NASCAR Power Rankings After Bubba Wallace’s Win At Indianapolis

Bubba Wallace held off the man widely considered the best driver in NASCAR, Kyle Larson, and somehow saved enough fuel to win Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In doing so, he moved himself back into our power rankings for the first time in several weeks and highlights a new list that is full of movement.

We recently named Bubba Wallace one of the drivers who were most likely to win their way into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs with just five weeks remaining.

Much of that prediction was based on Wallace’s strength at Indianapolis, where he’s consistently run up front. On Sunday, he validated that prediction by saving fuel and holding off a hungry Kyle Larson to pick up his first win in 100 races.

In doing so, Wallace moved into our newest set of power rankings, which feature a good bit of movement.

10) Tyler Reddick

With just four races left in the regular season, it’s Reddick, not Wallace, who is the 23XI Racing star without a victory this season.

While Reddick is still likely to make the playoffs on points, he and his team continue to struggle to finish races. On Sunday, a late stop for fuel took him out of contention for the race win and led to a disappointing 29th-place finish at a track where he finished second a year ago.

Last Week: 9th NASCAR Playoff Standings: 14th

9) Shane Van Gisbergen

On its face, a 19th-place finish is not exactly cause for elation for Van Gisbergen. But he badly needed a nice, steady weekend on a non-road course, and he got one at Indianapolis.

Van Gisbergen qualified 11th and then remained on the lead lap for the majority of the day before bringing home a top-20 finish, the best of any Trackhouse Racing driver.

He’ll now hope to follow that up with a solid run at Iowa next week before heading to Watkins Glen, where he’ll enter as a heavy favorite to win.

Last Week: 8th NASCAR Playoff Standings: 4th

8) Bubba Wallace

Wallace made two appearances in earlier editions of power rankings, peaking at No. 9. At the time, he was consistently running well, but wasn’t really threatening for race wins.

But he did more than threaten on Sunday at Indianapolis. Wallace qualified second at a track where he now has his best career average finish (11.2). He then ran inside the top 10 for the entire day and moved to the lead on the late strategy call.

Once there, he refused to be denied, saving fuel and holding off Kyle Larson twice to earn the win and a spot in the playoffs.

Last Week: NR NASCAR Playoff Standings: 9th

7) Chase Briscoe

What looked like an extremely promising day for Chase Briscoe wound up being a bit of a disappointment in the end.

Briscoe qualified on the pole and led 34 laps, winning the first stage in the process. But he got buried in traffic in stage two and never really recovered.

A late stop for gas sunk Briscoe’s day even further and we found up with an 18th place finish that was surely not was looking for at his home race.

Last Week: 6th NASCAR Playoff Standings: 8th

6) Ryan Blaney

While he may not have won, or even come close to winning, Sunday’s race at Indianapolis was an undoubted success for Blaney.

He started the race in 24th after a disappointing qualifying performance and slowly chipped away into the teens. A late caution in stage two then allowed Blaney and crew chief Jonathan Hassler to play some strategy. Blaney stayed out and won the stage, picking up an all-important playoff point.

He then benefited from cautions again late in the race, ultimately finishing in eighth and scoring 40 points on the day, the fourth most of any driver.

Last Week: 7th NASCAR Playoff Standings: 6th

5) Chase Elliott

Sunday’s race wasn’t awful for Elliott, and he maintained the regular-season points lead thanks to some late-race happenings. But Elliott was shockingly anonymous for the entirety of the day.

He started the race in 30th and slowly worked up into the top-20. But Elliott seemingly stalled out from there. He didn’t score points in either stage and eventually finished in a mediocre 13th position.

Elliott will need more than that in the next four weeks if he wants to win the regular-season points crown and the 15 playoff points that come with it.

Last Week: 4th NASCAR Playoff Standings: 11th

4) William Byron

Bad luck struck Byron again at the end of the race to slide him down the running order. He ran out of gas on the last lap and brought home a 16th-place finish.

But Sunday’s race was largely positive up until that point. Byron ran inside the top-five for the entire day, finishing third and fourth in the first two stages.

He then battled Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson for the win late before running out of gas. Ultimately, Byron cut Chase Elliott’s lead in the regular season points down to just four with four races left until the playoffs.

Last Week: 5th NASCAR Playoff Standings: 5th

3) Christopher Bell

Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson continue to play a game of catch with the second and third spots in our power rankings.

This week, Bell took a step back. Yes, finished in eighth, which represented a solid finish on a track where he’s struggled in the past.

But Bell ran outside the top 10 for most of the day and also nearly cost fellow Toyota driver Bubba Wallace the win when he seemingly badly mistimed an attempt to pass Zane Smith in the first overtime and sent Smith nose-first into the wall at high speed.

Last Week: 2nd NASCAR Playoff Standings: 3rd

2) Kyle Larson

Larson will feel like he had a chance to become the fourth back-to-back winner of the Brickyard 400 and very nearly pulled it off.

Ultimately, he’ll see it as an opportunity missed after Bubba Wallace got the better of him on back-to-back overtime restarts. But Larson still had a strong day.

He started the race in 13th and picked up points in both stages, nearly tracking down Blaney for the win in stage two.

Like Byron, he closed in on Elliott for the regular-season points championship. He now sits just 15 points back with four races remaining.

Last Week: 3rd NASCAR Playoff Standings: 2nd

1) Denny Hamlin

Perhaps Sunday’s race at Indianapolis looks different if Hamlin does not crash on his qualifying attempt, going from what looked like the pole to the final starting spot on the grid.

However, Hamlin still managed to turn water into wine, driving up through the field and finishing third in both the second stage and the race.

He’s also closing in on Elliott, trailing by just 20 points in the regular season standings despite skipping an earlier race for the birth of his child. Hamlin continues to show up with great speed every single week, and he’s probably not done adding to his four wins already this season.

Last Week: 1st NASCAR Playoff Standings: 1st