Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10: Chris Buescher – This week: 10 – Last week: 13 It was a great day, not just for Chris Buescher, but for the entire RFK Team, as they at one point were running 1-2-3. Buescher had a very

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of O’Reilly Stats Friday. This weekend the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series travels to Las Vegas, Nevada for The LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Las Vegas is a 1.5-mile tri-oval speedway. It opened in 1971, though O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races didn’t start taking place there until 1997. Jeff Green won the first race there in this series. Justin Allgaier won this race last year in the spring, and Ari

Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10: Kyle Larson – This week: 10 – Last week: 12 Larson joked that he seems to always finish P3 at Phoenix, and it is kind of true. He’s finished third at Phoenix six times over the course of hi

By Adam Carabine Welcome to the StatChat NASCAR Games! If you’re new here, this year I thought it might be fun to share some of the silly little games I play on my NASCAR Excel Sheet throughout the season as we follow along. BRACKET GAMES These games are similar to NASCAR’s In-Season Tournament, as created by Denny Hamlin, but it lasts all season long. Drivers are originally seeded by a mixture of performance from last year, with some creative discretion from myself.

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Avondale, Arizona for the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway. Phoenix is a 1-mile oval with a signature dogleg just past the start/finish line. It served as the Championship Race for the past six years, though that has changed in 2026. The track opened in 1964, but the Cup Series didn’t start racing there until 1988. Alan Kulw

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of O’Reilly Stats Friday. This weekend the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series travels to Avondale, Arizona for the GOVX 200 at Phoenix Raceway. Phoenix is a 1-mile oval with a signature dogleg just past the start/finish line. It served as the Championship Race for the past six years, though that has changed in 2026. The track opened in 1964, but the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series didn’t start racing there until 19

By Adam Carabine Welcome to the StatChat NASCAR Games! We are now three races into the 2026 season, and I thought it might be fun to share some of the silly little games I play on my NASCAR Excel Sheet. BRACKET GAMES These games are similar to NASCAR’s In-Season Tournament, as created by Denny Hamlin, but it lasts all season long. Drivers are originally seeded by a mixture of performance from last year, with some creative discretion from myself. Each week, whichever d

Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10: Michael McDowell – This week: 10 – Last week: 23 McDowell is great at the drafting tracks, and at road courses. After the first two races of the year didn’t go his way (he finished P22 and

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series travels to Austin, Texas for the DuraMAX Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, or COTA. The portion of the track that NASCAR uses at COTA is a 17-turn 2.4-mile road course. The facility opened in 2012, and NASCAR first visited in 2021. Christopher Bell won this race last year. Tomorrow’s race will be 95 laps long (for a total of 223.82 mi

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of O’Reilly Stats Friday. This weekend the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series travels to Austin, Texas for the Focused Health 250 at Circuit of the Americas, or COTA. The portion of the track that NASCAR uses at COTA is a 17-turn 2.4-mile road course. The facility opened in 2012, and NASCAR first visited in 2021. Kyle Busch won the first O’Reilly Auto Parts Series (Xfinity) race there that year. Connor Zilisc

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, you might be familiar with the Cup Series’ Stats Saturday article, but this year we are branching it out to the Top 3 Series. It’s now time for another Truck Stats Thursday. This weekend the Craftsman Truck Series travels to St. Petersburg, Florida for the OnlyBulls Green Flag 150 at the St. Petersburg Street Circuit. The Street Circuit at St. Petersburg is a 14-turn 1.8-mile course that takes over some streets, as well as one of th

Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10: Joey Logano – This week: 10 – Last week: 8 Logano might not have finished as well as his P3 at Daytona the previous week, but he had a solid day in Atlanta. He led 26 laps, earned some stage

Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10: Noah Gragson – This week: 10 – Last week: -- How about a nice start to the season for Noah Gragson? He started with screwing up his qualifying attempt, but rebounded nicely. He earned poi

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend NASCAR travels to Avondale, Arizona for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway. Phoenix is a 1-mile oval track with a unique dogleg corner just past the start-finish line. The track opened in 1964, but NASCAR didn’t start racing there until 1988. Alan Kulwicki won the first race there that year. Christopher Bell won in Phoenix earlier this year. Joey Log

Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images By Adam Carabine With the Cup Series playoffs in full swing, Power Rankings will now follow only the 16 playoff drivers (even after they’re eliminated) for the rest of this season. While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs, with an emphasis placed on the most recent 5 races. Austin Cindric – This week: 30 – Last wee

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend NASCAR travels to Ridgeway, Virginia for the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Martinsville is a 0.526-mile oval, nicknamed “The Paperclip,” because of its shape. It’s the only track that has concrete in the turns, but asphalt on the straightaways. Martinsville is also the oldest track that is still run on the NASCAR schedule. It opened in 1947, and Red Byron was the

Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images By Adam Carabine With the Cup Series playoffs in full swing, Power Rankings will now follow only the 16 playoff drivers (even after they’re eliminated) for the rest of this season. While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs, with an emphasis placed on the most recent 5 races. Austin Cindric – This week: 33 – Last

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend NASCAR travels to Lincoln, Alabama for the YellaWood 500 at Talladega SuperSpeedway. Talladega is the largest oval on the NASCAR circuit, at 2.66 miles long. The track opened in 1969, and Richard Brickhouse was the first to win a NASCAR race at the facility that same year. Last year, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won this race in the fall. Earlier this season, the race was won by

Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images By Adam Carabine With the Cup Series playoffs in full swing, Power Rankings will now follow only the 16 playoff drivers (even after they’re eliminated) for the rest of this season. While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs, with an emphasis placed on the most recent 5 races. Josh Berry – This week: 28 – Last week:

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend NASCAR travels to Las Vegas,...