Power Rankings: Berry Good Day for Some in Las Vegas Shakes Things Up
Las Vegas Motor Speedway, much like the casinos in Sin City, was kind to some and not kind to others. At the end of an up, and down day in the Pennzoil 400, some drivers saw their fortunes rise in the weekly Racing America On SI NASCAR Power Rankings, while several others are looking for a lifeline to stop the bleeding.
Josh Berry, who scored a stirring first career win this weekend in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford, was tied for the biggest mover in the rankings this week as he climbed an impressive 10 spots. Kyle Busch, a Las Vegas native, was a guy who didn't fare so well. The driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet dropped eight spots after a detached wheel derailed his day.
Race Results: Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas
Toby Christie, Joseph Srigley, and Zach Evans rank out the 36 full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers and teams, see where your favorite driver landed as we head into this weekend's Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
While Christopher Bell has been stealing all of the headlines by racking up three wins, it's Byron that is asserting himself as the regular season championship favorite. The Daytona 500 winner keeps piling on top-five finishes, and he got another one in a fourth-place run at Las Vegas on Sunday. -Toby Christie
For Christopher Bell, Sunday’s result at Las Vegas Motor Speedway isn’t what he’s become accustomed to over the last three weeks. However, the Norman, Oklahoma-native managed to be the highest finishing driver from Toyota GAZOO Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing – as the four-car organization had the afternoon from hell. For the No. 20, though Vegas was just a slight bump in an otherwise solid road. -Joseph Srigley
Chase Elliott isn't one to hide the fact that he loves laying low off the track. His on the track personality has mirrored his off-track personality this season. He's hardly seen or heard from during the races, but shows up at the end for his weekly expected top-10 finish. Despite only leading two laps this season, Elliott is fifth in the championship points. -TC
Alex Bowman keeps being handed a platter of chicken poo, and he continues to churn out delectable bowls of chicken salad from it. This week, he had a fast car, but a loose wheel forced him to pit road for an unscheduled pit stop. No matter, he rallied back and finished seventh, marking his fourth top-10 in five races this season. -TC
Larson's see-saw 2025 season, where he would finish 20th-or-worse one week, and third the next is finally over. Larson followed up on his third-place finish at Phoenix with a ninth-place run at Las Vegas. It wasn't a win, but it helps the 2021 champion build some much needed momentum. -TC
After Sunday’s Pennzoil 400, Ross Chastain continued to lay down some impressive results for Trackhouse Racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, collecting a fifth-place finish after having a shot at potentially winning the event on Sunday. The momentum is a great thing for the No. 1 team moving forward. -JS
Tyler Reddick led 34 laps and was up front late, but pitting before the caution flag flew for Noah Gragson dashed his hopes for a strong finish. Reddick did earn the Xfinity Fastest Lap award, but finished 24th. -Zach Evans
Josh Berry is now a NASCAR Cup Series winner, claiming the feat at the same track where he won twice in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Now, what can Berry and the Wood Brothers Racing team accomplish with their playoff ticket punched and the majority of the season still ahead of them? -ZE
While he may have won big in the casino this weekend, Denny Hamlin had a disappointing afternoon at Las Vegas, between a speeding penalty, and a green-flag pit stop that ended up coming just before a caution flag, trapping the No. 11 a lap down. The Virginia-native has had a bit of a tough start to the season, as well, nothing like his usual championship form. -JS
Joey Logano was on the verge of a win, leading when the caution flag flew on lap 244. However, a slow pit stop dropped Logano deep in the field and he finished 15th. The defending NASCAR Cup Series champion is still searching his first top-10 finish of the 2025 season despite leading the series in laps led. -ZE
Chris Buescher has been the man carrying the banner for RFK Racing all season long. Sunday at Las Vegas, he finally took a backseat to his teammates as he was the third-highest-finishing RFK Racing car. Still, 13th isn't a bad day's work for the Texas native. -TC
Austin Cindric led 47 laps on Sunday and won the first stage of the race. While the final results haven’t been there at times, Cindric has led laps in four of the first five races of the season. -ZE
After a pair of top-10 finishes to start the season, it’s been a frustrating stretch for Ryan Blaney. This week, he finished 35th after being collected in a late-race accident. He remains the highest-placed Ford in the points standings, sitting in seventh place. -ZE
Man, just as it looked like the planets were aligning for Busch to snap his long winless drought -- at his hometrack no less -- disaster strikes. He was busted for speeding on pit road, which mired him in the field, and as he worked his way nearly back to the top-10, a wheel broke loose from his car and ruined his would-be decent run. -TC
20th-place runs aren't sexy, but they're effective. John Hunter Nemehek is proving to his fans that he's 'Quit Playing Games (With Their Hearts)' as he's giving them 'All I Have to Give'. This week, he came from the back of the field to record another solid finish, and he brought us an awesome crosspromotional paint scheme with the Backstreet Boys on his car. -TC
Talking about McDowell’s perseverance has been a recurring theme in this feature, but it was proven again at Las Vegas. He earned the pole for Sunday’s race, but trouble started even before the green flag with issues for his driver cooling suit. McDowell finished 16th despite a car that never quite handled to his liking throughout the race. -ZE
