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 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 2 nd  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 2 nd  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

Pre-season testing in Bahrain - Photo from www.x.com/f1 By Ryan Wu As pre-season testing has wrapped up and attention turns to the season opener in Melbourne this weekend, I will revisit my bold, and wildly inaccurate, predictions from last year. I will give myself an accuracy score and offer some new predictions for this season that will hopefully prove to be more accurate. McLaren will remain as the main title competitor to Red Bull for another season but will ultimately fall short again in their Drivers’ Championship chase. This was a close one. As a reminder, Lando Norris narrowly edged out Max Verstappen for the Drivers’ Championship by just two points, needing the final race to secure it. McLaren was dominant as a team and appeared to have the Constructors’ Title wrapped up by April, so this prediction came very close to coming true. Accuracy Score: 6/10 (part way through the year this seemed like a 1/10, if I am to be honest) The excitement doesn’t last long at Ferrari, as driver controversies follow the Scuderia throughout the year, with questions lingering about who the ‘number one’ driver is, resulting in a slip in the standings. A year after finishing second in the Constructors’ Standings, Ferrari slipped to fourth as car inconsistencies persisted throughout the season. What was consistent, however, was who led the team. Charles Leclerc comfortably outperformed his new teammate Lewis Hamilton, who failed to secure a podium for the first time in his career. Their head-to-head record was as follows: Qualifying Grand Prix: Leclerc 19 to 5 Hamilton Sprint: Leclerc 4 to 2 Hamilton Race Grand Prix: Leclerc 18 to 3 Hamilton Sprint: Leclerc 3 to 3 Hamilton Championship Points: Leclerc 242 to 156 Hamilton Position: Leclerc 5th, Hamilton 6th No points were awarded at the Chinese Grand Prix after both drivers were disqualified, and neither scored in the Dutch or Sao Paulo Grands Prix after retiring from those races. Alas, this was another prediction that proved half right, while the other half missed the mark entirely. Accuracy Score: 5/10 Verstappen dominates again and, with the emergence of Lawson, Red Bull secures both championships. Max Verstappen endured a difficult start to the season and, by midseason, trailed Oscar Piastri by 97 points in the championship after the Hungarian Grand Prix. However, he responded emphatically, winning six of the final nine races starting at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. He reminded the world why he was the four-time reigning World Champion, pushing Lando Norris to the very end before ultimately finishing second in the standings by just two points. The same cannot be said for Liam Lawson, who lasted only two races before being replaced by Yuki Tsunoda. Tsunoda, for what it is worth, did not fare much better in the second Red Bull seat. Lawson still managed to outscore his replacement 38 to 33 by season’s end, but a midseason demotion does little to help the accuracy score. Accuracy Score: 2/10 (if it weren’t for Verstappen’s second half resurgence this score might be well into the negatives) George Russell fills the big shoes left by Lewis Hamilton more than adequately and finishes as a top-three driver in the standings. George Russell claimed two wins in 2025 and finished ahead of both Ferrari drivers. However, he placed a distant fourth in the championship, ending the season 91 points behind Oscar Piastri. Accuracy Score: 7/10 With Newey aboard and Alonso still defying father time, Aston Martin enjoys a bounce-back season and contends for a top-four finish in the Constructors’ standings. Fernando Alonso did secure a top ten finish in the Drivers’ standings, but no one would describe Aston Martin’s 2025 season as one of contention. The team fell to seventh in the Constructors’ standings, finishing behind both Racing Bulls and Williams. Accuracy Score: 2/10 Alpine’s underperforming engine and Jack Doohan’s inconsistency cost the team, resulting in a drop to seventh in the standings. The good news is that Alpine did not finish seventh in the standings. The bad news is that they finished last, and by a margin of 48 points. Jack Doohan showed some early inconsistency, recording two DNFs in his first six races before being demoted in favor of Franco Colapinto for the remainder of the season. He ultimately parted ways with Alpine at the end of the year. Accuracy Score: 9/10 Ocon finds greater consistency, Bearman proves his cameo was no fluke, and Haas finishes sixth — their highest-ever Constructors’ result. Esteban Ocon enjoyed his best season since 2023, recording nine points finishes. Oliver Bearman performed even better, outscoring his veteran teammate 41 to 38. Unfortunately, Haas finished 13 points behind Racing Bulls in the battle for sixth, but the pairing showed clear promise for the future. Accuracy Score: 7/10 Yuki Tsunoda fails to show meaningful improvement and loses his F1 seat for 2026. I am not here to kick a man when he is down so let’s just move on. Accuracy Score: 10/10 With an improved car and Sainz’s consistency, Williams climbs to seventh in the standings. Carlos Sainz enjoyed an impressive debut season with Williams, finishing ninth in the Drivers’ standings. His teammate Alex Albon fared even better, placing eighth. As a team, Williams exceeded expectations. Despite pausing development of their car midway through the season to shift focus to 2026, they secured fifth in the Constructors’ standings, their highest finish since 2017. Accuracy Score: 9/10 Sauber doubles its points tally but still finishes last in the standings. Sauber got more than 17x their points total from 2024, ending the season with 70 points. Additionally, with Alpine struggling so severely this year, Sauber avoided finishing last, placing ninth in the Constructors’ standings, just nine points behind Haas in eighth. Accuracy Score: 8/10 ------ Predictions for 2026 With a new season approaching and, more importantly, a brand new set of regulations, chaos is likely to follow. Learning from last year and judging by the three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain, it appears that the top four teams from