power Rankings. Chase Elliott’s consistency and recent improvement in speed pushes him to the number 1 ranking. On Sunday, Elliott ran well for the entire race. After the Cody Ware tire caution, the 9 team went on offense by putting on fresh tires. Unfortunately, back-to-back cautions hurt the strategy so Elliott never threatened Shane van Gisbergen for the win. Still, he climbed up to third and claimed this week’s top spot.

Honorable Mention

Ryan Preece – Only being nudged out of the Power Rankings due to SVG’s 3 wins, Ryan Preece picked up his 6th straight Top-15 finish. Since his DNF at Texas, Preece has only finished outside the Top-15 once (Nashville).

Alex Bowman – Similar to Preece, Alex Bowman gets knocked out despite a decent race. However, Ty Dillon did manage to bump him out of the In-Season Tournament.

Ty Gibbs – Ty Gibbs has hit his stride in recent weeks between the road courses and long ovals. His Top-10 at Sonoma marked his 5th on the season.

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