Power Rankings: Denny Hamlin reclaims points lead, No. 1 spot heading to Gateway
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NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 NASCAR Cup Series drivers after Christiopher Bell's win at Charlotte Motor Speedway and before Sunday's race at World Wide Technology Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
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20. Austin Cindric (Not ranked last week)
Season-high: 18
Season-low: Out
Comment: Things still aren't going "well" for Cindric -- he has the same amount of top 10s and a worse average finish so far this season in 14 races as when he ran seven Cup races in 2021 -- but he did just turn in consecutive top 20s for the first time this season. This could be an interesting weekend ahead for him at Gateway, though, as he has a strong 12.0 average finish in two races there and led 26 laps from a front-row starting spot in 2022.
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19. Daniel Suárez (-1)
Season-high: 12
Season-low: Out
Comment: Suárez hasn't seen the top 10 in points since early March and has turned in just two finishes inside the top 20 since Bristol as No. 99 -- at the moment -- looks like a clear early-exit candidate from this year's playoffs. Perhaps a trip to WWTR, where the Atlanta winner claimed a P7 last year, will rejuvenate things, but it's tough to see it happening at the moment.
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18. Josh Berry (+1)
Season-high: 18
Season-low: Out
Comment: Berry has been a fixture of the top 15 in the finishing order for about two months now as he starts to really settle into his rookie campaign. His only Gateway start came in 2021 in the Truck Series, but it feels like he should be able to keep things rolling right now as the No. 4 group bands together amid swirling rumors.
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17. Chase Briscoe (-4)
Season-high: 11
Season-low: Out
Comment: Despite some down recent weeks (apart from a top five at Darlington), Briscoe is still on pace for career-high numbers across most counting stats at a time when his future is uncertain. Though the finishes haven't been there yet, Gateway feels like a track that should net out quite positively for him over the long haul, and he led 27 laps there from the pole in 2022.
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16. Joey Logano (+1)
Season-high: 5
Season-low: 20
Comment: Logano was unable to capitalize on the momentum from his All-Star Race win and turn in a top 10 at Charlotte -- so the top-10-less streak now sits at six, the first time it's happened for him since 2011. If there's any consolation though, it's that just about nobody has been better at Gateway in the past two years than No. 22 and there's a great chance he reminds everyone of this Sunday.
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15. Chris Buescher (-5)
Season-high: 9
Season-low: 16
Comment: The past several weeks have been a particular kind of cruel to Buescher, who has to be equal parts frustrated and encouraged with the amount of speed he's had and the lack of trophies to show for it. He missed the Gateway race in 2022 so he has a bit less experience than the rest of the field there, but last year went pretty well after he qualified 27th and finished 12th.
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14. Kyle Busch (--)
Season-high: 3
Season-low: 18
Comment: Busch wasn't quite able to take the fire from his fight with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at the All-Star Race and translate it into a top 10 at Charlotte, but there are still signs things are trending in the right direction for Rowdy. As the runner-up in 2022 and dominator of last year's race, there's a strong chance it all materializes for him on Sunday.
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13. Bubba Wallace (+3)
Season-high: 10
Season-low: 19
Comment: Talladega and Dover's combined seven points total feel like a distance memory for now and the No. 23 team is heating up at a great time as the playoffs start to come into center focus. Gateway has been a rough, rough track for Wallace so far, however, though it's tough to get a full read on things there where it's hosted just two Cup races this century.
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12. Ryan Blaney (-1)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 12
Comment: No back-to-back Coca-Cola 600 wins for Blaney and it's starting to look like the path to back-to-back titles will be a difficult one for the reigning champ, on pace for his worst average finish (17.1) driving for Team Penske. He's been one of the standouts at Gateway thus far, however, and could rekindle some of that magic as he looks to spark his season in some way as we enter June.
