NASCAR Power Rankings After Daniel Suarez’s Emotional Victory In The Coke 600 At Charlotte

Winning the Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR’s longest race of the year, is often considered the crowning achievement of a driver’s career. That may prove even more true for driver Daniel Suarez, who picked up a surprise victory in Sunday’s race under tragic circumstances.

Suarez, 34, used a combination of strong strategy and impressive restart defense to pick up just his third career victory in the rain-shortened race. Just one day prior, the veteran from Monterrey, Mexico, went to great lengths to explain just how much former mentor Kyle Busch meant to him after Busch’s tragic passing on Thursday at the age of 41.

Suarez explained that Busch would call him weekly in 2015 to help him both improve in the car and acclimate out of it.

“For someone coming from a different country, you don’t know many people,” Suarez said. “The least you expect is to get support from a legend like him.

“It’s very meaningful because I didn’t have anyone to ask for help. I didn’t have anyone to ask for support. To get the support of someone like him, because by 2015, he was already a legend. He was already winning everything.”

A moment Daniel Suárez will never forget ❤️ pic.twitter.com/YPpCSYULBd

— Sports on Prime (@SportsonPrime) May 25, 2026

In addition to Suarez’s emotional victory, Sunday’s (nearly) 600 mile race led to some notable shakeups in our weekly power rankings.

2026 NASCAR Cup Series Power Rankings: Week 13

While Busch was obviously the story of the night and the week, there was still a race to take place. And while Suarez’s victory will be the last image, what happened in the 373 laps beforehand tells a story that could well determine a champion come the end of the season.

Toyota drivers, in particular those from Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI, dominated the night.

Tyler Reddick, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, and Chase Briscoe combined to lead 272 of the 373 laps and looked set to fight it out for the victory before a rash of late cautions, one of which ended Briscoe’s night, turned the race on its head.

In the process, they also shook up our weekly power rankings, making for some fascinating movement ahead of next week’s race in Nashville.

10) Christopher Bell

Christopher Bell entered the 2026 season as a genuine championship contender after finishing in the top five in points each of the last four seasons.

However, bad luck has befallen the Joe Gibbs Racing star at seemingly every turn of late, taking him out of the top 10 both in points and power rankings in recent weeks.

While he yet again failed to find victory lane on Sunday under what some would call unlucky circumstances, Bell showed the kind of speed that leads you to believe there’s plenty of time for him to work his way back into the title fight.

Last Week: UR NASCAR Point Standings: 8th (-259)

9) Brad Keselowski

On pure speed alone, Keselowski was probably the slowest of the three RFK Racing drivers on Sunday night. But the veteran and former series champion knows what it takes to navigate his way through a 600-mile race.

While accidents ruined the race for teammates Ryan Preece and Chris Buescher, Keselowski slowly worked his way forward and was in the back end of the top 10 in the latter laps.

Ultimately, he’d bring home a 15th-place finish, which isn’t anything to write home about, but doesn’t see Keselowski take a hit in this week’s rankings.

Last Week: 9th NASCAR Point Standings: 11th (-277)

8) Carson Hocevar

The Coke 600 showed everything about Carson Hocevar’s 2026 season reduced into one race on Sunday night.

The 23-year-old Michigander started deep in the field after qualifying was rained out, but quickly worked his way up the running order. He then lost his track position after issues on pit road and again climbed back through the field into the top 10.

However, Hocevar’s team again let him down on pit road, this time with a slow stop under green flag conditions that put him multiple laps down.

Hocevar was only able to work back to 23rd position, but it’s yet again clear how high his potential is if he and the team can get out of their own way.

Last Week: 7th NASCAR Point Standings: 9th (-264)

7) Chris Buescher

Buescher has become the flagship driver for RFK Racing and was that yet again for most of the night on Sunday. He started in seventh position due to the qualifying rainout and ran in the back end of the top 10 for much of the night.

