Week Fourteen - 2026 StatChat Power Rankings After Nashville
- Adam Carabine
- 5 minutes ago
- 4 min read
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:
Daniel Suarez – This week: 10 – Last week: 13
Riding some momentum from last week’s win at the Coca-Cola 600, Suarez started near the front and had some solid moments at Nashville. He faded back early, but fought his way back forward a few times with different pit strategies. He also won Stage Two, though it did end under caution.
Ty Gibbs – This week: 9 – Last week: 8
A 13th placed finish for Ty Gibbs at Nashville is solid enough, especially for a race with a lot of carnage. The young driver led a single lap, partially on a pit cycle, but it still counts. He finished on the lead lap, spent most of the day in the Top 15, and had the 4th-most Quality Passes of any driver on Sunday.
Chris Buescher – This week: 8 – Last week: 5
Buescher falls a few spots this week, mostly due to a bad finishing position after he was one of the many brake rotor victims on Sunday in Nashville. Despite finishing with a DNF in 29th place, the rest of his day wasn’t terrible, and he managed to stay in the Top 10 of the Power Rankings.
Carson Hocevar – This week: 7 – Last week: 7
Hocevar was involved in one incident in Nashville, where he tagged John Hunter Nemechek and got him spinning. Even with his ultra-aggressive reputation, Hocevar was off the hook on this one, as John Hunter Neme-checked up (see what I did there?) after getting loose going over some bumps, and Hocevar had nowhere to go. Hocevar rebounded with a P10 finish, and he stays put in the Power Rankings for the week.
Christopher Bell – This week: 6 – Last week: 9
That’s two weeks in a row now where Christopher Bell gets a runner-up finish. He can hang his hat on the fact that he probably had the fastest car in the field, but sometimes that makes a P2 finish almost that much more painful too. He led 29 laps in Nashville, had the most Quality Passes of any driver, and was tied for the best average running position. Still winless this season, but he’s on the upswing.
Chase Elliott – This week: 5 – Last week: 6
Chase Elliott was all over the place in Nashville this past weekend, and I mean that in a good way. He was all over the track, with varying different pit strategies and attempts at maintaining track position. It worked for the 9 team, as they finished P7 on a tough day for many of his teammates.
Ryan Blaney – This week: 4 – Last week: 4
Blaney had a fast car in Nashville too. He probably couldn’t quite compete with Bell if it were just the two of them head-to-head, but he was up there quite a bit. He led 46 laps, earned some stage points, and finished the day P8 after some pit strategy didn’t entirely go his way at the end. A very respectable finish.
SVG – This week: 3 – Last week: 3
Who even is this guy? He’s starting to figure out ovals, all of the other drivers are likely quaking in their boots (reference to the city of last week’s race?). Obviously SVG is the one to beat on road courses, but he has learned a lot about the ovals lately too. At one point he took the lead on a pit strategy call to only take two tires, and he held off Kyle Larson. He earned a Top 5 on the day, and rightfully maintains his spot in the Power Rankings!
Denny Hamlin – This week: 2 – Last week: 2
Denny Hamlin was the winner in Nashville last weekend, and possibly may have deserved a shot at the top spot in the Power Rankings! He’s had a pretty remarkable run lately, including a 7.4 average finish over the last five races. Not only did he win in Nashville, but he did it in extra dramatic style, earning a pass-through penalty on lap one, and having to work his way back through the field.
Tyler Reddick – This week: 1 – Last week: 1
While Denny Hamlin’s record over the last five races is impressive, Tyler Reddick’s was slightly better. His average finish over this time has been 6.6 – which strangely enough features no wins, and one of his worst finishes of the year at Talladega. Reddick had some strong moments in Nashville, though never seemed to have quite the car to pull off the victory. Hopefully the heavy impact of a hard hit just at the checkered flag won’t have too many lingering effects in the weeks to come.
Biggest Movers
Bubba Wallace – This week: 28 – Last week: 17
Falls 11 places
Michael McDowell – This week: 20 – Last week: 28
Gains 8 places
Rest of the List
11. | Chase Briscoe | LW: 14 | +3 |
12. | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | LW: 18 | +6 |
13. | Kyle Larson | LW: 10 | -3 |
14. | Zane Smith | LW: 21 | +7 |
15. | Erik Jones | LW: 16 | +1 |
16. | Ryan Preece | LW: 12 | -4 |
17. | AJ Allmendinger | LW: 20 | +3 |
18. | Brad Keselowski | LW: 11 | -7 |
19. | Austin Dillon | LW: 22 | +3 |
20. | Michael McDowell | LW: 28 | +8 |
21. | Austin Cindric | LW: 19 | -2 |
22. | William Byron | LW: 15 | -7 |
23. | Riley Herbst | LW: 26 | +3 |
24. | Todd Gilliland | LW: 25 | +1 |
25. | Noah Gragson | LW: 27 | +2 |
26. | Alex Bowman | LW: 24 | -2 |
27. | Ty Dillon | LW: 30 | +3 |
28. | Bubba Wallace | LW: 17 | -11 |
29. | Ross Chastain | LW: 23 | -6 |
30. | Joey Logano | LW: 29 | -1 |
31. | JH Nemechek | LW: 31 | -- |
32. | Cody Ware | LW: 33 | +1 |
33. | Cole Custer | LW: 34 | +1 |
34. | Josh Berry | LW: 35 | +1 |
35. | Connor Zilisch | LW: 32 | -3 |
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