Source: BroBible
Summary
Christopher Bell won the Southern 500 at Darlington, marking his first victory in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series. The win boosted his standing in the Chase for the championship. Denny Hamlin, the points leader, lost ground after a poor pit stop and an incident. Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, and Bubba Wallace also had mixed performances. Kyle Larson nearly won but was overtaken by Bell. Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe showed promise but struggled with consistency. Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney remained strong contenders.
Our Reading
The routine arrives with confidence.
Chase Elliott’s slump is a reminder that even the best can fall. Joey Logano’s top-10 finish feels like a win. Bubba Wallace’s late-season push is a familiar story. Kyle Larson’s near-miss is a plot twist. Denny Hamlin’s crash is the latest chapter in his bad luck saga.
Winning a race is just another day at the office for Bell.
Author: Evan Null
2026 NASCAR Cup Series Power Rankings: Week 27
In last week’s edition of the power rankings, we took a closer look at the 16-driver field entering the Chase, and more specifically, at which drivers we felt could prove a genuine threat to points leader Denny Hamlin, who has been snake-bitten in the past in pursuit of an elusive first championship.
Little did we know that the opening round of the Chase would see several of those drivers prove why we felt that way, and Hamlin show exactly why it’s no sure thing that he finishes the job despite a dominant regular season.
This week’s rankings, like the point standings, are extremely condensed, pointing to the possibility of some serious volatility in the weeks to come.
After his win at Texas Motor Speedway earlier this season, Chase Elliott reached a high-water mark of third in our power rankings and looked as if he’d regained his mojo after a couple of difficult seasons in 2024 and 2025.
Since then, it’s been largely disappointing for Elliott and his team, who have backslid both in the points and power rankings, and entered the Chase looking to turn things around.
10) Chase Elliott
After his win at Texas Motor Speedway earlier this season, Chase Elliott reached a high-water mark of third in our power rankings and looked as if he’d regained his mojo after a couple of difficult seasons in 2024 and 2025.
Since then, it’s been largely disappointing for Elliott and his team, who have backslid both in the points and power rankings, and entered the Chase looking to turn things around.
Unfortunately, that’s not what happened at Darlington, as they spent the majority of the night either just inside or just outside the top 10, before eventually finishing 14th and picking up no stage points in the process.
If Elliott is going to make a championship surge, he needs to get things going in the right direction in a hurry.
Last Week: 9th NASCAR Point Standings: 9th (-72)
8) Joey Logano
On the opposite end of the spectrum of Elliott, Joey Logano entered the Chase with a significant amount of momentum, with a pair of recent victories and a slew of top-10 finishes.
However, Darlington was one of his worst tracks earlier in the season, when he finished outside the top 30 and well behind teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric.
This time around, things were a bit better for the three-time series champion, as he fought his way to a top-10 finish. However, the lack of points in either of the opening two stages meant that he lost ground to Hamlin in the points.
Still, at a track where he could have lost significant ground, Logano more or less held serve, and now heads to St. Louis, where he’ll be a favorite to contend for victory.
Last Week: 9th NASCAR Point Standings: 8th (-72)
8) Bubba Wallace
Early in the season, Bubba Wallace looked like he was in for a career year. He was consistently running inside the top five, and it appeared that multiple race wins were a sure thing.
Then the summer hit, and everything that could go wrong did go wrong for Wallace and his team. From self-inflicted mistakes to issues on pit road, Wallace fell from inside the top five in points to out of the top 10 entirely.
But in recent weeks, we’ve seen glimpses of the early-season form that was so promising. He finished second in New Hampshire, ran well at Daytona, and then led 38 laps on Sunday at Darlington, finishing in the top five in both stages and then in eighth when the checkered flag fell.
While the final result may not be what Wallace had hoped for, it’s clear he and his team’s confidence are building at the right time.
Last Week: UR NASCAR Point Standings: 10th (-81)
7) Kyle Larson
That Larson doesn’t move forward in this week’s power rankings is more a matter of circumstance than anything else.
For much of the late portion of Sunday night’s race at Darlington, it appeared he was in line to snap his over-year-long winless streak before being passed by Bell with under 20 laps remaining.
Who knows whether crew chief Cliff Daniels’ decision to leave Larson out on older tires late in the race ultimately cost him the chance to fight for the win. But one thing is clear: Larson and company had more speed than they’ve shown for much of the season, and that should be concerning for his competitors.
