NASCAR Power Rankings - Week 22

Honorable Mention: We’ll give the nod to two drivers this week, both winners in different rights. Bubba Wallace was a winner on Sunday, his first in a hundred races, and Ty Gibbs was the NASCAR In Season Tournament winner. Wallace hasn’t had the speed to justify a top 10 spot, and Gibbs was uncharacteristically slow on Sunday, but both walked away with hardware and deserve a nod.

10. Chris Buescher had the exact opposite kind of day that he had last week at Dover. The speed was present in the 17 car, and he ran top 10 all day, collecting points in both stages. However, on the final restart, he faded from 8th to 14th. Buescher only mustered an 18th last year at Iowa, but he did win at a similar Richmond back in 2023

9. Ryan Preece needed a good run, and he got one, finishing 4th. Unfortunately, the man he was chasing won on Sunday, and he now has to fight his teammate for the final playoff spot. Preece had a bad run at Iowa last year, but I think that was more SHR than him. He’s shown this year that he shines at the short tracks with RFK, and could easily be a player late in this one. Don’t be shocked to see the 60 in victory lane.

8. Tyler Reddick had a fast car on Sunday, but he was caught up in the final wreck, relegating him to a measly 29th. Fortunately, this doesn’t mean anything for him, as all Reddick is concerned about at this point is winning. Barring 3 new winners that aren’t named Tyler Reddick, it’s hard to believe he misses the playoffs this year. Reddick finished 22nd last year at Iowa, but did have a strong showing at Richmond last year, with a top 5 turning into a 2nd after all the chaos settled. Now that his teammate is a winner, it’s time for Tyler Reddick to find some mojo of his own. 

7. Ryan Blaney finished 7th on Sunday, but didn’t seem to have a top 10 car until late. Team Penske had an alternate strategy, which only seemed to help him, as he won stage 2. As for his teammates, Josh Berry had a poor finish, and Logano and Cindric both blew tires. Last year at Iowa, Blaney won his first race of the year. He should definitely be a solid pick Sunday.

6. Christopher Bell can’t seem to help himself. He was involved in another incident, this one by far the worst. He hooked Zane Smith down the backstretch on the first GWC, starting a big wreck. Bell needs to clean up before the playoffs, this is the 3rd wreck in the last 2 weeks that he’s caused. Iowa seems to be the place to do that; he finished 4th here last year.

5. Chase Briscoe is picking up speed; however, everyone in front of him on the list has been at speed for a while. Briscoe ran the worst of the SHR cars at Iowa last year, but on the contrary, has looked the best of them this year. Briscoe has a ton of momentum, and poles, right now.

4. William Byron had his best Brickyard run to date, until it came crashing down on the white flag, with him running out of fuel. Thanks to his points in stage 1 and 2 though, Byron cut Chase Elliott’s points lead down to just 4 points. Byron finished runner up at Iowa last year. This team looks to be exiting their yearly summer slump right now. 

3. Kyle Larson had an average run going until he got the lead at the start of stage 3, and from then on, he was a top 3 player for the rest of the day. Larson had a shot at the end, but lost to Bubba Wallace on the final restart. Larson drove from the back to the front on a few occasions at Iowa last year before being involved in a wreck late, he’ll have a shot come Sunday.

2. For the first time in a minute, Chase Elliott looked like his 2023 and 2024 self again. A 15-20th place run ended with a 13th, however there aren’t any tracks left like Indy, so a mediocre run here doesn’t look too terrible for the 9 camp. He did finish 3rd at Iowa last year though, so a rebound is in sight for Elliott.

1. Denny Hamlin reclaims the top spot. After wrecking on his pole run, Hamlin took his backup car and drove to a 3rd place finish. Hamlin looks to be the perineal favorite as we head to the playoffs, although his Iowa run last year doesn’t bode much confidence here. A 24th is all Hamlin could muster, but he was poised to win at Richmond last year before getting wrecked a few hundred feet from the line.