Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images By Adam Carabine It was a dominant day on the track for Denny Hamlin, but some major late-race drama (including a crazy final caution) led to Tyler Reddick earning his 5 th  win of the season!    Let’s have a look at how it all shook down!   Lap 1: Pole-sitter Tyler Reddick takes the green flag alongside Denny Hamlin.  As they fight back and forth all lap long, it’s a drag race back to the start-finish line.  Hamlin edges out in front and takes the lead.   Lap 20: Austin Cindric has worked his way forward quite a bit, already up 15 spots to P20.  Christopher Bell has some big debris on his front grille, and his team is worried about it.  He faded back early but is trying to claw his way back forward.   Lap 25: Hamlin’s lead is up to 1.5s over Reddick, though Reddick says over the radio that he’s focused on managing tires, rather than chasing at this point.   Lap 27: Hamlin laps Cody Ware, putting him as the first car a lap down.   Lap 29:  Connor Zilisch now goes a lap down too.   Lap 33:  Pit stops start under green.  Lap 40 would be halfway through this stage, but some teams try to short-pit.   Lap 37:  P3 Kyle Larson comes to pit road, the first of the leaders.   Lap 39:  Hamlin pits from the lead.  Meanwhile on pit road, Ryan Blaney gets into AJ Allmendinger, spinning him around and forcing him to pit backwards in his box.    Lap 40: The cycle essentially finishes, and Hamlin retakes the lead from Carson Hocevar, who stayed out longer.    Lap 54: Hamlin passes Kyle Busch to put him a lap down.  Despite some big talk earlier, Busch lets him by with no incident.   Lap 69: Kyle Busch reports tire issues, is not sure whether he can make it to the end of the stage on his tires.   Lap 79:  One lap left in the stage, there’s a big battle for the lucky dog position.    Lap 80:  Denny Hamlin wins Stage One.  Gilliland somehow got by Hamlin at the last second and got his lap back – Stenhouse becomes the Lucky Dog.    Lap 85: Pits open, Hamlin wins the race off pit road.   Lap 86: Blaney comes back down pit road again for more repairs on a broken splitter from the Allmendinger incident earlier.  They incur a penalty for too many men over the wall, but they did it on purpose knowing they’d be in the back anyway.   Lap 89: Stage Two is Green, with Hamlin the control car over Kyle Larson beside him.   Lap 90: Both Larson and Chase Elliott pass Hamlin shortly after the restart, Reddick even tries but doesn’t get past him.  Larson is the new leader.   Lap 96:  Tyler Reddick now passes Chase Elliott and gets P2.   Lap 97:  Hamlin passes Elliott now for P3, as Elliott is fading.    Lap 120: Ty Gibbs is the first taker on pit road, starting the green flag pit cycle.   Lap 121:  Chase Briscoe and Christopher Bell now pit, it has begun.   Lap 124:  Leaders Larson, Reddick and Hamlin all come to pit road.  Slow stop for Reddick, he comes out P3.  He reported some contact with the wall in Turn One.   Lap 129: Elliott made some good work during the pit cycle, he’s now up to P2.  Larson still leads.   Lap 165: Larson holds on and wins Stage Two.  Daniel Suarez gets the free pass.   Lap 170: Pits open, Hamlin wins the race off pit road.  Bell gains three spots, Larson in 3 rd .    Lap 174: Final Stage is Green – Hamlin and Bell on the front row.   Lap 175: Christopher Bell quickly gets the lead from Denny Hamlin.   Lap 209:  Tyler Reddick gets by Hamlin for P2.   Lap 216:  Trying to get the jump on the field, Hamlin and Chase Briscoe hit pit road a little earlier.   Lap 220: Reddick pits ahead of leader Christopher Bell.   Lap 221:  Bell reacts and pits a lap later.   Lap 222:  Reddick gets out ahead of Bell, but they’re both still behind Hamlin, who short-pitted.   Lap 223:  Daniel Suarez is leading, still awaiting a pit stop.  Initially the plan seemed to be to stay out a little while longer, but he has a tire going down, so he limps to pit road, and Hamlin retakes the lead.  Cycle complete.   Lap 239:  Hamlin’s lead over Reddick is now 3 seconds.   Lap 255: Hamlin’s tires are starting to really fall off.  Reddick has gained a bunch of time, and is now only 0.5 seconds behind Hamlin.   Lap 257:  Now Reddick is on Hamlin’s bumper.   Lap 258: Reddick takes the lead, in rather easy fashion.   Lap 261: Reddick’s pace is slowing, is Hamlin going to come back and catch him?   Lap 262:  Going a lap down, Austin Dillon gives a little trouble to both Hamlin and Reddick as they try to pass him.   Lap 265: Reddick runs out of FUEL! Hit’s the reserve switch to get a little extra but it costs him the lead.  Hamlin back out front! 3 to go!   Lap 266: Just ahead of the White Flag, Cody Ware spins on his own, bringing out a Caution.  We’re going to Overtime!   Lap 268:  Pits open, both Hamlin and Reddick take two tires (and obviously some fuel for Reddick).    Lap 272:  Green flag on OT Attempt One.   Lap 273:  Larson goes three-wide and takes the lead! However, somehow Tyler Reddick gets a huge run from 4 th  place, and comes charging back and takes the lead from Larson.   Lap 274:  Reddick WINS.  This is his 5 th  win this season, and does it in dramatic fashion!   Next weekend we visit Talladega!

