Power Rankings: No. 1 is No. 1 — Ross Chastain climbs all the way to the top

By Pat DeCola | Wednesday, June 15, 2022

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NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 NASCAR Cup Series drivers after the race at Sonoma Raceway and before the race at Nashville Superspeedway (June 26, 5 p.m. ET, NBC).

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20. Erik Jones (-5)

Season-high: 14

Season-low: Out

Comment: After a brief rebound at Gateway (7th), Jones landed his fourth finish outside the top 10 in the last five races with a P22 at Sonoma. He placed 19th at Nashville last year, and the No. 43 driver would love to top that as he attempts to regain some footing in search of a playoff spot.

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19. Austin Cindric (--)

Season-high: 10

Season-low: 19

Comment: It's too soon to tell, but Cindric might be finding a bit of momentum as we near the tail of the regular season -- which is good for him, considering he was the first driver to clinch a provisional playoff spot. He's one of a handful of Cup drivers with any experience leading a race at Nashville, pacing 53 laps from the front row in last year's Xfinity Series return to the track. Worth keeping an eye on him.

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18. Tyler Reddick (-5)

Season-high: 7

Season-low: 20

Comment: Reddick has started in the top 10 in six of the last seven races -- only finishing in the top 10 in three of them, and it's starting to look possible that he could miss this year's playoffs after making it last year. He finished in the teens in both the Cup and NXS races at Nashville last year, though that's still valuable experience that much of the field would prefer to have.

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17. Kurt Busch (--)

Season-high: 12

Season-low: Out

Comment: Apart from a four-race stretch from Auto Club to Atlanta with an average finish of 7.25, Busch can't seem to build any consistency in 2022, despite looking elite at times. He did land a top 10 at Nashville last year, so the upcoming race could be an "on" one for him.

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16. Austin Dillon (+2)

Season-high: 10

Season-low: 20

Comment: Don't look now, but Dillon -- whose average road-course finish is still outside the top 20 -- has averaged a 10.5 finish in the two road courses in 2022. He's got a shot to keep things rolling at Nashville, after placing 12th there last year. Expect him to make some noise over the final 10 races in search of a postseason spot.

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15. Christopher Bell (-5)

Season-high: 10

Season-low: Out

Comment: Bell is still in 10th in points after Sonoma -- for the sixth week in a row -- but his P27 snapped a five-race streak inside the top 10. Given how he's been running of late (along with his top 10 at Nashville last year) there's a good chance he gets back on the horse in Tennessee.

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14. Daniel Suárez (+6)

Season-high: 13

Season-low: Out

Comment: And there you have it, folks. We've been saying just about every week that Suárez has looked good enough to win, there were just always circumstances that kept snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but given how strong Trackhouse is as a whole right now it might not be long before we're wondering if the No. 99 has championship legs. Oh, and he was P7 at Nashville last year.

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13. Chase Briscoe (+3)

Season-high: 10

Season-low: 18

Comment: While it's tied for his second-best finish since Martinsville, Briscoe's P13 at Sonoma is a bit of a disappointment for a driver many have pegged to win a road race this year. Even still, things are probably about to turn a corner for the No. 14 team as it dials things in before an anticipated playoff run.

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12. Kevin Harvick (+2)

Season-high: 5

Season-low: 14

Comment: Kind of the inverse of Reddick's deal, Harvick has not started inside the top 10 since Martinsville, yet has compiled five top 10s in that eight-race span, despite ... maybe not the cleanest stops on pit road on a weekly basis. If those issues (his average starting spot this year is 20.0, which almost certainly will improve) are able to be cleaned up, watch out. He notched a strong top five last year in the return to Nashville.

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11. Aric Almirola (--)

Season-high: 11

Season-low: Out

Comment: Almirola really hasn't "wowed" at any point this year, with just two top fives and six laps led, but that's not quite his style -- he keeps the car clean, lands in the top 15 consistently and racks up points. Thus, he's currently on the right side of the playoff bubble. He did lead a lap at Nashville last year from the pole, however, before fading to a still-good fourth-place.

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10. Alex Bowman (-1)

Season-high: 5

Season-low: 13

Comment: Bowman is still having an altogether great season, but he's starting to slip a bit with a 15.4 average finish the past five races after looking much stronger in the Atlanta to Dover stint that preceded it. I'd expect Hendrick Motorsports to come out firing on all cylinders at Nashville, however, which could spark a nice summer stretch for Bowman.

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9. William Byron (+3)

Season-high: 1

Season-low: 16

Comment: Similarly to his teammate in the No. 48, Byron kind of dipped a bit over the last two months before finally breaking back through in the top 10 at Sonoma. HMS was stout at Nashville last year -- Byron included, in third.

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8. Martin Truex Jr. (--)

Season-high: 4

Season-low: 10

Comment: Truex obviously has at least one win in him this year -- who knows about next year, as his future is murky at the moment -- it's just tough to say where that could come, and more importantly when. He's not in danger yet, but 16-plus winners clearly isn't off the table, and he'd need to be one of them to make the playoffs. Last year's Nashville result (22nd) doesn't exude confidence that it will come there.

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7. Denny Hamlin (-1)

Season-high: 4

Season-low: 20

Comment: Somehow, some way, Hamlin is tied for the series lead in 2022 wins -- yet isn't even in the top 20 in points. His bizarre and fascinating season continues to roll on, and it would not be surprising at all to see him leave Nashville as the first three-time '22 winner.

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6. Kyle Larson (-1)

Season-high: 1

Season-low: 6

Comment: Larson scored 50-plus points a whopping 11 times en route to his title last year but has done so just twice through 16 races in 2022. One of those, of course, was one of his most dominant days of the season when he led 264 laps en route to a third-straight '21 win at Nashville. There's a good chance he rekindles that flame next weekend.

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5. Joey Logano (-3)

Season-high: 2

Season-low: 9

Comment: In Logano's last seven races, the No. 22 driver has either finished 17th or worse ... or won. This is a season like no other, and we've still yet to see a driver go on a significant tear. Though he has a knack for winning debut races, Logano only managed a top 10 in last year's Nashville event. Maybe this year.

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4. Kyle Busch (-3)

Season-high: 1

Season-low: 11

Comment: Sonoma didn't go so well for Busch (or really any of the Toyotas) and "Rowdy" saw a strong three-race stint of top threes come to an end in California. He's a strong bet to rebound at Nashville, where he's famously hit the right notes to land in Victory Lane there a couple of times in the Xfinity Series.

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3. Ryan Blaney (+4)

Season-high: 1

Season-low: 10

Comment: Is Blaney the next first-time 2022 winner? You could certainly make that argument, as he's had fast cars all season and is still fourth in points despite some blips on the radar. He'll look to have a better day at Nashville this time around after crashing out and finishing P37 last year.

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2. Chase Elliott (+1)

Season-high: 1

Season-low: 4

Comment: Elliott has led double-digit laps in three of the last four races but has just one top 10 -- Sonoma -- in that span, so the points leader probably could use an off-week to recalibrate and smooth some things out before the summer stretch. Despite a really rough day at Nashville last year, he makes a nice pick for a win when we return.

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1. Ross Chastain (+2)

Season-high: 1

Season-low: Out

Comment: Given that earlier in the year he wasn't even making the top 20 cut for these rankings, the fact that Ross is the Boss here is quite remarkable and his meteoric rise has been well-earned. He landed his best finish of last year at Nashville (2nd) and could certainly be in the mix again for his third 2022 win.

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