NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 Cup Series drivers competing for the 2026 championship after Denny Hamlin’s win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway — his second in a row at the 1.5-mile desert oval — and before Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway (3 p.m. ET, FS1, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). JGR’s Hamlin enters as the defending winner.
RELATED: Darlington weekend schedule | Updated Cup Series standings
Analysis: Reddick’s early leap to the top of the standings — and these rankings — is still holding strong for now, but with other competitors starting to heat up, results like Vegas (13th), while not catastrophic, will only keep him ahead of the pack for so long. That is perhaps the takeaway, though, under this revamped points system — days like that don’t kill momentum, and we should expect to see him battling once again for the win this weekend at Darlington. More wins will come.
Analysis: Hamlin dominated Vegas for a second consecutive win there, resulting in one of the most emotional victories of his career for No. 61 — after No. 60 was pretty emotional, too — to pass Kevin Harvick for 10th all time. Naturally, he’ll ride that momentum into this weekend as the defending winner at Darlington, too, and there’s not a reason in the world to think he’s not the favorite to make it two straight.
Analysis: Blaney briefly controlled the race’s middle portion for five laps, but gradually slipped backward during the final long run to finish 16th. That kind of tire-wear race tends to mirror what Darlington produces as well, but Blaney was able to reel in a top five in this race last spring and should have a rebound in store.
Analysis: Larson looked like one of the fastest cars in the field, leading 62 laps before settling for seventh after the final green-flag cycle reshuffled the finishing order. Darlington has historically been one of his playgrounds, and if the No. 5 unloads with similar pace, he’ll likely be in the conversation again. Possibly leading it.
Analysis: Wallace maintained steady pace throughout the Las Vegas race and finished ninth after spending most of the afternoon inside the top 10, with the No. 23 Toyota once again showing solid long-run consistency in the early going here. That consistency could matter at Darlington, where Wallace finished sixth in last year’s Southern 500 as he rounds into one of the top drivers there. Another quiet but productive Darlington result could follow. Or more.
Analysis: Elliott delivered one of the strongest drives of the race, climbing from 15th to finish second despite never leading a lap. The No. 9 Chevrolet steadily worked forward throughout the race and perhaps could have caught Hamlin within another five laps or so. Elliott’s trademark patient climbing ability tends to translate well to Darlington’s long, grinding races, and another methodical run toward the front seems likely this weekend.
Analysis: Byron spent much of the race near the front and finished third after leading 26 laps as the No. 24 Chevrolet maintains competitive early-season pace, as per usual. His Darlington resume continues to strengthen, as well, and he has plenty of motivation coming into this weekend after leading 243 laps in this race last year but finishing second.
Analysis: Bell started from the pole and led 31 laps before finishing fourth after spending the afternoon near the front with one of the fastest cars for the second week in a row. A strong contender in this race last year, Bell owns three top-five finishes at Darlington and should absolutely be in the mix once again on Sunday.
Analysis: Buescher delivered another steady run, finishing sixth after hovering around the top 10 most of the afternoon as RFK Racing continues to fly — successfully — under the radar. Darlington has historically been a solid track for No. 17 with seven top-10 finishes and a 15.6 average finish there. Not to mention a recent race he probably still thinks about and a trophy he’s looking to collect due on.
Analysis: Gibbs finished fifth after starting third and remaining among the leaders throughout the race, as his race craft appears to be rounding into form in what is now his fourth full-time Cup Series season. One of his better 2025 runs came in this upcoming Darlington race, and JGR’s apparent speed, combined with his 2026 progression, could translate into another big weekend.
Analysis: Logano led three laps during pit-cycle strategy but ultimately finished 15th after running most of the race mid-pack and not being able to gain much ground at a track he typically competes well at. Darlington hasn’t typically been among his top-tier tracks — he finished 13th in this one last year, though he does own one win — but the track often rewards veteran experience, and he’s got more of that at this point than nearly everybody.
Analysis: Briscoe did stop the bleeding to a degree with an eighth-place run, but we’re seeing the immediate and emphasized importance of stage points, and he had a dearth of those on Sunday. Thankfully for him, his Darlington resume is among the best in the sport lately, and he enters as the most recent winner at the track after a dominant run to a Southern 500 crown last fall. Exactly the place he needs right now to build some momentum.
Analysis: Those RFK boys were grinding in Vegas, and Keselowski produced one of the better recovery drives of the race, climbing from 28th to finish 10th, even tossing in a few laps led for good measure. Darlington could be hitting at the right time for them, particularly Keselowski, whose most recent win came there — nearly two years ago.
Analysis: Preece’s No. 60 Ford maintained steady pace during Sunday’s long runs — a great sign — staying competitive and hanging around the top 10 for a finish just outside of it. Darlington was a struggle for him last year, but with early speed and an organization that overall “gets it” there, another top 15 is in play.
Analysis: Van Gisbergen struggled to match the field’s pace in the first race of the season he looked a bit overmatched, never quite finding a rhythm and spending nearly the whole afternoon playing catch-up. Darlington went a bit better for him last year than perhaps anticipated — he was top 20 here in his first Cup attempt last spring — but Sunday is likely to be another afternoon of lessons rather than results.
Analysis: Trackhouse just didn’t seem to have the speed needed for Vegas, and Chastain finished 17th after spending much of the race battling around the middle of the pack, at times with a former teammate. Darlington is his kind of track, though, and if the speed can be found in the shop and throughout the weekend, he might be in for a rebound.
Analysis: Like Trackhouse, the Spire cars seemed to be off a tick at Vegas, and McDowell finished 26th after spending most of the afternoon fighting traffic in the back of the pack. It’s not going to get much better this weekend — Darlington has historically been a difficult venue for McDowell, with his finishes almost exclusively outside the top 20 there.
Analysis: Smith is starting to remind everyone why he was such a highly regarded prospect in the not-too-distant past, delivering a steady top 15 and maintaining competitive long-run pace at Vegas. Notably, a top 10 could be in play for him at Darlington with the way he’s running — and the fact that he nearly did so last year (12th).
Analysis: Mired in the midpack for just about the whole afternoon, Suárez’s most notable moment at Vegas came on pit road after the race. He landed a top 15 in this Darlington race last year in what was a down season, however, but it’s tough to see him course correcting this weekend in particular.
Analysis: Not a ton to note for Hocevar’s Las Vegas effort; the race was expected to be all Hendrick and Gibbs and that’s about how it played out, as Hocevar was included in the Spire mid-pack residency. He showed promise at Darlington last year with a ninth-place finish in arguably NASCAR’s most difficult race, the Southern 500, so he could still be worth keeping an eye on. He usually is, anyway.