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend the Cup Series travels to Kansas City, Kansas for the Advent Health 400 at Kansas Speedway.   Kansas is a 1.5-mile tri-oval speedway, built in 2001.  Jeff Gordon won the first Cup Series race there that same year.  Kyle Larson won this race in the spring last year, and Chase Elliott won it in the fall.   Tomorrow’s race will be 267 laps long (for a total of 400.5 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 80 – 165 – 267.  Pit road speed is 45 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 55 mph.  The fuel window is approximately 62-67 laps.   This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 2,343 laps, for 2,733.46 miles so far this season.  Four drivers have completed 100% of them so far (Keselowski, Elliott, Reddick, and Preece).   Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Kansas: Chase Elliott 9.90 over 20 races (2 wins) Christopher Bell 11.58 over 12 races Kyle Larson 12.14 over 22 races (3 wins) Denny Hamlin 12.57 over 35 races (4 wins) Brad Keselowski 13.16 over 32 races (2 wins)       Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Kansas: Cody Ware 33.57 over 7 races Riley Herbst 28.00 over 3 races Michael McDowell 26.31 over 29 races Carson Hocevar 26.20 over 5 races Ty Gibbs 24.57 over 7 races   Kansas is an Intermediate Track   Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks: Denny Hamlin 11.85 over 352 races (31 wins) Kyle Larson 12.25 over 190 races (18 wins) Chase Elliott 12.28 over 171 races (8 wins) Kyle Busch 12.53 over 368 races (29 races) Joey Logano 12.64 over 298 races (19 wins)   Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks: Cody Ware 27.94 over 64 races Michael McDowell 25.92 over 255 races Riley Herbst 24.96 over 20 races Ty Dillon 22.48 over 138 races JH Nemechek 22.42 over 138 races   Denny Hamlin is the winningest driver at Kansas, he has 4 wins there.  Five drivers share second-place, with three wins each.  Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, as well as current drivers Joey Logano and Kyle Larson.   Drivers who ran their first Cup Series race at Kansas: Austin Dillon 2011 – P26 Ryan Blaney 2014 – P27 Denny Hamlin 2005 – P32 Erik Jones 2015 – P40   Drivers who earned their first Cup Series win at Kansas: No one --   Drivers whose most recent Cup Series Victory was at Kansas: Kyle Larson 2025       Notable drivers who have not won at Kansas: Ryan Blaney (has won at 12 other tracks) William Byron (has won at 11 other tracks) Christopher Bell (has won at 10 other tracks) Alex Bowman (has won at 8 other tracks) Chris Buescher (has won at 6 other tracks)   Based on average finish, no driver lists Kansas as their BEST or WORST track.   Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:   Drivers Faring Better than in 2025 Tyler Reddick +704 pts Ty Gibbs +473 pts Daniel Suarez +287 pts Brad Keselowski +237 pts Ryan Blaney +210 pts   Drivers Faring Worse than in 2025 Alex Bowman -692 pts (missed 4 races with vertigo) Chase Briscoe -332 pts Christopher Bell -209 pts Ross Chastain -209 pts JH Nemechek -192 pts   Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:   Best Career Year Tyler Reddick 5.50 Ryan Blaney 9.13 Ty Gibbs 10.50 Chase Elliott 10.63 Ryan Preece 13.63 Carson Hocevar 15.75 SVG 18.00 Riley Herbst 24.50   Worst Career Year Cole Custer 28.00 Josh Berry 24.38 Austin Dillon 22.63 Kyle Busch 22.00 Austin Cindric 21.75   The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position.  (55 for 1 st , 35 for 2 nd , 34 for 3 rd , etc.)  No stage points or playoff points count.   Manufacturer Standings Toyota 400 Chevrolet 295 Ford 283   Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:   Chartered Team Standings 23XI 334 Joe Gibbs 294 Hendrick 277 Penske 270 RFK 223 Spire 216 Trackhouse 198 Front Row 185 Legacy MC 155 RCR 149 Kaulig 146 Hyak 103 Wood Bros 103 Haas Factory 73 Rick Ware 64   At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions.  Here are the leaders this year:   Stage Point Leaders Ryan Blaney 72 Kyle Larson 64 Bubba Wallace 64 Denny Hamlin 63 Tyler Reddick 58 William Byron 55 Austin Cindric 49 Ty Gibbs 47 Christopher Bell 46 Chris Buescher 41   Milestone Watch Ross Chastain Looking for his 40 th  Career Top 5 Bubba Wallace This will be his 300 th  Career Cup Series Start Denny Hamlin Looking for his 100 th  Career Top 5 Kyle Larson Looking for his 210 th  Career Top 10 Austin Cindric Looking for his 30 th  Career Top 10 Brad Keselowski Looking for his 280 th  Career Top 10 Chris Buescher Looking for his 90 th  Career Top 10 Ty Gibbs Looking for his 40 th  Career Top 10   Scorigami Update Bristol was the first time that: Riley Herbst finished 21 st   Ty Gibbs finished 1 st     Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:   Winless Streaks Cole Custer 141 races Erik Jones 125 races Kyle Busch 101 races Michael McDowell 92 races Daniel Suarez 78 races Brad Keselowski 67 races AJ Allmendinger 64 races Alex Bowman 52 races Chris Buescher 52 races Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 49 races   The race begins Sunday, April 19 th   at 2:00 pm EST (11:00 am PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!   Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter  @RacingRefresh   Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!

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 Kansas City, Kansas for the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway.   Kansas is a 1.5-mile tri-oval speedway, built in 2001.  Jeff Green won the first O’Reilly Series race there that same year.  Brandon Jones won the most recent race at Kansas last year.   Tomorrow’s race will be 200 laps long (for a total of 300 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 45 – 90 – 200.  Pit road speed is 45 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 55 mph.  The fuel window is 59-64 laps.   This year, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series has run 1,695 laps, for 1,931.36 miles so far.  No driver has completed 100% of all laps, but Jesse Love and Brennan Poole are each 2 laps down.   Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Kansas: Sheldon Creed 6.00 over 4 races Austin Hill 6.40 over 5 races Jesse Love 8.00 over 2 races Nick Sanchez 8.00 over 1 race Brandon Jones 8.18 over 11 races (3 wins)   Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Kansas: Blaine Perkins 32.33 over 3 races William Sawalich 31.00 over 1 race Austin Green 29.00 over 1 race Ryan Ellis 26.40 over 5 races Dean Thompson 26.00 over 1 race   Kansas is an Intermediate Track.   Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks: Corey Day 7.17 over 6 races Austin Hill 9.95 over 67 races (8 wins) Jesse Love 10.34 over 29 races Justin Allgaier 11.31 over 233 races (14 wins) Harrison Burton 11.73 over 47 races (3 wins)   Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Intermediate Tracks: Blaine Perkins 27.60 over 46 races Josh Bilicki 26.43 over 46 races Ryan Ellis 25.66 over 73 races William Sawalich 23.21 over 16 races Austin Green 22.94 over 7 races   Kyle Busch is the winningest driver in this series at Kansas, having scored 4 wins.  Brandon Jones is next with 3 wins, then you have Joey Logano and John Hunter Nemechek who each have 2.   Drivers who ran their first O’Reilly’s Series race at Kansas: No one --   Drivers who earned their first O’Reilly’s Series win at Kansas: Brandon Jones 133 rd  Career O’Reilly’s Start   Drivers whose most recent O’Reilly Series Victory was at Kansas: Brandon Jones 2025   Notable drivers who have not won at Kansas: Justin Allgaier (has won at 20 other tracks) Austin Hill (has won at 7 other tracks) Sam Mayer (has won at 6 other tracks) Harrison Burton (has won at 4 other tracks) Sammy Smith (has won at 3 other tracks)   Based on average finish, no driver lists Kansas as their BEST or WORST track.   Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:   Drivers Faring Better than in 2025 Justin Allgaier +459 pts Sheldon Creed +363 pts William Sawalich +254 pts Sammy Smith +145 pts Jesse Love +75 pts   Drivers Faring Worse than in 2025 Nick Sanchez -485 pts Sam Mayer -372 pts Harrison Burton -346 pts Dean Thompson -232 pts Kyle Sieg -136 pts   Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:   Best Career Year Justin Allgaier 6.33 Sheldon Creed 7.33 Sammy Smith 9.56 Jesse Love 9.78 Parker Retzlaff 12.00 William Sawalich 16.33 Blaine Perkins 22.56 Dean Thompson 23.11   Worst Career Year Ryan Ellis 27.78 Kyle Sieg 27.56 Nick Sanchez 26.57 Jeremy Clements 24.89 Harrison Burton 23.44 Sam Mayer 20.33   Rookie of the Year Battle Patrick Staropoli 129 Lavar Scott 103   The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position.  (40 for 1 st , 35 for 2 nd , 34 for 3 rd , etc.)  No stage points or playoff points count.   Manufacturer Standings Chevrolet 474 Toyota 281 Ford 131   Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:   Chartered Team Standings JR Motorsports 428 RCR 296 Haas Factory 286 Joe Gibbs 278 Hendrick 254 Viking 236 Jordan Anderson 217 RSS Racing 205 Alpha Prime 181 Sam Hunt 167 SS-Green Light 143 Big Machine 129 DGM 127 Young’s 116 Jeremy Clements 110 Hettinger 89 Peterson 85 AM Racing 75 Barrett-Cope 50 Joey Gase 16   At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions.  Here are the leaders this year:   Stage Point Leaders Justin Allgaier 135 #88 Car 112 #1 Car 81 Jesse Love 78 Brandon Jones 69 Sheldon Creed 54 Austin Hill 51 Corey Day 50 William Sawalich 43 Brent Crews 43   Milestone Watch Sheldon Creed Looking for his 40 th  Career Top 5 Jesse Love Looking for his 20 th  Career Top 5 Taylor Gray Looking for his 10 th  Career Top 5 Jeb Burton Looking for his 50 th  Career Top 10 Harrison Burton Looking for his 60 th  Career Top 10 Brennan Poole This will be his 200 th  Career Start in this series   Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:   Winless Streaks Jeremy Clements 118 races Jeb Burton 99 races Harrison Burton 76 races Sammy Smith 32 races Nick Sanchez 23 races Sam Mayer 20 races Brandon Jones 14 races Taylor Gray 10 races Jesse Love 9 races Austin Hill 8 races   The race begins Saturday, April 18 th  at 7:00 pm EST (4:00 pm PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!   Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter  @RacingRefresh   Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!

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 my version 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 driver finishes better in each matchup moves on to the next round.    Winning also gives you points which grow with each round. Round 1 win: 1 pt Round 2 win: 2 pts Round 3 win: 3 pts Round 4 win: 4 pts Finals win: 5 pts   Those points then determine the seeding for the next round of the Bracket Games, and they continue until the end of the season.  Whichever driver has the highest points at the end of the season wins the Bracket Game!   There is a bracket for each of the three NASCAR Series – let’s see how things look in Week 8:   Cup Series   O’Reilly Auto Parts Series We have a final matchup set for next week at Kansas! Sheldon Creed vs. Justin Allgaier!   Craftsman Truck Series As there are less full-time regular Truck drivers, Round 1 has a few 'Byes' into the next round, but still some important matchups here. ELIMINATION GAMES These games are just another fun way I like to keep things interesting throughout the grind of the long NASCAR season.  These games only follow the NASCAR Cup Series, though that could change in the future.    Because there are 36 races, and 36 full-time drivers in the Cup Series, this works out very nicely.  The first elimination happens after Race #2, and continues through the season, so there will be a final two head-to-head matchup at the final race.    Each week, a new driver is eliminated in each game.  The criteria for each game is different, so it’s not always the same driver being eliminated in each game.    Power Rankings Elimination Whichever driver has the worst score in the StatChat Power Rankings gets eliminated.    After Week 2, Josh Berry was eliminated.   After Week 3, Erik Jones was eliminated.   After Week 4, Cole Custer was eliminated.   After Week 5, Alex Bowman was eliminated.   After Week 6, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was eliminated.   After Week 7, Cody Ware was eliminated   This week, Noah Gragson was eliminated.   Last Place Elimination Whichever driver finishes the worst out of all the remaining drivers is eliminated.   After Week 2, Josh Berry was eliminated   After Week 3, Chase Briscoe was eliminated   After Week 4, Noah Gragson was eliminated   After Week 5, SVG was eliminated   After Week 6, Cody Ware was eliminated   After Week 7, Ty Dillon was eliminated   This week, Alex Bowman was eliminated   Average Finish Elimination Whichever driver has the worst average finish out of all the remaining drivers at the end of each week is eliminated.   After Week 2, Austin Dillon was eliminated   After Week 3, Alex Bowman was eliminated   After Week 4, Austin Cindric was eliminated   After Week 5, Connor Zilisch was eliminated   After Week 6, Cody Ware was eliminated   After Week 7, Cole Custer was eliminated   This week, Ty Dillon was eliminated   Stay tuned each week to see who is winning the StatChat NASCAR Games!

