NASCAR Power Rankings: Bubba Wallace Enters Rankings With Brickyard Win
But Wallace teammate Tyler Reddick? He drops out after another disappointing finish, a 29th-place run at Indy. He has just four top 10s in his last 14 starts.
Here's a look at where drivers stand entering this weekend's race at Iowa Speedway as four races remain in the regular season:
Dropped out: Tyler Reddick (Last Week: 9), Ty Gibbs (Last Week: 10)
On the verge: Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs,; Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick
10. Bubba Wallace (Last Week: Not Ranked)
A win in a major race lifts Wallace into these rankings. The 23XI Racing driver has four top 10s in the last nine races, including a pair of top-five finishes.
9. Ryan Preece (Last Week: Not Ranked)
Preece is still looking for his first Cup win but had a strong finish in fourth at the Brickyard. The RFK Racing driver has six top 10s in the last 11 races.
8. William Byron (Last Week: 5)
Running out of fuel late cost Byron a good finish, as he placed 16th after running in the top five for much of the day. The Hendrick driver sits four points behind teammate Chase Elliott for the top spot in the Cup standings.
7. Alex Bowman (Last Week: 7)
Bowman placed ninth at the Brickyard for his 12th top-10 finish of the season. Only Hendrick teammate Kyle Larson has more, with 14.
6. Christopher Bell (Last Week: 6)
Bell also has 12 top 10s (including three victories) this year, as he wound up eighth at the Brickyard. But it seems that the Joe Gibbs Racing driver is driving a little over the edge at inopportune times.
5. Chase Briscoe (Last Week: 3)
Briscoe won the pole at Indy and led 34 laps but placed 18th. Still, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver showed speed, and he sits eighth in the standings.
4. Chase Elliott (Last Week: 2)
Elliott was 13th at the Brickyard but retained his series points lead by four points over Hendrick teammate William Byron. He qualified 30th at a track that is hard to pass, and he has consistently said he needs to qualify better to consistently finish strong.
3. Ryan Blaney (Last Week: 8)
Blaney didn't have the most speed but posted a workmanlike seventh-place finish at the Brickyard. He was the only Penske driver in the top 10.
2. Kyle Larson (Last Week: 4)
Larson finished second at the Brickyard for his second consecutive top-five finish and his 11th top-five finish of what has been a feast-or-famine season for the Hendrick driver.
1. Denny Hamlin (Last Week: 1)
Hamlin followed up his win at Dover with a third-place finish at the Brickyard, despite a crash in qualifying that resulted in him starting at the rear of the field in a backup car. Plus, he recently signed a two-year contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing. Things on the track are going relatively well.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
recommended
Item 1 of 3 Get more from the NASCAR Cup Series Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hamilton Spectator
3 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Chase Briscoe in a familiar spot in Iowa after claiming 6th pole position of the season
NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Chase Briscoe is starting on the pole for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway. Finishing up front on a regular basis is his next goal. Briscoe won his sixth pole position of the season during Saturday's qualifying, running a lap of 136.933 mph. Despite his qualifying success this season, he has just one win this year. 'You getting tired of this?' Brad Keselowski joked with Briscoe in the media center after qualifying. Briscoe got almost the same question when his press conference began. 'It's definitely better than starting mid-pack or whatever,' Briscoe said. 'It's getting old not converting them to race wins, though, that's for sure.' Briscoe noted the benefits of starting up front. 'It just typically gives you a great opportunity to get stage points and all those things,' he said. 'Obviously there's a great pit-stall selection.' He then added another joke. 'I would love it if we can make a new system where if you get five poles, you can trade them in for one race win,' Briscoe said, smiling. Briscoe, who was also on the pole for last week's race at Indianapolis, had won just two poles in his first four seasons in the Cup Series. He had a streak of three consecutive pole wins earlier this season. 'The race cars are really, really good, truthfully,' he said. 'I felt like my entire career, even at (Stewart-Haas Racing) in Cup, we'd always kind of over-exceed where we probably should qualify. And qualifying has always been, I feel, probably my strongest thing. And now I'm just in race cars that let me go run really fast lap times. I don't do anything different from what I've been doing the last four years of my Cup career. Just now, my cars are faster.' Wallace relaxes Bubba Wallace emphasized he didn't party too much after winning last Sunday's race at Indianapolis. Never mind that it broke a 100-race winless streak and secured a spot in the playoffs. The realities of life, Wallace said, limited his celebration. 'I'll tell you, I did not go hard after the win — I'm getting older and realize hangovers suck, and also having a kid that doesn't care you're hungover,' Wallace said with a smile during Saturday's media availability at Iowa Speedway. 