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11. Ross Chastain (+1)
Season-high: 5
Season-low: 14
Comment: Sure feels like we're entering Ross Chastain season, doesn't it? He hasn't shown the dominance we've seen at times from him, but he's otherwise right there and feels quite due for a win. A top 10 at Gateway in 2022 and the way he's been running lately hint that it could potentially happen this weekend, but at the very least it'll likely happen soon.
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10. Christopher Bell (+5)
Season-high: 4
Season-low: 15
Comment: Hey, he'll take it. Bell's Coca-Cola 600 win was unconventional, but not a fluke -- he led the most laps in the race and that now gives him multiple wins for the third straight year. He's averaged exactly a 10.0 finish at Gateway through two years and it'd be a shock to not see him fight for another top 10 this weekend.
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9. Alex Bowman (-1)
Season-high: 8
Season-low: 18
Comment: The bad news? Bowman turned in his worst finish this past weekend since a P37 at Texas in mid-April. The good news? Bowman has been running so well, it was still a top 10. His first win since 2022 is only a matter of time, but probably not this weekend -- Bowman hasn't finished in the top 10 or led a lap at Gateway yet.
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8. Ty Gibbs (-1)
Season-high: 4
Season-low: 11
Comment: Gibbs' elevation in his sophomore campaign continues to be impressive, as No. 54 has already tied his top-five total and is close to matching his top 10s from a year ago as well. He finished exactly 20th in his first national-series crack at Gateway in last year's Cup race and should almost definitely top that this weekend.
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7. Brad Keselowski (+2)
Season-high: 7
Season-low: 18
Comment: It's hard to argue there's a hotter driver in the series right now than the 2012 champ, who has a win and four top-two finishes over the past six races. Gateway hasn't produced a memorable race for him in either running thus far, but that could certainly change in a big way come Sunday.
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6. Chase Elliott (--)
Season-high: 4
Season-low: 17
Comment: Elliott hasn't quite been dominant -- he has just seven top 10s through 14 races -- yet he has been consistently strong overall, on pace to average a top 10 for the first time in his career. He missed Gateway last year and notched a P21 there in its 2022 current-day debut, so it'll be interesting to see what kind of weekend he turns in where he's running so well right now.
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5. Tyler Reddick (--)
Season-high: 3
Season-low: 14
Comment: Reddick turned in just the kind of race he needed after a couple of frustrating weeks leading into the All-Star break, overcoming adversity at Charlotte to turn in his first top 10 since his Talladega win. He started in the top 10 at Gateway in both races but failed to land in the top 15 in either, though he did lead four laps before crashing out of last year's race.
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4. Martin Truex Jr. (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 10
Comment: Truex has just two top 10s in the last seven races but -- thankfully for him -- he's still picking up plenty of points to remain either first or second in the standings coming out of every race since Las Vegas. He'd love to cross off a Cup win at Gateway -- where he claimed an Xfinity Series victory in 2004 -- and it could honestly come this weekend. He's in the midst of a career-year and was essentially a top-five driver in both races there the past two years.
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3. William Byron (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 7
Comment: Byron is having one of those special kind of years where he feels like a contender in every race and it's not inconceivable that he finds his way back to the points lead sooner than later. He led 30 laps en route to a top 10 at Gateway last year and this weekend should mark yet another spot where he can win.
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2. Kyle Larson (-1)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 5
Comment: On the plus side, it appears the only way to knock Larson from the top spot here is ... for him to miss the race entirely and not score any points. Sunday was a wholly disappointing day for Larson and Co. and opens the door for some potential playoff heartbreak if he misses out on the Regular Season Championship. That said, would anybody be surprised if No. 5 comes back out and wins at Gateway -- where he ran P4 last year -- and reclaims the points lead immediately?
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1. Denny Hamlin (+1)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 9
Comment: When things are going right, they're going right, and Hamlin capitalized on Larson's disappointing Sunday by reclaiming the points lead, along with the No. 1 spot here for the first time since we opened the season. No. 11 has turned in four straight top-five performances, and last year's Gateway runner-up should have a chance to battle for the win once again this weekend.