Power Rankings: 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season lookahead

25. AJ Allmendinger

2025 ride: No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet

Comment: After a quick, one season return to the Xfinity Series -- where he made the 2024 Championship 4 -- Allmendinger returns for what will be his 10th full-time Cup Series campaign. As the 42-year-old enters the twilight of his career, does the three-time premier series winner have enough left to propel him to a second career playoff run?

24. Justin Haley

2025 ride: No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Comment: Haley had a few bright spots in 2024 — including a handful of top 10s at non-superspeedways — but his season was most notable for being part of a rare, midseason driver trade that saw him move from Rick Ware Racing to Spire Motorsports, a team quickly on the rise. The talent has always been here, and combined with his best ride to date it's possible he could contend for a playoff spot.

23. Josh Berry

2025 ride: No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford

Comment: Berry looked great at times this past year but his season was ultimately overshadowed by the closure of Stewart-Haas Racing at large. He now becomes the de facto teammate of the three-time defending Cup champs over at Team Penske and if there's one driver here who has a chance to vastly outperform this ranking, it's Berry.

22. Michael McDowell

2025 ride: No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Comment: Though he mesmerizingly captured the first six poles of his career in 2024, McDowell's numbers were mostly down otherwise in his final campaign at Front Row. He took the big leap and will move to Spire with eyes on returning to the playoffs and he has a pretty solid chance to make it happen.

21. Todd Gilliland

2025 ride: No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford

Comment: There was a stretch over the summer where Gilliland came alive and appeared set to make a legitimate run to a playoff spot. He wound up falling short, but it was still a super notable year for a budding, young talent. It would be not surprising at all to see him in Victory Lane in 2025.

20. Shane van Gisbergen

2025 ride: No. 88 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Comment: Here's a big wild card. The man who shocked the world and won his first Cup race in 2023 is ready to take on the series full-time in 2025. It feels significantly more likely than not he lands win No. 2 next year and likely a playoff spot with it, but how will he adjust to the series' non-road-courses?

19. Carson Hocevar

2025 ride: No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet

Comment: The 2024 Sunoco Rookie of the Year exceeded expectations across the board this season, and few would have had him finishing one spot lower than two-time champ Kyle Busch before the year started. He'll first look to increase his six top 10s to double digits, but he could absolutely make a dark horse run at the playoffs.

18. Daniel Suárez

2025 ride: No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Comment: Suárez did win his first race since 2022 and made a return to the playoffs, but I don't think anybody inside the walls at Trackhouse was fully satisfied with how either driver's season went as a whole. They're set for big things in 2025, however, and it's possible that No. 99 could be entering his prime with a firm foundation beneath him at the shop.

17. Kyle Busch

2025 ride: No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet

Comment: On the bright side, perhaps the pressure from trying to extend his seasons-of-winning streak being removed will help sort of "reset" things over the offseason as he and RCR collectively search for answers in Year 3. It could be a a make-or-break season ahead for that relationship if Rowdy, the sport's all-time winningest driver, is once again held winless.

16. Austin Cindric

2025 ride: No. 2 Team Penske Ford

Comment: Cindric returned to the playoffs a year after finishing 24th in the standings, turning in four top fives and a career-high 256 laps led as he rounds into a veteran with Year 4 ahead. It's notable that his teammate Ryan Blaney didn't win multiple races until his sixth full-time season but two or more victories feels very much on the table for Cindric in '25.

15. Ty Gibbs

2025 ride: No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Comment: This team will have to do some soul-searching to figure out why the bottom dropped out completely the second half of the season, but Gibbs looked like a playoff lock early on and will likely come out firing again in 2025. His offseason started 311 laps sooner than everybody else's, so he'll be motivated to get to work.

14. Bubba Wallace

2025 ride: No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota

Comment: Wallace's 18th-place standings result was a tough one for No. 23 coming off a P10 the year before, setting career highs in top fives, top 10s and average finish but failing to win and missing the playoffs. With seven full-time seasons of Cup racing behind him and plenty of resources at his disposal, 2025 will be a big year for him to prove whether or not he can be a championship contender.