Photo by Jacob Kupferman/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:   Bubba Wallace – This week: 10 – Last week: 9 Despite losing another spot in the Power Rankings, this was a nice bounce-back race for Bubba Wallace after a bad one in Martinsville a few weeks ago.  Tempers maybe got the best of him, and he got into it with Carson Hocevar.  He ran a clean race at Bristol this week, and finished P11.   Chase Elliott – This week: 9 – Last week: 7 Elliott was actually running a decent race at Bristol until a late caution where he spun out.  To make matters worse, he then sped on pit road, and wound up finishing the day P22, down a lap.  This gave him the worst pass differential of any driver in the field, but a solid average running position.     Brad Keselowski – This week: 8 – Last week: 8 Keselowski holds serve again at Bristol, he’s been remarkably consistent for a guy recovering from a broken leg.  P14, but he was in the conversation for good parts of the day.    William Byron – This week: 7 – Last week: 5 A week to forget for Byron at Bristol.  After a change in the steering that sent him back to the rear at the start of the race, things just continued to get worse from there.  It wasn’t long before he was laps down, and wound up finishing the day 5 laps down total.  He’ll look to bounce back in Kansas next week.   Christopher Bell – This week: 6 – Last week: 4 Bell was also a victim of his own bad circumstances this weekend in Bristol.  He got a speeding violation on pit road, and then due to being farther back in the pack, he wound up getting into the wall, which really derailed his day.  He finished 4 laps down at the end of the day.   Kyle Larson – This week: 5 – Last week: 10 Larson seems to (unfortunately for him) be the king of dominating races and not winning them.  He led 284 laps at Bristol, had a field-best average running position of 2 nd , and also swept both stages.  Thwarted by both Ryan Blaney and eventual winner Ty Gibbs, he had to settle for 3 rd , but the underlying stats gave him a big boost in the Power Rankings.   Ty Gibbs – This week: 4 – Last week: 6 It seems almost a shame that a win doesn’t push Ty Gibbs further up the Power Rankings, but he’ll have to settle with the Top 5 for now.  Because there are many other underlying stats that factor into Power Rankings, and Gibbs didn’t necessarily dominate the race like Blaney or Larson did.  However, I’m sure he doesn’t care, as he’s celebrating his first win in the Cup Series.  He held on when it mattered and got it done!  Also, check out what I said in last week’s Power Rankings , where I said I’d stop predicting a win for Gibbs.  Should’ve waited one more week!   Ryan Blaney – This week: 3 – Last week: 3 It’s harder to stay at the top of the Power Rankings because it requires a ton of consistency.  Blaney manages to keep fighting despite his pit crew seemingly messing him up week-in and week-out.  He was probably the fastest car at Bristol, but couldn’t get past Ty Gibbs in the final moments of the race. P2 is still good enough, along with 190 laps led, and an extra 17 stage points to boot.   Tyler Reddick – This week: 2   – Last week: 1 Reddick falls from the top spot in the Power Rankings for the first time this season!  He had a nice rebound coming off of his worst finish of the season in Martinsville (which was still P15), and finished 4 th  at Bristol.  There was talk on the TV broadcast that there has been an increased focus on Reddick and his short track program, as that was a weak point of the team.  P4 is certainly an improvement, and that’s including an early speeding penalty which put him to the rear.   Denny Hamlin – This week: 1 – Last week: 2 It’s been a consistent few weeks for Hamlin, and after a dominant performance at Martinsville last week, and a solid P9 at Bristol, he takes the top spot in our Power Rankings!  He earned points in both stages, ran inside the Top 10 nearly all day, and scored 70 quality passes, fourth-best of any driver in the field.  He now sits third in the Points Standings as well.   Biggest Movers   SVG – This week: 17 – Last week: 12 Falls 5 places   Kyle Larson – This week: 5 – Last week: 10 Gains 5 places   Chase Briscoe – This week: 16 – Last week: 21 Gains 5 places   Rest of the List 11. Chris Buescher LW: 11 -- 12. Ryan Preece LW: 13 +1 13. Joey Logano LW: 14 +1 14. Carson Hocevar LW: 15 +1 15. Austin Cindric LW: 16 +1 16. Chase Briscoe LW: 21 +5 17. SVG LW: 12 -5 18. Daniel Suarez LW: 19 +1 19. Ross Chastain LW: 17 -2 20. AJ Allmendinger LW: 20 -- 21. Todd Gilliland LW: 25 +4 22. Michael McDowell LW: 18 -4 23. Erik Jones LW: 24 +1 24. Zane Smith LW: 23 -1 25. Kyle Busch LW: 22 -3 26. Austin Dillon LW: 26 -- 27. Josh Berry LW: 28 +1 28. Riley Herbst LW: 31 +3 29. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. LW: 33 +4 30. Ty Dillon LW: 27 -3 31. Connor Zilisch LW: 30 -1 32. JH Nemechek LW: 29 -3 33. Noah Gragson LW: 32 -1 34. Cody Ware LW: 34 -- 35. Cole Custer LW: 35 -- 36. Alex Bowman LW: INJ --

Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images By Adam Carabine We’ve got a new first-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series! After a fairly intense day at Bristol, the young grandson of JGR owner Joe Gibbs, Ty Gibbs came away with his first victory in the Cup Series.  He wasn’t dominant, but maximized a late-race strategy call to get the win, stymieing Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson along the way.   Let’s have a look at how it all shook down!   Lap 1: Pole-sitter Ryan Blaney takes the green flag, alongside Tyler Reddick on the front row.   Lap 37: After having a poor qualifying effort, and then getting sent to the back for post-inspection repairs to his steering, William Byron goes a lap down already.   Lap 44: Kyle Larson takes the lead from Ryan Blaney as they navigate lapped traffic.   Lap 57: Christopher Bell has worked his way up 11 spots since the start, now in P3.   Lap 62: CAUTION – Brad Keselowski gets a bump from Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and goes around.  Minimal damage for both drivers, but it brings out the first caution of the race.   Lap 64: With pit road opening, everyone on the lead lap pits other than Chase Elliott and Josh Berry.  Tyler Reddick speeds on pit road and will restart in the back.   Lap 71: Back to green, with Elliott and Berry on old tires.  Kyle Larson quickly retakes the lead on fresh tires.   Lap 86: While Chase Elliott has fallen back on the older tires, Josh Berry has held his own, and is still P2.   Lap 125: Kyle Larson wins Stage One!   Lap 131: Pit road opens, Larson and Bell are the first two off of pit road.  Speeding penalties for Christopher Bell, John Hunter Nemechek, and Michael McDowell.   Lap 137: Stage Two is green, with Larson and Denny Hamlin on the front row.   Lap 145: CAUTION – Christopher Bell is a victim of being farther back in the field after his speeding penalty, and ends up tagging the wall and spinning.    Lap 151:  Back to green.   Lap 160: CAUTION – SVG, Alex Bowman, Nemechek, and Todd Gilliland all get into a scuffle after SVG gets loose and spins.  