NASCAR Power Rankings After Chase Briscoe’s Bounceback Victory At Las Vegas Motor Speedway

A week ago in Kansas, Chase Briscoe was what looked like his best chance at getting back into the NASCAR Cup Series championship hunt slip through his fingers when he lost the lead in the closing laps to Kyle Larson, eventually slipping to a fourth-place finish.

As it turns out, Briscoe would get a second shot on Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. And this time around, he made sure to close the deal.

Briscoe led 175 of the 267 laps at Las Vegas and held off a hard-charging Larson, as well as Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick, to claim the victory and put himself right back into contention at the halfway point of the NASCAR Chase for the championship.

2026 NASCAR Cup Series Power Rankings: Week 31

Briscoe’s win vaults him up in our latest set of NASCAR Power Rankings, which look significantly different following an interesting day in Vegas.

A number of the race favorites faltered, leaving openings for other drivers, while many drivers who were expected to struggle came through with strong performances, keeping their championship hopes alive.

There are now just five races remaining in the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, and it looks as if at least six drivers could walk away with the championship.

This is how they stack up heading to Charlotte Motor Speedway for race 32 of the season.

10) Bubba Wallace

For a portion of Sunday’s third and final stage of the race, it appeared that Bubba Wallace had the best car in the field and that he’d be able to pass Briscoe and drive off to victory.

Following the final round of pit stops, he quickly ran Briscoe down and very nearly made the pass for the lead. But perhaps he caught Briscoe too quickly. After failing to make the move and sliding his tires when Briscoe threw a relatively desperate block late in the race, Wallace’s car went away from him, and he slid back to a seventh-place finish.

Still, it was an encouraging run for a driver who has continued to be steady for much of the Chase.

Last Week: UR NASCAR Point Standings: 10th (-137)

9) Ty Gibbs

Ty Gibbs showed in the regular season that he’s ready to compete for NASCAR Cup Series wins on a regular basis, earning the first two victories of his career.

In the Chase, however, Gibbs has shown that he’s not yet ready to compete for a championship.

The 24-year-old’s Chase run has been littered with issues, which continued on Sunday as he was hit for speeding on pit road during the first run of the race and never recovered.

Gibbs went on to finish 17th after failing to score points in either stage, dropping him down the standings as well as the power rankings.

Last Week: 6th NASCAR Point Standings: 8th (-110)

8) Austin Cindric

It comes as no surprise to NASCAR fans to see Team Penske drivers Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, both former series champions, excelling in the Chase.

What has come as a surprise, however, is just how impressive teammate Austin Cindric has been.

Cindric began the Chase seeded 15th, which essentially ruled out any chance of competing for a championship. But he’s since gained six spots in the standings and has an average finish of eighth over the first five races of the Chase. It’s been perhaps the most-impressive five-race streak of Cindric’s career.

Last Week: 10th NASCAR Point Standings: 9th (-128)

7) Tyler Reddick

“We gained five points. Whoop-de-doo,” was Tyler Reddick’s reaction to his third-place finish on Sunday evening.

On one hand, you can understand the frustration from the driver who was once considered a championship favorite and now looks like a long shot at best.

On the other hand, Reddick finished in third on Sunday and had the best car in the field with the laps winding down. Early alternator issues robbed him of the chance to gain points in the second stage, and his title hopes are quickly fading. But perhaps he can follow in Briscoe’s footsteps and put together a perfect day next weekend in Charlotte to re-enter the mix.

Last Week: 7th NASCAR Point Standings: 7th (-106)

6) Joey Logano

Honestly, if you’d have offered Joey Logano a top-10 finish and only four points off the lead of the standings to Kyle Larson entering Sunday’s race at Las Vegas, he and crew chief Paul Wolfe probably would’ve taken it in a heartbeat.

That’s especially true after he qualified all the way back in 23rd and made minimal progress in the opening stage. But Logano avoided trouble and even claimed five points at the end of the second stage before slipping to a 10th-place finish.