'That made me stop after two beers.' Wallace, who will start 15th, comes into Sunday's 350-lap race with a different attitude, knowing he has his spot in the postseason after recent seasons in which he headed into the final weeks of the regular season scrambling for points to try to get into the playoffs. 'I told my team right before we started our meeting (this week), I said, 'Man, y'all say fatherhood looks good on me. Just wait until you see how Bubba locked into the playoffs looks good on me, because it's gonna be fun,'' Wallace said. Busch's crash Kyle Busch will start 37th after not making a qualifying run following a crash in practice. Busch's car went nose-first into the wall in turns 1-2 after the car bobbled heading into the first turn. 'Got a little bit loose and overcorrected, and smacked the fence,' said Busch, who is 15th in points and doesn't have a win this season. 'Any time you overcorrect and go head-on, it's not good. So, definitely, not one of my favorite (crashes), but not one I haven't had before.' Larson's busy weekend Iowa Speedway's date on the schedule worked out perfectly from a logistics standpoint for Kyle Larson, who will start third in Sunday's race. Larson is halfway through his two-week stay in nearby Knoxville, where he is racing in two of the nation's top sprint car events — the 360 Nationals this weekend and the Knoxville Nationals for 410 sprint cars next week. 'It's always a fun time of year for me,' said Larson, who has won three Nationals titles, including last season. Larson finished second in Thursday's A-Main of the 360 Nationals, and will start fifth in Saturday night's A-Main. Knoxville is just 40 miles from Iowa Speedway, so it works out well for Larson this weekend. The Cup Series is at Watkins Glen International in New York next Sunday. 'Next week, the logistics get a little hectic as we get to the weekend, but that's all normal,' Larson said. Bell apologizes Christopher Bell not only reached out to driver Zane Smith to apologize after last week's crash at Indianapolis, he made sure to apologize to the crew members on Smith's Front Row Motorsports team as they were loading up after the race. Bell said he called Smith on Sunday night and left a voicemail. But he also wanted to apologize to the team. 'It was a mistake, it was an error on my part that ruined their day,' Bell said. 'And so I felt like I owed it to the team members to apologize, because it was such a bad mistake. And it wasn't hard racing. It was just, you know, a misjudgment on my part. (Smith) did absolutely nothing wrong.' Bell hooked the right rear of Smith's car, sending it into the outside wall. 'I thought that I could sweep underneath of him, and clearly you wanted to be on the inside at Indy,' Bell said. 'And so I tried to sweep underneath of him, and I tried to make it as last-minute as possible, so that he couldn't counter my move. And I misjudged my run and ran to the back of him.' ___ AP auto racing:
Fox Sports
4 hours ago
- Fox Sports
Chase Briscoe in a familiar spot in Iowa after claiming 6th pole position of the season
Associated Press NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — Chase Briscoe is starting on the pole for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Iowa Speedway. Finishing up front on a regular basis is his next goal. Briscoe won his sixth pole position of the season during Saturday's qualifying, running a lap of 136.933 mph. Despite his qualifying success this season, he has just one win this year. 'You getting tired of this?' Brad Keselowski joked with Briscoe in the media center after qualifying. Briscoe got almost the same question when his press conference began. 'It's definitely better than starting mid-pack or whatever,' Briscoe said. 'It's getting old not converting them to race wins, though, that's for sure.' Briscoe noted the benefits of starting up front. 'It just typically gives you a great opportunity to get stage points and all those things,' he said. 'Obviously there's a great pit-stall selection.' He then added another joke. 'I would love it if we can make a new system where if you get five poles, you can trade them in for one race win,' Briscoe said, smiling. Briscoe, who was also on the pole for last week's race at Indianapolis, had won just two poles in his first four seasons in the Cup Series. He had a streak of three consecutive pole wins earlier this season. 'The race cars are really, really good, truthfully,' he said. 'I felt like my entire career, even at (Stewart-Haas Racing) in Cup, we'd always kind of over-exceed where we probably should qualify. And qualifying has always been, I feel, probably my strongest thing. And now I'm just in race cars that let me go run really fast lap times. I don't do anything different from what I've been doing the last four years of my Cup career. Just now, my cars are faster.' Wallace relaxes Bubba Wallace emphasized he didn't party too much after winning last Sunday's race at Indianapolis. Never mind that it broke a 100-race winless streak and secured a spot in the playoffs. The realities of life, Wallace said, limited his celebration. 'I'll tell you, I did not go hard after the win — I'm getting older and realize hangovers suck, and also having a kid that doesn't care you're hungover,' Wallace said with a smile during Saturday's media availability at Iowa Speedway. 