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Power Rankings: 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season look ahead
By Pat DeCola | Published: January 7, 2022 26
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NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the top 25 NASCAR Cup Series drivers as the calendar turns to 2022 and the new season is upon us.
Editor's note: These rankings initially ran November 9, 2021 following the season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
Editor's note: These rankings initially ran November 9, 2021 following the season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
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Chris Graythen | Getty Images
25. Cole Custer
2021 season-high: 12
2021 season-low: Out
Comment: Custer, still just 23 and in Stewart-Haas Racing equipment, continues to have a high ceiling. He — along with the whole organization — took a major step back in 2021, though, making the playoffs in 2020 and finishing 26th in last season's standings.
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Bob Leverone | Getty Images
24. Daniel Suarez
2021 season-high: 19
2021 season-low: Out
Comment: After an extremely frustrating 2020 season, this one was a step in the right direction for the fifth-year driver. Suarez picked up four top 10s after being shut out in 2020 and with the gains Trackhouse is set to make in 2022, he could be a dark horse.
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Logan Riely | Getty Images
23. Harrison Burton
2021 season-high: N/A (Full-time Xfinity)
2021 season-low: N/A
Comment: Burton took a slight step back from his four-win 2020 campaign, but he's still moving on to a rock-solid opportunity in Cup with the Wood Brothers. With a core at Team Penske/WBR that is all of a sudden very young and very talented, it's the perfect situation for the son of a NASCAR superstar to develop in.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
22. Erik Jones
2021 season-high: 22nd (pre-season ranking; never made top 20 in-season)
2021 season-low: Out
Comment: While it was a quiet year for Jones, his first season at Richard Petty Motorsports saw a better average finish (19.7) than any of Bubba Wallace's full-time seasons in the car, and he's still just 25. What am I saying? We're not done hearing from Erik Jones at the Cup level.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
21. Bubba Wallace
2021 season-high: 14
2021 season-low: Out
Comment: Wallace scored his first career Cup Series win, but on the whole his numbers with 23XI Racing compared to RPM didn't take the leap many expected them to take. In fact, he had two fewer top 10s than 2020. Year Two should be better for the now two-car organization.
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Bob Leverone | Getty Images
20. Ross Chastain
2021 season-high: 16
2021 season-low: Out
Comment: As he's done throughout his career, Chastain turned a lot of heads in 2021 and outperformed his previous Cup seasons significantly. He'll head to Trackhouse in 2022 and he'll likely have his fair share of competitive races.
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Bob Leverone | Getty Images
19. Chase Briscoe
2021 season-high: 17
2021 season-low: Out
Comment: Coming off a nine-win Xfinity Series season in 2020, expectations were somewhat high for Briscoe in his rookie Cup season. He only finished with three top 10s, however, as SHR couldn't get it going as a team. Expect better results in 2022, as he appeared to be catching on later in the season.
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Sean Gardner | Getty Images
18. Chris Buescher
2021 season-high: 13
2021 season-low: 20
Comment: Buescher continues to incrementally get better each year, and there were times in 2021 where he looked like a potential playoff driver. With Brad Keselowski and his champion's mindset coming in as an owner and teammate, Buescher makes for an interesting wild card case next year.
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Chris Graythen | Getty Images
17. Aric Almirola
2021 season-high: 11
2021 season-low: Out
Comment: This past season was statistically Almirola's worst full campaign since his 2016 RPM days, and five top 10s in SHR equipment in your 10th year in the Cup Series isn't going to get it done. Still, he showed he can win under the right circumstances, and he could be a sleeper next year — with a new crew chief in tow — if the team gets things back on track.
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Sean Gardner | Getty Images
16. Austin Dillon
2021 season-high: 11
2021 season-low: 17
Comment: While unable to win for just the second time in the last five years, Dillon was more consistent in 2021 with a career-best 14.4 average finish. RCR had a significant hand in the testing and development of the Next Gen car and I could see a path to him becoming a top-10 driver in 2022.
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Chris Graythen | Getty Images
15. Austin Cindric
2021 season-high: N/A (Full-time Xfinity)
2021 season-low: N/A
Comment: Though he came up just short, literally, of his second straight Xfinity crown, he was nothing short of spectacular in what was a better season overall than his title campaign. Cindric also got seven Cup starts under his belt in '21, so expect him to come out firing in a perennial championship-contending car.
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Sean Gardner | Getty Images
14. Brad Keselowski
2021 season-high: 2
2021 season-low: 15
Comment: Easily the toughest driver to rank on this list, Keselowski obviously is in the upper echelon of driver talent and has been for a decade. There are just so many unknowns about how 2022 will shake out for him. It's not far-fetched to think he could bring Roush back to championship prominence, but we just aren't sure if that is seen as soon as this year or if it'll take time.
