Chase Elliott — NASCAR's most popular driver — proved that he will be a contender in 2026. Find out how far he moved up the power rankings after Martinsville.
Tyler Reddick said if he won Martinsville, it would be the end of the world, since he struggles at that track. The driver who won four of the first six Cup races didn’t win Martinsville. Instead, the sport’s most popular driver did.
That moved Chase Elliott up in the standings. But Reddick stayed put and that's at No. 1. Here are my power rankings as the series heads into an off weekend for Easter. The next event will be the second race of a two-race, short-track swing with the series heading to Bristol Motor Speedway. Dropped out: Bubba Wallace On the verge: Chase Briscoe, Chris Buescher, Ryan Preece, Daniel Suarez, Shane van Gisbergen, Bubba Wallace 10. Brad Keselowski RFK Racing No. 6 Ford Keselowski finished a little bit disappointing 13th in his 600th start. But when starting 23rd, finishing in 13th isn’t a bad day for the 2012 Cup champion. 9. Austin Cindric Team Penske No. 2 Ford Cindric’s eighth-place finish gave him his second consecutive top-10. And not only did the Penske driver finish in the top 10, he was top 10 in both stages. He has moved up to 18th in the standings after a rough start to the year. 8. Kyle Larson Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet Larson’s feast-or-famine season continued with a not-so-feast-or-famine finish, as his ninth-place finish at Martinsville was somewhat pedestrian for him. Not great but it was a relatively good day for the defending series champion that saw three Hendrick drivers finish in the top 10. Larson is ninth in the standings. 7. Christopher Bell Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota Bell didn’t finish in the top 10 in the stages but delivered a seventh-place finish. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver now has six top-10 finishes in 13 starts at Martinsville. He sits seventh in the standings. 6. William Byron Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet Byron qualified on the front row and it appeared this could be his day to have a breakout 2026 performance. Instead, it was just a solid day with a fifth-place finish for the Hendrick driver. He’s now fifth in the standings and still looking for his first 2026 victory. 5. Ty Gibbs Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 Toyota Earning his third fourth-place finish in the last five races , Gibbs is having a season where he is knocking on the door to earn his first win. Considering he now has 130 career Cup starts, he could be forgiven if he is getting impatient. 4. Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet What a big win Martinsville was for Elliott and his team as they made their argument that the 2020 Cup champion will be a contender this year. Going back to Martinsville in October in the next-to-last race of the season should be good for the Hendrick driver. 3. Ryan Blaney Team Penske No. 12 Ford Blaney was battling Denny Hamlin when Hamlin pinched him into the wall, leaving Blaney with a bit of damage and having him fight for a sixth-place finish. The 2023 Cup champion continues to be Penske’s most consistent driver. 2. Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota Hamlin saw a potential Martinsville slip through his hands, thanks to a loose wheel and Elliott capitalizing on strategy. The winner of 61 Cup races knows that sometimes it's just the way it goes. The JGR driver finished second. 1. Tyler Reddick 23XI Racing No. 45 Toyota Reddick was 15th at Martinsville but he's still No. 1 here. It will take another stellar performance by Hamlin or Elliott or Blaney and a bad day at Bristol to knock Reddick off the top spot, as the 23XI driver is having a great start to the year.
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