Source: BroBible
Summary
NASCAR’s Chase for the championship has seen unexpected shifts after three races. Joey Logano won at Bristol Motor Speedway, improving his standing. Denny Hamlin’s lead was reduced to 25 points. Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace, and Carson Hocevar faced challenges. Tyler Reddick and Ryan Blaney struggled. Ty Gibbs and Christopher Bell showed promise. Kyle Larson remains the points leader after a strong start to the Chase.
Our Reading
The routine arrives with confidence.
Logano’s win feels like a reset button for his season.
Hamlin’s lead is shrinking like a deflating tire.
Briscoe and Reddick are running on fumes.
Chase Briscoe’s title hopes are on life support, but he’s still breathing.
Author: Evan Null
2026 NASCAR Cup Series Power Rankings: Week 29
The start of the Chase, and the subsequent points reset that occurred before its start at Darlington earlier this month, provided a massive opportunity for some drivers who hadn’t had the regular season that they may have hoped for.
Meanwhile, it meant that points leader Denny Hamlin saw his sizable points lead chopped to just 25, putting him in a precarious position in search of his illustrious first championship.
Through three races: Darlington, St. Louis, and now Bristol, we’ve seen three different drivers that many had written off stake their claim as title contenders.
Meanwhile, Hamlin, by his own high standards, has faltered, setting up a dramatic two months of the season that look like they will be must-see TV.
It’s like a reality show where the underdog wins, but the rules keep changing.
10) Chase Briscoe
After a solid start to the Chase in Darlington, things have gone south for Chase Briscoe in his last two races.
A week ago at World Wide Technology Raceway, he was battling for a top-10 finish when Chase Elliott blew a brake rotor and slid up into him, ending both their days.
On Saturday night, Briscoe battled through early troubles to work his way back into the top 10 in the final laps of the race. However, he got loose racing teammate Christopher Bell and hit the wall, breaking a toe link in the process and dropping him down to a 29th-place finish.
Briscoe’s title hopes may not be entirely dead. But they’re clearly on life support.
It’s like a car that’s been in a crash and is still trying to drive.
9) Bubba Wallace
Bubba Wallace’s chances of winning the championship entering the Chase were slim to begin with. He was seeded outside the top 10 and would have to make up a sizable points gap on drivers with similar equipment.
Thus far, Wallace hasn’t made any real progress on closing that gap. But he’s still run relatively well.
For the third straight race, Wallace has a 9.7 average finish through the first three races of the Chase, and, at worst, has kept himself in with a puncher’s chance. Now, he’ll have to capitalize in a major way over the next three weeks at tracks he’s been strong at in the past.
He’s like a team that’s not the favorite but still has a shot.
It’s like a underdog that’s not really a underdog.
8) Carson Hocevar
Where to start with Carson Hocevar…
On the bright side, Hocevar continued his strong Chase performance, finishing in third place and gaining yet another spot in both the power rankings and the standings.
However, we can’t talk about Hocevar without addressing the elephant in the room. Late in the race, Hocevar was racing Ryan Blaney for second position when he got into Blaney’s left-rear quarter panel, sending him out of control and into the wall and ending his night.
The move cost Blaney not only a shot at victory, but potentially as many as 50 points in the standings. Afterward, an angry Blaney came up to Hocevar and grabbed him by the collar, leading to punches being thrown.
It’s like a fight at a bar, but with race cars.
7) Tyler Reddick
When Tyler Reddick finished third in the opening race of the Chase at Darlington, it appeared he may have finally dug out of the months-long slump he’d been in after an incredible five wins early in the season.
Since that, however, things have gone back in the wrong direction.
Reddick finished 25th after a late incident in St. Louis, and was immediately well off the pace in Bristol, losing a lap within the first stage and never recovering, ultimately ending up in 18th position.
Like Briscoe, Reddick’s championship hopes are hanging by a thread. They could easily bounce back with a big performance next week in Kansas. But it feels like now or never.
It’s like a car that’s been in the shop too long and is ready to be junked.
