Grading the NASCAR Cup Series garage

It's time to hand out the final 2025 grades for the NASCAR Cup Series teams. No one got an A+ this year despite some notable achievements. Hendrick Motorsports is at the head of the class, just barely over Joe Gibbs Racing. Gibbs actually had a stronger season performance-wise, but Hendrick won both the championship and the biggest race of the season. A Grade HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS The 15-time Cup Series championship organization gets an A with Kyle Larson winning his second Cup Series title and William Byron repeating as Daytona 500 champion. Larson dominated early in the season with three wins, including the No. 5 Chevrolet team's romp in the Food City 500 at Bristol. He went through a well-documented slump after crashing out of both the Indy 500 and Coke 600. He got through to the final round of the playoffs, and if a late caution hadn't come out for Byron's blown tire, Denny Hamlin would be champion. Byron won at Daytona, which is a wild-card race, won on fuel mileage at Iowa and then had a dominating win at Martinsville. That put two Hendrick drivers in the championship race, and honestly kept them from an A- or B+. Chase Elliott won just one race at his home track at Atlanta, a drafting track. Alex Bowman struggled in the No. 48 car. He won poles at Homestead, where he finished second, and for Bristol's Food City 500, but he finished 37th with an early engine failure. Bowman also posted a second-place at Richmond. A Grade JOE GIBBS RACING This was the best organization from a performance standpoint, but the lack of a championship prevented the Gibbs teams from being class valedictorians. Denny Hamlin led the series with six wins and was literally three laps from winning his first NASCAR Cup Series title. He also had five poles for the Toyota standard bearer. Chase Briscoe led the way with seven poles, and he won three races. Christopher Bell won three consecutive races early and later added the Bristol Night Race. Another strike against JGR was Ty Gibbs failing to make the playoff field. He finished second at the Chicago Street Race, and had three third-place finishes. He is still looking for a first Cup Series win. B Grade TEAM PENSKE Ford's top team came up short of winning a fourth straight Cup Series championship, although Ryan Blaney finished the season off with a win at Phoenix. He had four wins on the season, while teammates Joey Logano and Austin Cindric each had a single victory. Wood Brothers Racing, which has really become a fourth Penske team, had a win with Josh Berry at Las Vegas. Blaney and Logano each had two poles, but the Fords didn't show the overall speed of the Toyotas for the season. B- Grade TRACKHOUSE RACING Shane Van Gisbergen had a record rookie season with five victories, all on road courses. He's certainly in the conversation as the best ever NASCAR racer on those tracks. The New Zealand native showed great improvement on the ovals later in the season. Ross Chastain won one of NASCAR's biggest races, the Coca-Cola 600, and finished second at Texas. Daniel Suarez, who has been replaced by Connor Zilisch for the 2026 season, had runner-up finishes at Las Vegas and Daytona. C+ Grade 23XI RACING Bubba Wallace had his best season to date with a win in the Brickyard 400 and an 11th-place finish in points. For the second year in a row, he finished with six top-five and 14 top-10 finishes. He also led a career-best 378 laps. His teammate, Tyler Reddick, failed to win a race, but did have one more top-five finish, was equal with 14 top-10 runs and finished ninth in points. C Grade RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING Austin Dillon had the speed at Richmond where he won for a second straight year. It was his only top-five finish and he had just five top-10 runs. Still, he outran two-time champion Kyle Busch in half the races. Busch had three top-five and 10 top-10 finishes, but his 88 laps led and 21st points finish were career lows. C Grade RFK RACING While no RFK drivers made the playoff field, they get a bump for their consistency. Chris Buescher, 17th in points, had five top-five and 16 top-10 finishes. Ryan Preece was one spot behind in points, and finished with three top-five and 14 top-10 runs. Brad Keselowski finished 20th in the standings, and had six top-fives and 13 top-10s. He had a pair of second-place finishes at Atlanta and Phoenix. D Grade LEGACY MOTOR CLUB, FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS, KAULIG RACING, SPIRE MOTORSPORTS Each of these organizations had some highlights, whether top five-finishes, pole positions, etc. But, they found it hard to keep up with the top teams. It's even more the case with the single-car teams like Hyak Motorsports, the No. 47 with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and the Haas Automotive, the No. 00 with Cole Custer.