NASCAR Power Rankings: Where All 36 Cup Drivers Stand After Nashville

No Change at the Top: William Byron continued his methodical consistency with a fifth-place finish in Sunday's Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville Superspeedway to remain atop the Power Rankings for another week. Byron led just one lap in the race, but was a serious threat for the Stage 2 win.

On Cloud Nine: Three drivers (Carson Hocevar, Kyle Busch, and Erik Jones) jumped up nine spots, more than any other driver, this week with solid runs at Nashville. On the flip side, John Hunter Nemechek slid 10 spots in the rankings with a sub-par 27th-place result.

RACE RESULTS: Cracker Barrel 400 at Nashville

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 FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Estimated Reading Time:9 minutes

1. William Byron

William Byron remains steady as everyone else continues to falter. The driver of the No. 24 Hendrick Chevrolet finished solidly in fifth, enough to extend his NASCAR Cup Series point lead, and enough to stay No. 1 in the rankings. (Previously: 1st)

2. Christopher Bell

I’m not sure how it happened, but after crashing into the Turn 1 wall during the middle portion of Sunday’s Cracker Barrel 400, Christopher Bell still managed to secure a top-10 result, finishing tenth. Good recovery by the No. 20 team. (Previously: 3rd)

3. Denny Hamlin

In his 700th start, Denny Hamlin brought home a solid third-place finish. Now, this week, he’ll focus on being a husband and a father, as he and fiancée Jordan Fish await the birth of their third child, and their first son. Both will equally boost his morale heading to Michigan. (Previously: 8th)

4. Ryan Blaney

Bouncing back from last week’s DNF at Charlotte, Blaney dominated the second half of the Cracker Barrel 400 for his first win of 2025. That could be bad news for the competition, now that Blaney can focus on the upcoming playoffs. (Previously: 10th)

5. Ross Chastain

Not a terrible effort for Ross Chastain and Trackhouse Racing, but finishing one spot outside the top-10 definitely isn’t the showing that the No. 1 team wanted after winning last weekend’s Coca-Cola 600. (Previously: 2nd)

6. Joey Logano

Not to be lost in his teammate’s victory, Joey Logano finished fourth on Sunday. It was a great evening for Team Penske, as their three drivers combined to lead 151 of the race’s 300 laps. (Previously: 7th)

7. Kyle Larson

Considering how Sunday's race at Nashville started, Kyle Larson finishing eighth seems miraculous. The driver was mired outside the top-30 for a decent chunk of the race after an early-race scuffle with Ty Gibbs and Zane Smith. (Previously: 6th)

8. Chase Elliott

Chase Elliott has a knack for finishing inside the top-15. Sunday's result (15th) marked his 11th top-15 through the opening 14 races of the year. Unfortunately, he's had more 15th-place finishes (four) than top-fives (three). (Previously: 4th)

9. Chase Briscoe

Not the evening that Chase Briscoe and Joe Gibbs Racing were looking for in Nashville. As soon as the No. 19 lost the race-lead, the team immediately faded backwards, finishing 17th. (Previously: 5th)

10. Tyler Reddick

Tyler Reddick snapped a five-race streak of finishes outside the top 10 with a ninth-place result at Nashville. His ability to lead laps and accumulate stage points limited the damage in the points standings during that stretch, but you know Reddick is eager to put together more results like Sunday’s. (Previously: 9th)

11. Carson Hocevar

Like at Atlanta, Carson Hocevar scored a runner-up finish but was answering questions about an on-track incident after the race. You can’t help but think that the first win is just around the corner for Hocevar. (Previously: 20th)

12. Chris Buescher

After getting his post-Kansas penalty chopped in half following an appeal this past week, Buescher had new life breathed into him. With a 14th-place run, he carried the banner for the RFK team, and he's back above the Playoff cutline. (Previously: 15th)

13. Kyle Busch

After a spin in Saturday's practice, nobody was really sure what to expect out of Kyle Busch at Nashville. However, he delivered a clutch 12th-place run, which has moved the driver of the No. 8 above the Playoff cutline. (Previously: 22nd)

14. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

There’s not much to say about the afternoon for Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and HYAK Motorsports. After a solid qualifying run and a decent early running position, an incident with Carson Hocevar ultimately left the No. 47 to finish a dismal 39th. (Previously: 11th)

15. Bubba Wallace

Bubba Wallace bounced back into the top 10 with a sixth-place finish at Nashville. Wallace was a lap down at one point on Sunday, but recovered for a much-needed result just outside the top five. (Previously: 23rd)

16. Austin Cindric

Austin Cindric finished 18th, but earned stage points in the second stage and led laps during the final stage by going long with his pit strategy for the final green-flag pit cycle. It was a gamble that didn’t work out, but those are the chances you can take when you have a win already in your back pocket. (Previously: 17th)

17. Alex Bowman

Alex Bowman has really, really good races, and really, really bad ones. Sunday was one of the bad ones as he was swept up in an early crash of his own doing, and finished 36th. (Previously: 12th)

