Power Rankings: Kevin Harvick builds steam toward rousing Richmond farewell

NASCAR.com's Zack Albert subs in for Pat DeCola again this week and ranks the 20 hottest Cup Series drivers after the race at Pocono Raceway and before Sunday's event at Richmond Raceway (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

20. Ty Gibbs (Not ranked last week)

Season-high: 16
Season-low: Out

Comment: The 20-year-old rookie re-enters the rankings on the strength of a Cup Series career-best finish -- a solid fifth at Pocono. Gibbs has work to do to move from a fringe candidate for the playoff field into an outright contender, but he's pointed in the right direction heading to Richmond -- long a stronghold for Joe Gibbs Racing.

19. Daniel Suárez (-1)

Season-high: 9
Season-low: Out

Comment: The Trackhouse Racing driver left Pocono's "Tricky Triangle" layout with a three-sided whammy for his playoff hopes. Suárez lost 22 points relative to the provisional elimination line with his crash-out, dropping one spot in the Cup Series standings and in these rankings.

18. AJ Allmendinger (+1)

Season-high: 18
Season-low: Out

Comment: The Kaulig Racing veteran made some headway in his quest for a postseason berth, finishing a quiet 17th at Pocono. Two road courses loom among the final five regular-season events, providing an avenue for Allmendinger to make the most of his specialty.

17. Michael McDowell (-1)

Season-high: 16
Season-low: Out

Comment: The Front Row Motorsports vet added cushion to his playoff positioning, but it's far from an easy chair in the provisional 16th and final berth. He ran sixth at Richmond in the spring, the first single-digit finish there in his Cup Seies career.

16. Bubba Wallace (+1)

Season-high: 13
Season-low: Out

Comment: The No. 23 driver also found some playoff buffer post-Pocono, turning in an 11th-place day. He's still seeking his first top-10 finish at Richmond and his first top-five result since the Coca-Cola 600 in May.

15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (--)

Season-high: 12
Season-low: Out

Comment: The Daytona 500 champ now has two top 10s in his last three races, rolling away from Pocono with a seventh-place day. He's already surpassed last year's total of five top-10 finishes, collecting seven thus far.

14. Chris Buescher (-1)

Season-high: 11
Season-low: Out

Comment: Buescher started and finished 18th Sunday at Pocono, and he remains in a slight comfort zone relative to the playoff cut. He placed third at Richmond last summer, but that run stands as his only top five there in 14 starts.

13. Brad Keselowski (-1)

Season-high: 9
Season-low: Out

Comment: The RFK Racing driver-owner ended a modest streak of two consecutive top-10 finishes by coming home 16th at Pocono. He's a two-time winner at Richmond, where he last prevailed in 2020.

12. Ryan Blaney (-1)

Season-high: 3
Season-low: 13

Comment: A souring engine hampered an otherwise promising day at Pocono, and the 30th-place outcome marked his fifth sub-20th finish in the last six races. The No. 12 Team Penske pilot hasn't registered a top five at Richmond in his career, but he was a pole-starter there in the spring of 2022.

11. Tyler Reddick (+3)

Season-high: 3
Season-low: 15

Comment: The dreadful five-race stretch of finishes that spanned June and lingered into July is fading in the rearview, and his runner-up result at Pocono signified a big jump. He's led laps in five of the last eight races, though, and is hoping to lead his first at Richmond this weekend.

10. Joey Logano (-2)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: The perk of a Stage 1 win at Pocono drifted away from Logano just a handful of laps later with a crash that wound up being terminal. The defending Cup champion has potential for a rebound at Richmond, where he has won twice and led 222 laps in this race last summer.

9. Chase Elliott (--)

Season-high: 2
Season-low: Out

Comment: Those big swings at making playoff progress haven't materialized of late, and Elliott's last three finishes -- 13th at Atlanta, 12th at New Hampshire and 10th at Pocono -- have made the math equation trickier at 56 points below the elimination line. Five regular-season races remain for Elliott to convert on a win-and-in scenario.

8. Kevin Harvick (+2)

Season-high: 3
Season-low: 11

Comment: In a season commemorated by the hashtag of "4Ever," Harvick's car number has kept coming up. The veteran placed fourth at New Hampshire, then started and finished fourth at Pocono. How many times has Harvick won at Richmond? Well, that's four also, and the 0.75-mile track is the site of his most recent Cup Series win last summer.

7. Ross Chastain (--)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 7

Comment: The driver of Trackhouse's No. 1 Chevy stemmed some of the subpar finishes that followed his Nashville win by running 13th at Pocono. He's led multiple laps in his last two Richmond starts and posted a career-best third there in April.

6. Christopher Bell (--)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 10

Comment: A Pocono pirouette couldn't stop Bell from driving to sixth at Pocono, recovering from the spin to halt a mile three-race slump. Bell has three Xfinity Series wins at Richmond, where he has five consecutive top-10 finishes on the Cup Series side.

5. Kyle Larson (--)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 11

Comment: The No. 5 driver's fortunes turned on a late restart at Pocono, where Denny Hamlin's squeeze in their contest for the lead left him empty-handed. Larson's resilience -- even after an earlier spin -- can't be discounted, and he also enters Richmond as the track's most recent Cup Series winner.

4. Kyle Busch (-1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 8

Comment: Rowdy's last two finishes (36th, 21st) have stung, but Richmond presents friendly turf. He is a six-time winner at the Virginia short track and has been running at the finish in all 35 of his Cup Series starts there -- completing a remarkable 14,028 of a possible 14,029 laps. He also ranks second among all active Cup drivers in laps led at the track (1,530). 

3. Denny Hamlin (+1)

Season-high: 3
Season-low: 12

Comment: The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver will be close to home at Richmond this weekend and enters with the momentum of his 50th Cup Series victory at Pocono. Four of those have come at Richmond, where he's placed top five in 17 of his 33 starts. He additionally ranks first among all active Cup Series drivers in laps led there (2,206). 

2. William Byron (--)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: A 14th-place run at Pocono, combined with a 24th at Loudon the week earlier, have cooled off Byron's stellar season, but he's led laps in 10 of the last 12 races and earned the Pocono pole. At Richmond, he led 117 laps the last time out but is still seeking his first victory there.

1. Martin Truex Jr. (--)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: The No. 19 driver stayed steady atop the Cup Series standings with a third-place Pocono result, and he has a history of success at Richmond on his side. Three wins at the 0.75-mile oval are on his resume, and Truex has led the most laps (902) in the last 10 Richmond races.