With its lone off-weekend out of the way, the NASCAR Cup Series returns this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway for the first of 28 consecutive weeks of racing to end the season. Nine races into the 2025 season, there are some key storylines that have emerged that are worth watching as drivers get back behind the wheel. Here are three storylines to follow as the Cup Series goes full throttle the rest of the way.
Can anyone slow down William Byron?
While his Daytona 500 win is his only time visiting victory lane this season, Byron has been the definition of consistency through nine races. Four top-fives, six top-10s, the second-most stage points (90) and an average finish of 9.1 have Byron in possession of a 30-point lead over Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver recently led the first 243 laps at Darlington and has showed speed on multiple types of tracks. With five of his 14 career wins coming on drafting-style tracks and an impressive 7.7 average finish at Talladega since 2022, Byron could be primed for another win as soon as Sunday.
Will another driver win three straight races?
JGR's Christopher Bell started the 2025 season on a heater with three straight wins at Atlanta, COTA and Phoenix in the first four races. If is was not for HMS driver Kyle Larson leading 411 of the 500 laps and blowing out the field at Bristol, Hamlin, who finished runner-up and had won the two previous races at Martinsville and Darlington, could have joined his teammate Bell as a winner of three consecutive races this season.
While that seems like a tall task, the domination from Larson, Bell and Hamlin thus far, plus Byron's consistency, suggests it cannot be ruled out. With his skill behind the wheel, Larson has proven he can win anywhere and accomplished the impressive feat of winning three consecutive races twice in 2021. Hamlin, Bell and Byron are in the same category when it comes to being versatile and winning anywhere the series visits.
Other active drivers to win three straight races include Kyle Busch (2015, 2018), Joey Logano (2015) and Brad Keselowski (2018), but neither of the three have won a single race, or frankly come close, so far this season. It is a tall task, but if another driver were to win three races in a row once more this season, look no further than the HMS and JGR duo that have already been to victory lane in 2025.
Can Team Penske finally get to victory lane?
The speed has been evident at times, but the execution has lacked on most weekends for the entire Team Penske organization. All three drivers rank in the top six in laps led with a combined 617 laps out front this season, but no wins to show for it. Ryan Blaney has been the closest to a win, notably at Homestead when he led 124 laps before blowing an engine and at Darlington before an untimely caution sent the race to overtime and a slow pit stop ensued from his crew.
Austin Cindric is mired in 22nd in the standings with two top-10s while Logano has one top 10 at Martinsville and a subpar average finish of 17.5. Considering Blaney and Logano have three wins apiece at Talladega and tend to find the front on drafting-style tracks, that first win of the season could be in sight.