6) Ryan Blaney
Midway through last week’s race in St. Louis, it looked as if Ryan Blaney may be the one to take the points lead away from Denny Hamlin. He finished in the top five in both stages and appeared to have a car capable of contending for victory.
Then, Blaney’s brake rotor exploded, and he ended the day 33 points behind Hamlin.
On Saturday night, it appeared as if Blaney might just erase that deficit entirely. He led the most laps in the race, won the second stage, and was fighting for the win with laps winding down.
That’s where Hocevar comes in. Blaney passed Hocevar for second position with under 20 laps remaining and looked to run down leader Ty Gibbs. However, both Blaney and Hocevar went for the same real estate in the next turn, and the controversial Spire Motorsports star refused to lift, ending Blaney’s night and leaving him with a 33rd-place finish.
It’s like a race where the rules keep changing and no one knows who’s in the lead.
5) Ty Gibbs
During the regular season, Ty Gibbs established himself as a driver to watch in the Chase. He won the first two races of his Cup Series career and entered the Chase as a top-five seed.
But after failing to score stage points at Darlington and finishing 18th in St. Louis, Gibbs had fallen behind the eight ball with regard to the standings.
He erased a large chunk of that deficit on Saturday night at Bristol, finishing fifth in the opening stage, second in stage two, and coming just a handful of laps away from winning before bringing home a top-five finish.
Gibbs still has work today to chip away at the points lead. But he’s clear back on track toward doing so.
It’s like a driver who’s been off the track and is just getting back into the game.
4) Christopher Bell
Bell made his presence known when he won the opening round of the Chase at Darlington after seven runner-up finishes in the regular season, and he’s continued to impress since.
Brake issues and a late-race incident meant he had a surprisingly difficult go of things at St. Louis, but he rebounded at Bristol by running in the top five for much of the second half of the race, finishing fifth in stage two and fourth at the checkered flag.
Now we’ll see if Bell can keep that momentum at the intermediate tracks. If he can, he may just be the favorite as the season continues to wind down.
It’s like a driver who’s been in the spotlight and is now trying to stay there.
It’s like a rising star who’s trying to keep up with the competition.
3) Joey Logano
Surely Joey Logano can’t come from seemingly out of nowhere again to win a championship in an even year, right?
Well, who’d bet against him at this point?
When the Cup Series headed to Sonoma in the middle of the summer, Logano was 20th in the points and looked as if he’d miss the chase entirely. He then won races at North Wilkesboro and Richmond and entered the Chase as the hottest driver in the series.
Still, many believed that Logano needed to win in St. Louis to really pose a threat to the championship hunt. He fell just short of doing so, finishing third.
But he more than made up for it at Bristol, winning the opening stage, finishing third in stage two, and then taking advantage of some late-race chaos to claim the checkered flag.
It’s like a driver who’s been in the shadows and is now stepping into the spotlight.
2) Denny Hamlin
Denny Hamlin’s points lead that he’d worked so hard to build over 26 races is officially gone.
Sure, some of that has to do with the fact that it was significantly decreased when the points reset to start the Chase. But the reality is that Hamlin simply hasn’t run well enough over the last three races.
Hamlin has an average finish of 11.66 in the Chase, which is far off his usual standards. Thankfully, it hasn’t been bad enough to meaningfully derail his title hopes, and he could easily go out and win any or all of the next three races.
But Hamlin and his team have clearly been staggered. Now it’s time to see if they can respond.
It’s like a team that’s been knocked down and is trying to get back up.
1) Kyle Larson
Is Kyle Larson fortunate that the points reset prior to the start of the Chase took him from 303 points behind Denny Hamlin to just 55? Of course.
But everybody knows the rules, and all the reigning champion has done since the start of the Chase is finish in the top five of each of the last three races, including a victory in St. Louis and an average finish of 2.67.
Safe to say, if that continues, Larson will almost assuredly repeat as the series champion.
Larson didn’t have the best car on Saturday at Bristol, but he and crew chief Cliff Daniels maximized their day and left as the new points leader, although narrowly.
It’s like a driver who’s been in the lead and is now trying to keep it.
