After a long season, the FitStop Performance 2025 Power Rankings Finale is here. Every week, the 36 fulltime Cup Series drivers have been evaluated based on their performances in every race. While some drivers never left the rankings, certain drivers found momentum at the end of the season to rise high on the rankings. Now, it is time to look at the year as a whole. For the Finale, the drivers will be ranked based on their average for the season. Will this be the first time that the Cup Series Champion will end up #1? For the last time in 2025, time for the FitStop Performance Power Rankings.
#10 – Bubba Wallace
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Average Ranking: Honorable Mention
Lowest Ranking: Not Ranked
Highest Ranking: 5
Total Weeks in Power Rankings (out of 36): 14
Most Frequent Ranking: Not Ranked (16 times)
Through the summer and into the Round of 16, there were few drivers with more momentum than Bubba Wallace. After winning the Brickyard 400, Wallace locked himself into the playoffs. A strong Round of 16 performance started to build up on the idea that the 23 team would be a threat for the Championship Four. Unfortunately, Wallace was undone by a couple of bad races in the following round. Still, it is difficult to not consider this season a massive success. Through most weekends, Bubba Wallace looked to be the best driver at 23XI Racing.
#9 – Chase Briscoe
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Average Ranking: 8.47
Lowest Ranking: Not Ranked
Highest Ranking: 1
Weeks at #1: 5
Total Weeks in Power Rankings (out of 36): 19
Most Frequent Ranking: Not Ranked (10 times)
It is surprising to see Chase Briscoe this low in the rankings. A long season makes it easy to forget that Briscoe and the 19 team did not get off to the best start. Through the first 15 races, Briscoe had more finishes outside the Top-10 than inside of it. The speed started to show up at the Coca-Cola 600 when he won the pole. That led to 3 straight poles and an improved consistency in the running order. However, Briscoe’s hot streak truly started after his Pocono win. From Pocono through the end of the season (16 starts), Briscoe collected 10 Top-5s including 2 wins.
#8 – Chris Buescher
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Average Ranking: 8.36
Lowest Ranking: Honorable Mention
Highest Ranking: 4
Total Weeks in Power Rankings (out of 36): 29
Most Frequent Ranking: 7 (9 times)
Once again, Chris Buescher finds himself ranked eighth in the Finale. Same as last year, Buescher averages a 14.3 finish and got booted from the playoffs due to fluke wins. Unlike last year, Buescher failed to win a race for the first time in the Gen7 era. The speed was certainly there, especially on the long ovals. A slip up in Turn 2 of Michigan likely is the difference between a playoff spot and 17th in points.
#7 – Tyler Reddick
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Average Ranking: 6.89
Lowest Ranking: Honorable Mention
Highest Ranking: 3
Total Weeks in Power Rankings (out of 36): 34
Most Frequent Ranking: 7 (8 times)
A strong start to 2025 kept Tyler Reddick reasonably high for the Finale. However, the second half of the year certainly demonstrated cracks in the armor for this team. Similar to Chris Buescher, this season marked the first Gen7 year where Reddick failed to find victory lane. Unlike Buescher, Reddick seemingly was supplanted as the top driver of his team. That will be something to keep an eye on with 23XI Racing next year to see if there was a true changing of the guard (lawsuit pending).
#6 – Chase Elliott
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Average Ranking: 6.83
Lowest Ranking: Honorable Mention
Highest Ranking: 1
Weeks at #1: 2
Total Weeks in Power Rankings (out of 36): 33
Most Frequent Ranking: 6 (8 times)
The hope from 2024’s Finale rang true this year. Chase Elliott returned to his winning ways this year. Picking up 2 wins, Elliott also maintained his consistency from last year. Christopher Bell did beat him for the best average finish though, but Elliott’s 12.6 is nothing to sneeze at. That said, there should still be concerns with the 9 team. The week-to-week pace is still subpar for Hendrick Motorsports standards.
#5 – Christopher Bell
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Average Ranking: 6.14
Lowest Ranking: Honorable Mention
Highest Ranking: 1
Weeks at #1: 3
Total Weeks in Power Rankings (out of 36): 32
Most Frequent Ranking: 6 (5 times)
After the fourth week of the year, it looked to be the Christopher Bell marque season. Winning 3 straight races to kick off the season should have been the makings of a dominate year. Instead though, Bell never found victory lane again. While his average finish (11.2) led the Cup Series, the 20 team struggled to find racing winning speed. After leading 105 laps at Phoenix, Bell only managed to lead double digit laps 3 times through the rest of the season. This leads to his fewest amount of laps led (282) since his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing.
