NASCAR Power Rankings: Where All 36 Cup Drivers Stand After Coke 600

We have a new No. 1: A really dominant evening for William Byron, paired with a horrendous Sunday for Kyle Larson, led to a change atop the weekly power rankings. Sure, Byron didn't win the race, but he led a race-high 283 laps, swept all three Stages, and completely flipped the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season championship battle with Larson.

Rise of the 'Dinger: AJ Allmendinger had perhaps his most complete race since returning to full-time NASCAR Cup Series racing with Kaulig Racing. The driver of the No. 16 Chevrolet qualified near the front, and remained there for all 600 miles, and in the end he scored a fourth-place finish. Allmendinger jumped 12 spots up in our rankings, more than any other driver.

RACE RESULTS: Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte

Using an average of rankings between Racing America On SI's Toby Christie, Joseph Srigley, and Zach Evans, here's where all 36 full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers stand heading into the Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.

Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

1. William Byron

After losing the NASCAR Cup Series point lead to Kyle Larson at Kansas Speedway, Byron needed a turnaround desperately. He got it in a big, although heartbreaking way on Sunday night. He led 283 of 400 laps, won all three Stages, but was passed in the closing laps by Ross Chastain and finished second. (Previously: 4th)

2. Ross Chastain

There isn’t enough that can be said by Ross Chastain and Trackhouse Racing, after building a backup car from the ground up, and driving it from 40th to 1st, to collect his first victory since last Fall at Kansas. The No. 1 team is on the rise. (Previously: 7th)

3. Christopher Bell

With a new spotter on board, Christopher Bell had himself a pretty quiet evening at Charlotte Motor Speedway, finishing eighth. Nothing to scoff at as the No. 20 continues to move through the season on the momentum of an All-Star Race win. (Previously: 3rd)

4. Chase Elliott

Steady, quiet night for Chase Elliott, who notched a sixth-place finish in the Coca-Cola 600 after climbing from a 22nd-place starting spot. Like much of his season, it wasn't sexy, but it was quite effective. (Previously: 5th)

5. Chase Briscoe

No doubt, the best performance for Briscoe at Joe Gibbs Racing. After winning the pole, the No. 19 did fade back, but the Mitchell, Indiana-native clawed back through the pack to collect himself a top-five. (Previously: 11th)

6. Kyle Larson

Sunday was disastrous for Kyle Larson from beginning to end. A weather delay in the Indianapolis 500 was likely going to force him to exit the race early due to time constraints, but a crash on Lap 92 ended any worry about that. Larson then arrived in Concord, NC, where he led 34 laps early, but spun from the lead, and ultimately crashed out after completing just 245 laps. (Previously: 1st)

7. Joey Logano

Joey Logano got plenty of TV time late in the race, as the last car on the lead lap seeking to stay in front of the leaders in case of a late-race caution. The caution never came, and Logano finished 17th. (Previously: 6th)

8. Denny Hamlin

Had it not been for a fueling issue, we may have been talking about Denny Hamlin taking the fight to Ross Chastain and William Byron. Instead, he was left to finish a disappointing 16th, losing his chance at a third win in 2025. (Previously: 9th)

9. Tyler Reddick

Tyler Reddick had a good points day despite finishing 26th. He finished no worse than fourth in the first three stages, but a late-race incident right in front of leader William Byron hampered the end result. (Previously: 10th)

10. Ryan Blaney

Tangled up in the lap 246 melee, Blaney was credited with 38th place in the final rundown, his worst finish of the season. Blaney currently has just as many DNFs as top-five finishes (five of each), making for a roller-coaster first half of the 2025 season. (Previously: 2nd)

11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Another solid top-12 effort for Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and HYAK Motorsports, who have made consistency their signature this season. Not bad, especially considering he was off the lead-lap and 30th for part of the evening. (Previously: 14th)

12. Alex Bowman

Alex Bowman's nickname should be see-saw, because he has been see-sawing back and forth between excellent runs, and rough outings all season long. This week, it was a rough one as Bowman had damage in an early incident, and finished 29th, three laps off the pace. (Previously: 8th)

13. Ryan Preece

Ryan Preece has had a great first season at RFK Racing, even despite a DQ from a second-place finish at Talladega last month. He's become a streaky driver. He had a four-race stretch earlier this year with three top-10s, and four top-15 finishes. After a ninth-place run in the Coca-Cola 600, he's now on a two-race top-10 finishing streak again. (Previously: 17th)

14. John Hunter Nemechek

The box score will show a 27th-place finish, but John Hunter Nemechek was really, really good in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600. Starting from the sixth position, Nemechek racked up 13 Stage Points, and at the end of the day, he scored the 17th-most points of anyone in the race. (Previously: 15th)

15. Chris Buescher

With an appeal of the penalties from Kansas Speedway looming, Buescher has found a rough patch. When Carson Hocevar blew an engine from the runner-up spot on Lap 308, Buescher was swept up in a crash with Hocevar and would finish 22nd. (Previously: 13th)

16. Josh Berry

When a little luck has gone Josh Berry’s way, he has proven to have pace this year in the Wood Brothers No. 21. It was an up-and-down night for Berry on Sunday, but he bounced back for a 12th-place finish ahead of a return to home turf in Nashville. (Previously: 19th)

