Six Drivers Still Alive in Fight for Regular Season Championship
There’s been a change atop the NASCAR Cup Series point standings.
For the first time since May, and just the fourth time in 21 NASCAR Cup Series events this season, the point standings are led by somebody other than DAYTONA 500 winner William Byron. After a poor finish at Dover Motor Speedway, the driver of the No. 24 has dropped to second-place.
The new points leader? Byron’s teammate at Hendrick Motorsports, Chase Elliott. The Dawsonville, Georgia-native takes over the lead in the regular-season point standings after five top-six finishes in the last six events, including a victory at EchoPark Speedway.
This battle isn’t over, either. It’s just getting started. With five races until the end of the regular season, there are still six drivers who could realistically hoist the regular-season championship trophy once the checkered flag drops at Daytona International Speedway.
1. Chase Elliott
There’s a reason why Chase Elliott leads the points in the NASCAR Cup Series.
In an era of unpredictability and parity, Elliott and the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports team have managed to record 21 consecutive top-20s to start the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series campaign, which has come in handy as his teammate William Byron has struggled throughout the first part of the Summer.
Elliott leads the series in average finish by a significant amount (10.0 versus second-best 12.6 for Christopher Bell) and provided the Dawsonville, Georgia-native doesn’t hit any major snags in the next five weeks, might just be able to nickel and dime his way to the regular-season title.
2. William Byron (-16)
William Byron has one problem, right now: and it’s not speed.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver has shown tons of raw speed throughout the regular-season, and while he has also parked it in Victory Lane once in 2025 (the DAYTONA 500), the Charlotte, North Carolina-native has arguably been among the best of the best all season.
However, luck has really not been on the side of Byron and the No. 24 Chevrolet. Finishes outside of the top-25 at Michigan and Pocono were one thing, but then to be followed by an early wreck at EchoPark Speedway, and a first-lap clutch issue at the Chicago Street Course, hurt the team significantly.
Byron recovered with a solid top-10 at Sonoma and was looking to continue building on that with a top-six run at Dover Motor Speedway before getting caught up in a multi-car accident on a late-race restart. That dropkicked him to 31st and lost him the points lead.
It’s time to get back on track for Byron. A lack of victories will come back to bite the 27-year-old when the post-season starts if he can’t accumulate some nice Playoff Points from his position in regular-season standings.
3. Denny Hamlin (-39)
At this point in his career, Denny Hamlin is laser-focused on hoisting the Bill France Cup.
Granted, the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) driver certainly won’t be opposed to hoisting a regular-season championship trophy at Daytona International Speedway, seeing as that distinction would give him an additional 15 Playoff Points.
Hamlin comes off of his fourth victory of 2025 at Dover Motor Speedway sitting third-place in NASCAR Cup Series point standings. As the Chesterfield, Virginia-native looks for his first Brickyard 400 victory, he is tied with Kyle Larson in standings, and only 39 markers behind Chase Elliott.
There’s no question that Hamlin is among the strongest drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series, right now, and will certainly have something to say about the regular-season title in the next five weeks.
4. Kyle Larson (-39)
If Kyle Larson is going to win the regular-season championship, the mid-season skid has to end.
The Elk Grove, California-native finished fourth in last Sunday’s 400-lapper at Dover Motor Speedway, but that was his first top-five result since Michigan in June, and his best finish in the NASCAR Cup Series since he won at Kansas in May.
After being a force to be reckoned with in the first-half of the season, the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet faded massively, and since the Coca-Cola 600 and a dismal bid at running ‘The Double’, Larson just hasn’t looked the same.
If the 32-year-old driver is going to make up a 39-point deficit on his ultra-consistent teammate Chase Elliott, he’s going to have to revert back to his previous Superman-like form. It all starts with the Brickyard 400, an even he won last season.
5. Tyler Reddick (-62)
There are five races until the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs commence at Darlington Raceway, and there is a scenario – albeit an unlikely one – where Tyler Reddick, who sits fourth in NASCAR Cup Series point standings doesn’t make the post-season.
Reddick is one of three drivers inside the top-10 in regular-season points that haven’t been to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series this season, putting together a stat line that only includes five top-five and eight top-10 finishes – including a season-best runner-up result in the DAYTONA 500.
The 23XI Racing driver has hovered around third to seventh in points throughout the entire season, so the consistency is there, but Reddick is going to have to make up some significant points on Chase Elliott and the drivers in front of him if he wants to win a second straight regular-season title.
This is the point in the season where Reddick came on strong last year, en route to the regular-season championship and a Championship 4 berth, so, can the No. 45 team do it again? It’s a 62-point deficit, and there are two wildcard races in the last five regular-season races, so only time will tell.
6. Christopher Bell (-66)
Christopher Bell is without a doubt a contender for the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series championship.
It’s been a while (since he finished off three consecutive victories with a win at Phoenix) that Bell has been to Victory Lane in the NASCAR Cup Series, and that has definitely cooled off his favor heading into the summer months.
There hasn’t been one overwhelming factor as to why Bell hasn’t been back in the winner’s circle this season. Sometimes it’s a lack of race-winning pace, while other times it’s just bad luck, or an incident that will happen while the No. 20 is in contention.
Take last weekend’s event at Dover Motor Speedway, for example. Bell had a fast racecar, one that definitely could have competed with his teammate for the victory, but the Norman, Oklahoma-native spun from the lead… TWICE.
It’s going to take a lot for Bell to get back into contention for the regular-season championship, seeing as he’s more than a full race (67 points) behind Chase Elliott, but with some fast racecars and luck falling his way, there’s no reason to believe that Christopher Bell can’t give it a shot.
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Joseph Srigley covers NASCAR for TobyChristie.com, Racing America, and OnSI, and is the owner of the #SrigleyStats brand. With a higher education in the subjects of business, mathematics, and data analytics, Joseph is able to fully understand the inner workings of the sport through multiple points of perspective.
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