Week 8 NASCAR power rankings: Larson rises to No. 1

Sunday’s Cook dinner Out 400 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway noticed Hendrick Motorsports end 1-2-3 within the race that served because the fortieth anniversary of the workforce’s first win.

William Byron took the checkered flag, however because the Cup Sequence heads to Fort Value, Texas for Sunday’s Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 400, it is one in every of his teammates who sits atop the ability rankings.

1. Kyle Larson (Last week: 2)

Larson received the pole at Martinsville, led 86 laps, completed runner-up and reclaimed the factors lead by 14 markers over Martin Truex Jr. That is sufficient to return him to the entrance of the ability rankings, and he’ll have a great likelihood to remain there after the following race, too. Within the final NASCAR race at Texas Motor Speedway, he led 99 laps and appeared en path to a dominant win earlier than crashing late.

2. Denny Hamlin (Final week: 4)

Hamlin did not sweep the early season short-track swing, however he led 66 laps and was a contender late Sunday earlier than he fell to eleventh on the ultimate restart. He has had success at Texas previously, sweeping each races there in 2010 and likewise profitable within the spring of 2019, nevertheless it’s been an up-and-down observe for him all through his profession.

3. William Byron (Final week: 6)

Byron’s season of feast or famine continues. He adopted up an uneventful run at Richmond together with his third win of the season in solely eight races. On a day when passing proved tough, he maneuvered via the sector after beginning 18th. It was one of the vital spectacular drives of his profession. Now he’ll head to Texas, the place he received final fall.

4. Martin Truex Jr. (Final week: 1)

Truex took a little bit of a tumble within the rankings after a disappointing 18th-place end, as he was unable to rebound from his “might’ve, would’ve, ought to’ve” Richmond heartbreaker. Nonetheless, this was the primary time he has been a non-factor in weeks, and one can count on him to get proper again to working up entrance.

5. Chase Elliott (Final week: 8)

Sunday was maybe the closest to a win since 2022 for Elliott, who fought for the lead on the ultimate restart and completed third. He’s slowly regaining his pre-injury kind, and if he can carry that momentum over to Texas — a observe the place he is led fewer than 100 laps in his profession and by no means completed higher than fourth — it could be time to formally declare him again.

6. Tyler Reddick (Final week: 7)

Reddick earned a quiet seventh-place effort in Martinsville regardless of being outshone by his teammate, Bubba Wallace, all through the afternoon. Now that this stretch of quick tracks is out of the way in which, count on him to be a major think about Texas — he received there in 2022, and he was finest within the “not Kyle Larson” class at Las Vegas, the one different intermediate for the Cup Sequence this season.

7. Ryan Blaney (Final week: 12)

Blaney completed a strong fifth at Martinsville and had one of many quickest vehicles by the tip of the race. His end strikes him again up just a few slots, and he’ll have an opportunity to maneuver up much more at Texas, the place he has come near profitable a number of occasions.

8. Joey Logano (Final week: 10)

That is now back-to-back good weeks for Logano, who completed sixth in Martinsville after main 84 laps on pit technique. He has entered the playoff image with a transfer as much as 14th in factors. Logano nonetheless has so much to show on the intermediates, although, so Texas can be a great check for him and his No. 22 bunch.

9. Ty Gibbs (Final week: 5)

Gibbs had a surprisingly invisible race in Martinsville, the place one might’ve moderately anticipated him to struggle for the win given his earlier short-track pace in 2024. As an alternative, he was a middling nineteenth. For a second-year driver who is barely 21, it is comprehensible for him to have an off week every now and then.

10. Christopher Bell (Final week: 3)

Martinsville was disastrous for Bell, who was outdoors the highest 20 even earlier than having to pit underneath inexperienced for a flat tire and falling a number of laps down. He completed thirty fifth. For all of the pace he is proven at occasions this season, the execution has usually been missing, and that is why he is right down to eleventh in factors, lowest of the Joe Gibbs Racing squad.

11. Bubba Wallace (Final week: 15)

Wallace completed the very best of the non-Hendrick vehicles Sunday with a formidable fourth, which was about the place he ran all race. He has regained his momentum from the beginning of the season after just a few down weeks, and given his efficiency at Texas final fall by which he led 111 laps and completed third, he ought to be robust there once more.

12. Ross Chastain (Final week: 11)

As has been the case for a lot of this season, Chastain did not make an entire lot of noise and but earned an honest end on Sunday. He was 14th at Martinsville, persevering with his streak of no results outside the top 15 since Daytona. Provided that intermediates are usually his robust swimsuit, he could possibly be one to look at in Texas.

13. Alex Bowman (Final week: 13)

Bowman lagged barely behind the remainder of his Hendrick teammates at Martinsville, however his eighth-place end is nothing to be ashamed of. Such is commonly the story for the No. 48 driver, who’s solidly Tenth in factors and comfortably within the playoffs eight races in. That is not unhealthy for being his workforce’s fourth fiddle.

14. Chase Briscoe (Final week: not ranked)

Martinsville was one other strong outing for Briscoe, who climbed again to inside one level of the ultimate playoff spot with a Tenth-place end. Briscoe and his Stewart-Haas Racing teammates, nevertheless, have not proven intermediate pace. Briscoe earned a top-10 at Texas final fall, so maybe he could possibly be in line for one more robust run there.

15. Chris Buescher (Final week: 9)

Buescher’s drop from ninth to Fifteenth in these rankings is not a lot as a result of he ran badly, however slightly as a result of the drivers who jumped over him carried out properly. That stated, the No. 17 driver — in addition to his teammate and co-owner, Brad Keselowski —- had been principally invisible at Martinsville though Buescher grinded out a Fifteenth-place end.

16. Kyle Busch (Final week: NR)

Busch discovered his method again into the rankings after dropping out following Richmond. His Sixteenth-place end have to be thought of an enormous constructive given Richard Childress Racing’s lack of short-track pace. He stays some extent forward of Briscoe within the closing playoff spot, and can look to distance himself in that struggle at Texas.

Dropped out: Brad Keselowski, Josh Berry