17. Austin Cindric

Damage to the right-side of his car after hitting the wall during stage two derailed proceedings for Austin Cindric. He ultimately finished 31st, 12 laps down on the field. (Previously: 12th)

18. AJ Allmendinger

A.J. Allmendinger scored his first top-five finish of the season with a fourth-place result in the Coca-Cola 600. Allmendinger raced around the top five all night long at Charlotte, earning stage points in every stage of the event in his most impressive showing of the year. (Previously: 30th)

19. Austin Dillon

A 20th-place finish won't get much press, but it's the continuation of what has become a decent season for Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing team. (Previously: 18th)

20. Carson Hocevar

Carson Hocevar spun in qualifying, but raced his way through the field and put himself in position for a win entering the final stage. However, an engine failure on the restart ended his night prematurely. It was a heartbreaking loss for Hocevar, who was on the verge of joining the list of drivers to score their first career win in the Coca-Cola 600. (Previously: 21st)

21. Michael McDowell

The drought is over, Michael McDowell has his first top-10 finish of the season. McDowell finished seventh in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, recovering from a mistake on pit road. No doubt the pace has been there all season (case in point, his near-victory at Texas) but the top-10 result eluded McDowell until now. (Previously: 25th)

22. Kyle Busch

Considering he was unable to get a single lap in during Saturday's practice session, and he scraped the wall early in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600, a 15th-place finish really wasn't a bad outcome for Kyle Busch, who signed a one-year contract extension to remain at RCR in 2026. (Previously: 23rd)

23. Bubba Wallace

Bubba Wallace suffered damage in the stack-up that resulted from Carson Hocevar’s engine failure, ending his evening as well. Wallace finished 35th in the final rundown, giving him three consecutive DNFs dating back to Texas. (Previously: 16th)

24. Todd Gilliland

Another solid top-20 result for Todd Gilliland isn’t anything to scoff at. At one point during the night, the No. 34 was driving around race-leader William Byron to get on the lead-lap, so all in all, not a terrible night. (Previously: 22nd)

25. Noah Gragson

Front Row Motorsports ended up bringing the speed on the No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse this weekend at Charlotte, running inside the top-10 for much of the evening, and ultimately eeking out a finish there, too. (Previously: 27th)

26. Brad Keselowski

FINALLY. Brad Keselowski and the No. 6 RFK Racing team, which has been flashing more and more speed, but has been suffering from more and more bad luck over the last month, finally completed a race, and the end result was a fifth-place finish -- the first top-five, or even top-10 finish of the season for Keselowski. (Previously: 33rd)

27. Erik Jones

As his LEGACY MOTOR CLUB teammate John Hunter Nemechek fell off in the closing laps of the race, Jones climbed forward, and ended with a very solid 13th-place run. (Previously: 28th)

28. Shane van Gisbergen

Shane van Gisbergen said he thought the No. 88 team was getting better and better on the ovals, and he was right, with the Auckland, New Zealand-native collecting a 14th-place result, just his third top-15 finish on an oval, and his first on a mile-and-a-half. (Previously: 34th)

29. Zane Smith

Things were going well for Zane Smith, sitting inside the top-15, until he was involved in an accident on the backstretch, destroying his Benebone Ford Mustang. Though Nashville, after finishing second last year, has to have the Huntington Beach, California-native excited. (Previously: 20th)

30. Ty Gibbs

For a while, it looked like things were going well for Ty Gibbs and the No. 54 team, but as of late, things are slipping back. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver flirted with a top-10 run throughout the afternoon, but after playing a bold strategy, finished a disappointing 24th. (Previously: 24th)

31. Ty Dillon

Ty Dillon finished 19th, one lap down, on Sunday at Charlotte. Unfortunately for Dillon, losing a lap early in the contest put him behind the metaphorical eight-ball for much of the evening, but he battled to a top-20 effort nonetheless. (Previously: 32nd)

32. Cole Custer

A pretty bland 21st-place finish for Cole Custer in the longest NASCAR Cup Series event of the season. It’s one of the team’s better finishes, which definitely begs the question of whether or not something needs to be changed. (Previously: 31st)

33. Daniel Suarez

In his 300th NASCAR Cup Series start, Daniel Suarez finished 36th after being involved in a multi-car accident on the frontstretch. Suarez really needs something positive to happen in the near future, because the No. 99 is now 30th in NASCAR Cup Series points. (Previously: 26th)

34. Justin Haley

Another victim of the lap 246 melee on the frontstretch, Justin Haley stayed on track following the incident. However, he’d finish five laps down, crossing the line in the 30th position. (Previously: 29th)

35. Cody Ware

A very quiet decent day all around for Cody Ware and the Rick Ware Racing team allowed the driver to score a 25th-place finish in the longest race of the season. The effort launched Ware out of the last spot in our rankings this week. (Previously: 36th)

36. Riley Herbst

Riley Herbst lost a couple of laps during the first half of the race between spinning onto pit road and getting busted for speeding in the pits. He ultimately finished 28th, three laps down. (Previously: 35th)