NASCAR Power Rankings After Chase Elliott’s Win At Atlanta

This week’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway began in chaotic fashion and never let up, with Chase Elliott using a last-lap pass to pick up his first victory of the season. Elliott’s win vaulted him up this week’s edition of our NASCAR power rankings, which we’ll count down below.

After showing consistency but little in the way of race-winning speed to start the NASCAR Cup Series season, Chase Elliott has kicked things into high gear during the month of June.

How did Elliott’s win at Atlanta affect this week’s power rankings and who else moved around? We’ll chronicle all that and more in the coming slides.

10) Chris Buescher

Buescher was one of the few members of this list who wasn’t caught up in a crash at Atlanta. He brought home a solid ninth-place finish after taking third in the second stage.

But at a track where he and the Ford teams as a whole had great speed, it’s hard to feel like this wasn’t a missed opportunity to pick up a win and lock himself into the playoffs.

Last Week: 10th NASCAR Playoff Standings: 14th

9) Tyler Reddick

At a time when Reddick badly needed a great finish, he was able to get one at a track that maybe some may not have predicted.

Not only did Reddick finish fourth, picking up his first top-five finish in nearly three months, but he also won the second stage of the race and banked an all-important playoff point, the first of the season for a driver who is shockingly without a win thus far.

Last Week: 9th NASCAR Playoff Standings: 13th

8) Ross Chastain

Chastain will want to quickly put Saturday’s race at Atlanta in the rear-view mirror. He qualified in the back of the pack, struggled to move forward, and eventually got caught up in the lap 69 wreck that more or less ended the day for half the field.

Chastain doesn’t slide in this week’s rankings because of the win he picked up in Charlotte, which insulates him a bit in the rankings. But consecutive finishes of 16th, 23rd and 33rd won’t be something that he wants to make a trend.

Last Week: 8th NASCAR Playoff Standings: 12th

7) Chase Briscoe

Briscoe, like Chastain, went out on lap 69 of the race at Atlanta through no fault of his own. He and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates all qualified toward the back of the pack and struggled to move up.

But unlike Chastain, Briscoe has been on a run of good results, so we won’t hold his bad luck against him. He’ll look to rebound next week in Chicago, a place he’s never finished higher than 20th at previously.

Last Week: 7th NASCAR Playoff Standings: 8th

6) Ryan Blaney

What could have been for Ryan Blaney and the entirety of his  Penske team. Team Penske drivers, including affiliate Josh Berry, swept the front two rows in qualifying and dominated the early stages of the race.

But Blaney got cycled to the back and taken out as an innocent victim as a result of a Christopher Bell crash on lap 56. He ultimately finished dead last in a race where many considered him one of the favorites, while the rest of his Team Penske teammates were eliminated not much later in the lap 69 pile-up.

Last Week: 5th NASCAR Playoff Standings: 5th

5) William Byron

For the first time this season, William Byron falls outside the top four in our power rankings after getting caught up in the lap 69 crash and going on to finish in 37th.

Byron was one of the dominant cars earlier in the season, but was only able to convert that dominance into one race victory. Now he’s finished outside the top 25 in three of the last four races, with a best finish in that span on ninth.

Yes, Byron still sits atop the regular season point, but his advantage is rapidly shrinking, and while his 12 playoff points are a strong total, there may come a time where he wishes he’d banked far more when the team was running at its best.

Last Week: 4th NASCAR Playoff Standings: 4th

 

4) Chase Elliott

Are we in for the summer of Chase Elliott in the NASCAR Cup Series? The knock on Elliott this season was that while he was consistent, he wasn’t competing for wins like Hendrick teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson.

Well, Elliott now has three consecutive top-five finishes, capped off with a win Saturday in Atlanta. He moved into second in the regular season points behind Byron, and in his current form, we wouldn’t rule out him adding to his win total in the weeks to come.

Last Week: 6th NASCAR Playoff Standings: 11th

3) Christopher Bell

Bell was a victim of his own circumstances at Atlanta as a solo spin on lap 59 wadded up much of the field, including the aforementioned Ryan Blaney. He went on to finish in 30th position, more than 100 laps down.

Bell has now finished outside the top 15 in three of the last four weeks, but three early-season wins and a second-place finish in Mexico City keep him in third in this week’s countdown.

Last Week: 3rd NASCAR Playoff Standings: 3rd

2) Kyle Larson

Despite being right in the middle of the chaotic crash on lap 69 that destroyed half the field at Atlanta, Larson was somehow able to escape with minimal damage and remain on the lead lap.

The damage was enough, however, to keep him from being overly competitive for the rest of the race. He brought home a mediocre 17th-place finish, which could have been far worse, all things considered. With neither Bell nor Byron finishing above him, Larson hangs on to his spot in this week’s rankings.

Last Week: 2nd NASCAR Playoff Standings: 1st

1) Denny Hamlin

While Hamlin rubberstamped his spot atop the power rankings one week ago with a strong run at Pocono, this week’s ranking is more about circumstance.

Like the majority of the field, Hamlin got swept up in the crash on lap 69 and finished the race in 31st position. After a poor qualifying effort, he never showed up anywhere near the front of the race.

But with Bell, Byron and Larson all faltering as well, to varying degrees, Hamlin remains the king of the castle, at least for one week longer.

Last Week: 1st NASCAR Playoff Standings: 2nd