'That made me stop after two beers.' Wallace, who will start 15th, comes into Sunday's 350-lap race with a different attitude, knowing he has his spot in the postseason after recent seasons in which he headed into the final weeks of the regular season scrambling for points to try to get into the playoffs. 'I told my team right before we started our meeting (this week), I said, 'Man, y'all say fatherhood looks good on me. Just wait until you see how Bubba locked into the playoffs looks good on me, because it's gonna be fun,'' Wallace said. Busch's crash Kyle Busch will start 37th after not making a qualifying run following a crash in practice. Busch's car went nose-first into the wall in turns 1-2 after the car bobbled heading into the first turn. 'Got a little bit loose and overcorrected, and smacked the fence,' said Busch, who is 15th in points and doesn't have a win this season. 'Any time you overcorrect and go head-on, it's not good. So, definitely, not one of my favorite (crashes), but not one I haven't had before.' Larson's busy weekend Iowa Speedway's date on the schedule worked out perfectly from a logistics standpoint for Kyle Larson, who will start third in Sunday's race. Larson is halfway through his two-week stay in nearby Knoxville, where he is racing in two of the nation's top sprint car events — the 360 Nationals this weekend and the Knoxville Nationals for 410 sprint cars next week. 'It's always a fun time of year for me,' said Larson, who has won three Nationals titles, including last season. Larson finished second in Thursday's A-Main of the 360 Nationals, and will start fifth in Saturday night's A-Main. Knoxville is just 40 miles from Iowa Speedway, so it works out well for Larson this weekend. The Cup Series is at Watkins Glen International in New York next Sunday. 'Next week, the logistics get a little hectic as we get to the weekend, but that's all normal,' Larson said. Bell apologizes Christopher Bell not only reached out to driver Zane Smith to apologize after last week's crash at Indianapolis, he made sure to apologize to the crew members on Smith's Front Row Motorsports team as they were loading up after the race. Bell said he called Smith on Sunday night and left a voicemail. But he also wanted to apologize to the team. 'It was a mistake, it was an error on my part that ruined their day,' Bell said. 'And so I felt like I owed it to the team members to apologize, because it was such a bad mistake. And it wasn't hard racing. It was just, you know, a misjudgment on my part. (Smith) did absolutely nothing wrong.' Bell hooked the right rear of Smith's car, sending it into the outside wall. 'I thought that I could sweep underneath of him, and clearly you wanted to be on the inside at Indy,' Bell said. 'And so I tried to sweep underneath of him, and I tried to make it as last-minute as possible, so that he couldn't counter my move. And I misjudged my run and ran to the back of him.' ___ AP auto racing: recommended Item 1 of 3
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Bubba Wallace Takes Another Jab at Critics a Week After Brickyard 400 Win
NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace snapped his 100-race winless streak last Sunday by beating Kyle Larson in multiple overtime restarts to win the Brickyard 400. With his spot in the playoffs secured, Wallace is unabashed about reminding his detractors that their words do not matter to him. Speaking to reporters before Saturday's practice and qualifying at Iowa Speedway, Wallace again poked at his critics by saying they have no idea how much he is winning at life. '(They) have no idea how much I'm winning at life.' Bubba Wallace at Iowa Speedway on his critics (via Jeff Gluck) Related: : 550 points, 1 win, 8 top 10s, 4 top 5s, 6 DNFs, 136 laps led, 16.955 average starting position, 18.727 average finishing position Immediately after his overtime win at the Brickyard 400—where he became the first Black driver to win a major race on the oval track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway—Wallace was quick to call out his doubters. While he admitted he used to struggle with boos from fans at various tracks, he has embraced support from many NASCAR fans and grown more comfortable being the villain to others. After winning his first regular-season race as a Cup driver, he also mocked his doubters by asking where they would move the proverbial goal posts next. 'I know there's a lot of Bubba Wallace fans out there and a lot of support. They try to combat the naysayers and all of this stuff. Does anybody know where the goalpost got moved to now? Did it get moved yet? It's rigged? Oh, of course.' Bubba Wallace immediately after his Brickyard 400 win (H/T Related: The 31-year-old remains one of the most polarizing NASCAR drivers currently, with many fans split between loving him or hating him. One thing was clear right after Sunday's win — he has strong support from fellow drivers. During his cool-down lap, Wallace received a thumbs up from Carson Hocevar and congratulatory bumps from Denny Hamlin, Shane van Gisbergen, Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Blaney, and Chase Briscoe. Several former NASCAR drivers also congratulated him after the race, with some suggesting the win could boost Wallace's confidence and lead to more victories in the future.