Last Week: 7th NASCAR Point Standings: 7th (-49)
6) Ty Gibbs
Dropping Ty Gibbs from third to sixth in the power rankings after a second-place finish might seem absurd on its face, but hear us out for a second.
While Gibbs’ teammates all ran inside the top 10 for the majority of the night (before Hamlin’s issues, which we’ll get to later), the 23-year-old struggled for speed, finishing the opening stage in 10th and missing out on stage points entirely in the second segment.
The team and Gibbs got things dialed in at the end of the night and looked like they might compete for the victory at one point, but the lack of stage points proved costly, as he lost ground in the standings to multiple drivers who had more consistent nights.
Last Week: 3rd NASCAR Point Standings: 6th (-39)
5) Chase Briscoe
Had it not been for a fueling issue in the middle of stage two, which caused him to come to pit road early and surrender important track position, we may well be talking about Chase Briscoe winning his third consecutive Southern 500.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver was impressive all night, leading 30 laps and finishing in the top 10 in both stages. For much of the third stage, he looked like the biggest threat to Bell and Larson’s chances of victory, and could well have been higher on this list if not for a slightly disappointing final stint of the race on new tires.
Still, Briscoe, like his teammates Bell and Gibbs, is one of the biggest threats to Hamlin’s title hopes, and he showed as much as on Sunday night.
Last Week: 5th NASCAR Point Standings: 5th (-37)
4) Tyler Reddick
Don’t look now, but Tyler Reddick, like his teammate Bubba Wallace, is beginning to look like the Tyler Reddick that we saw dominate the early parts of the 2026 season, winning five races in the process.
He led five times for 74 laps on Sunday, claiming victory in the opening stage before issues on pit road set him back in stage two.
Still, after a difficult finish to the second stage, Reddick was able to steady himself and drove all the way back up for a third-place finish. Reddick now has an average finish of 4.67 in his last three races, and you’re beginning to see the confidence that he had in early months return at the perfect time for the 23XI Racing driver.
Last Week: 4th NASCAR Point Standings: 4th (-24)
3) Christopher Bell
One week ago, we wrote about how Bell’s incredible propensity for finishing in second place this season might not be all that bad of a thing. If he finished in second for all 10 Chase races, he’d likely be lifting a championship at the end of it.
While that was true, it turns out he did one better.
There was never any doubting the speed of Bell’s cars each week, or his talent behind the wheel. But for whatever reason, he just hadn’t gotten over the hump this season.
Now, that monkey is off his back. Bell led four times for 46 laps on Sunday night, including taking home both the race victory and maximum points in stage two. Oh, and he also picked up a bonus point for the fastest lap of the race. His 73-point night was just three shy of the absolute maximum for one race, and puts him squarely in the battle for the points lead.
Last Week: 6th NASCAR Point Standings: 2nd (-12)
3) Ryan Blaney
Ryan Blaney did exactly what he needed to do and then some on Sunday night, holding serve (and breaking even, to some degree) with Hamlin and the Toyotas, who have proven to have the fastest cars on intermediate tracks.
Forced to start deep in the pack after qualifying was rained out, Blaney carved his way through the field to finish fifth in the opening stage and then maintained that track position in stage two, finishing sixth.
While his car seemed to get away from him a bit in the final stage, dropping him toward the back of the top 10, a decision to pit under the final caution of the race and take tires paid dividends, as Blaney drove back up to fourth position, capping off an extremely productive night for Ford’s biggest threat to win a championship.
Last Week: 2nd NASCAR Point Standings: 3rd (-16)
1) Denny Hamlin
Fair or not, Hamlin saw his significant lead in the standings slashed to just 25 to start the 10-race Chase.
Through two stages at Darlington, that didn’t seem like a big issue, as Hamlin finished third in each of the stages, amassing the second-most points behind only his teammate Bell.
However, in the final stage, a poor pit stop put Hamlin behind the eight ball before an incident involving Michael McDowell sent him slamming into the wall.
While the wreck didn’t take Hamlin out of the race entirely, it did significantly damage his car and eventually led to him going a lap down. Hamlin battled back to finish 18th, limiting the damage to some extent. But for a driver with a laundry list of bad fortune when the chips are down, it was an ominous start to his title pursuit.
Last Week: 1st NASCAR Point Standings: 1st
