Power Rankings: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. goes for Daytona double as playoff countdown looms

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 Watkins Glen International and before Daytona International Speedway on Saturday (7 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Peacock, NBC Sports App).

20. AJ Allmendinger (--)

Season-high: 18
Season-low: Out

Comment: The Kaulig Racing veteran shook off the irksome performance from Indianapolis with a return to road-course form and a top-five result at Watkins Glen. It's a little too late for a points run at the playoff field, putting Allmendinger in must-win territory for Saturday's regular-season finale at Daytona.

19. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (--)

Season-high: 12
Season-low: Out

Comment: A 13th-place finish at Watkins Glen didn't shake the earth, but Stenhouse carries some swagger into the weekend, returning to Daytona as the most recent winner at the 2.5-mile track. His playoff fate is sewn up, so anticipate the No. 47 driver being at his aggressive superspeedway best with no postseason stakes on the line.

18. Daniel Suarez (-2)

Season-high: 9
Season-low: Out

Comment: The Trackhouse Racing driver recovered from a semi-spin early and netted out in 22nd at The Glen. The midpack placement dropped Suarez 15 points further behind the elimination line, making a Daytona win the most likely path to the postseason.

17. Bubba Wallace (+1)

Season-high: 13
Season-low: Out

Comment: The aspirations for Wallace's first playoff berth grew stronger after a solid, no-frills day at The Glen. With the road course behind him, the 23XI Racing driver will focus in on sealing the deal at Daytona, where he has three runner-up finishes and has led laps in each of the last five races there.

16. Ty Gibbs (+1)

Season-high: 16
Season-low: Out

Comment: The Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate gathered in his second top-five finish of the season, continuing a steady trend in the last five races. Gibbs is slotted as the first driver outside the provisional playoff grid, with 32 points to make up at Daytona -- a deficit that would need no math if he broke through for his first Cup Series victory.

15. Michael McDowell (-1)

Season-high: 14
Season-low: Out

Comment: The Front Row Motorsports No. 34 continued its road-course show of speed by leading the early portions of Sunday's race, but two pit-road penalties and an engine issue countered those positives with a last-place finish. He heads to Daytona without a playoff worry, and he's familiar with reaching Victory Lane at the World Center of Racing.

14. Chase Elliott (-5)

Season-high: 2
Season-low: Out

Comment: Frittering away fuel and a potential playoff gambit at The Glen have placed Elliott on the brink of missing the postseason dance for the first time in this, his eighth Cup Series season. It all boils down to Daytona, where the No. 9 team will race to make the 16-driver roll call.

13. Ryan Blaney (+2)

Season-high: 3
Season-low: 15

Comment: The Team Penske driver's best road-course finish of the season gives him a modest run of four consecutive top-15 results. Blaney's superspeedway finesse remains a strong suit, and he prevailed in the regular-season finale at Daytona two years ago.

12. Tyler Reddick (+1)

Season-high: 3
Season-low: 15

Comment: Mark down two straight top-10 days for Reddick, who has a bit of postseason momentum built. He's won at Daytona in Xfinity and Craftsman Trucks, but a Cup Series triumph there would be a first.

11. Joey Logano (+1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: Logano will begin his Cup Series title defense after Saturday night's race at Daytona, where he finished second in Februrary's 500. He last won at the 2.5-mile track in 2015, but his lone victory this season came at superspeedway Atlanta back in March.

10. Kyle Busch (+1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 11

Comment: Rowdy ran 14th at Watkins Glen, which helped the No. 8 pull out of a recent nose-dive -- three sub-35th finishes in the previous five races. He's the most recent winner on large superspeedways, notching a Talladega triumph in April.

9. Brad Keselowski (+1)

Season-high: 9
Season-low: Out

Comment: A 15th-place outcome may not signify some grand road-course razzle-dazzle, but Keselowski seems to still be riding RFK Racing's collective mojo toward the playoffs, and he's officially locked in. The 39-year-old driver/owner was a solid contender at the Daytona 500 in February and should be counted on to be in the mix again.

8. Ross Chastain (--)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 9

Comment: Since winning at Nashville nearly two months ago, Chastain has scored nary a top five in an eight-race span. He's also seeking the first top-five finish of his career at Daytona, where he wound up ninth in the season-opening 500.

7. Kevin Harvick (-2)

Season-high: 3
Season-low: 11

Comment: Harvick hasn't posted a top-10 finish in the five road-course events this season, a trend that continued with a 21st-place day at Watkins Glen. His perch in the points, though, was enough to seal a playoff berth in his final Cup Series campaign.

6. Christopher Bell (+1)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 10

Comment: Remarkably, Sunday's third-place result was Bell's first top five since winning the Bristol Dirt event in April, 18 races ago. Three top-10 runs in his last five races mark an improvement.

5. Kyle Larson (-2)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 11

Comment: A spin after a last-lap tangle with Austin Dillon cost Larson seven spots in the finishing order, leaving him 26th at the checkered flag at Watkins Glen. His recent record at Daytona is a bit of an oddity: The No. 5 Chevy has started on the front row in four straight Daytona races, but he's still seeking his first top-five finish there (0-for-18).

4. Chris Buescher (--)

Season-high: 4
Season-low: Out

Comment: Solid finishes shouldn't be much of a surprise anymore for Buescher, especially on road courses -- where his average finish is a respectable 8.0 this year. He was strong at Daytona to start the season, leading 32 laps and ending up fourth.

3. William Byron (+3)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: The No. 24 driver's first-road-course win in the Cup Series gave him a series-topping five victories this season and broke a string of five races without a top 10. His playoff position has long since been decided, and he has some winning history in the regular-season finale; his Cup breakthrough came at Daytona in 2020.

2. Denny Hamlin (--)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 12

Comment: The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran iced his first top-10 finish on a road course since the introduction of the Next Gen car for 2022, but he also kept his summer hot streak rolling. He's been a top-three finisher in four of the last five races heading to Daytona, where he is a three-time winner.

1. Martin Truex Jr. (--)

Season-high: 1
Season-low: 14

Comment: It might have been a quieter day for driver of JGR's No. 19, but his streak of top-10 results reached six straight at Watkins Glen. Superspeedway wins have eluded Truex over the course of his storied Cup Series career, but he still holds the inside track to the regular-season championship and the playoff windfall of bonus points that comes with it.