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

SVG: After his third straight road course win, and second straight NASCAR Cup Series win, it's clear that this is Shane van Gisbergen's world and we're just living in it for now. However, after a win in Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma, SVG will now have to try to hone in the results on ovals.

Jones Stubs Toe: Erik Jones turned Josh Berry last week at the Chicago Street Course. This week, he got retaliated against late in the race by Berry, and would wind up finishing 29th. The bad finish dropped Jones nine spots in this week's rankings, the biggest drop of anyone in the rankings.

RACE RESULTS: Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma

Using an average of rankings between Racing America On SI's Toby Christie and Joseph Srigley, here's where all 36 full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers stand heading into this weekend's race at Dover Motor Speedway.

Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

1. Chase Elliott

A third-place run at Sonoma keeps the momentum rolling for Chase Elliott, who now has four top-five finishes over his last five starts. (Previously: 2nd)

2. Tyler Reddick

With a sixth-place finish, Reddick’s $1 million dreams in the NASCAR In-Season Challenge stay alive. He’ll face Ty Gibbs in the next round, riding top-10 finishes in his last three races. (Previously: 3rd)

3. Ty Gibbs

There’s a major momentum shift in the NASCAR Cup Series, right now, and after a dismal start to the season, Ty Gibbs is looking poised once again to capitalize and take his first win in the NASCAR Cup Series. It didn’t come on Sunday, finishing seventh, but the No. 54 is definitely in contention in the races coming up. (Previously: 6th)

4. Denny Hamlin

It wasn’t the type of afternoon for Denny Hamlin that we’ve become accustomed to on the road courses, with the No. 11 team barely scraping together a top-20 finish, after spending much of the afternoon running 25th or worse. Not a great momentum builder for the JGR team. (Previously: 1st)

5. Alex Bowman

A heart-breaking last-lap shove from Ty Dillon ended Alex Bowman's bid to win the $1 million In-Season Tournament, but Bowman keeps registering respectable finishes to strengthen his Playoff hopes. (Previously: 4th)

6. Chase Briscoe

Despite calling Sonoma Raceway his worst road course on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule, Chase Briscoe followed in the footsteps of Martin Truex, Jr. and the No. 19 team of old, to finish second – ending up “best of the rest” behind Shane van Gisbergen. (Previously: 12th)

7. Ryan Preece

I don't know when he became a road racer, but it's been interesting to see Ryan Preece go from out to lunch at these styles of track to being one of the better drivers in the garage. Between Stage Wins, a top-10 finish at the Chicago Street Course and a 12th at Sonoma despite gobs of damage, Preece has certainly improved. (Previously: 8th)

8. Chris Buescher

Chris Buescher didn't make many friends on Sunday, but that's life without a win this late in the regular-season. The pressure is certainly on for Buescher and anyone else still trying to secure a Playoff berth. (Previously: 5th)

9. Christopher Bell

After a disappointing Chicago Street Course race, Christopher Bell returned to his usual road course form at Sonoma, notching a fifth-place finish for the No. 20 Toyota Camry XSE, despite a mid-race spin from the Norman, Oklahoma-native. (Previously: 10th)

10. Shane van Gisbergen

This shouldn’t be a surprise. He won the pole by a quarter of a second, and lead a record-breaking number of laps on Sunday, and now Shane Van Gisbergen is tied with Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Larson as the winningest drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series this year. (Previously: 16th)

11. William Byron

Finally. William Byron had a decent day and was able to limit the bleeding that he has been doing in his quest for the regular-season championship. (Previously: 14th)

12. Joey Logano

Joey Logano finished ninth on Sunday, his first top-10 finish since Nashville and his fifth in the first 20 races of the season. We’re starting to see a few more consistent, strong showings from the No. 22 team, but can it build towards another deep Playoffs run? (Previously: 15th)

13. Kyle Larson

It was another forgettable day for Kyle Larson, who was the defending race winner at Sonoma. Larson attempted to stay on track to win Stage 2, but was still passed by SVG, who flipped the Stage. In the end, Larson crashed and finished 35th. He has one top-10 in his last five starts. (Previously: 7th)

14. Kyle Busch

Another top-10 finish for Kyle Busch, who continues to ride the longest losing streak of his NASCAR Cup Series career. Road course season has given the driver and his fanbase some hope that a win could be near. (Previously: 18th)

15. Ryan Blaney

Sunday was a struggle for Ryan Blaney despite earning stange points in both stages, involved in a mid-race incident before falling out of the race four laps shy of the finish in another crash. It is Blaney’s seventh DNF of the season, and his second in three weeks. (Previously: 11th)

16. Ross Chastain

Ross Chastain spent the first little bit of Sunday’s event near the front of the pack, but after providing a punt to his teammate Daniel Suarez, the No. 1 Chevrolet wasn’t really anywhere to be seen for the rest of the afternoon. Ultimately, the Trackhouse Racing driver finished in 24th. (Previously: 13th)

