Power Rankings: Can Chris Buescher build on momentum in Michigan?

NASCAR.com's Zach Sturniolo subs in for Pat DeCola this week and ranks the 20 hottest Cup Series drivers after the race at Richmond Raceway and before Sunday's event at Michigan International Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

20. Daniel Suárez (-1)

Season-high: 9
Season-low: Out

Comment: A dismal weekend in Richmond saw Suárez qualify 33rd and finish there, marking his third result outside the top 25 in the past five races. His playoff hopes are dwindling as a side effect, but he turns to a track at Michigan where he led 33 laps a year ago and holds two top-five finishes.

19. AJ Allmendinger (-1)

Season-high: 18
Season-low: Out

Comment: Allmendinger left the Virginian commonwealth with a 27th-place result, spinning across the finish line to cap a frustrating weekend for the Kaulig Racing driver. As he nears the bubble to qualify for the NASCAR Playoffs, Allmendinger is still searching for his first top 10 in the Irish Hills after 21 Cup starts, but he did take home a win there in Xfinity Series competition in 2021.

18. Ty Gibbs (+2)

Season-high: 16
Season-low: Out

Comment: Gibbs has had a decent few weeks as the regular season winds down, the Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate netting top-15 finishes in three of the past five races and clinging onto the edge of the playoff grid, currently out by 18 points. In just his third career Cup Series start, Gibbs scored a 10th-place finish at Michigan, so perhaps some confidence can carry the 20-year-old above the elimination line by Sunday's checkered flag.

17. Michael McDowell (--)

Season-high: 16
Season-low: Out

Comment: McDowell maintained an 18-point gap between himself and Gibbs, with the Front Row driver holding the final spot in the 16-driver playoff grid. But now comes Michigan, the 2-mile oval where McDowell has never finished better than 20th and holds an average finish of 30.4 in 16 starts. 

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (--)

Season-high: 12
Season-low: Out

Comment: Stenhouse is piecing together slight momentum as the playoffs approach, with the Daytona 500 champion already locked in. He's netted four straight top-20 finishes, two of which include breaks into the top 10. Michigan hasn't been a stellar track for the Mississippi native, with one top 10 in 18 starts, and his first DNF at the track came in 2022 due to a crash.

15. Bubba Wallace (+1)

Season-high: 13
Season-low: Out

Comment: Wallace had quite a strong showing at the 0.75-mile Richmond track, leading 80 laps and netting 16 stage points to improve his playoff standing before finishing 12th. The No. 23 Toyota blazed through Michigan a season ago, winning the pole position and leading 22 laps en route to a runner-up finish. One position better next week would certainly make his postseason position much easier to determine. 

14. Ryan Blaney (-2)

Season-high: 3
Season-low: 14

Comment: It's been tough sledding for the No. 12 Team Penske Ford over the past month-and-a-half. Blaney has finished 14th or worse in six of the last seven races, with four of those results 30th or worse. The good news is that Blaney has earned one win and three top fives in his last four Michigan starts, including a 2021 victory. His playoff spot is secured thanks to a Coca-Cola 600 win in May, but another checkered flag would surely ease the pain of the last seven races. 

13. Tyler Reddick (-2)

Season-high: 3
Season-low: 15

Comment: Just when things were starting to look up for the No. 45 Toyota at 23XI Racing, bad luck bit again. The Richmond polesitter led 81 laps en route to a Stage 1 win, but a costly error saw Reddick miss the pit-road commitment box at Richmond under green-flag stops, drawing a penalty and effectively ending his chances of a good finish. So ends a two-race top-10 streak, predated by a series of five finishes of 27th or worse.

12. Brad Keselowski (+1)

Season-high: 9
Season-low: Out

Comment: Keselowski eclipsed the 100-laps-led mark in a race for the just the second time since joining RFK Racing, his 102 circuits led at Richmond a Sunday-best. A pit-road error ultimately cost him significant track position, but a sixth-place result marks his ninth top 10 of 2023 -- already three more than he netted in the entire 2022 season.

11. Chris Buescher (+3)

Season-high: 11
Season-low: Out

Comment: Winner, winner, Cook Out dinner. Buescher may not be the flashiest driver in the field, but Sunday's victory emphasizes his incredible consistency. Buescher has finished 18th or better in each of the last 15 races. Coincidentally, the last result worse than 18th was at Richmond this spring, when he finished 30th. Buescher's spot in the postseason is safely secured. And with a Bristol Night Race win in 2022, there's a solid chance the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford isn't done making noise.

