
Power Rankings: Kyle Larson looking for upper hand at Nashville
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NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 NASCAR Cup Series drivers after Christopher Bell's win at New Hamphire Motor Speedway and before Sunday's race at Nashville Superspeedway (3:30 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
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20. Kyle Busch (-1)
Season-high: 3
Season-low: 20
Comment: Another new season-low for Busch here after a New Hampshire race littered with issues for him resulted in a 35th-place, two-point result. He's led double-digit laps in all three Nashville races, landing his first top 10 there last year and he could really, really use a turnaround right now with just eight races left to secure his playoff spot.
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19. Austin Cindric (-1)
Season-high: 16
Season-low: Out
Comment: Cindric's 19th-place finish at New Hampshire was his second-best in the past seven races -- the best one being a win, of course -- as he continues to put the 'mid' in midseason. His first attempt at Nashville in 2022 did produce a seventh-place run, however, so he could trickle back up a bit this weekend.
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18. Josh Berry (Not ranked last week)
Season-high: 18
Season-low: Out
Comment: Dry or wet, Berry was a constant presence in the top five at New Hampshire all day long in a vintage "Magic-Mile" day for the No. 4 SHR Ford. He and Chase Briscoe are carrying the load for the the lame-duck organization right now and look like fringe playoff contenders, which would be a statement for both if it happens. Two of his three Nashville starts in the Xfinity Series netted top fives so he could keep it rolling on Sunday.
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17. Daniel Suárez (--)
Season-high: 12
Season-low: Out
Comment: After last week's P9 at Iowa, Suárez was unable to string together a second straight top 10 -- a trend he's shown the entire year, with all of his top 10s being one-offs. However, Nashville is an above-average track for him, and his teammate has won one of the three races there. There's some optimism this weekend.
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16. Bubba Wallace (-2)
Season-high: 10
Season-low: 19
Comment: Loudon was a supremely frustrating result for Wallace, who walked away with just three points and dropped below the elimination line. He's yet to land in the top 10 or lead a lap at Nashville, but a 15.7 average finish suggests he could at least find some stability on Sunday.
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15. Alex Bowman (-3)
Season-high: 8
Season-low: 18
Comment: Halfway through the year, Bowman has exactly the same amount of top 10s and top fives as he had all of last year, but New Hampshire was a pretty dismal all-around weekend for the Arizona native. No. 48 led nine laps at Nashville last year, but it's been an otherwise rough track for him overall (22.3 average finish). He could really start to slip here.
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14. Joey Logano (-3)
Season-high: 5
Season-low: 20
Comment: Logano walked away from Loudon with about as good of a 32nd-place finish as one can hope for (22 points) but the missed opportunity at his home track still stings for the No. 22 team. While he somehow managed to not include Nashville in his inaugural-race wins resume a few years ago, it's still a solid enough track for him with two top 10s and a 12.7 average finish so far.
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13. Chase Briscoe (+3)
Season-high: 11
Season-low: Out
Comment: You kind of can't write it any better than Briscoe finishing second to Bell after the weekend the pair had, but hey, that's NASCAR -- and it was a much-needed strong run after a difficult month. He'll need to ride that good juju into Tennessee, because he's yet to finish better than 31st in three Nashville attempts.
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12. Ty Gibbs (+3)
Season-high: 4
Season-low: 15
Comment: Gibbs looked early on like he'd be a fixture in the top 10 this year, yet hasn't found it since the Coca-Cola 600. New Hampshire was a step in the right direction, however, and his first Nashville attempt produced a top 15 last year. It still feels like he'll break out for his first win before the playoffs, for what it's worth.
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11. Chris Buescher (+2)
Season-high: 9
Season-low: 16
Comment: After some ups and downs, it feels like Buescher is starting to stabilize once again with two top fives in the past three weeks and could be trending toward a win sooner rather than later. His hot streak will be tested at Nashville, though -- he has a 28.0 average finish over three races.
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10. Brad Keselowski (-3)
Season-high: 5
Season-low: 18
Comment: Keselowski's first two races at NHMS with RFK Racing went much like his Team Penske days -- very well -- but things went sour for him Sunday after the race resumed from the rain delay and he wound up P28 when all was said and done. He has an overall 21.0 average finish at Nashville, but nearly landed his first top 10 there last year when he finished 11th.
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9. Ross Chastain (+1)
Season-high: 5
Season-low: 14
Comment: It's legitimately surprising that Chastain hasn't found his way to a win yet as he continues to race and finish near the front of the field every week, now sporting the second-best average finish in the series. If there ever a weekend for him to break through, though, it's this one. Chastain has been lights out at Nashville, where he has a win and three top fives for a ridiculous 2.7 average finish.
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8. Ryan Blaney (--)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 12
Comment: It didn't work out for him late through no fault of his own, but Blaney was racing for the lead late at New Hampshire and theoretically could've closed on back-to-back wins had he not been taken out inadvertantly by Michael McDowell. He's crashed out of two of the three Nashville races but was quite strong in the one he did finish, landing a P3.
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7. William Byron (-4)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 7
Comment: Byron had a great rebound last week at Iowa with a runner-up finish, but New Hampshire marked his third finish outside the top 10 in the past four races. One of the season's early title contenders should be able to turn it around this weekend at Nashville, where two of his three finishes have netted top sixes.
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6. Tyler Reddick (--)
Season-high: 3
Season-low: 14
Comment: Reddick still enjoyed a nice sixth-place finish, but NHMS was a frustrating one for him after it looked like he could be declared the winner, as the leader during the lengthy rain delay. Nashville surprisingly hasn't gone well for him at all yet, with a best finish of 18th and a 22.0 average result.
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5. Martin Truex Jr. (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 10
Comment: Though he was unable to make it two in a row at one of his favorite tracks, Truex's day briefly looked about to be done before he admirably rebounded for a top 10. Nashville's an interesting track for him, leading a bunch of laps in each of the last two and all three of his finishes being exactly 22nd or 2nd.
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4. Denny Hamlin (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 9
Comment: After two frustrating weekends at Iowa and Sonoma, Hamlin at least ran well -- leading 43 laps -- before eventually landing with a similar result and a second straight 24th-place run. He's been one of the better drivers at Nashville so far, leading 114 laps from the pole in 2022 and notching a P3 last year. A win is on the table this weekend.
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3. Chase Elliott (-1)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 17
Comment: The top-20 streak lives on, but Elliott's Loudon result was a disppointing one for him after leading 41 laps from the pole after how he'd been running lately. It's likely he gets back on track this weekend, though -- he's led in every Nashville race thus far and won there in 2022.
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2. Christopher Bell (+7)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 15
Comment: I mean, what a weekend. What started with a gaffe ended with two of the more impressive runs to a pair of seafood dinners we've seen, working on wet-weather tires to collect yet more Loudon trophies. You could be looking at the championship favorite a week from now, as Nashville is a stellar track for him as well -- Bell is one of just three drivers with top 10s in all three races there.
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1. Kyle Larson (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 5
Comment: It feels inevitable that we're going to see Larson and Bell's friendly rivalry continue into the Championship 4 once again this year, and it was no surprise to see them emerge from the field late at New Hampshire. They're likely to battle again this weekend, where Bell is strong, as previously mentioned, but Larson is even better. No. 5 has a win there in addition to leading the most career laps (264) with top fives in all three races. He could one-up his dirt counterpart in Tennessee this weekend.