17. AJ Allmendinger

A.J. Allmendinger started fifth, but finished 16th and didn’t record any stage points on Sunday at Sonoma. It wasn’t an eye-catching result for one of the drivers to watch on road courses, but it was a good recovery after a stage two spin. (Previously: 17th)

18. Erik Jones

Yikes. After a great push back toward Playoff relevance, Erik Jones has taken a step back this weekend with a subpar 29th-place finish. (Previously: 9th)

19. Brad Keselowski

Another week, another solid result for Brad Keselowski. He navigated through road course season well, and came home with an 11th-place finish at Sonoma. Keselowski and Jeremy Bullins will now focus on winning a race. (Previously: 20th)

20. Michael McDowell

Michael McDowell notched his second top-five finish of the season, and his best result of the year. Sunday’s fourth-place finis bettered a P5 at Mexico City last month. (Previously: 23rd)

21. John Hunter Nemechek

He advanced to the next round of the NASCAR In-Season Tournament. That's about all there is to say after a 28th-place finish for JHN at Sonoma. (Previously: 19th)

22. Ty Dillon

The Ty Dillon NASCAR In-Season Challenge Cinderella story continues. Dillon passed Alex Bowman on the last turn of the last lap to knock out the Hendrick Motorsports driver, setting up a matchup with John Hunter Nemechek next week at Dover. (Previously: 25th)

23. Zane Smith

After a good qualifying run and spending much of the race inside the top-15, an off-track excursion pushed the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports car down the running order, a penalty that Smith never really recovered from. 27th certainly isn’t what the Ryan Bergenty-led team was looking for. (Previously: 22nd)

24. Josh Berry

Josh Berry snapped a skid of back-to-back DNFs with a 13th-place finish on Sunday at Sonoma. It was the best road course finish of Berry’s Cup career, and now he’s headed to the track of one of his best showings during a 2023 season that saw him make several relief appearances in the Cup Series. (Previously: 27th)

25. Bubba Wallace

Bubba Wallace’s string of poor finishes continued on Sunday, as he was involved in a late spin and finished 26th. He’s now just three points to the good on the playoff cutline, fighting for his postseason life entering Dover. (Previously: 21st)

26. Justin Haley

Justin Haley finished 15th, his best showing since Texas in May. He also set the fastest lap of Sunday’s race, picking up the Xfinity Fastest Lap bonus point. (Previously: 32nd)

27. Austin Cindric

Since a top-10 at Pocono, Austin Cindric has finishes of 38th, 27th and 30th. After being so impressive on the road courses during his tenure in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and earlier in his Cup career, it’s been surprising to see his results on those tracks this year. (Previously: 24th)

28. Daniel Suarez

Daniel Suarez ended up 14th after getting turned in the middle of the event on Sunday, and while that isn’t the race-winning performance he recorded in 2022, it’s a solid one considering the couple of weeks he’s had regarding his employment status for 2026. (Previously: 34th)

29. Austin Dillon

Kyle Busch has started clicking off some decent runs, Austin Dillon, his teammate, desperately needs to find some success. (Previously: 30th)

30. Carson Hocevar

Carson Hocevar suffered a late-race off-track excursion after contact with Josh Berry, relegating him to 32nd place. That gives the Michigan driver back-to-back finishes outside the top 30 during the road course doubleheader. (Previously: 26th)

31. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Whatever golden horseshoe Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and HYAK Motorsports had stashed away to continue rattling off solid finishes has not only broken but left a nasty puncture wound. The No. 47 team went from being in post-season contention to struggling to hold onto a spot inside the top-25 in points, a result of several poor finishes in the last two months. (Previously: 29th)

32. Cole Custer

This season, the trademark for Cole Custer and Haas Factory Team (aside from a couple of breakout runs) has been their quiet consistency. With a quiet 22nd-place finish this afternoon at Sonoma, the No. 41 team continued that trend on Sunday. (Previously: 33rd)

33. Riley Herbst

One week after his first top-20 in eight races at Chicago, Riley Herbst finished 25th at Sonoma. He’ll look to get things turned around next week at Dover. (Previously: 31st)

34. Cody Ware

A week after a devastating crash at the Chicago Street Course, Cody Ware suffered a detached wheel and finished 34th, 2 laps down at Sonoma. (Previously: 28th)

35. Todd Gilliland

It’s nothing flashy, but a 22nd-place finish for Todd Gilliland and the No. 34 team is an improvement over the way the Front Row Motorsports team has been performing lately, with lots of bad luck on their side. Gilliland is typically strong on the road courses, though, so the team’s struggles are a bit puzzling. (Previously: 36th)

36. Noah Gragson

The hits just keep on coming for Noah Gragson and the No. 4 Front Row Motorsports team. Despite some optimism with a good run at a road course earlier this year at COTA, Gragson was nowhere to be seen on Sunday, and on a late restart, got turned by Austin Cindric and sent out of the race. (Previously: 35th)