NASCAR Power Rankings: Atlanta Unkind To 2025 Winners
So the driver who was on the lead lap gets the top spot in these rankings, and that's Kyle Larson.
Here's a look at the power rankings following Atlanta and heading into back-to-back road courses at the Chicago street race and then Sonoma:
Dropped out: 9. Bubba Wallace (Last Week: 9)
On the verge: Ty Gibbs, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, John Hunter Nemechek, Tyler Reddick, Wallace
Larson finished 17th but was the only driver who has won this year to finish on the lead lap at Atlanta. So is this a move to No. 1 by default? You could say that, but he was also able to find a way to make it to the finish — even though he did get some damage in that big wreck.
Hamlin was involved in the big wreck. His team couldn't repair the car to go all that fast, but he was able to return to the race and make three laps to jump six spots to 31st after 90 minutes of repairs.
The big winner at Atlanta. Elliott was able to dice his way to the front and snap a 44-race winless streak. He also jumped to second in the series point standings, just 37 points behind his teammate William Byron.
Byron was among those eliminated in the big wreck. The Hendrick driver has three finishes of 27th or worse in the last four races.
Blaney was eliminated from Atlanta after getting clipped in the aftermath of the Christopher Bell spin. The Team Penske driver now has six DNFs on the season.
Buescher finished ninth at Atlanta, where he led 15 laps. It was the fourth consecutive top-10 finish for the RFK Racing driver.
Bell wasn't involved in the big wreck because he was already in the garage after an early spin and damage. His JGR team got the car to where he could meet minimum speed and pass all those cars eliminated from earlier accidents. He finished 30th.
Bowman was among the leaders late in the race at Atlanta, where he helped push Hendrick teammate Chase Elliott to the win, while himself settling for third. Another solid day for Bowman, who is currently 39 points above the playoff cutoff.
Preece finished 15th, his sixth finish of 15th or better in the last seven races. He currently sits 23 points out of the playoff cutoff.
You're going to hear this often in these power rankings: Briscoe's day ended because of an accident. He got caught up in the 23-car wreck that opened Stage 2. His Joe Gibbs Racing team had worked to fix the car but NASCAR saw an issue with the chassis and determined he couldn't continue.
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.
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New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Chase Elliott on his consistent season and staying true to himself: 12 Questions
Each week, The Athletic asks the same 12 questions to a different race car driver. Up next: Atlanta winner Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports, who is currently second in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings. This interview has been edited and condensed, but a full version is available on the 12 Questions podcast (which is now available on all major podcast platforms). 1. What was one of the first autographs you got as a kid, and what do you remember about that moment? I grew up around the racetrack, so I don't really remember getting many autographs. I really liked Tony (Stewart) a lot, but I don't ever remember asking for an autograph. I was a huge Travis Pastrana fan. I grew up riding dirt bikes and all that stuff — loved it. He was the guy. He was reinventing action sports. Anyway, he was racing at the Prelude (to the Dream, at Eldora Speedway) one year, and Dad (Bill Elliott) was running it. I took a hat and asked (Pastrana) to sign it. It was obviously a really cool thing for me, being a kid and really being a fan of his and him taking the time to do that. I appreciate it a bunch. And I've still got it somewhere. Advertisement 2. What is the most miserable you've ever been inside of a race car? In 2015, I ran a handful of Cup races in the No. 25. At Indy, I ran something over and it punctured one of the headers underneath the car. I obviously didn't know that, and I was hot. I was just miserable and got really sick there toward the end of the race. That was as bad off as I can remember — like getting out of the car and just not feeling good, having a hard time changing clothes. Just in a bad way. And then I found out the next week there had been a puncture, and ultimately, I was getting all kinds of fumes inside the car along with just being really hot. That combination was not fun, for sure. 3. Outside of racing, what is your most recent memory of something you got way too competitive about? I went through a period where I was pretty competitive with golf, and then I realized how bad I am, and since then, I've tried to just enjoy my outings. But occasionally, if