13. Brad Keselowski

2025 ride: No. 6 RFK Racing Ford

Comment: Though RFK took a bit of a step back in many ways in 2024, the season did see Keselowski back in Victory Lane for the first time since 2021 and for the first time as a driver/owner. Overall, the arrow still continues to move up here and seeing his former team win three titles in a row will surely light the fire a little extra over the offseason.

12. Chris Buescher

2025 ride: No. 17 RFK Racing Ford

Comment: Speaking of RFK taking a dip, Buescher went from a three-win 2023 with a seventh-place standings finish to missing the playoffs entirely in 2024 and not winning until he was out of championship contention. Still, he's emerging as a top contender and isn't afraid to battle with the big dogs. A strong 2025 is likely in store here.

11. Alex Bowman

2025 ride: No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Comment: There were some midseason rumblings that Bowman may not be in this car in 2025 but his team owner came so his stern defense and Bowman himself backed it up by winning a major event in the Chicago Street Race. He also was one of the strongest drivers the first half of the playoffs before agonizingly missing the Round of 8 and could come out firing next year.

10. Chase Briscoe

2025 ride: No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Comment: Briscoe saved a lost season with a late-summer win to clinch a playoff berth, and now gets to take his talents to potentially greater heights as he takes over for the retiring Martin Truex Jr. in a championship-capable ride. The last time he was in top-tier equipment? He dropped nine wins on the Xfinity Series in 2020.

9. Ross Chastain

2025 ride: No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet

Comment: As a recent Championship 4 contender, Chastain missing the playoffs this year was a surprise but he made up for it slightly with a strong first half of the postseason that culminated in a Kansas win. There's still plenty here that says he's a title contender and I believe we could see a re-focused and locked in Chastain in 2025.

8. Denny Hamlin

2025 ride: No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing toyota

Comment: Another season come and gone, another season where Hamlin remains without a championship. There were times it looked like it might happen this year but an up-and-down second half of the season sunk any true hopes before a Round of 8 exit. How he comes out of the gates next season will be very, very interesting to follow.

7. Chase Elliott

2025 ride: No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Comment: Elliott has yet to return to his dominant ways after a couple of meandering seasons but there were more bright spots than dim moments in 2024, particularly his return to Victory Lane at Texas in the spring. There's a strong chance he could build off this season and make a return appearance in next year's Championship 4.

6. Christopher Bell

2025 ride: No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Comment: If you're looking for the potential most dangerous man in the Cup Series next year, here he is. Bell will be racing with a major chip on his shoulder next year after falling just short of the Championship 4. Several wins are likely in his future a season from now -- he'll be a man on a mission.

5. Tyler Reddick

2025 ride: No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota

Comment: Reddick wound up not being a huge factor in the Championship Race after qualifying for it in the most spectacular fashion at Homestead-Miami, but there's still so much to build upon for the season's Regular Season Champion. Overall he turned things up a large degree this year and a return to the Championship 4 feels like a strong possibility.

4. Kyle Larson

2025 ride: No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Comment: For a good portion of the season, Larson once again appeared to be in a class of his own. He ultimately fell short of the Championship 4, but did pace the series with six victories and should continue, somehow, getting better next season as he continues to fight for title No. 2.

3. Joey Logano

2025 ride: No. 22 Team Penske Ford

Comment: The champ not as No. 1? Well, for starters, 2025 isn't an even year. But more seriously, though Logano and crew chief Paul Wolfe clearly have this system dilaled in, they likely would've preferred a little more peformance throughout the season, which the two drivers ahead of him did have. Still, there isn't really much reason to think he won't just run off another several wins next season for title No. 4. He's on a legendary path.

2. Wiliam Byron

2025 ride: No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Comment: The 2024 Daytona 500 winner ripped off three wins in the season's first eight races and was the unquestioned early-season title favorite. A questionable midseason was washed away with a brilliant playoff run that nearly ended with Byron's first title. He's now gone to the Championship 4 and come up short in two straight seasons. you could make a legitimate argument he's a lock to make it three in a row and nail down title No. 1.

1. Ryan Blaney

2025 ride: No. 12 Team Penske Ford

Comment: This guy is the only other driver to make two straight Championship 4s, winning the first and very nearly winning the second. Blaney and Logano are an insane 1-2 punch for a team to have in their arsenal right now, and there's no reason to think they won't combine to give Penske another great shot at a title a season from now. And it may be Blaney's turn to win it again.