NASCAR Power Rankings - Week 24

Honorable Mention: Alex Bowman had a good points day at Watkins Glen, but Chris Buescher had a better one. If we get no new winners, that’ll be good enough for the 48, but with a potential new winner in NASCAR one of these next two weeks, Alex Bowman will need faster racecars. Also quick props to SVG for winning race #4. He’s not going on the list, though. Cry a river. Only Carl Edwards has won as many races in a rookie season (Iykyk).

10. Ryan Preece finished just outside the top 10 and collected 9 stage points, a really good day if the man he was chasing for 16th didn’t have an even better one. Other than a 20th at Dover where all 3 RFK cars struggled, Preece hasn’t finished outside the top 15 since a 28th place run at Nashville. He’s going to need to win to make the playoffs, but it’s been a strong summer for the 60. 

9. Chris Buescher finally had some race winning speed again, finishing 3rd after being passed by Christopher Bell on the last lap. This finish from Buescher is even more impressive, however, because they opted to play the points game early on and win stage 2. The final 2 tracks before the playoffs are both home to a Buescher victory, both in 2023, so if Buescher’s going to win, it’s gonna be soon.

8. I checked some stats and crunched some numbers, Kyle Larson is on a terrible run right now. In the first 12 races, Larson had 3 wins, 8 top 5s, 9 top 10s, 817 laps led, 2 finishes outside the top 25, an average finish of 9.83, and he scored 469 points. Since the Coke 600, the last 12 races, his numbers are: 0 wins, 3 top 5s, 5 top 10s, 56 laps led, 5 finishes outside the top 25, a 19.25 average finish, and he scored 258 points. Larson at Richmond in the next gen car has an average finish of 8.17, along with a win and 3 top 5s. I’d say now is a good time to start the comeback for Larson, but I also said the same thing last week.

7. Bubba Wallace has been a huge impress all year long. His weakness seems no more, as Wallace finished 8th at Watkins Glen, a style of racing he used to call himself “terrible” at. Richmond’s always been a Toyota track, however, that’s not always the case for Bubba.  Other than a P4 the last time here, Wallace has never finished better than 12th in his previous 12 attempts, something he’s done twice. And in his 2 starts before his P4, he led multiple laps in both starts. Bubba Wallace is a solid dark horse to watch on Saturday night.

6. Christopher Bell finally put together a clean race, start to finish, and would you look at that? He finished 2nd. Bell needs to keep this momentum up as we approach the playoffs. He’s never won a race at Richmond, but he’s also never finished outside the top 20 in 9 starts there. And in those 9 starts, 7 of them are top 6 finishes. In the 6 Next Gen races at Richmond, Bell has led laps in 4 of them, including a near race-high 122 in the fall last time the Cup Series came here, only being beat by Hamlin, who led 2 more for a total of 124. I don’t think he’ll win, but expect Bell to be fighting for a podium.

5. Ryan Blaney was very impressive on Sunday. He outqualified SVG (impressive on its own) but he also held him off the entire stage before pitting with 2 to go. Blaney also nabbed a stage 2 victory, going on to finish 6th. Blaney also scored the most points. Needless to say, I’d say Ryan Blaney had himself a good day.

4. Chase Elliott’s top 20 run came to an end on Sunday, and it came in a way I don’t think any of us expected. On speed, at a road course, in Watkins Glen, New York. It looks like the 9 camp hit their stride about 2 months too early, but maybe he’ll have a quick bounce back before the playoffs begin. He has 7 top 10s in his last 12 starts at the short track. If Elliott doesn’t have a solid run on Saturday, I’d say it’s panic time for Engine Engine No. 9.

3. Denny Hamlin struggled at a road course. In other news, the sky is blue, the grass is green, and SVG ended up winning the same road course race. I expect to have the exact same headline next week, except swap SVG’s and Hamlin’s results. He’s good at Richmond, I don’t need to give you the stats.

2. The only reason Chase Briscoe isn’t #1 is because of my self allocated “no more than 3 spaces a week” rule. This dude is flying right now. And if you follow the “MTJ was good here so Briscoe will be as well” rule that’s starting to come together, I have high hopes for him this weekend at Richmond, even though his numbers don’t necessarily back him up.

1. William Byron has pretty much put the regular season championship away. As long as he doesn’t finish behind his teammate at Richmond, I don’t think there’s a way Elliott can catch him at Daytona, unless the 9 flat dominates the race, which I don’t think he will. This 24 team truly is back and ready to rock the playoffs.