However, on lap 328, he moved down to make a block on Chase Briscoe just as Briscoe was moving down in his own right, sending both into the wall (as well as Buescher’s teammate Ryan Preece).

While Buescher was able to get his car back running, it was clearly damaged, and he eventually finished the night in 30th position, six laps down.

Last Week: 6th NASCAR Point Standings: 7th (-235)

6) Kyle Larson

While it was clear that Toyota drivers had the best cars on the night throughout Sunday’s race, Hendrick Motorsports star Kyle Larson was the best of the rest.

Larson quickly drove his way through the field from his 18th starting spot to win the opening stage thanks to some late pit strategy, and then took fifth in stage two before finishing in the same spot.

Ultimately, Larson has to be encouraged by Sunday’s showing. He still hasn’t won a race in over a year, but if he shows up with similar speed each week, it won’t be long before he ends up back in victory lane.

Last Week: 8th NASCAR Point Standings: 6th (-234)

5) Chase Elliott

On the opposite end of the spectrum from Larson was teammate Chase Elliott. Elliott started two spots ahead of Larson in 16th, but never really worked his way forward

He failed to move into the top 10, and then on lap 89, Elliott spun on his own while racing with Joey Logano and went nose-first into the inside wall.

Ultimately, it ended his night, and Elliot finished in 37th position, dropping spots in both the point standings and our power rankings.

Last Week: 3rd NASCAR Point Standings: 5th (-197)

4) Ty Gibbs

Ty Gibbs just keeps racking up strong finish after strong finish, and Sunday night was no different. The budding Joe Gibbs Racing star started on the front row and ran inside of the top five for the overwhelming majority of the night, leading 17 laps in the process.

Ultimately, a split in strategy and a poor late-race restart all but ended Gibbs’ chances at victory, but he still brought home a sixth-place finish, and after the race, he was confident about his team’s run, saying that he believes they’ll kick everyone’s a– when they return to the track later this season as part of the 10-race chase for a championship.

Last Week: 5th NASCAR Point Standings: 4th (-195)

3) Ryan Blaney

On its face, it’s hard to argue that Sunday was anything other than a success for Ryan Blaney. After all, he started in second position, finished each of the three stages, and then ultimately brought home a seventh-place finish, climbing up a spot in the NASCAR point standings in the process.

However, there were certainly some warning signs as it pertained to Blaney’s chances to contend for a championship. For one, his pit crew yet again had issues, dropping him out of the top 10 down to 20th early in the race.

On top of that, Blaney and the rest of the Ford drivers in the field simply didn’t have the speed that they’ll need to contend for victories over the course of the season.

If that trend continues, it’ll be an extremely uphill battle if Blaney wants to add to his 2023 series championship at the end of this season.

Last Week: 4th NASCAR Point Standings: 3rd (-174)

2) Denny Hamlin

Hamlin entered Sunday’s race with momentum after claiming victory the week prior in the All-Star Race at Dover, and he continued that momentum at Charlotte.

The Joe Gibbs Racing star led 75 laps, won the second stage, and showed great speed over the long run throughout the night. Had it not been for a band of rain that came in at the worst possible time, we may well be talking about Hamlin ending the night back in victory lane.

Either way, he took home a strong third-place finish and put a slight dent in Tyler Reddick’s seemingly insurmountable lead in the point standings.

Last Week: 2nd NASCAR Point Standings: 2nd (-122)

1) Tyler Reddick

For much of Sunday’s race, it looked as if Reddick, who started on the pole, might well add a sixth win in 13 races to his already impressive 2026 season resume.

Reddick led seven different times for a race-high 119 laps and finished in the top 10 in all three stages. Like Hamlin, he was running in the top five at the time of the final caution, and given his impressive short-run speed throughout the night, may well have been the favorite for victory should the race have restarted after the rain.

Instead, he brings home another top-five finish, ending the night in fourth, and reaffirms that if someone else wants to take the top spot in the standings and power rankings, they’re going to have to earn it.

Last Week: 1st NASCAR Point Standings: 1st