10. Joey Logano (--)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: Logano appeared to come out of nowhere late at Richmond to escape with a fourth-place finish, his second in the past four races. Had an errant restart at Pocono not doomed the No. 22 Ford, which won Stage 1 there, the defending champion may have fared even better. It feels early to say Logano is back to race-winning form yet, but let's be real: As long as he's in the race, he's a contender for the trophy.

9. Ross Chastain (-2)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 9

Comment: Well, these have certainly been some trying weeks for Trackhouse Racing. Since winning Nashville on June 25, Chastain went the whole month of July with one top-20 finish (13th, Pocono) in a five-race span with zero laps led. If there is ever a time to have a slump, the summer weeks after a win are probably ideal. But the No. 1 team will need to relocate some momentum as the postseason kicks off on Sept. 3 at Darlington Raceway.

8. Christopher Bell (-2)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 10

Comment: Speaking of disappointing Julys, Bell showed speed just about everywhere but Richmond over the past five weeks, but results were unkind to the No. 20 team. Bell finished 18th or worse in four of those five races and spun at Pocono before finishing sixth. His Michigan resume doesn't bode well, with no finishes better than 13th in four starts, but he did lead 31 laps at the 2-mile track in 2022 before crashing out.

7. Chase Elliott (+2)

Season-high: 2
Season-low: Out

Comment: Don't look now, but here comes Elliott. The 2020 Cup champion sits 40 points back of the elimination line to make the playoffs with four races remaining in the regular season. A 13th-place run at Richmond was far from his most inspiring of 2023 -- marking his fourth consecutive finish between 10th and 13th -- but seven stage points in Stage 1 at Richmond help bolster his playoff hopes for now. Up next are the Irish Hills of Michigan, where Elliott has three runner-up finishes among an astounding 10 top 10s in 12 starts.

6. Kyle Larson (-1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 11

Comment: As a whole, Hendrick Motorsports was just off at Richmond Raceway, evidenced by Larson, who followed his spring triumph with a 19th-place finish, the final car on the lead lap. The good news is that Larson has had incredible success at Michigan, where he once won three straight races and enters with three straight top 10s there.

5. Kevin Harvick (+3)

Season-high: 3
Season-low: 11

Comment: Will Harvick break a year-long winless streak at Michigan? What a story it would be in his final NASCAR Cup Series season -- and boy, is it possible. Harvick enters as the defending Michigan winner, a victory that also snapped a 65-race drought for the 2014 champion. Richmond also marked his third straight top 10, proving the No. 4 team is moving in the right direction at the right time.

4. William Byron (-2)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: On the other hand, Byron's No. 24 team enters on a slight downturn. Despite winning the Pocono pole, Byron has finished 14th or worse in each of the past three races, slipping to third in the hunt for the Regular Season Championship, 43 points back. He did lead 18 laps at Michigan in 2021 before finishing second, so perhaps he and crew chief Rudy Fugle can re-establish their footing this weekend.

3. Kyle Busch (+1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 8

Comment: The No. 8 team at Richard Childress Racing was in need of a Richmond rebound and got one, starting second and finishing third after a dismal two weeks saw the two-time champ finish 36th (New Hampshire) and 21st (Pocono). Busch had a nine-race top-10 streak rolling at Michigan before a crash led to a DNF in 2022; don't be surprised to see him back in the mix on Sunday.

2. Martin Truex Jr. (-1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: Though he got off to a miserable start at Richmond, Truex and crew chief James Small executed a great strategy to net a seventh-place finish and lead 18 laps. He maintains the lead in the regular-season standings and heads to Michigan with four top fives and six top 10s in his past six races there.

1. Denny Hamlin (+2)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 12

Comment: For the first time this season, welcome to the top of the heap, Mr. Hamlin. The No. 11 Toyota has leapt to second in the regular-season points standings, with a Pocono win and a Richmond runner-up bolstering significant momentum as the playoffs approach. He hasn't won at Michigan since 2011, but Hamlin hasn't finished worse than sixth in each of his last five starts in the Irish Hills.