It wasn’t a perfect day by any means. But it kept his title hopes alive, which was the goal.

Last Week: 4th NASCAR Point Standings: 4th (-71)

5) Chase Briscoe

There’s no real way to sugarcoat it: Briscoe more or less choked last week at Kansas, handing the win to Kyle Larson and seemingly ending his chance at winning a championship.

Those chances are still relatively slim. But they’re a lot more alive than they looked prior to his dominant day on Sunday in Las Vegas. Briscoe qualified on the second row and went on to win both stages as well as the race, claiming 75 points and taking 39 points out of Larson’s lead in the standings.

He’ll need to replicate that performance at least one more time to have a chance to win it all. But it’s clear he has the speed to do so on 1.5-mile tracks.

Last Week: 8th NASCAR Point Standings: 6th (-84)

4) Ryan Blaney

Like his teammate Logano, Blaney came to Las Vegas in damage control mode, especially after qualifying 20th.

As it turns out, he not only held serve, but actually closed the gap to Larson slightly. Blaney drove all the way up to third by just the end of the first stage, and then finished fourth in stage two, while neither Larson nor Denny Hamlin scored points in the opening stage.

He then brought home a top-five finish, taking 11 points out of Larson’s lead. Like Briscoe, Blaney will have to go on a hot streak that likely includes multiple victories to win a championship. But Sunday went a long way to keeping him in the hunt.

Last Week: 5th NASCAR Point Standings: 5th (-80)

3) Denny Hamlin

This was supposed to be the year.

With one year left on his contract and a vow to retire in 2027, the clock is ticking on Denny Hamlin’s chance to win a championship – the one thing missing from his Hall of Fame resume.

And it seemed it was his to lose this season. Hamlin entered the Chase as the top seed and the heavy favorite. Since then, however, everything has gone wrong.

That continued on Sunday thanks in part to both driver and crew chief errors. Hamlin was leading late in the first stage when the caution flew for a Zane Smith spin. He could have stayed on track, maintaining the lead and trapping Larson, the points leader, a lap down.

Instead, he and crew chief Chris Gayle pit for two tires. That allowed Larson to stay out and get his lap back. Hamlin, meanwhile, drove back to fourth place with the stage winding down before spinning out, taking all his stage points away and damaging his car in the process.

He never recovered, failing to score points in the second stage and eventually finishing in 16th place.

Sure, Hamlin sits in second in the standings, only 40 points behind Larson. But it sure feels like the walls are beginning to close in on a team and driver that desperately need to regain some momentum.

Last Week: 2nd NASCAR Point Standings: 2nd (-40)

2) Christopher Bell

Even after losing power steering and finishing down in 23rd, Bell made up points on Hamlin and lost just five to Larson thanks to finishing second and third in the opening two stages of the race.

That’s also why he jumps Hamlin in this week’s edition of the rankings. Sure, Bell finished behind his teammate, but it wasn’t of his own doing, and he’s just generally been faster throughout the entirety of the Chase.

He, like many others, is going to need to win a race or two to track down Larson. But there’s no doubting he has the speed and ability to do so.

Last Week: 3rd NASCAR Point Standings: 3rd (-55)

1) Kyle Larson

The first thing Larson should have done after finishing second in Sunday’s race is go over to Hamlin and his crew chief and thank them.

If Larson had been trapped a lap down early in the race, who knows if he ever would have gotten the lap back the way the race went. Instead, after a nightmare start, Larson and crew chief Cliff Daniels rebounded and had one of the best cars in the field at the end of the day, very nearly running down Briscoe for the win for the second race running.

Larson is also fortunate to not have suffered more damage after slamming his car off the wall trying to make a pass for the lead coming to the checkered flag. Ultimately, he finished second on an extremely troublesome day and saw his lead in the points grow from 28 to 40. Perhaps it’s just his year…

Last Week: 1st NASCAR Point Standings: 1st