This ends Bowman’s day in his first race back after vertigo symptoms kept him out of the last four races.   Lap 168: Back to green.   Lap 250: Larson wins Stage Two.  Daniel Suarez fights hard at the end and stays on the lead lap, passing Larson just before the line.    Lap 255: Pit road opens, Larson wins the race off pit road.  Blaney again has some pit crew woes, and loses 5 spots on a slow stop.   Lap 261: Final Stage is green!   Lap 290:  Blaney, who had to restart 7 th  after a slow pit stop, is now up to P2, about 2s back from leader Larson.  He looks fast.   Lap 313: CAUTION – Riley Herbst gets into the rear of Kyle Busch, sending him spinning.  Erik Jones gets caught in no-man’s-land and has some contact with the spinning Busch.  Some collateral damage for Michael McDowell and Christopher Bell too.   Lap 315: Pits open, most everyone comes down for fresh tires.  Ty Gibbs makes up 2 spots and will be on the front row with Larson leading.   Lap 320: Back to green.   Lap 322: After starting 4 th , Blaney is back up to P2.   Lap 323:  Denny Hamlin gets hung out to dry, stuck in the middle of a three-wide situation with Ty Gibbs and Joey Logano.   Lap 338:  Blaney, who is clearly the fastest car on track, takes the lead back from Larson again – this time with a little love tap on the rear bumper.   Lap 363:  Blaney’s lead has stretched to 2.3 seconds.   Lap 383: CAUTION – Connor Zilisch spins.   Lap 386: Pits open, Brad Keselowski gets busted for speeding.  Suarez gets the free pass.  Todd Gilliland takes just two tires and restarts much closer to the front.   Lap 391: Back to green.   Lap 392:  Larson gets P2 from Ty Gibbs right away.   Lap 393:  Issues for Josh Berry – after some contact from Noah Gragson, he tags the wall.  It stays green, but he’s off the pace.   Lap 396:  Gilliland is still riding around in P4 with only two tires.   Lap 435:  Ryan Blaney’s lead has grown to 2.5 seconds now.   Lap 444:  Ty Gibbs gains some speed and passes Larson for P2 – sights set on Ryan Blaney.   Lap 446:  As Blaney gets into some heavy lapped traffic, Gibbs is able to bring the gap down to about a second.   Lap 455:  Blaney gets loose and almost wrecks on his own.  Great save, but again another opportunity for Ty Gibbs to catch up.   Lap 478: CAUTION – Chase Elliott spins in Turn 2.   Lap 481:  Pit road opens, and of the front leaders, only Larson and Blaney come down pit road.  Ty Gibbs stays out and will battle on old tires.  Blaney takes four tires, Larson takes just two.  (Also a speeding penalty for Chase Elliott).   Lap 486: Back to green.  Amazing restart by Tyler Reddick as he makes his way up to P2 immediately.   Lap 491:  Gibbs manages to hold the lead.  Larson and Blaney pass Reddick for P2 and 3, as Reddick is also on older tires.   Lap 495:  Blaney passes Larson for P2.  Can he catch Ty Gibbs?   Lap 497:  CAUTION – Riley Herbst spins after some payback from Kyle Busch.  Going to Overtime!   Lap 503:  Back to green for OT Attempt 1.  Ty Gibbs is still on old tires, Blaney and Larson are right behind him with four and two tires, respectively.   Lap 504: Gibbs runs his preferred line and gets the lead off the restart.  Can he hold it for the final lap?   Lap 505: Ty Gibbs hangs on, gets his first Cup Series win by just 0.055 seconds over Ryan Blaney!  This is his first win in his 131 st  career start.    Solid effort by Ryan Blaney at the end to take the lower line and make his newer tires work, but Gibbs held strong on the preferred groove, and took it to victory lane!   Next weekend we head to Kansas!

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Bristol, Tennessee for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.   Bristol is a 0.533-mile short track oval, with a concrete surface and heavy banking in the corners.  The track was built in 1961, and has been a staple on the Cup Series calendar ever since.  Jack Smith won the first Cup race there that same year.  Christopher Bell won the most recent race at Bristol last fall, and Kyle Larson won it in the spring last year.   Tomorrow’s race will be 500 laps long (for a total of 266.5 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 125 – 250 – 500.  Pit road speed is 30 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 35 mph.  The fuel window is approximately 165-180 laps, but tire wear may be more of a factor determining pit stops.   This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 1,838 laps, for 2,464.30 miles so far this season.  Four drivers have completed 100% of them so far (Keselowski, Elliott, Reddick, and Preece).   Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Bristol: Christopher Bell 11.58 over 12 races (2 wins) Chase Elliott 12.42 over 19 races Ty Gibbs 12.43 over 7 races Kyle Larson 13.09 over 22 races (3 wins) Chase Briscoe 13.50 over 10 races       Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Bristol: SVG 32.00 over 2 races Cody Ware 28.00 over 5 races Noah Gragson 25.33 over 6 races Michael McDowell 24.84 over 31 races Ty Dillon 24.50 over 16 races   Bristol is a Short Track   Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks: Joey Logano 11.23 over 198 races (13 wins) Chase Elliott 11.52 over 111 races (5 wins) Christopher Bell 11.94 over 67 races (7 wins) Ryan Blaney 11.96 over 115 races (6 wins) William Byron 12.63 over 89 races (5 wins)   Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks: Cody Ware 31.81 over 42 races Riley Herbst 27.75 over 14 races Connor Zilisch 27.50 over 2 races Michael McDowell 26.19 over 175 races Ty Dillon 25.76 over 87 races   Darrell Waltrip is the king of Bristol, having won there 12 times – the most of any driver.  Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt, Kyle Busch, and Rusty Wallace all are tied for 2 nd -most wins, with 9 each.   Drivers who ran their first Cup Series race at Bristol: AJ Allmendinger 2007 – P40   Drivers who earned their first Cup Series win at Bristol: No one --   Drivers whose most recent Cup Series Victory was at Bristol: Christopher Bell 2025   Notable drivers who have not won at Bristol: Chase Elliott (has won at 15 other tracks) Ryan Blaney (has won at 12 other tracks) William Byron (has won at 11 other tracks) Tyler Reddick (has won at 11 other tracks) Alex Bowman (has won at 8 other tracks)   Based on average finish, no driver lists Bristol as their BEST or WORST track.   Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:   Drivers Faring Better than in 2025 Tyler Reddick +782 pts Ty Gibbs +348 pts Daniel Suarez +279 pts Brad Keselowski +261 pts Chris Buescher +170 pts   Drivers Faring Worse than in 2025 Alex Bowman -641 pts (Currently not racing due to vertigo) Chase Briscoe -450 pts Kyle Larson -202 pts Ross Chastain -197 pts Christopher Bell -163 pts   Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:   Best Career Year Tyler Reddick 5.71 Chase Elliott 9.00 Ryan Blaney 10.14 William Byron 10.86 Ty Gibbs 11.86 Ryan Preece 14.43 SVG 15.71 Carson Hocevar 16.57 Riley Herbst 25.00   Worst Career Year Cole Custer 28.00 Todd Gilliland 25.29 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 25.14 Josh Berry 23.29 Austin Dillon 23.29 Austin Cindric 22.57 Kyle Busch 21.57 Chase Briscoe 20.86   The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position.  (55 for 1 st , 35 for 2 nd , 34 for 3 rd , etc.)  No stage points or playoff points count.   Manufacturer Standings Toyota 345 Chevrolet 261 Ford 248   Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:   Chartered Team Standings 23XI 301 Hendrick 243 Joe Gibbs 239 Penske 235 RFK 194 Spire 189 Trackhouse 181 Front Row 154 Legacy MC 141 RCR 130 Kaulig 124 Wood Bros 98 Hyak 83 Haas Factory 64 Rick Ware 58   At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions.  Here are the leaders this year:   Stage Point Leaders Bubba Wallace 60 Tyler Reddick 58 Ryan Blaney 55 William Byron 55 Denny Hamlin 50 Austin Cindric 47 Kyle Larson 44 Ty Gibbs 43 Chris Buescher 41 Christopher Bell 37   Milestone Watch Ross Chastain Looking for his 40 th  Career Top 5 Chase Briscoe Looking for his 30 th  Career Top 5 Cody Ware This will be his 150 th  Career Cup Series Start Tyler Reddick Looking for his 50 th  Career Top 5 Austin Cindric Looking for his 30 th  Career Top 10 Brad Keselowski Looking for his 280 th  Career Top 10 Chris Buescher Looking for his 90 th  Career Top 10   Scorigami Update Martinsville was the first time that: Connor Zilisch finished 26 th     Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:   Winless Streaks Cole Custer 140 races Erik Jones 124 races Kyle Busch 100 races Michael McDowell 91 races Daniel Suarez 77 races Brad Keselowski 66 races AJ Allmendinger 63 races Alex Bowman 51 races Chris Buescher 51 races Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 48 races   The race begins Sunday, March 29 th   at 3:30 pm EST (12:30 pm PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!   Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter  @RacingRefresh   Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!

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 Bristol, Tennessee for the Suburban Propane 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway.    Bristol is a 0.533-mile short track oval, with a concrete surface and heavy banking in the corners.  The track was built in 1961, and has been a staple on the O’Reilly Series calendar since its inception in 1982.  Phil Parsons won the first O’Reilly Series race there that same year.  Aric Almirola won the most recent race at Bristol last fall, and Kyle Larson won it in the spring last year.   Tomorrow’s race will be 300 laps long (for a total of 159.9 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 85 – 170 – 300.  Pit road speed is 30 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 35 mph.  The fuel window is 160-175 laps, but tire wear will likely cause more frequent pit stops.   This year, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series has run 1,395 laps, for 1,771.46 miles so far.  No driver has completed 100% of all laps, but Jesse Love and Brennan Poole are each 2 laps down.   Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Bristol: Harrison Burton 9.43 over 7 races Justin Allgaier 10.89 over 27 races (2 wins) Jesse Love 11.67 over 3 races Sam Mayer 12.00 over 7 races Brandon Jones 12.06 over 18 races   Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Bristol: Austin Green 34.50 over 2 races Dean Thompson 32.50 over 2 races Josh Bilicki 29.83 over 6 races Blaine Perkins 28.50 over 4 races Ryan Ellis 27.00 over 7 races   Bristol is a Short Track.   Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks: Justin Allgaier 12.12 over 161 races (13 wins) Harrison Burton 12.19 over 36 races (1 win) Taylor Gray 12.92 over 16 races (1 win) Jesse Love 13.36 over 22 races (1 win) Brandon Jones 13.43 over 103 races (2 wins)   Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks: Josh Bilicki 30.06 over 32 races Austin Green 28.63 over 7 races Blaine Perkins 27.04 over 33 races Ryan Ellis 26.12 over 50 races Kyle Sieg 25.88 over 35 races   Kyle Busch is the winningest driver in this series at Bristol, having scored 9 wins.  Kevin Harvick had 5, and Morgan Shepherd had 4.  Justin Allgaier leads current drivers with 2 wins.   Drivers who ran their first O’Reilly’s Series race at Bristol: Harrison Burton 2019 – P10   Drivers who earned their first O’Reilly’s Series win at Bristol: Justin Allgaier 43 rd  Career O’Reilly’s Start   Drivers whose most recent O’Reilly Series Victory was at Bristol: No one --   Notable drivers who have not won at Bristol: Austin Hill (has won at 7 other tracks) Sam Mayer (has won at 6 other tracks) Brandon Jones (has won at 4 other tracks) Harrison Burton (has won at 4 other tracks) Sammy Smith (has won at 3 other tracks)   Based on average finish, no driver lists Bristol as their BEST or WORST track.   Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:   Drivers Faring Better than in 2025 Justin Allgaier +477 pts Sheldon Creed +316 pts William Sawalich +203 pts Sammy Smith +177 pts Jesse Love +108 pts   Drivers Faring Worse than in 2025 Nick Sanchez -473 pts Sam Mayer -373 pts Harrison Burton -371 pts Dean Thompson -228 pts Kyle Sieg -144 pts   Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:   Best Career Year Justin Allgaier 6.63 Sheldon Creed 7.50 Sammy Smith 9.13 Jesse Love 9.50 Parker Retzlaff 12.38 William Sawalich 17.50 Blaine Perkins 22.63 Dean Thompson 23.00   Worst Career Year Kyle Sieg 27.88 Ryan Ellis 27.50 Nick Sanchez 26.57 Jeremy Clements 26.13 Harrison Burton 24.25 Sam Mayer 20.38   Rookie of the Year Battle Patrick Staropoli 119 Lavar Scott 98   The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position.  (40 for 1 st , 35 for 2 nd , 34 for 3 rd , etc.)  No stage points or playoff points count.   Manufacturer Standings Chevrolet 419 Toyota 247 Ford 120   Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:   Chartered Team Standings JR Motorsports 373 RCR 271 Haas Factory 255 Joe Gibbs 244 Hendrick 225 Viking 208 Jordan Anderson 194 RSS Racing 179 Alpha Prime 162 Sam Hunt 147 SS-Green Light 129 Big Machine 119 DGM 119 Young’s 109 Jeremy Clements 88 Peterson 83 Hettinger 78 AM Racing 75 Barrett-Cope 50 Joey Gase 13   At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions.  Here are the leaders this year:   Stage Point Leaders Justin Allgaier 120 #88 Car 92 Jesse Love 75 #1 Car 70 Brandon Jones 59 Austin Hill 51 Corey Day 47 Taylor Gray 43 Sammy Smith 37 Brent Crews 37   Milestone Watch Sheldon Creed Looking for his 40 th  Career Top 5 Jesse Love Looking for his 20 th  Career Top 5 Taylor Gray Looking for his 10 th  Career Top 5 Jeb Burton Looking for his 50 th  Career Top 10 Harrison Burton Looking for his 60 th  Career Top 10 Justin Allgaier Looking for his 310 th  Career Top 10   Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:   Winless Streaks Jeremy Clements 117 races Jeb Burton 98 races Harrison Burton 75 races Sammy Smith 31 races Nick Sanchez 23 races Sam Mayer 19 races Brandon Jones 13 races Taylor Gray 9 races Jesse Love 8 races Austin Hill 7 races   The race begins Saturday, April 11 th  at 7:30 pm EST (4:30 pm PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!   Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter  @RacingRefresh   Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!

