NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 Cup Series drivers competing for the 2026 championship after Ty Gibbs’ win at Bristol Motor Speedway and before Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway (2 p.m. ET, FOX, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Kyle Larson enters as the defending winner.
RELATED: 2026 Cup Series schedule | Updated Cup Series standings
Analysis: In case you needed further evidence of 2026 being Reddick’s year, Sunday’s fourth-place run at Bristol was, arguably, the best he’d ever had at a short track, collecting just his third-ever top five at such venues. There have been plenty of Kansas Speedway highs for 23XI Racing, himself included, over the past handful of years and despite some recent lows there, there’s little reason to think he won’t again be in the mix, given how this season is playing out for him.
Analysis: It’s become abundantly clear — not that we didn’t already know this — that Blaney’s pure talent of just passing cars is perhaps unparalleled in the Cup Series, and his pit crew continually allows him ample opportunity to flex this muscle. He’ll probably have another chance to do so at Kansas, where, like Bristol, he tends to pass a lot of cars (led laps in 11 of 22 Kansas starts) but has yet to actually land a win there.
Analysis: Larson was once again dominant at Bristol, leading a race-high 284 laps before falling short to Blaney and first-time race winner Ty Gibbs. We’ve now come full circle since Larson, the current defending series champion, has won a Cup race — as you’ll have to go all the way back to Kansas in May last year since his last trip to Victory Lane. In no way has he been bad during that stretch, but it does feel notable that we’re now arriving at the site of his last win. Probably just makes him hungrier — so, don’t expect that drought to last much longer.
Analysis: Hamlin contended at Bristol, but the “Thunder Valley” master ultimately didn’t have a winning car under him, fading to ninth at the end. The four-time Kansas winner is arguably the best ever at the track, however, and — like most weekends — he’ll have an excellent chance to pick up an eye-popping 16th top five at the track on Sunday. At least.
Analysis: Well, there you go. In some ways, it was only a matter of time that a driver in a well-engineered ride with a national series title in the not-too-distant past would eventually figure it out at the Cup level, but the questions were certainly piling up here the past couple of seasons. Regardless, Gibbs is now a full-fledged Cup winner and drove an incredible race from start to finish Sunday at Bristol. Kansas has been a bit of a trainwreck for him (24.6 average finish), but Gibbs turned in a top five there in the 2024 fall race, so we shall see.
Analysis: Elliott spent a paltry amount of time at the front of the field, but a late-race spin killed any chance of a decent finish for the short-track maven. He’s also on another level at Kansas, owning the best career average finish there among active drivers (9.9), with nearly half of his 20 starts resulting in top-five finishes. He’ll be good.
Analysis: Just an absolute throwaway weekend for the No. 24 team, which has yet to really excel there with Byron, after starting from the rear for unapproved adjustments and making no headway the entire race — very atypical of Hendrick, regardless of track. A Kansas win feels like an inevitability for him, though, and let’s not be surprised if we see a notable performance out of this group on Sunday.
Analysis: Not a banger of a race for Wallace, but he did net some stage points and did what he had to do — we’re gonna see a lot of these kind of days across the board for drivers in this revamped championship format. He has, however, had bangers at Kansas with 23XI, and could very well add a second win there this weekend, given how well he’s running this year.
Analysis: Bell appeared early on that he’d once again be capable of figuring into the win at Bristol, all derailed by a Lap 144 brush with the wall and … later on by another spin on Lap 313. No concerns here, though, especially with Kansas on the horizon. While he’s never won there, Bell owns the second-best average finish among active drivers (11.9).
Analysis: A steady but minorly impactful Bristol race for Buescher, who had a decent run but remained steadfast at 10th in the standings. Kansas has turned into a pretty decent track for the veteran, as well, and he’ll look to land one spot higher on Sunday than he did in the 2024 running of this race.
Analysis: Keselowski recovered nicely from an early spin, briefly finding himself back in the top five later on in the race, but later needing the free pass shortly before the checkered flag to ultimately finish just inside the top 15 and lose three spots in the standings. The 2019 (and 2011!) winner of this race could find himself putting all the pieces together at Kansas on Sunday, but he hasn’t had a top 10 finish in the spring at Kansas since 2021.
Analysis: Logano improved throughout the Bristol race, moving his way into the top 10 and picking up a much-needed P7 when all was said and done in Tennessee. No standings movement for him, but there’s a good chance Kansas could move the needle — the three-time champ is a three-time winner there.
Analysis: Briscoe’s No. 19 Toyota lacked winning pace at Bristol, but he hung around the top five for a significant portion of the day and landed there to quell the bleeding a bit. He’ll have to buck his career trends at Kansas if he wants that to continue this weekend, but perhaps those trends have been assuaged already now that he’s with JGR — Briscoe turned in a pair of fourth-place runs in his first races there with the team last year.
Analysis: Preece turned in an efficient, clean day at Bristol on Sunday, never quite finding the front but doing enough to escape the short track without hazard. Kansas hasn’t been overly kind to him throughout the years, but he notably did turn in his first top 10 there in this race last year; his first at the track with RFK Racing.
Analysis: You’re up, kid. Now that Gibbs has the first-win monkey off his back, much of the spotlight now shines on Hocevar, who has shown more than enough talent to become a prolific winner in the Cup Series, albeit with an unrefined race craft that has arguably kept it from happening already. Kansas could be interesting, though — he’s led multiple laps in two of his five starts there, but has yet to finish any better than 20th across them.
Analysis: Not a whole lot to take away from a messy Bristol afternoon for SVG, who just has not had a very fun time at the “Last Great Colosseum” thus far in his NASCAR journey. Kansas, however, has gone measurably better for him in its limited sample size; he posted a pair of top-20s there last year — including a P10 last fall.
Analysis: Bristol was sneakily impressive for Suárez, who fell a lap down mid-race, later got the free pass and still managed to finish just outside the top 10 and move into the top 15 in the standings. Unfortunately, that’s all likely about to be squandered, as Suárez can count Kansas as one of his worst tracks, with just two top 10s and an average finish outside the top 20 in 18 starts scattered across several teams and manufacturers.
Analysis: Cindric grabbed some points in each stage to soften the blow a bit, but he was essentially mired in the mid-pack for the remainder of Bristol. For Kansas, let’s start with the positive — Cindric has a pair of 11th-place runs in the spring race, including one last year. Unfortunately, the flip side of that is that overall, his average finish there is 24.3 across nine starts, none of which resulted in top 10s.
Analysis: Allmendinger continues to show that he’s a more-than-capable Cup Series driver who is often outpacing the performance of his equipment, and he sure did muscle his way around Bristol to notch a top 15 on Sunday. He’ll need some of that good mojo to keep it rolling this weekend at Kansas, where he has three straight finishes of 30th or worse, but interestingly did turn in a pair of eighth-place runs in 2016.
Analysis: A brief flirt with the front of the field at the beginning of the race was but a passing moment in the wind, as Chastain was unable to muster much fight to stay up there the rest of the way and landed 20th, which is about on par with his 2026 average finish (19.4). It’s fair to wonder if any of that 2022 magic is left here, but we’ve seen the No. 1 team pull a miracle out of their hats before (2025 Coca-Cola 600), and Chastain himself fended off playoff drivers for a win at Kansas in 2024. This might be a bit of a make-or-break weekend ahead; if it doesn’t go well, the standings hole may be deepening beyond repair.