NASCAR Power Rankings After Tyler Reddick’s Historic Win At Circuit Of The Americas

There’s nothing in the NASCAR Cup Series rules that says 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick can’t win all 36 races of the season, and right now, we certainly wouldn’t bet against it.

Reddick made history on Sunday at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, becoming the first driver to ever win the first three races of a NASCAR Cup Series season, dating all the way back to 1949.

In doing so, he easily stayed atop our NASCAR Power Rankings. But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t plenty of movement behind him, with big names cracking the top 10 for the first time this season and some surprise faces making an appearance as well.

2026 NASCAR Cup Series Power Rankings: Week 3

The first three weeks of the NASCAR schedule threw us three curveballs, with a pair of restrictor plate tracks followed by a road course.

While Reddick winning at any of the three isn’t a big surprise, certainly nobody expected him to win at all three. In addition, some surprising names find themselves in the top 10 in points as we enter the more “normal” part of the schedule next week at Phoenix.

Will those names be able to hold their places? Or will others from powerhouse teams begin to claw their way out of an early-season hole?

10) Daniel Suarez

Suarez drops just one spot this week despite an uninspiring 25th-place finish. That’s largely due to the fact that he picked up eight key points by finishing third in the second stage of the race, which kept him inside the top 10 of the standings.

But while Suarez’s stage points came via some clever strategy, he also spent a good bit of the day racing up inside the top 15 before some bad luck late in the race saw him tumble down the order.

Nobody is expecting Suarez to continue to race at the front of the field next week in Phoenix. But if he’s able to do so, it’ll be hard to keep him from moving back up the rankings.

Last Week: 9th NASCAR Point Standings: 7th (-99)

9) Michael McDowell

What a start to the season it’s been for Spire Motorsports.

Last week, Suarez and teammate Carson Hocevar both found themselves inside the top 10 of our power rankings. This week, Hocevar comes out after a rough 31st-place finish, but he’s replaced by teammate Michael McDowell, who used fresh tires late in the race to drive all the way up to fifth place, his best finish at COTA.

McDowell, who has established himself as one of the series’ best road racers, started sixth and ran inside the top 10 for the majority of the day, finishing third in the opening stage.

He’s now into the top 10 of the standings, and as such, the top 10 of our rankings.

Last Week: UR NASCAR Point Standings: 9th (-103)

8) AJ Allmendinger

Welcome to the party, AJ Allmendinger.

Allmendinger, known for his road course prowess, brought home a ninth-place finish after finishing both stages in the top five, giving him 43 points for the day, fourth-most of anyone in the field.

Combine that with a 12th-place finish at Atlanta a week ago, and a top-20 at Daytona, and Allmendinger is quietly in eighth place in the point standings. Like Suarez, however, he’ll have a tall order maintaining that spot next week in Phoenix.

Last Week: UR NASCAR Point Standings: 8th (-100)

7) Kyle Larson

I mean, it was only a matter of time, right?

There’s a reason that Kyle Larson is a two-time and defending Cup Series champion, and he wasn’t likely to struggle all season.

Larson didn’t have the best car on Sunday, as evidenced by his 15th-place starting spot and lack of stage points. But he and crew chief Cliff Daniels worked all day to get the car right at the end of the race and, paired with a timely pit stop call, drove all the way up for a sixth-place finish.

Larson had a brutal first two races of the season. But now he seems to be hitting his stride, and he does so entering a part of the schedule that could well prove favorable to him.

Last Week: UR NASCAR Point Standings: 15th (-113)

6) Joey Logano

Gritty, not pretty, was the name of the game for Logano on Sunday.

Logano has struggled in the NASCAR Next Gen car on road courses, and that continued at COTA, as he qualified all the way back in 20th position. He made a bit of progress late in both the first and second stages, but crew chief Paul Wolfe opted against staying out at the end of either and gaining some additional points.

In the end, it amounted to a 15th-place finish, which sees Logano drop in the power rankings, but not substantially after sustaining his spot in the points.