you're going out golfing with some buddies or whatever, and you've got $100 on a game or something, it can be competitive — but it's in a much better place now than it was a year or two ago. 4. What do people get wrong about you? I don't really ask enough to care to know, honestly — and that's fine. I'm totally OK with that. You have the folks who are around you — your team and the people you go to battle with each week — and it's about showing up for them at the end of the day. I have really learned to put less and less stock in that. You do have some true fans out there who are going to support you and appreciate you on your good days and your bad days. Those folks have got your back all the time. Outside of that, the outside stuff just is what it is. I don't ask. I just try to do my thing and be me, and to make sure I'm showing up for the folks who show up for me, who are ultimately going to be in your life beyond all this stuff. That's important to me, and I don't go too far past that. Advertisement 5. What kind of Uber passenger are you, and how much do you care about your Uber rating? The way I think about that is I don't ever want to be in a position where I need a ride somewhere and have somebody not pick me up because I'm a bad Uber rider. Like, they look at your rating and they're like, 'I'm not picking up this guy.' I don't want to put myself in that position. And also, I'm not trying to cause a fuss in the back seat of ultimately some stranger's car. I just appreciate whoever it is taking me to wherever I'm going and hopefully get there safe and let him go on his way, and I'll go on mine. Do people recognize you in the Uber sometimes? Not often. Usually when I do Uber, I'm in a big city or something. Most of the time, NASCAR is not recognized in large cities. … But most places we go, we have rental cars or you drive or whatever. 6. This is a wild-card question. You have been remarkably consistent over and over, but that gets overshadowed by the lack of wins. But if you look at the stats, it appears you're getting more consistent each year. You still haven't finished outside the top 20 this entire season. How are you doing this? How are you more consistent than seemingly anybody? (Note: This interview was conducted before he won at Atlanta.) There's a certain component in being able to make a bad day all right that really matters as it pertains to being a real contender. Sometimes that element can be really hard to get. For some people, that element can be harder than the pace or the wins in some cases. For me, it's just a really good reminder that we have a really good team. I really do believe that. We have a really good team behind the wall, over the wall, and before we get to the racetrack each week. All that stuff ends up making a difference. Look, I understand the points and the wins and what it means. But there are times you can get into the playoffs and you might get caught up in a wreck or have a bad day. And for you to be able to really lean on your team and say, 'Hey, let's just dig a top-20 out of this' — that can be important. 7. This is the 16th year I've been doing these 12 Questions interviews, and I'm going back to an earlier one and seeing how your answer compares. In 2014, I asked what you'd do on a day off where you could do anything in the world, but you weren't allowed to do anything with racing. You said you'd go to a baseball or basketball game. Would you answer that the same way now? (Laughs.) I could see going to a baseball game, for sure. I don't know about a basketball game, but maybe. I love sports. Love watching sports. … I value time at home. That's high on my list for sure. Especially 12 years since that question of being gone on the weekends, it's nice to be home when you have the opportunity to enjoy a nice evening at the house. To sit around home and watch (an Atlanta) Braves game on the porch or whatever — that's a pretty nice night for me. Advertisement 8. Other than one of your teammates, name a driver whom you'd be one of the first people to congratulate them in victory lane if they won a race. (Ryan) Blaney, Bubba (Wallace) — just friends more than anything. Folks I've grown up racing with. But in a lot of cases, it's when you have relationships with guys who maybe haven't gotten that first win yet. Having been through that, I remember how important and special it was to me to see so many of my competitors and people I've admired come and congratulate me for my first win. It was such a great sign of, 'Hey, I've earned their respect enough for them to come tell me 'Good job.'' 9. How much do you use AI technology, whether for your job or daily life? Are you a ChatGPT guy? I'm not. I just don't find myself in many situations where I need it. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've messed with it, and honestly, probably the majority of those two or three times I've just been curious what it is. You could Google stuff before and get your answer if you're looking for information or whatever. So it's kind of just a streamlined Google, is kind of how I look at it. 10. What is a time in your life that you felt was really challenging, but you're proud of the way you responded to it? Professionally, the road to that first win was one. I think both myself and our team should be proud — because a lot of those guys are still here. There were a lot of tough days in that journey and that trek. Just keeping our heads down and showing up each week and continuing to believe and trust in the process we had. There's a lot to be proud of in that. 11. What needs to happen in NASCAR to take the sport to the next level of popularity? Man, if I had the answer to that, boy, we'd be selling it. But I don't know. I really don't have the answer. I don't think anyone does, truthfully. Anything from my perspective is just an opinion, and there's probably 150 different opinions in here. The No. 1 thing for me has always been a really good on-track product. When I boil the rest of it off and look at just what we have, you have to have a product that is enticing and exciting to watch. Because if not, then what are we selling? It has to be something people are drawn to watch — that's interesting to them, that gives them a sense of, 'Wow, I've never seen that before,' or, 'Wow, I can really get on board with that.' Advertisement We have elements of that here and there. There are elements that could be better. But if I was to give one answer — and it's broad and there's a lot of things that go into it — it's a good on-track product. 12. Each week, I ask a driver to give me a question for the next interview. Last week was your buddy Blaney. His question for you is: 'When are you ever going to get better at golf, and how many hours will you have to put in to get to my level?' (Laughs.) Wow! Wow. It's a valid question. It really is. I go through these little pockets where I get better and then I fall back apart again. For the record, I've hung with him a few times. I'm not as good as him. … I'd love to get out more and play and try to give him a run. But listen, I want to be able to go beat him. There's nothing like going to play somebody like him who's going to give you a bunch of crap for it and him have to give me strokes. That just sucks. So maybe one day. We'll keep chipping at it. The next interview I'm doing is with Shane van Gisbergen. Do you have a question I might be able to ask him? I don't know if he'll even answer this to the depth I would want, but what is the No. 1 habit that works for him in road-course racing that he feels like works against him in oval racing? (Top photo of Chase Elliott celebrating Sunday's win at Atlanta Motor Speedway: Sean Gardner / Getty Images)
NBC Sports
4 hours ago
- NBC Sports
Good news, bad news for NASCAR Cup drivers ahead of Chicago Street Race
Could the Chicago Street Race make for a 10? As in 10 different winners in the last 10 races. Austin Cindric's victory at Talladega in late April started the stretch of nine different winners in the last nine races. Those winners after Cindric have been: Joey Logano (Texas), Kyle Larson (Kansas), Ross Chastain (Coca-Cola 600), Ryan Blaney (Nashville), Denny Hamlin (Michigan), Shane van Gisbergen (Mexico), Chase Briscoe (Pocono) and Chase Elliott (Atlanta). So, could there be a 10th consecutive different winner this weekend on the streets of Chicago? Here is a look at the good news and bad news for Cup teams heading into Sunday's race. 23XI Racing — Good news: Tyler Reddick has three road course wins in the Next Gen era, tying him with Kyle Larson for the most in the series in that time. … Reddick finished second at Chicago last year. … Reddick has seven top 10s in the last 10 road course races. … Reddick has scored the most points (614) on road courses in the Next Gen era. … Corey Heim returns to the No. 67 car this weekend for his third Cup start of the season. Bad news: Bubba Wallace holds the final playoff spot with eight races left in the regular season. … Wallace is tied with Ryan Blaney for most DNF's this year with six. … Wallace has three top-10 finishes in 34 Cup road course starts. … Riley Herbst has seven consecutive finishes of 24th or worse. Dustin Long, Front Row Motorsports — Good news: Zane Smith has finished seventh in two of the last four races. … Smith scored a season-high five stage points at Atlanta. … Noah Gragson finished eighth at COTA earlier this year for his best road course result. … Todd Gilliland has three top-10 finishes in his last six road course starts. … Gilliland was seventh last year at Chicago. Bad news: Gilliland has placed 22nd or worse in the last five races this season. Haas Factory Team — Good news: Cole Custer finished eighth at Mexico in the most recent Cup road course race. … Custer won the 2023 Chicago Xfinity race. Bad News: Custer ranks 34th in points. Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: Hendrick Motorsports drivers rank 1-2-3 in the points. … Hendrick Motorsports has won five of the last nine road course races. … William Byron leads the points and is followed by Atlanta winner Chase Elliott (-37 points) and Kyle Larson (-42 points). … Elliott has scored three consecutive top-five finishes this season. … Elliott finished third at Mexico and fourth at COTA in the two road course races this season. … Elliott leads all drivers with 10 top-five finishes on road course races in the Next Gen era. … Alex Bowman is the defending winner of the Chicago Street Race. … Larson won the pole for last year's Chicago Street Race. … Byron has five top-five finishes, including two wins, in his last nine road course starts. Bad news: Larson has not led a lap in the last five races, his longest drought since going six races without leading a lap in a stretch that included the end of the 2019 season and beginning of the 2020 season. … Byron has finished 27th or worse in three of the last four races. Hyak Motorsports — Good news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s sixth-place finish at Atlanta tied for his second-best result this season. … Stenhouse finished sixth at Chicago last year. Bad news: Stenhouse has finished 27th or worse in three of the last five races. Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Denny Hamlin averaged the most points per race in June at 40.3. … Christopher Bell has a win (Circuit of the Americas) and two runner-up finishes (Mexico, Charlotte Roval last year) in the last three road course races. … Ty Gibbs has scored the most points in the two races on the streets of Chicago. … Gibbs has an average finish of 6.0 in two Chicago races, his best among all tracks. … Chase Briscoe has led 134 laps in the last five races (he had led 75 laps in the previous 59 races). Bad news: Hamlin has one top-10 finish in 18 road course starts in the Next Gen era. Kaulig Racing — Good news: Ty Dillon finished a season-best eighth last weekend at Atlanta. … As the No. 32 seed in the In-Season Challenge, Dillon eliminated No. 1 seed Denny Hamlin and afterward told TNT: 'All you Denny fans out there, I just knocked your favorite driver out.' … All three of AJ Allmendinger's Cup wins have come on road courses. … Will Brown, the reigning Supercars champion, will drive the No. 13 this weekend for his first Cup start of the year. Bad news: Allmendinger has finished no better than 17th in the two streets races in Chicago. … Dillon's best finish on a road course is 15th at the Charlotte Roval in 2019. Nate Ryan, Legacy Motor Club — Good news: Erik Jones ranked fourth in the series in points scored in June with 156. … Jones was 27th in points entering June and exited the month 16th in the standings after four top-15 finishes in the last five races, including a fifth-place finish last weekend at Atlanta. … John Hunter Nemechek has four top-10 finishes in the last eight races. … Nemechek was sixth at Mexico in the most recent Cup road course race. … Nemechek finished second at Chicago in the inaugural Xfinity race there in 2023. Bad news: Nemechek has four finishes of 26th or worse in the last six races. … Jones has no top-10 finishes in his last 14 road course starts. Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Kyle Busch is one of three drivers to finish in the top 10 in both Chicago Street Races, joining Ty Gibbs and Michael McDowell). … Austin Hill is back in the No. 33 car this weekend, making the second of five scheduled Cup starts this season. Bad news: Austin Dillon has two top-10 finishes in 41 Cup road course starts. … Busch is winless in his last 75 Cup starts. Rick Ware Racing — Good news: Cody Ware's 13th-place finish last weekend at Atlanta was his best of the season. … It was Ware's best finish since placing 12th at Talladega in last year's playoff race. Bad news: Ware has never finished better than 24th in 17 Cup road course starts. RFK Racing — Good news: Chris Buescher scored the most points in June with 183. … Buescher has four consecutive top-10 finishes, tied for his longest streak in Cup. … Buescher' average finish of 8.8 on road courses in the Next Gen era is the best in the series. … Buescher's average start of 10.4 is the best of all drivers this season. … Ryan Preece qualified second and won the opening stage in Mexico in the most recent Cup road course event. Bad news: Brad Keselowski has gone 17 races on a road course without a top-10 finish. … Preece is the first driver below the playoff cutline. He's 23 points out with eight races left in the regular season. Spire Motorsports — Good news: Two of Justin Haley's five career top-five