Week 19 NASCAR Power Rankings

After a wild weekend in Chicago and a sweep from Shane Von (IYKYK) here are the updated NASCAR power rankings .

Honorable Mention: Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs both get an HM this week. Briscoe’s on his way out, and Gibbs is on his way in. After a, quite frankly, lucky win at Pocono, Briscoe’s been on a downward spiral. A decent day at Chicago went belly up late for Briscoe. Ty Gibbs, unlike his teammate, is on the up and up. After the best run of Gibbs’ career at Mexico, he followed it up with a solid run at Pocono, a strong run at Atlanta, and a race-winning run at Chicago. Match that with the fact that veteran Chris Gabehart is now atop the box to help this team into the playoffs, it’s clear the 54’s here to play. He seems to be the only one who can match SVG on the road courses, which bodes well considering where the Cup Series is heading this week.

10. Ryan Preece has figured out the road courses, it seems. After winning a stage at both COTA and Mexico, he finished P7 at Chicago. He heads to another road course this week, but has never finished better than 13th there, with 3 sub 15th place finishes. Preece has been incredibly consistent this year, however, and he could surprise some people this week.

9. Chris Buescher seemed to bring a fast car to Chicago…until lap 4 hit.  Engine issues plagued the 17, relegating him 2 laps down at one point. He rallied for 18th, but an overall disappointing day that saw him dropped a spot in the playoffs and lose about 15 points to the cutline. However, spirits should be up at Roush this week, as Chris hasn’t finished worse than 4th at Sonoma since the next gen car was introduced. If there’s ever a place for Buescher to lock into the playoffs, it’s here.

8. Back to back race winning runs has brought Tyler Reddick back into the top 10. He backed up a 4th at Atlanta with 3rd place runs in all three stages, earning him the most points on the day. Reddick’s put himself to 143 points above the cutline, and barring a generational falloff and many new winners, Reddick should make the playoffs. At this point, it’s time for the 45 to get back to victory lane.

7. Ross Chastain had an eventful Sunday, tangling with Joey Logano late. However, he had another strong run with a top 10 in the first and 3rd stage. He heads to Sonoma with an average finish of 7.25 minus his 33rd place run with Premium Motorsports in 2019. Since being in top equipment with Chip Ganassi, Chastain hasn’t finished worse than 10th.

6. I’m lost on CBell. Backing up a bad run with another bad run, Christopher needs some momentum…bad. The only thing keeping him this high on the list is the fact that they can win anytime, anywhere, and they’ve proved that many times with their must win situation victories in the playoffs. After 2 sub 20th place finishes his first 2 years, he has finished 9th the last 2 years at Sonoma. I’m sure after my negative words and how I’m losing faith in Bell, he’ll have a really good run and finish 4th this week.

5. Kyle Larson’s weekend started out rough, to say the least. After receiving some damage in practice and qualifying, the team opted to repair it and start from the back. Larson rebounded for a 14th, but still hasn’t led a lap since the 600. Sonoma’s been kind to Larson, however, as he has 2 wins here, including last year’s race.

4. Ryan Blaney had a solid day at Chicago, winning stage 2 and finishing 13th. 

3. Chase Elliott captures his first win of the year and his 3rd top 5 in a row on 3 completely different racetracks. Chicago is far from his best road course, but it’s a road course nonetheless. He’s looking to continue his momentum. He finished 3rd here in 2023, thanks to some strategy, but last year had a rough race and finished 21st. His qualifying here doesn’t bode much confidence either, but at the same time, no one is hotter in the garage right now.

2. William Byron was also involved in the big one. I genuinely have nothing else to say as I never even saw him. He heads to a track where he has never finished worse than 13th before, while also being a sneaky good road course racer. 

1. Denny Hamlin got wrecked, totaled, destroyed. But so did a lot of other people. He keeps his #1 spot, but I don’t like his road course numbers. He sat on the pole for the first ever race here, and ran decent, picking up an 11th, but since that race, Hamlin has lost his groove. Other than a 2nd at Watkins Glen and a pair of 14th’s at COTA and the Roval, his best road course finish is only 19th, with 3 sub-30th place finishes. I don’t see him staying at the #1 spot after this weekend.