NASCAR Power Rankings After Tyler Reddick’s Win At The 2026 Daytona 500

The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season is officially underway with Tyler Reddick claiming his first career victory in the Daytona 500 for team owner Michael Jordan.

Reddick, a final four contender in 2024, struggled mightily a season ago, but it seems he’s back on track in a back way in 2026 and begins the new season not only with a win in the biggest race of the year, but also with the lead in the series’ new points format.

The victory puts Reddick atop the first edition of our 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Power Rankings, but several others join him on the list, while some big names find themselves on the outside looking in.

2026 NASCAR Cup Series Power Rankings

Last season, series champion Kyle Larson finished the season atop the power rankings, just ahead of Denny Hamlin and William Byron, each of whom struggled to various degrees at Daytona.

Whie that won’t keep them out of the power rankings entirely, it does present an opportunity for some unexpected names to move into the innitial top 10 for the 2026 season.

Honorable Mention: Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe

The Joe Gibbs Racing trio of Christopher Bell, Denny Hamlin, and Chase Briscoe are all considered championship threats in 2026. But the Daytona 500 was not good to any of the three.

Briscoe started in second position and led 19 laps before getting caught up in an early crash and finishing 36th. Bell was finished just one spot better in 35th after a wreck of his own, and, similarly, Hamlin found himself at the center of a late crash after a bad block by Justin Allgaier and finished in 31st, two laps down.

It’s way too early in the season to enter panic mode. But it certainly’s wasn’t the start any of the three drivers wanted.

10) Carson Hocevar

Coming to the white flag, it looked as if rising star Carson Hocevar might just win the Daytona 500 for upstart Spire Motorsports, who just handed Hocevar a long-term contract extension.

Unfortunately, he got caught up in a last-lap crash while leading the race and ultimately finished in 18th. However, Hocvevar picked up key points in the opening stage and ran well throughout the day, proving he’s once again a force to be reckoned with.

NASCAR Points Standings: 9th (-22)

9) William Byron

William Byron entered the Daytona 500 looking to make history as the first driver to win the Daytona 500 three consecutive times, and he darn near did so against all odds.

A crash in Thursday’s duel race meant that Byron had to start deep in the field, and he found himself caught up in two more wrecks during Sunday’s race. Still, on the final restart of the race, Byron found himself in the second row with a genuine chance to win yet again.

The cards didn’t fall the way he’d hoped and Byron eventually came home 12th after avoiding a would-be ugly crash on the last lap. But it’s clear, yet again, that Byron is going to be a threat almost everywhere he goes this year.

NASCAR Points Standings: 18th (-33)

8) Chris Buescher

Few drivers are expected to benefit from NASCAR altering its points format as much as Roush Fenway Keselowski driver Chris Buescher.

The veteran from Prosper, Texas is remarkably consistent on almost every type of track, but RFK has lacked race-winning speed at times in recent seasons.

Buescher ran inside the top-10 all day on Sunday, picking up points in both stages one and two before bringing home a solid seventh-place finish.

NASCAR Points Standings: 7th (-19)

7) Bubba Wallace

Wallace was one of the most consistent drivers in the entire field in the second half of the 2025 season and was a pair of good breaks away from reaching the championship four.

He’s always one of the best restrictor-plate racers in the NASCAR Cup Series, and showed as much on Sunday, leading a race-high 40 laps and winning the second stage to pick up a key 10 points. Ultimately, Wallace found himself shuffled back on the final lap after letting off the gas to avoid a big crash into Byron. But he still took home a 10th-place finish and got his 2026 campaign off to a strong start.

NASCAR Points Standings: 8th (-21)

6) Brad Keselowski

For a brief moment, it appeared as if former series champion and now team co-owner Brad Keselowski might finally win his elusive first Daytona 500. Unfortunately, a late move by Riley Herbst sent Keselowski into the wall as the cars approached the checkered flag and he skidded across the finish line in fifth.

Even so, Keselowski took home a strong top-five finish after picking up seven points in his qualifying race on Thursday as well. For a guy who could walk one month ago following an accident while on a ski trip, that’s not too shabby.

He’ll have the chance to keep that momentum rolling next week at Atlanta Motor Speedway, another track where RFK Racing has shown speed in the past.

NASCAR Points Standings: 6th (-19)

5) Kyle Larson

Sure, a 16th-place finish isn’t exactly what Kyle Larson hoped for entering the Daytona 500. However, when you’re the defending series champion, you get a bit of leeway, especially after earning eight bonus points by finishing third in your qualifying race on Thursday.

Larson was up front at times early on Sunday, leading four times for seven laps, but a mid-race crash ended any hopes he had of winning.

Still Larson leaves Daytona with a solid enough points haul, and something tells us it won’t take him long to move up the stadings.

NASCAR Points Standings: 15th (-29)

4) Ryan Blaney

The last time Ryan Blaney came to Daytona, he left a winner in the 2025 July race. Some unfortunate strategy and a last-lap crash made sure that wasn’t the case this time around, as he finished in just 27th position.

However, he spent the entirety of the day up front before that points, finishing third in the opening stage and second in stage two. Combine that with a second-place finish in Tuesday’s qualifying race and Blaney actually leaves Daytona in a solid points position even despite the dismal overall finish.

NASCAR Points Standings: 10th (-22)

3) Chase Elliott

Elliott won his qualifying race on Thursday to second 10 bonus points and the fourth starting spot for Sunday’s Daytona 500.

While he spent most of the race riding around mid-pack or out back, when it came time to win, he was right there in the mix. In fact, with less than half a lap to go, it looked as if he was set to win his first Daytona 500.

Ultimately, the duo of Tyler Reddick and Riley Herbst proved too much for him to hold off down the stretch, but Elliott still brought home a fourth-place finish that puts him off to a great start in the season-long points race.

NASCAR Points Standings: 3rd (-15)

When NASCAR announced a change to its championship format from a playoff elimnation style to a 10-race chase for the championship, most assumed that three-time series champion Joey Logano would be the one to suffer most.

Ultimately, only time will tell if that’s the case.

But the veteran and future Hall of Famer sure didn’t struggle to start the season. Logano won his qualifying race on Thursday, picking up 10 key points, and while he got caught back in the pack for most of Sunday’s Daytona 500, when it came time to win, he was right there in contention, ultimately winding up third.

Outside of a victory, it’s hard to picture a better start to the season for the Penske Racing start.

NASCAR Points Standings: 2nd (-12)

1) Tyler Reddick

After winning three races and reaching the championship race in 2024, Tyler Reddick had a dismal 2025 season. He failed to win and also dealth with heartbreaking off-track circumstances as his newborn son, Rookie, dealt with severe health issues.

Thanfkully, Reddick’s son’s condition has since stabilized, and what better way to turn the page in your life to a new year than to win the biggest race of his career.

While Reddick was anonymous for much of Sunday’s Daytona 500, he was there when it counted, getting a late run and passing Elliott off the final turn to win in historic fashion, giving team owner Michael Jordan his first Daytona 500 victory in the process.

NASCAR Points Standings: 1st