finishes have come on road courses (second at Chicago Street Race in 2023 and fifth at Charlotte Roval in 2022). … Michael McDowell finished fifth last year at Chicago. … McDowell is one of three drivers (Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch are the other two) to finish in the top 10 in both races on the streets of Chicago. … Carson Hocevar has three top-15 finishes in his last four road course starts. Bad news: McDowell has finished outside the top 20 in seven of the last 11 races this season. Team Penske — Good news: Austin Cindric has led 251 laps this season, five laps shy of his career-best total in Cup. Bad news: Ryan Blaney has gone 20 consecutive races without a top-five finish on a road course. … Blaney is tied with Bubba Wallace for most DNFs this season with six. … Joey Logano has had five finishes outside the top 15 in the last six races. … Logano has one top-10 finish in his last seven road course races. Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Shane van Gisbergen won at Mexico in the most recent road course race and has finished in the top 10 in each of the last four road course races. … He won the inaugural Chicago Street Race in 2023 in his first Cup start. Bad news: Ross Chastain's 33rd-place finish last weekend at Atlanta was his worse result since the Daytona 500 in February. … It was announced Tuesday that Daniel Suarez will not return to Trackhouse Racing after this season. Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Josh Berry has finished in the top-12 in four of the last seven races. Bad news: Berry finished 36th at Chicago last year. … Berry has not finished better than 22nd in six Cup road course starts.
Chicago Tribune
4 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
NASCAR Chicago Street Race puts city back on national TV stage
The annual NASCAR Chicago Street Race is upon us, and the forecast calls for a 50% chance of thunderstorms and 100% chance of flooding the airwaves with shots of The Bean, the beach, skyscrapers and deep-dish pizza. But as the street race enters its third and possibly final run through Grant Park this July Fourth weekend, it may be time to take stock of a hard to quantify but potentially invaluable benefit: a seemingly endless loop through the Loop on national TV. Beyond tens of thousands of expected attendees, Chicago's telegenic lakefront and skyline will once again serve as a live backdrop to race cars careening around an urban circuit for millions of viewers during the better part of Saturday and Sunday afternoon, creating one giant commercial for the city. By the end of the weekend, tiny Balbo Drive, which is at the center of the pop-up street course, may be as famous as Mr. Beef, the setting for the hit TV series 'The Bear.' 'When the NASCAR event goes well, and hopefully the weather will hold up, it gives the city a huge amount of attention, and that is very, very hard to replace,' said Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. 'The city doesn't have enough money to ever spend on advertising to generate that type of reach.' Chicago is set to host the street race on a 12-turn, 2.2-mile course through Grant Park, down DuSable Lake Shore Drive and up Michigan Avenue. The Xfinity Series Loop 110, which features mostly younger up-and-coming NASCAR drivers, will be broadcast Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on the CW Network and local affiliate WGN-TV. The Grant Park 165 Cup Series race will air Sunday at 1 p.m. on cable channel TNT. While the street race navigated everything from Canadian wildfire haze to record rainfall during its first two years, it proved to be a very successful TV event for previous host network NBC. In 2023, the inaugural Cup Series street race averaged nearly 4.8 million viewers despite a torrential rain delay. Last year, the Grant Park 165, broken up by nearly two hours of programming filler during a steady summer rain, averaged 3.87 million viewers, according to Nielsen data. TNT is in the first season of a new seven-year rights agreement with NASCAR, carrying a five race 'in-season challenge' that began last weekend with the Quaker State 400 from Atlanta. The Chicago Street Race on Sunday is the second and biggest stop on the network's NASCAR tour. The cable network, which last hosted the NASCAR Cup Series in 2014, averaged 1.6 million viewers for its return covering Saturday night's wreck-filled race in Atlanta, which included a massive 23-car pileup and a 25-minute rain delay. Navigating Chicago's streets may make for an even more unpredictable race. Last week, the city shut down Balbo and Columbus Drive earlier than planned to repair a massive pavement buckle caused by the recent heat wave. To cover the Chicago event, TNT began setting up Monday in Grant Park, bringing in a tech crew of 260 people, along with a 20-person production staff and 10 announcers, working out of six mobile units and an office/trailer. A broadcast studio will be located next to the start/finish line at Buckingham Fountain. TNT will employ 50 cameras around the track to capture the race and environs, including 10 robotic cameras, six in-car cameras, and a helicopter, drone and Goodyear Blimp for aerial shots of the most unique setting for any NASCAR race. 