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Meg Oliphant | Getty Images
13. Christopher Bell
2021 season-high: 8
2021 season-low: 16
Comment: At first blush it looked like Bell was set for a breakout year after he won the second race of the season, but the team struggled to find any consistency throughout. Still, the future is bright here and there's no reason to think he won't take things up a notch or two in 2022.
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Sean Gardner | Getty Images
12. Kurt Busch
2021 season-high: 6
2021 season-low: 19
Comment: Despite his team shutting its doors at the end of the season, Busch had a formidable 2021 year and kept his win streak alive (now eight straight). He moves to a second 23XI car for 2022, and drivers should be worried that a second Busch now essentially has access to JGR equipment and data.
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Sean Gardner | Getty Images
11. Tyler Reddick
2021 season-high: 10
2021 season-low: Out
Comment: Last year was a successful season for Reddick, who nearly doubled his top 10s from 2020 and made the playoffs for the first time. He's the driver I'm most confident will find his way into the top 10 in short order.
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Logan Riely | Getty Images
10. Alex Bowman
2021 season-high: 5
2021 season-low: 17
Comment: If a couple things had gone slightly differently, Bowman's Martinsville win could have vaulted him into the Championship 4, and Phoenix could have looked a lot differently. Alas, it was not meant to be, but 2021 still saw Bowman net a career-high four victories and it'll be interesting to see if he can match or top that in 2022.
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Chris Graythen | Getty Images
9. William Byron
2021 season-high: 3
2021 season-low: 18
Comment: After a dip in average finish from 2019 to 2020, Byron turned in a career year in 2021 with a whopping 20 top 10s, 11 of which came in one streak. He's a potential champion in 2022, which will somehow already be the 24-year-old's fifth season in Cup.
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Sean Gardner | Getty Images
8. Kyle Busch
2021 season-high: 2
2021 season-low: 14
Comment: At no point in 2021 was Kyle Busch happy with his car, but at no point – until he was officially eliminated — did we think he wasn't still a title contender. The team likely took the offseason to sort out some issues, but he should be back among the elite in 2022.
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Sean Gardner | Getty Images
7. Joey Logano
2021 season-high: 2
2021 season-low: 11
Comment: It's tough to say why, but Logano took a slight dip statistically in 2021 despite still making the Round of 8. No real concerns there, as he's about to enter his age 32 season and it's still possible that — somehow — the 13-year veteran has his best days ahead of him.
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Chris Graythen | Getty Images
6. Ryan Blaney
2021 season-high: 2
2021 season-low: 15
Comment: Coming off easily his best season yet in 2021, Blaney might really just be getting started. He'll be in a lot of preseason Championship 4 picks, that's for sure, and could prove to be the top dog at Penske.
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Sean Gardner | Getty Images
5. Kevin Harvick
2021 season-high: 1
2021 season-low: 12
Comment: Winless seasons and Kevin Harvick are typically diametrically opposed opposites, but it somehow happened in 2021 after the No. 4 driver knocked off nine victories a season prior. The odds of Harvick going winless two seasons in a row? Next to impossible.
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Chris Graythen | Getty Images
4. Martin Truex Jr.
2021 season-high: 2
2021 season-low: 9
Comment: Truex had a worse average finish and fewer top 10s and top 5s than in 2020 ... but also had three more wins (four total) and finished runner-up in the standings in an overall solid 2021. Expect consistent excellence once again from the No. 19 in 2021.
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Chris Graythen | Getty Images
3. Denny Hamlin
2021 season-high: 1
2021 season-low: 6
Comment: What more does a guy have to do? Last season looked like it was finally going to be the year for Hamlin — and in many ways it was — but he once again fell just short of his first title. Expect the No. 11 team to be out for blood from the drop in 2022, and double-digit wins are on the table.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
2. Chase Elliott
2021 season-high: 1
2021 season-low: 10
Comment: While Elliott was unable to repeat as champion, he surely continued to round into form as one of the sport's unquestioned elite — and he's still just 26. Hendrick has a two-headed hydra at the top of its stable and Elliott could easily be "the guy" again next year.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
1. Kyle Larson
2021 season-high: 1
2021 season-low: 14
Comment: Of course, it appears nobody is topping the champ any time soon. Larson had a season for the ages in 2021, proved why we'd been hearing about his unbelievable talent and future for all those years, and could be setting himself up to be labeled as one of NASCAR's all-time greats over the next decade-plus. Back-to-back titles feels like the most likely outcome for next year.