Week Three - 2026 StatChat Power Rankings After COTA
- Adam Carabine
- 9 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:
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 P20), he rebounded at COTA with his first Top 5 of the year. I’m not sure McDowell stays in the Top 10 after Phoenix next week, but this week it counts.
Daniel Suarez – This week: 9 – Last week: 9
Suarez had a decent run through the second stage of the race at COTA this past weekend, but a somewhat baffling strategy call ruined his day. Instead of flipping the stage and maintaining some track position, they opted to let him finish Stage Two without pitting, where he earned 8 Stage Points. However, he finished P25 on the day, and likely deserved better.
William Byron – This week: 8 – Last week: 5
William Byron didn’t really have much to compete with the front runners at COTA. He was solid, and even led a lap because of some pit strategy, but ultimately wasn’t good enough to compete with the wizards of road coursing. P13 and two stage points.
Ross Chastain – This week: 7 – Last week: 4
Ross Chastain got bit by the tire bug this past weekend! He was having a great day to start things off too. He was running up front, led a few laps, and even won the first stage. But his tire came off his car and created the only caution outside of stage breaks for the race at COTA. He finished P35, so is probably pretty happy he got that first stage win.
AJ Allmendinger – This week: 6 – Last week: 15
The poor guy, Allmendinger was running COTA with a broken cool-suit. And unfortunately for anyone who’s cool-suit fails, it can actually make your warmth situation even worse than if you didn’t have it at all. The cool water that’s supposed to travel around your body is now just hot water. Allmendinger held on and finished P9, impressively, but was treated by EMS after the race. For the record – he was fine, just exhausted and probably dehydrated!
Chase Elliott – This week: 5 – Last week: 7
Once known as the road course king, Elliott hasn’t won at a road course in this Next-Gen car yet. However, he wasn’t terrible this past weekend at COTA. He earned some stage points, and finished in the Top 10. He’s also been quite consistent, and sits third in the Points Standings.
SVG – This week: 4 – Last week: 12
No surprise to see SVG make his way up into the Top 5 of the Power Rankings after a road course. He looked great a lot of the day, but just didn’t have quite enough to take down eventual winner, Tyler Reddick. He is still so fun to watch on Road Courses.
Ryan Blaney – This week: 3 – Last week: 6
Ryan Blaney had what might have been the best car at COTA, but just couldn’t get past Tyler Reddick. For the majority of the second stage, he was trailing Reddick – at one point even getting frustrated that all he could see was Reddick’s bumper. He got stuck on old tires on the final run and faded to P8, but he was in contention for much of the day.
Bubba Wallace – This week: 2 – Last week: 2
Not necessarily known for his road course racing, Bubba Wallace had a very respectable outing at COTA this past weekend. He earned some stage points, had a really solid +54 Pass Differential (only bested by Ty Gibbs), and finished in P11. He sits 2nd in the Points Standings after a solid three weeks to start this season.
Tyler Reddick – This week: 1 – Last week: 1
The most obvious of obvious answers – Tyler Reddick retains the top spot in our Power Rankings after becoming the first driver in NASCAR history to win the first three races of a season. It was a fairly dominant win, though not without its drama. Props to Reddick for having the mental fortitude to keep things mistake-free, even when SVG was hot on his tail over the final run to the checkered flag. Great show by the 45 team, and suddenly he’s got a 70-point lead over 2nd place.
Biggest Movers
Chase Briscoe – This week: 27 – Last week: 11
Falls 16 places
Ty Gibbs – This week: 15 – Last week: 32
Gains 17 places
Rest of the List
11. | Joey Logano | LW: 10 | -1 |
12. | Kyle Larson | LW: 19 | +7 |
13. | Ryan Preece | LW: 16 | +3 |
14. | Carson Hocevar | LW: 8 | -6 |
15. | Ty Gibbs | LW: 32 | +17 |
16. | Ty Dillon | LW: 14 | -2 |
17. | Zane Smith | LW: 3 | -14 |
18. | Kyle Busch | LW: 24 | +6 |
19. | Chris Buescher | LW: 17 | -2 |
20. | Denny Hamlin | LW: 21 | +1 |
21. | Noah Gragson | LW: 13 | -9 |
22. | Connor Zilisch | LW: 20 | -2 |
23. | Brad Keselowski | LW: 22 | -1 |
24. | Christopher Bell | LW: 27 | +3 |
25. | Riley Herbst | LW: 26 | +1 |
26. | Austin Cindric | LW: 18 | -8 |
27. | Chase Briscoe | LW: 11 | -16 |
28. | Cody Ware | LW: 25 | -3 |
29. | Todd Gilliland | LW: 31 | +2 |
30. | JH Nemechek | LW: 30 | -- |
31. | Austin Dillon | LW: 34 | +3 |
32. | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | LW: 33 | +1 |
33. | Alex Bowman | LW: 28 | -5 |
34. | Josh Berry | LW: 36 | +2 |
35. | Cole Custer | LW: 35 | -- |
36. | Erik Jones | LW: 29 | -7 |
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