'These guys are going to be on the track, and they're going to navigate this very, very, very narrow racetrack,' said Shannon Spake, a NASCAR broadcast veteran who hosts the pre-race and post-race coverage for TNT. 'But this is the weekend for the city of Chicago to shine.' Early forecasts, however, predict the city might once again not be shining during Sunday's race, with a 50% chance of afternoon thunderstorms. If that happens, it will fall upon Spake and her colleagues to try to keep the audience tuned in during any delays, a challenging task at best, as Chicago Street Race viewers in 2023 and 2024 can attest. 'Rain fills are like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute,' Spake said. 'Sometimes there's no commercial breaks, you don't know who's coming up to the desk. It's very much like free falling, but it's so much fun.' Meanwhile, the CW, which is also new to the Chicago Street Race, is hoping for a ratings boost from Saturday's Xfinity Series broadcast, rain or shine. The CW Network began carrying NASCAR's 33-race Xfinity Series this year, the first of a seven-year agreement. The Loop 110 will air in Chicago on Nexstar Media-owned WGN-TV, which reclaimed its CW affiliation last year after a nearly decade-long hiatus. 'This is certainly a race that pops on the schedule,' said Brad Schwartz, a media veteran who was named president of entertainment for the CW network in November 2022, one month after it was acquired by Nexstar, the nation's largest local TV station ownership group. 'And so I would expect to see one of the highest ratings.' While NBC also carried the Loop 110, most Xfinity Series races last year aired on the network's USA cable channel. Ratings are up this year, with 14 of 16 Xfinity races reaching more than 1 million viewers, according to the CW Network. Launched in 2006, the CW has long aspired to be the fifth major broadcast network, banking initially on young adult scripted dramas like 'Gossip Girl' to build its audience. Under Nexstar, the CW has been beefing up its sports programming with everything from LIV Golf and ACC college football to WWE wrestling and PBA Bowling. Sports now represent 40% of the CW's programming schedule, Schwartz said. 'In the past two years, we've gone from zero hours of sports to 500 hours of sports (per year),' Schwartz said. 'We've gone from zero viewers ever watching sports on the CW to now we've had over 40 million people watching sports on the CW.' WGN-TV, which was an inaugural affiliate of the CW Network when it launched in 2006, has seen strong ratings for the Xfinity Series this year. Seeking to leverage the hometown connection, it is heavily promoting the Chicago Street Race this week, including on-air driver interviews, promotions and a perfunctory Chicago hot dog taste test. While it is the first year for both TNT and the CW to carry the Chicago Street Race, there is some question as to whether it will be the last. This year's race completes an inaugural three-year agreement with NASCAR. The deal, struck during former Mayor Lori Lightfoot's administration, includes a two-year renewal option. DePaul partners with Spire Motorsports ahead of NASCAR Chicago Street RaceNASCAR is reportedly in negotiations to hold a street race in San Diego next year, which may be in addition to Chicago, or perhaps will replace the Chicago one. Mayor Brandon Johnson didn't answer directly when asked Tuesday if he wants the NASCAR race to continue beyond this weekend, saying 'it's about having conversations to make sure we're getting the most out of this experience.' Johnson also nodded to the rain that has plagued recent editions of the Chicago Street Race. 'First of all, we're just hoping this year there's good weather,' he said at a City Hall news conference. 'It looks like Saturday we're going to be OK. Sunday is a little iffy, a little cloudy.' Last year, the street race generated $128 million in total economic impact and drew 53,036 unique visitors, according to a study commissioned by Choose Chicago, the city's tourism arm. The nationally televised Cup Series race also generated $43.6 million in media value for Chicago, according to a companion report. If the city loses the street race, filling the marketing void won't be easy, Calkins said. 'The only way you replace this event is with another big event,' Calkins said. 'And big events aren't easy to come by, and they can be very expensive and complicated for a city to put on.'
