Week Seven - 2026 StatChat Power Rankings After Martinsville
- Adam Carabine
- 1 hour 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:
Kyle Larson – This week: 10 – Last week: 9
It was neither a dominant nor a terrible performance from Kyle Larson at Martinsville. Larson can be hit or miss, where he’s crashing out early, or dominating with tons of laps led. He didn’t lead any at Martinsville but finished with a respectable P9. The expectations for him are higher than that, but he didn’t really lose any ground in the points standings.
Bubba Wallace – This week: 9 – Last week: 3
It was a weekend to forget for Bubba Wallace at Martinsville. Whether his move on Carson Hocevar (which eventually took Bubba out of the race) was some poorly-timed aggression, or an attempt at retaliation, we don’t know. But he came out on the bad end of it and finished P36.
Brad Keselowski – This week: 8 – Last week: 7
While Keselowski’s Martinsville race wasn’t quite the P2 finish he had the week before in Darlington, so he was bound to fall down in the Power Rankings. His P13 is still impressive at a track like Martinsville where footwork is important, and Keselowski is still recovering from a broken leg. He is firmly in The Chase as the points stand right now, up 48 points to the cut line.
Chase Elliott – This week: 7 – Last week: 11
Chase Elliott pops up into the Top 10 this week after his win at Martinsville. It wasn’t entirely a dominant performance – it was buoyed by a gutsy strategy call by his crew chief, Alan Gustafson – but neither Chase Elliott nor his fans are complaining. Denny Hamlin likely had the car to beat at Martinsville, but Chase did it.
Ty Gibbs – This week: 6 – Last week: 8
I think it’s time I stop predicting that Ty Gibbs is going to break through and get that first Cup Series win. I keep saying it, it keeps not happening. It was another great performance from the young driver at Martinsville – finishing P4, earning points in both stages, and having an average running position of 3rd all day. He’s 6th in the points standings.
William Byron – This week: 5 – Last week: 4
William Byron falling down one spot in the Power Rankings is mostly due to Denny Hamlin’s big surge. Byron had a great day at Martinsville. He started on the front row, earned points in both stages, and led 6 laps. His P5 finish put him into the Top 5 of the Points Standings as well. Blame Hamlin for his dip in the Power Rankings!
Christopher Bell – This week: 4 – Last week: 6
Also partially to blame for Byron slipping down this week is Christopher Bell. While he didn’t finish as well as Byron did, he topped the entire field in quality passes (60 total), and had a great average running position (9th). It was a nice bounce back after a mediocre turn at Darlington for Bell.
Ryan Blaney – This week: 3 – Last week: 2
Blaney also had a great weekend in Martinsville, but was thwarted by a super-surging Denny Hamlin. Points in both stages, laps led, P6 finish, etc. Blaney was solid at Martinsville, and has proven to be quite consistent this season – he’s now 2nd in points behind Tyler Reddick.
Denny Hamlin – This week: 2 – Last week: 5
Hamlin had one of those classic super frustrating days at Martinsville – when you dominate but don’t actually end up winning the race. He started on the pole, he won both stages, he led an incredible 292 laps, had the fastest car all day, had an average running position just above 1st, etc. While he finished 2nd to Chase Elliott, his underlying stats pushed him way up into the 2nd spot in our Power Rankings.
Tyler Reddick – This week: 1 – Last week: 1
Martinsville was actually Reddick’s worst finish of the season so far. He still managed a Top-15, but he’s been so lights-out so far that this turned out to be his worst. Fear not, Reddick fans – he still has an 82-point lead over 2nd place in the Points Standings, and even when things aren’t going as well for him, he manages to capitalize. He still earned points in both stages.
Biggest Movers
Bubba Wallace – This week: 9 – Last week: 3
Falls 6 places
Riley Herbst – This week: 31 – Last week: 25
Falls 6 places
Josh Berry – This week: 28 – Last week: 35
Gains 7 places
Rest of the List
11. | Chris Buescher | LW: 10 | -1 |
12. | SVG | LW: 14 | +2 |
13. | Ryan Preece | LW: 15 | +2 |
14. | Joey Logano | LW: 16 | +2 |
15. | Carson Hocevar | LW: 13 | -2 |
16. | Austin Cindric | LW: 21 | +5 |
17. | Ross Chastain | LW: 12 | -5 |
18. | Michael McDowell | LW: 19 | +1 |
19. | Daniel Suarez | LW: 17 | -2 |
20. | AJ Allmendinger | LW: 18 | -2 |
21. | Chase Briscoe | LW: 24 | +3 |
22. | Kyle Busch | LW: 22 | -- |
23. | Zane Smith | LW: 20 | -3 |
24. | Erik Jones | LW: 26 | +2 |
25. | Todd Gilliland | LW: 27 | +2 |
26. | Austin Dillon | LW: 31 | +5 |
27. | Ty Dillon | LW: 23 | -4 |
28. | Josh Berry | LW: 35 | +7 |
29. | JH Nemechek | LW: 29 | -- |
30. | Connor Zilisch | LW: 30 | -- |
31. | Riley Herbst | LW: 25 | -6 |
32. | Noah Gragsxon | LW: 28 | -4 |
33. | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | LW: 33 | -- |
34. | Cody Ware | LW: 32 | -2 |
35. | Cole Custer | LW: 36 | +1 |
36. | Alex Bowman | injured | -- |
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