Following Kyle Larson’s win in Sunday’s Meals Metropolis 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway, the 2025 NASCAR Cup Collection season is formally 1 / 4 of the best way carried out. With 9 of 36 races on the calendar full, listed below are drivers who’ve surprisingly impressed and upset to this point.
Impressed: Bubba Wallace, No. 23 Toyota, 23XI Racing
Wallace has arguably by no means had extra pace to begin a season in his Cup Collection profession. By way of the primary 9 races of 2025, Wallace sits eighth within the Cup Collection standings, thanks largely to the 78 stage factors he is collected. Finishes of third at Homestead and Martinsville show that the No. 23 staff is able to successful sooner moderately than later. For the primary time in his profession, Wallace is comfortably above the playoff reduce line after a big pattern dimension of races, and the upcoming race at Talladega Superspeedway (April 27) might be the positioning of his third profession win.
Dissatisfied: Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Ford, RFK Racing
Opposite to Wallace, Keselowski is off to arguably the worst begin of his Cup Collection profession. The 2012 champion at present sits thirty first within the standings and is but to gather a top-10 end to this point this season. Talladega might be a beacon of sunshine – Keselowski is a six-time victor on the 2.66-mile superspeedway – however the No. 6 staff wants to search out pace rapidly, or threat being in a must-win scenario when the common season winds down.
Impressed: Josh Berry, No. 21 Ford, Wooden Brothers Racing
Setting expectations for Berry and the No. 21 staff going into the yr was tough. Berry was coming off a tumultuous rookie season that noticed his former staff, Stewart-Haas Racing, shut down on the conclusion of 2024. Other than Harrison Burton’s Daytona win, the No. 21 staff hadn’t sniffed success with the Subsequent-Gen automobile. Nonetheless, a win at Las Vegas – the primary of Berry’s Cup Collection profession – and robust runs at Phoenix, Darlington and Bristol are proof that Berry and the Wooden Brothers have the potential to make a shocking postseason run.
Dissatisfied: Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Chevrolet, Trackhouse Racing
Whereas his teammate in Ross Chastain sits above the playoff reduce line, Suarez and the No. 99 staff have struggled out of the gate in 2025, sitting twenty seventh in factors by 9 races. Suarez’s solely top-10 end to this point this season was a runner-up end to Berry at Las Vegas, and solely an abysmal begin to the season for rookie Shane van Gisbergen has saved Suarez from being worst at school at Trackhouse. With 18-year-old prospect Connor Zilisch ready within the wings for a possible Cup Collection experience, the time is now for Suarez to supply outcomes, or he could also be pressured into free company and on the lookout for the fifth experience of his Cup Collection profession.