#4 – Kyle Larson
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Average Ranking: 3.67
Lowest Ranking: 7
Highest Ranking: 1
Week at #1: 5
Total Weeks in Power Rankings (out of 36): 36
Most Frequent Ranking: 4 (9 times)
The streak continues. Once again, the Cup Series Champion does not hit the top spot in these rankings. However, this year might be the most understandable season for it. Kyle Larson certainly was a deserving champion based on his year totals. He led the series in Top-5s and Top-10s while leading the second most laps. However, Larson failed to win a race after spring Kansas. It certainly is a feat that Larson managed to hoist the Bill France trophy after going winless through this playoff format.
#3 – Ryan Blaney
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Average Ranking: 3.64
Lowest Ranking: 7
Highest Ranking: 1
Weeks at #1: 5
Total Weeks in Power Rankings (out of 36): 36
Most Frequent Ranking: 2 (8 times)
For the first time in his career, Ryan Blaney eclipsed the 3 win mark. Doing so with a fantastic last lap pass on Brad Keselowski at Phoenix, Blaney won 4 races through his best Cup season to date. More than setting a new career high in wins, the Team Penske driver also led his most laps in his career and captured his most Top-5s. The biggest issue for Blaney in 2025 was the DNFs. His 8 DNFs were second in the series.
#2 – Denny Hamlin
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Average Ranking: 3.14
Lowest Ranking: 7
Highest Ranking: 1
Weeks at #1: 4
Total Weeks in Power Rankings (out of 36): 36
Most Frequent Ranking: 2 (9 times)
Despite being caught up in a potentially sport altering lawsuit with NASCAR, Denny Hamlin managed to put together another strong season with Joe Gibbs Racing. While it ended in the worst heartbreak that this current playoff format offers, there is nothing for Hamlin to hang his head about from 2025. His 6 wins lead the series while also being his high mark since 2020.
#1 – William Byron
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Average Ranking: 2.58
Lowest Ranking: 6
Highest Ranking: 1
Weeks at #1: 12
Total Weeks in Power Rankings (out of 36): 36
Most Frequent Ranking: 1 (12 times)
From pillar to post, William Byron essentially led the way through the FitStop Performance Power Rankings. His Daytona 500 win set the tone for the season. Only after 5 races this season was William Byron not the season-long points leader. Until his blown tire at Phoenix, Byron was going to finish as the top driver of the 2025 season based on points accumulated. The most notable thing about Byron’s 2025 was the lack of significant dip in performance over a stretch of races. The 24 team did a fantastic job of minimalizing bad weekends to a single race rather than letting it drag out for a few weeks. Hats off to William Byron and the 24 team. He ends 2025 as the last #1 for the FitStop Performance 2025 Power Rankings.
Honorable Mention
Ryan Preece
Average Ranking: Honorable Mention
Lowest Ranking: Not Ranked
Highest Ranking: 8
Total Weeks in Power Rankings (out of 36): 11
Most Frequent Ranking: Honorable Mention (15 times)
Arguably, Ryan Preece overachieved the most this season. Expectations were low for the third RFK Racing driver, but Preece demonstrated his skills behind the wheel with solid equipment.
Alex Bowman
Average Ranking: Honorable Mention
Lowest Ranking: Not Ranked
Highest Ranking: 5
Total Weeks in Power Rankings (out of 36): 13
Most Frequent Ranking: Not Ranked (16 times)
It is difficult to ignore the elephant in the room that is Alex Bowman on the outside of the rankings while being a Hendrick Motorsports driver. This might be a good storyline to follow in 2026.
Joey Logano
Average Ranking: Not Ranked
Lowest Ranking: Not Ranked
Highest Ranking: 6
Total Weeks in Power Rankings (out of 36): 9
Most Frequent Ranking: Not Ranked (16 times)
Being an honorable mention this year is an improvement from Joey Logano’s championship season where he went completely unmentioned in the Finale.
Notable Numbers
Drivers with Most Weeks at #1: William Byron
Number of Drives to be #1: 7
Total Drivers to be Ranked in Top-10: 19
Most Honorable Mentions: Ryan Preece
Most Honorable Mentions without being Ranked: Ty Gibbs
The brainchild of Hunter Smith, FitStop Performance is dedicated to training the toughest around – from motorsports athletes to multi-tasking soccer moms. He desires to help everyone who walks through the doors of his gym to perform optimally throughout life. FitStop Performance is in its second season sponsoring the weekly FitStop Performance Power Rankings which tracks the highest-performing NASCAR Cup Series drivers throughout the season. Give them a follow (Facebook, Instagram, X) and thank them for their sponsorship!