Power Rankings: With RFK rolling, can Keselowski ride the wave at Indy?

NASCAR.com's Zack Albert tags in for regular host Pat DeCola this week and ranks the 20 hottest Cup Series drivers after the race at Michigan International Speedway and before Sunday's event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway's road course (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).

20. AJ Allmendinger (-1)

Season-high: 18
Season-low: Out

Comment: Two consecutive lap-down finishes outside the top 25 equal a one-spot slide for the driver of Kaulig's No. 16. He's still on the fringes of the playoff hunt, and two straight road-course events on the schedule are ripe for Allmendinger to gain ground.

19. Daniel Suárez (+1)

Season-high: 9
Season-low: Out

Comment: Recent weeks have been undulation-filled for Suárez, who snapped out of a two-race sub-30th place rut with a sixth-place day with stage-point benefits at Michigan. That outcome meant a 29-point climb relative to the playoff elimination line. More days like that are needed for the No. 99 to make a postseason return.

18. Michael McDowell (-1)

Season-high: 16
Season-low: Out

Comment: McDowell's finishes have worsened in recent weeks, and 24th at Michigan dropped the No. 34 team outside the provisional playoff grid. The final three regular-season races (Indy, Watkins Glen, Daytona) play to McDowell's strengths, providing some optimism for his playoff push.

17. Ty Gibbs (+1)

Season-high: 16
Season-low: Out

Comment: The rookie was critical of his own performance after Michigan, suggesting that he might've gotten more than an 11th-place result after starting third. Still, Gibbs' day was enough to nudge him up into the 16th and final slot on the provisional playoff grid, where he holds a slim three-point edge.

16. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (--)

Season-high: 12
Season-low: Out

Comment: Stenhouse was the final lead-lap finisher (21st) at Michigan, his worst result in the last five races. The silver lining for the Daytona 500 winner was officially clinching his spot in the 2023 playoffs, with no chance of being bumped in the final three regular-season events.

15. Bubba Wallace (--)

Season-high: 13
Season-low: Out

Comment: An 18th-place day at Michigan was off the recent pace for the No. 23 team, but finishes of second and fourth at the stages helped Wallace stay steady in his playoff quest. Road courses the next two weeks may provide trouble spots for Wallace and Co., but the regular-season finale at Daytona presents an opportunity.

14. Tyler Reddick (-1)

Season-high: 3
Season-low: 15

Comment: Reddick was a contender at Michigan, employing the same pit strategy as race winner Chris Buescher, until a late-race pit stop went awry with a loose wheel. The 30th-place outcome, three laps down, boils down to execution -- something the No. 45 team will need to clean up come playoff time.

13. Ryan Blaney (+1)

Season-high: 3
Season-low: 14

Comment: What Blaney termed a "hard-working day" helped him finish where he started -- ninth -- at Michigan. That's also his position on the provisional playoff grid after he ended a three-race drought without a top-10 run.

12. Chase Elliott (-5)

Season-high: 2
Season-low: Out

Comment: A stretch of seven consecutive top-15 finishes came to a crashing end at Michigan, and the specter of must-win desperation in the last three races is high for the No. 9 team. Elliott once ruled the road courses as a sure-fire favorite, and he'll need his first road-racing win since 2021 to find a playoff perch.

11. Joey Logano (-1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: Logano dipped two spots in the Cup Series standings -- and one position here -- after a 14th-place performance at Michigan. His finishes this season have been all over the dart board, but he was third the last time out at a road course, reaching the Sonoma podium.

10. Brad Keselowski (+2)

Season-high: 9
Season-low: Out

Comment: Teammate Chris Buescher's two consecutive wins have commanded the headlines, but the RFK owner-driver has enjoyed his share of the upward trajectory, finishing sixth or better in four of the last five starts. A road-course win is one of the few things missing from his career portfolio, but his team is riding a hot hand with the playoffs on the horizon.

9. Christopher Bell (-1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 10

Comment: Bell's show of speed continued at Michigan with his second pole in the last four weeks. A crash slowed the No. 20 team, which remarkably salvaged 13th-place with a heap of damage. Bell is comfortably in the playoffs, but he hasn't had a top-five result since winning on Bristol's dirt in April.

8. Ross Chastain (+1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 9

Comment: Chastain had logged five consecutive finishes outside the top 10, so seventh at Michigan has helped right the No. 1 Chevrolet team's slide. A consistent day marks a step in the right direction with the postseason coming up.

7. Chris Buescher (+4)

Season-high: 7
Season-low: Out

Comment: The No. 17 Ford team's Richmond win was no fluke, and Buescher's second straight trip to Victory Lane cemented his rise into a regular contender. Three-for-three? He's a sleeper road-course racer, and no team is hotter right now.

6. Kyle Busch (-3)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 8

Comment: Busch's record this season still stands as one of the Cup Series' best with three victories and a recent string of top-10 finishes. But two last-place finishes in the last four races -- including the 37th-place early out at Michigan -- still sting with the regular season winding down.

5. William Byron (-1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: The No. 24 driver still leads the Cup Series with four wins this year. His last four races, however, haven't scratched the top 10, culminating with a 35th-place DNF.

4. Kevin Harvick (+1)

Season-high: 3
Season-low: 11

Comment: Harvick missed out on a Michigan opportunity to add a victory to his farewell tour, at a track where he is a six-time winner. But chalk up four consecutive top-10 results for the No. 4 team, which has some momentum for a playoff run.

3. Kyle Larson (+3)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 11

Comment: Larson salvaged the best finish from the Hendrick Motorsports stable, with all three of his teammates finding trouble at Michigan. A steady fifth-place result hands Larson four top fives in the last seven events.

2. Denny Hamlin (-1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 12

Comment: Another week and another top-five finish for the No. 11 driver, who has been top three in each of the last three races. Hamlin was in the mix again at Michigan, and his recent strength should be a boon come playoff time.

1. Martin Truex Jr. (+1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: Truex did everything but win at Michigan, sweeping the stages and pressing eventual victor Chris Buescher down the stretch before finishing second. He now tops the Cup Series in laps led, laps completed and average finish and has the weight of a big career decision out of the way: He'll be back for more with Joe Gibbs Racing next season.