18. Erik Jones

What a run for Erik Jones and the No. 43 LEGACY MOTOR CLUB team! When his seventh-place finish doesn't feel like it does his performance on Sunday justice, that's when you know Jones had a great day. Can they build on this momentum at his home track in Michigan? (Previously: 27th)

19. Ryan Preece

What a punch in the gut. Preece was looking for his third consecutive top-10 finish at a track he's had success at in the past, Nashville. However, he spun late in the race, and finished 28th, a lap down. (Previously: 13th)

20. AJ Allmendinger

A stop-and-go penalty put AJ Allmendinger one lap down from the jump in Sunday’s race. He recovered to finish 20th, a blue-collar effort from the veteran driver. (Previously: 18th)

21. Michael McDowell

Michael McDowell qualified eighth and earned stage points in the first stage before finishing 21st. He continues to hang around the top 20 in points, but the No. 71 team has to have its sights set on making the playoffs with a win. (Previously: 21st)

22. Josh Berry

Josh Berry was eighth off pit road after finishing ninth in stage two, but suffered a penalty for a crew member going over the wall too soon. The Tennessee driver has pace week after week, but sometimes the results just don’t pan out. (Previously: 16th)

23. Zane Smith

It wasn’t quite the finish he scored at Nashville last season, but Zane Smith and the No. 38 team continue to make progress in their battle for consistent top-10 and top-15 finishes, finishing 13th at Nashville Superspeedway. (Previously: 29th)

24. John Hunter Nemechek

The hot and cold 2025 season continues for JHN. For the last two weeks, he's been cold as he finished 27th at Nashville and the Coca-Cola 600. Those subpar runs came on the heels of back-to-back top-10s. What do we see from JHN and the No. 42 team next week? (Previously: 14th)

25. Austin Dillon

After three consecutive top-10 finishes at Bristol, Talladega, and Texas, Austin Dillon has now had three finishes of 20th-or-worse. The worst of them, a 29th-place finish, came this weekend at Nashville. (Previously: 19th)

26. Brad Keselowski

Who keeps poking the pins in their Brad Keselowski voodoo doll? Keselowski and the No. 6 team have had great speed lately, but the luck has hardly been there. This week, Keselowski was moving into the 12th position on Lap 131 when Corey Heim slammed him into the outside wall. Keselowski finished 23rd. (Previously: 26th)

27. Todd Gilliland

After some struggles early in the race, Todd Gilliland and crew chief Chris Lawson seemed to find a bit of speed in the second-half of the race. The Sherrills Ford, North Carolina-native ended up jumping from outside the top-30 to a 22nd-place result. (Previously: 24th)

28. Daniel Suarez

Daniel Suarez was out to lunch at the start of Sunday’s Cracker Barrel 400 and found himself running as low as 35th on merit at times in the early portion of the event. However, Matt Swiderski and company improved the handling of the No. 99, and Suarez moved forward, finishing a solid 16th. (Previously: 33rd)

29. Shane van Gisbergen

The 25th-place finish won’t reflect it, but Shane Van Gisbergen, for the second week in a row, showed off his improving oval racing skills, running inside the top-20 for the majority of the event, and at one point in the race, climbing as high as 13th. (Previously: 28th)

30. Noah Gragson

After a strong run in the Coca-Cola 600, Noah Gragson didn’t make it to the halfway point of Sunday’s event, after getting caught up in an early-race crash. The No. 4 team has now lost any positive momentum they once had heading into the Summer months of the season. (Previously: 25th)

31. Cole Custer

Nashville Superspeedway showed a significant step forward for the Haas Factory Team, collecting a third top-20 finish on the season, after running as high as 14th at points during the event. These runs are exactly what the No. 41 team needs in the second-half of the year. (Previously: 32nd)

32. Ty Dillon

Ty Dillon finished 26th at Nashville after starting 31st, one of his worst qualifying results of the year thus far. That drops him to 30th in points. (Previously: 31st)

33. Ty Gibbs

Crickey. Ty Gibbs looked like at one point he was on to have a top-10 result, but something went awry in the second half of the race, and the No. 54 Toyota Camry XSE finished a disappointing 31st. (Previously: 30th)

34. Riley Herbst

Riley Herbst finished 24th after qualifying 37th at Nashville. It was Herbst’s first lead lap finish since Texas, and the team hopes to build on that heading into the second half of his rookie season. (Previously: 36th)

35. Justin Haley

Justin Haley had to be looking forward to June after how May went, but the new month didn’t start much better. His 32nd-place finish at Nashville makes three straight finishes of 30th or worse, something that only happened once in Haley’s first 11 races of the season. (Previously: 34th)

36. Cody Ware

A 33rd-place finish at Nashville is far from Cody Ware's best run of the season. The No. 51 Rick Ware Racing driver will look to regain some momentum this weekend at Michigan International Speedway. (Previously: 35th)