Week 10 NASCAR power rankings: 2012 Cup champ races up the ladder

After a wild race at Talladega on Sunday, our NASCAR power rankings got a shakeup. Here's where the top 16 drivers in the Cup Series landed after Tyler Reddick's win in Sunday's GEICO 500. 

1. William Byron (Last week: 1)

A seventh-place finish at Talladega will keep Byron atop our power rankings and the NASCAR playoff standings. In contrast to his Daytona 500 win, Byron had a rather uneventful day at Talladega, showing up when the chips were down to earn his seventh top-10 finish of the season. 

Byron is tied with Reddick for the most top-10 finishes in the series this season (seven) and is on pace for the best average finish of his career. Look for him to be a contender Sunday in the Würth 400 at the Dover (Del.) Speedway, where he was part of Hendrick Motorsports' 1-2-3-4 finish in 2021. 

2. Tyler Reddick (Last week: 4)

Talladega might not be the first place most fans would pick Reddick to win, but he's seemingly turning the corner on superspeedways after winning his Daytona Duel in February. Reddick celebrating with team owner Michael Jordan is an iconic image in NASCAR history. He can win on any given weekend, but he has also shown an innate ability to get the best finish possible regardless of how good his car is driving. 

3. Chase Elliott (Last week: 3)

A 15th-place finish keeps Elliott in the No. 3 spot. He was the only Hendrick car that led laps on Sunday and collected 12 total stage points. However, he faded as the race went into crunch time. Elliott is a two-time winner at Dover, including the first race there with the Next Gen car in 2022, so expect him to be back in the top 10 on Sunday. 

4. Kyle Larson (Last week: 2)

Larson's weekend was a nightmare. After a penalty required him to start at the rear, it was also determined that he must serve a pass-through penalty on the first lap, putting him a lap down and behind the eight ball at the drop of the green. 

Larson finished third in Stage Two but faded as the race went on and eventually got a piece of the "Big One" on the final lap. We must note that his two consecutive 21st-place finishes haven't been a product of his mistakes. Dover seems like a big race for the Cup Series points leader. 

5. Martin Truex Jr. (Last week: 6)

Truex ran one of his best superspeedway races Sunday, finishing 11th and getting inside the top five in the closing laps. He has yet to win at Daytona or Talladega, but Sunday's run is an encouraging sign for his superspeedway future. Truex is the defending winner at Dover, so expect him to be in the mix for his first win of 2024 on Sunday. 

6. Joey Logano (Last week: 7)

A Stage Two victory ensured Logano remains firmly around the playoff bubble despite a disappointing 19th-place finish Sunday. Logano is usually in contention in the closing laps at Talladega, but he and teammate Ryan Blaney faded in crunch time. After three consecutive top-11 finishes, Logano fell off the path a little Sunday. The No. 22 team has improved over the past four races, but it is still searching for a win. 

7. Denny Hamlin (Last week: 5)

Hamlin's 37th-place finish at Talladega wasn't his fault, as he was tagged by John Hunter Nemechek in a late-race crash, but it dropped him to sixth in the points, 51 behind leader Kyle Larson. At a track where he usually contends, Hamlin was quiet Sunday, choosing to stay in the back of the pack and let the chaos unfold. In a cruel twist of fate, the chaos found Hamlin, marking his second straight finish of 30th or worse. 

8. Chase Briscoe (Last week: 10)

Briscoe, who keeps finding his way to top-15 finishes, has worked his way into the playoff picture, sitting 11 points above the cutline in 14th. After a disappointing 2023 in which Briscoe wasn't competitive, he is a pleasant surprise to start 2024. There are still 16 races before the playoff field is set, but if Briscoe has stayed in the picture this long, who's to say he won't be challenging for the championship?

9. Brad Keselowski (Last week: 16)

Jumping the 2012 Cup Series champion up seven spots in one week may seem drastic, especially considering he's only 15th in points. However, Talladega marks Keselowski's second consecutive second-place finish and fourth top-five of the season. 

Keselowski's recent runs and the fact that nobody else really deserves the nine spot moved him up. It seems Keselowski is getting closer to that elusive win, which would be his first as a team owner and break a 108-race winless streak. 

10. Alex Bowman (Last week: NR)

After dropping out last week, Bowman moves into the No. 10 spot after a fifth-place finish at Talladega. Bowman didn't lead any laps Sunday but navigated his way through tri-oval trouble for his fourth top-five finish of 2024. Bowman moves up to 12th in the points, 16 above the cutline after Talladega, and is a former winner at Dover, spearheading the Hendrick 1-2-3-4 finish in 2021. Looking to break a winless streak of 71 races, Bowman will be a hungry driver at the Monster Mile. 

11. Ty Gibbs (Last week: 9)

The impressive 21-year-old driver finished 22nd Sunday after being caught up in the last-lap crash. However, he did show winning potential for the second straight year at Talladega and was one of the Toyota drivers who wasn't caught up in the Toyota turn-three melee. Unfortunately, Talladega is unforgiving in who it chooses to defeat, and on Sunday, it got Gibbs. 

12. Ryan Blaney (Last week: 11)

After a blazing start to 2024, the defending Cup Series champion has cooled considerably since Phoenix. Blaney has slipped to ninth in points, 57 above the playoff cutline. In the past six races, Blaney only has one result better than 12th, a fifth-place finish at Martinsville.

It's not reason for the 2023 champ to panic, but a return to consistently finishing races would be nice. Like Logano, Blaney faded late and never found his way back to the front, finishing 20th at a track where he's a three-time winner. 

13. Ross Chastain (Last week: 15)

Chastain's spot in the power rankings this week equals his finishing position Sunday, as the 2022 Talladega winner was up front all day before getting shuffled out of the top 10 late. While the sting of a last-lap crash at Texas one week ago lingers, Chastain remains one of the more consistent competitors in the field. In 2023, he finished runner-up at Dover to winner Martin Truex. 

14. Kyle Busch (Last week: 13)

Busch dropped from the playoff picture after a 27th-place finish at Talladega, but there really aren't any other drivers who deserve the final few spots. Busch's slow start to the season has gotten past the point of being able to write it off as an early-season slump. With his RCR teammate, Austin Dillon, 31st in points, it's not like he can ask around the shop for answers. Dover, Kansas and Darlington seem to be a pivotal stretch for the No. 8 team before the All-Star Race. 

15. Chris Buescher (Last week: 14) 

Buescher finished 25th at Talladega, but he was mixing it up for the lead late in Stage Two. He fell to the playoff bubble after Sunday's race, but with Brad Keselowski's recent success, there are reasons to be optimistic inside RFK Racing. Buescher finished ninth at Dover last season, and a top-10 finish would go a long way in setting the No. 17 team back on track. 

16. Christopher Bell (Last week: 12)

If Bell hadn't won at Phoenix, he'd be just 10 points above the playoff cutline in 15th. Inconsistency continues to plague the No. 20 team. While Bell does have five finishes inside the top 10, including his victory at Phoenix, he also has four finishes of 33rd or worse. For Bell and his team to make the Championship Four for the third straight season, they must be much more consistent.  

Dropped out: None