Last Week: 5th NASCAR Point Standings: 6th (-96)

5) Shane Van Gisbergen

Shane Van Gisbergen entered Sunday’s race at COTA as the winner of five consecutive NASCAR road/street course races and, as such, the heavy favorite to win.

But Van Gisbergen struggled, by his standards, in both practice and qualifying on Saturday, meaning he started in “just” 13th position.

Well, that wasn’t a major hurdle for the man they call SVG, as he quickly picked through the field to finish second in the opening stage before adding an additional point in stage two despite pitting, and then bringing home a runner-up finish.

While he didn’t get his first career victory at COTA, Van Gisbergen had a highly productive day and, when you add it to a career-best oval finish of sixth a week ago at Atlanta, he’s in a great spot in points to start the season.

Last Week: UR NASCAR Point Standings: 5th (-99)

4) Ryan Blaney

Ryan Blaney, who has struggled mightily in the Next Gen car on road courses, much like his teammate Logano, had what should have felt like a great weekend.

He had the fastest car in practice. He qualified in fourth, and then he dominated the opening stage of Sunday’s race.

But crew chief Jonathan Hassler decided to pit Blaney late in the first stage in hopes of better positioning him for the win, meaning he got no points for the effort. The decision looked to be paying off as Blaney ran second almost the entirety of stage two before pitting again and still finishing the stage in seventh, netting four points in the process.

But Blaney could never quite catch Reddick in the final stage, and when a late caution came out, Hassler opted not to pit. Blaney was a bit of a sitting duck, falling from second to eighth in the closing laps of the race.

Ultimately, there was still a lot that Blaney and his team could take away from a strong weekend. But it felt like they left points on the table for the second week running.

Last Week: 6th NASCAR Point Standings: 4th (-86)

3) Chase Elliott

Mr. Consistency is at it again.

Chase Elliott wasn’t overly fast on Sunday in Austin. After qualifying in fifth, Elliott quickly dropped back early in the race and only finished eighth in the opening stage after he decided not to pit late in the stage.

At one point, Elliott dropped all the way back to 30th position. But he slowly chipped away, and like McDowell and Larson, used a late pit stop to climb through the field to finish in seventh position, just passing Blaney at the finish line.

Through three races, Elliott has a worst finish of 11th, and he’s showing why the new series’ points format, which rewards consistency over high peaks, can work in his favor.

Last Week: 3rd NASCAR Point Standings: 3rd (-72)

2) Bubba Wallace

Bubba Wallace is as aware as anyone that he needs to improve on road courses. That’s still the case. But Wallace is slowly chipping away at that order.

After starting in 24th, Wallace made up a little bit of ground in the opening stage, but not a ton. He then did the opposite of Logano in the second stage, staying out rather than pitting before the caution and picking up five points in the process.

Wallace then took advantage of the late caution, pitting for tires and driving all the way up for an 11th-place finish, which was his worst this season, but plenty passable. All told, it was a successful day for Wallace and his team, as they narrowly held onto their second-place spot in both the power rankings and point standings.

Last Week: 2nd NASCAR Point Standings: 2nd (-70)

1) Tyler Reddick

We’re running out of words here.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise when Reddick, who won both the Daytona 500 and last week’s race in Atlanta, qualified on the pole at Circuit of the Americas. After all, he has the highest average finish of every driver in the field at the track.

But when he dropped back to eighth early in the race and finished without stage points after following Blaney and flipping stage one, it looked as if it might only be a good, not great, day for Reddick and his team for once this season.

Silly us. Reddick took the lead early in the second stage and never looked back, absolutely dominating the field along the way. Both Blaney and Van Gisbergen got close at times, but never looked like they had the speed to pass Reddick, who led a race-high 58 laps.

He’s currently on a legendary heater to start the season. The only downside for Reddick right now is that his sizable points advantage, even if it grows between now and the playoffs, will eventually be wiped almost completely away come the start of the playoffs in September.

But that’s a later problem. For now, Reddick and car owner Michael Jordan appear to be on cloud nine.

Last Week: 1st NASCAR Point Standings: 1st