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 Bristol, Tennessee for the Tennessee Army National Guard 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway.   Bristol is a 0.533-mile short track oval, with a concrete surface and heavy banking in the corners.  The track was built in 1961, and has been a staple on the Truck Series calendar since its inception in 1995.  Joe Ruttman won the first Truck Series race there that same year.  Layne Riggs won the last race at Bristol last fall, and Chandler Smith won it in the spring last year.   Friday’s race will be 250 laps long (for a total of 133.25 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 65 – 130 – 250.  The fuel window is between 130-145 laps, though tire wear will likely impact pit schedules quicker than fuel.    This year, the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has run 664 laps, for 994.6 miles so far this season.  Only Chandler Smith has completed all of them.   Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Bristol: Layne Riggs 4.50 over 4 races (2 wins) Daniel Hemric 6.25 over 4 races Grant Enfinger 8.00 over 14 races Justin Haley 10.33 over 3 races Ben Rhodes 11.13 over 16 races   Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Bristol: Kris Wright 33.67 over 3 races Frankie Muniz 31.00 over 1 race Cole Butcher 23.00 over 1 race Tyler Ankrum 19.67 over 12 races Dawson Sutton 17.00 over 2 races   Bristol is a Short Track   Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks: Layne Riggs 5.69 over 23 races (4 wins) Grant Enfinger 8.31 over 75 races (5 wins) Ty Majeski 9.75 over 39 races (5 wins) Chandler Smith 10.57 over 34 races (4 wins) Justin Haley 11.98 over 23 races (1 win)   Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Short Tracks: Frankie Muniz 28.58 over 9 races Kris Wright 27.98 over 13 races Dawson Sutton 20.24 over 12 races Tanner Gray 18.93 over 50 races Cole Butcher 18.67 over 3 races   The winningest Truck driver at Bristol is Kyle Busch, who has 5 Truck wins there.  As far as current drivers go, Chandler Smith and Layne Riggs each have 2 wins.   Drivers who ran their first Truck Series race at Bristol: Justin Haley 2015 – P14 Cole Butcher 2025 – P23   Drivers who WON their first Truck Series race at Bristol: Chandler Smith 34 th  Career Truck Series Start Ty Majeski 40 th  Career Truck Series Start   Drivers whose most recent Truck Series Victory was at Bristol: Layne Riggs 2025       Notable drivers who have not won at Bristol: Grant Enfinger (has won at 11 other tracks) Stewart Friesen (has won at 4 other tracks) Justin Haley (has won at 3 other tracks) Tyler Ankrum (has won at 2 other tracks)   Based on average finish, no driver lists Bristol as their BEST or WORST track.   Based on their point pace, let’s have a look at how this season is comparing to last season for drivers:   Drivers Faring Better than in 2025 Stewart Friesen +183 pts Kaden Honeycutt +90 pts Frankie Muniz +33 pts Chandler Smith +32 pts Gio Ruggiero +27 pts   Drivers Faring Worse than in 2025 Daniel Hemric -313 pts Grant Enfinger -248 pts Tyler Ankrum -247 pts Jake Garcia -121 pts Dawson Sutton -102 pts   Next, let’s look at who’s having their best and worst career year by Average Finish:   Best Career Year Kaden Honeycutt 8.00 Gio Ruggiero 11.00 Frankie Muniz 24.00   Worst Career Year Dawson Sutton 23.20 Andres Perez de Lara 19.80 Grant Enfinger 17.80 Ty Majeski 14.60 Christian Eckes 14.00   Rookie of the Year Battle Cole Butcher 95 Brenden Queen 93 Mini Tyrell 60   The Manufacturer Standings are calculated by awarding points to the highest finisher for each manufacturer according to their finishing position.  (40 for 1 st , 35 for 2 nd , 34 for 3 rd , etc.)  No stage points or playoff points count.   Manufacturer Standings Toyota 211 Ford 202 Chevrolet 187 RAM 141   Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:   Chartered Team Standings Front Row 291 TRICON 235 Spire 222 Niece 219 ThorSport 217 McAnally-Hilgemann 210 Kaulig RAM 194 Reaum Bros 123 Halmar Friesen 117 CR7 Motorsports 112 Rackley WAR 82 Freedom Racing 63 Young’s 0   At each stage break, the Top 10 drivers are awarded points based on their finishing positions.  Here are the leaders this year:   Stage Point Leaders #1 Truck 57 Ty Majeski 56 Layne Riggs 48 Kaden Honeycutt 45 #45 Truck 38 #7 Truck 35 Chandler Smith 33 #77 Truck 33 Christian Eckes 28 Tanner Gray 22   Milestone Watch Layne Riggs Career Truck Series Start Number 60 Christian Eckes Looking for his 10 th  Career Truck Series Win Kaden Honeycutt Looking for his 10 th  Career Top 5 Gio Ruggiero Looking for his 10 th  Career Top 5 Ty Majeski Looking for his 70 th  Career Top 10   Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:   Winless Streaks Ben Rhodes 65 races Grant Enfinger 32 races Ty Majeski 30 races Daniel Hemric 25 races Tyler Ankrum 23 races Justin Haley 10 races Christian Eckes 8 races Stewart Friesen 8 races Gio Ruggiero 7 races Chandler Smith 4 races   The race begins Friday, April 10 th  at 7:30 pm EST (4:30 pm PST) – Enjoy the race everyone!   Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter  @RacingRefresh   Is there an error? Is there a stat missing that you’d like to see? Let us know!