Bubba Wallace finished fourth in both stages and led three times for 20 laps. However, he was squeezed into the fence as part of the multi-car incident on lap 196 and limped to a 28th-place finish. -ZE
The driver of the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet really needed a turnaround heading into Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and man, Suarez just about hit the jackpot – finishing second to Josh Berry, after being passed inside the final 20 laps of the race. -JS
You know, when Ryan Preece is able to finish races with all four of his wheels firmly on the ground, he has proven he can grind out some great results. This weekend, he tied his career-best finish of third, and it feels like he's just getting started with RFK Racing. -TC
Despite some mid-race adversity, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and HYAK Motorsports were able to recover for a solid top-20 result, finishing in 18th. The team has had a respectable start to the year, finishing no worse than 21st in the opening five events of the season. -JS
Hocevar earned stage points at both opportunities on Sunday, but finished 30th on a frustrating day at Las Vegas. Damage from contact with Ty Gibbs on pit road hurt Hocevar’s pace during the closing stages of the race. -ZE
There has been so much adversity in the No. 19 camp this season, that it’s a miracle that they are where they are in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings. Briscoe, racing with a sprained wrist, was trapped as many as four laps down after losing a wheel after a pit stop. Then, through wave rounds and free passes, Briscoe somehow ended up back on the lead lap and scored a top-20 result. -JS
AJ Allmendinger scored his first top-10 finish of the season with an eighth-place run at Las Vegas. Allmendinger also finished in the top 10 at Homestead-Miami Speedway last fall, so it could be a chance for a nice little string of success for the veteran. -ZE
Something seemed just a little bit off this weekend for Todd Gilliland and the No. 34 for Front Row Motorsports at Las Vegas, seemingly being off-the-pace throughout the weekend. But, just when things looked to turn around, a crash wounded the Love’s Travel Stops machine. -JS
A much-needed reprieve for Brad Keselowski this weekend. Sure, by finishing 11th he narrowly missed out on his first top-10 of the season, but his run was just his second top-15 finish of the year. He'll take these results every week in place of DNFs like he had at Atlanta and Phoenix. -TC
Ty Dillon was nearly in the top 10 at one point in the final stage, but lost track position while saving fuel on the long green-flag run interrupted by Noah Gragson’s incident on lap 244. Dillon ultimately finished 21st at Las Vegas. -ZE
Despite a really solid qualifying effort on Saturday, Zane Smith had a pretty quiet afternoon at Las Vegas, finishing a respectable 23rd, the best of the three Front Row Motorsports drivers. -JS
Justin Haley had one of the most exciting moments of the day, narrowly splitting between Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney during a multi-car incident on lap 196. Haley finished 14th, his best finish of the season. -ZE
Erik Jones had speed in his No. 43 LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Toyota this weekend. He qualified well. He led a lap. And he was near the front for a solid chunk of the race. But, as has been the trend this year, he was running worse than he had all day when the checkered flag flew. He can't have many more 27th-place runs. -TC
Riley Herbst now has four top-20 finishes in the first five races of 2025, giving him a slight advantage over Shane Van Gisbergen in the Rookie of the Year battle. Herbst finished 19th in a “home” race at Las Vegas on Sunday. -ZE
There was definitely speed in the No. 4 Beef-A-Roo Ford Mustang this weekend in Las Vegas, but a late-race issue derailed any hopes of a good finish for the hometown boy. The poor showing has also delivered another hit to the team as they now drop outside the top-30 in points. -JS
Does somebody have a voodoo doll of Austin Dillon? If so, give the thing a break for a week. Dillon has been involved in so many incidents not of his doing this year, and we're only five races in. It happened again this week, as he was involved in a seven-car pileup late in the Pennzoil 400 and finished 32nd. -TC
It’s a tale of two seasons for Shane Van Gisbergen in the NASCAR Cup Series; one side being on the road courses, where the Auckland, New Zealand-native flourishes, and the other being the ovals, where the Supercars champion still has a lot of learning to do. Multiple issues on Sunday proved that the learning curve is still pretty steep for the No. 88. -JS
After another subpar afternoon, Joe Gibbs Racing needs to be hitting the panic button on the No. 54 Toyota Camry XSE, with Ty Gibbs yet to record a top-15 finish on the year, and remaining outside the top-30 in NASCAR Cup Series points – in the same equipment that has won three of the last four races. Something is definitely off, and it needs to be resolved pretty soon. -JS
Not his best run of the season, but Custer and the No. 41 Haas Factory Team have had rougher outings in the early part of this 2025 season. A 26th-place result keeps the wheels turning for Custer, who ranks 35th here, and in the NASCAR Cup Series championship standings. -TC
Cody Ware was starting to build some momentum with a 24th-place run at Phoenix, but it all came crashing down (literally) at Las Vegas. A blown tire on Lap 188 sent Ware spinning driver's side-first into the outside wall. Luckily he walked away unscathed. -TC
Recommended Articles
Toby Christie is the Editor-in-Chief of Racing America. He has 15 years of experience as a motorsports journalist and has been with Racing America since 2023.
-a54bf325b08a5e9f769b818f5c4a244c.png "Joseph Srigley")
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.
Zach Evans is the Managing Editor of RacingAmerica.com, with nearly a decade of experience in motorsports. He has been with Racing America since 2017.