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 my version 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 driver finishes better in each matchup moves on to the next round.    Winning also gives you points which grow with each round. Round 1 win: 1 pt Round 2 win: 2 pts Round 3 win: 3 pts Round 4 win: 4 pts Finals win: 5 pts   Those points then determine the seeding for the next round of the Bracket Games, and they continue until the end of the season.  Whichever driver has the highest points at the end of the season wins the Bracket Game!   There is a bracket for each of the three NASCAR Series – let’s see how things look in Week 8:   Cup Series Ryan Preece finished three spots ahead of No. 1 seed Tyler Reddick to eliminate him early in this round.   O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Sammy Smith also uprooted the top seed, Jesse Love at Rockingham   Craftsman Truck Series The final matchup of this bracket came down to Chandler Smith and Kaden Honeycutt. Even if Smith hadn't had a DQ, Honeycutt would have won with his P2 finish. ELIMINATION GAMES These games are just another fun way I like to keep things interesting throughout the grind of the long NASCAR season.  These games only follow the NASCAR Cup Series, though that could change in the future.    Because there are 36 races, and 36 full-time drivers in the Cup Series, this works out very nicely.  The first elimination happens after Race #2, and continues through the season, so there will be a final two head-to-head matchup at the final race.    Each week, a new driver is eliminated in each game.  The criteria for each game is different, so it’s not always the same driver being eliminated in each game.    Power Rankings Elimination Whichever driver has the worst score in the StatChat Power Rankings gets eliminated.    After Week 2, Josh Berry was eliminated.   After Week 3, Erik Jones was eliminated.   After Week 4, Cole Custer was eliminated.   After Week 5, Alex Bowman was eliminated.   After Week 6, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was eliminated.   This week, Cody Ware was eliminated.   Last Place Elimination Whichever driver finishes the worst out of all the remaining drivers is eliminated.   After Week 2, Josh Berry was eliminated   After Week 3, Chase Briscoe was eliminated   After Week 4, Noah Gragson was eliminated   After Week 5, SVG was eliminated   After Week 6, Cody Ware was eliminated   This week, Ty Dillon was eliminated   Average Finish Elimination Whichever driver has the worst average finish out of all the remaining drivers at the end of each week is eliminated.   After Week 2, Austin Dillon was eliminated   After Week 3, Alex Bowman was eliminated   After Week 4, Austin Cindric was eliminated   After Week 5, Connor Zilisch was eliminated   After Week 6, Cody Ware was eliminated   This week, Cole Custer was eliminated   Stay tuned each week to see who is winning the StatChat NASCAR Games!

Photo by David Jensen/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: 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 3 rd  all day.  He’s 6 th  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 (9 th ).  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 2 nd  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 1 st , etc.  While he finished 2 nd  to Chase Elliott, his underlying stats pushed him way up into the 2 nd  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 2 nd  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 --

Photo from www.x.com/f1 By Ryan Wu Clearly not satisfied with ‘just’ being one of the youngest drivers to win an F1 Grand Prix, Kimi Antonelli can now add ‘The first teenager to win back-to-back races’ and the youngest ever Championship leader to his resume. Not bad for a driver who won’t even be legally allowed to drink at the location of the next race in Miami. Oscar Piastri rebounded beautifully with a second-placed finish (and completed his first Grand Prix lap of the season to boot) while Charles Leclerc rounded out the podium positions. Race Recap Starting from third, Oscar Piastri caught the Mercedes duo of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell off guard as he stormed off the line to take the lead before the first corner. The speed of the Mercedes was again on display as Antonelli quickly clawed back positions, overtaking Lewis Hamilton on lap 2 to fight his way up to fifth. Up ahead, George Russell took the lead on lap 8 as he sliced through the leaders. However, the importance of battery conservation was on full display, and Piastri quickly retook the lead as the “pass and repass” pattern of this generation of F1 cars showed itself throughout the race. Mercedes opted to pit Russell ahead of Antonelli, but a safety car on lap 22, triggered by an Oliver Bearman crash while attempting to pass Franco Colapinto, favored the young Italian and drew visible ire from Russell over the radio as Antonelli was able to get a “free stop.” Russell struggled after the safety car period as he was noticeably down on power, resulting in him losing position to Charles Leclerc and dropping to fifth. A great duel once again unfolded between the two Ferraris, with Lewis Hamilton and Leclerc battling for third throughout the latter stages of the race. Hamilton ultimately lost positions to both Lando Norris and George Russell, finishing sixth. Max Verstappen Openly Questions Future in Formula 1 Despite the team bringing upgrades to the Suzuka Circuit, Max Verstappen was unable to compete once again. The Dutchman qualified in 11th and ultimately finished the race in eighth place. He has been the loudest critic among drivers against the new engine regulations, going as far as to say “This is not racing.” Verstappen is well known for his interests across other motorsport disciplines, from pulling all-nighters doing virtual racing, to recently winning (and then being disqualified) the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. Following the race in Japan, he said that while he remains fully committed to the sport, he may not be going about it in the healthiest way given the challenging period for the team. His current contract runs through 2028, but he would not be the first, nor the last high-profile athlete to walk away early. Racing Refresh Driver of the Day Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes Final Points Finishing Positions 1st:  Kimi Antonelli 2nd: Oscar Piastri 3rd: Charles Leclerc 4th: George Russell 5th: Lando Norris 6th: Lewis Hamilton 7th: Pierre Gasly 8th: Max Verstappen 9th: Liam Lawson 10th: Esteban Ocon Next on the F1 Schedule: Miami Grand Prix: May 1st-3rd