last season McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari will remain at the front of the field. That said, there is room for surprises, similar to Williams’ resurgence this past year, and there is no guarantee that past performance will carry over under the new regulations. Teams that interpret new rules correctly and execute strong car designs often enjoy periods of dominance. This was evident during Mercedes’ control of the turbo hybrid era and Red Bull’s recent success with ground effect cars. With that in mind, here are four predictions for the upcoming 2026 season. A McLaren driver wins the World Championship… but it won’t be Lando Norris Oscar Piastri came remarkably close to winning his maiden title last season, leading the championship until the United States Grand Prix before relinquishing it to Lando Norris for the remainder of the year. The hope is that McLaren can once again deliver a championship-calibre car and treat fans to another thrilling season-long battle. Lewis Hamilton will secure his first Ferrari podium… by winning the first race of the season in Australia It is no secret that the seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton did not enjoy a smooth debut season with the Prancing Horse at Ferrari. However, anyone who doubts him does so at their own peril. With a new set of regulations and a strong sense of urgency within the team to secure their first Drivers’ Champion since Kimi Räikkönen in 2007, expect Hamilton and Ferrari to rebound in a significant way, beginning with the opening race of the season. Cadillac does not finish last in the constructors’ standings… but will be 10th With a veteran driver pairing of Sergio Pérez and Valtteri Bottas for their debut Formula 1 season in 2026, the hope is that experience will help Cadillac establish early credibility. No one expects the team to contend for race wins in the near future, but reports of strong leadership and a capable engineering group offer optimism. This foundation should be enough to keep Cadillac out of the bottom of the standings, a position that this writer expects Alpine to occupy once again. There will be six different race winners for the first time since the 2009 season Much has already been made of how this new generation of cars handles, with Max Verstappen describing them as “Formula E on steroids.” George Russell has also explained to reporters that drivers will be downshifting to first gear more frequently in corners than in previous seasons in order to keep the turbos spooled. This approach has the potential to destabilize the car and demands greater precision from the driver. In addition, aerodynamic changes aimed at promoting closer racing have simplified the front and rear wings, while the introduction of active aerodynamics has created a learning curve for many drivers. Taken together, these factors suggest that the playing field may be more level than before, potentially opening the door for a wider range of drivers to seize race victories. The 2026 F1 Season kicks off with the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, March 8 th

Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images By Adam Carabine Tyler Reddick became the first driver in NASCAR history to make it back-to-back-to-back wins to start the NASCAR Cup Series Season!   Reddick started strong, earning the pole in qualifying.  Through Stage One, he maybe went too easy on his car, trying to save tires, but was able to adjust his pace and eventually held off road-course wizard, Shane Van Gisbergen (SVG) for the win.    Lap 1: Reddick started the race on pole, but lost the lead at turn one to Chase Briscoe who looked fast early.   Lap 5: SVG, who started 13 th , had already made his way up to 7 th .  He was the fastest car on the track.   Lap 9:  Ryan Blaney takes the lead from Chase Briscoe, and SVG is now up to P5.   Lap 16:  With the stage end looming, a group of drivers hit pit road to try and flip the stage.    Lap 17:  An even larger group of drivers heads to pit road.   Lap 18:  Ryan Blaney pits from the lead, and pit road closes behind him with 2 to go in the stage.   Lap 20:  Ross Chastain wins Stage One, SVG finishes P2 afer staying out.   Lap 24:  Stage Two begins with Tyler Reddick back up front after cycling through pit stops.  Reddick and team worry that he might have a loose right rear wheel, but opt to stay out and chance it.  Connor Zilisch gets spun by Suarez in Turn 1 and undoes a lot of the hard work he did to get up near the front.   Lap 27:  Noah Gragson loses it, spins and hits a wall, but gets it back going.  No caution.   Lap 39:  After starting 15 th in the stage, SVG has worked his way up to P4, and is still charging.   Lap 41:  Again, with the end of Stage Two looming, we get our first takers on pit road – Brad Keselowski and Zane Smith.   Lap 42:  Another group come to pit road, including Alex Bowman who gets a penalty for an uncontrolled tire.   Lap 43:  Josh Berry spins, but again it stays green.  Leader Tyler Reddick pits alongside Chase Briscoe and Michael McDowell.   Lap 44:  Ryan Blaney, SVG, Kyle Larson, and William Byron pit, Ty Gibbs to the lead as the pits close.   Lap 45:  Ty Gibbs wins Stage Two, Tyler Reddick gets stage points despite flipping the stage, as he finishes P5.   Lap 51:  Green flag for the final stage!   Lap 52:  Erik Jones spins from 33 rd , but it stays green.   Lap 55:  Ryan Blaney starts gaining on Reddick, and starts really challenging for the lead.   Lap 57:  Connor Zilisch makes it up to P10.   Lap 60:  Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell go toe-to-toe for most of the lap.  Aggressive driving!   Lap 61:  Kyle Busch capitalizes on Bell and Larson’s feud and moves to P10.  Zilisch is now up to P7.   Lap 63:  The pit window is officially open, and Christopher Bell is the first taker.  Issue for Chase Briscoe – it seems only one tire is spinning properly.  Turns out to be a transmission issue, and Briscoe is the first (and spoiler alert only) DNF of the day.   Lap 64 – After seeing Christopher Bell pit, a big group follow the next lap to not get left behind.   Lap 66 – Leaders are playing a bit of chicken over who’s going to pit first, as many others farther back are pitting.   Lap 69 – Reddick’s lead over Blaney has become 1.6 seconds, it’s assumed Blaney will pit next time.   Lap 70 – Blaney does indeed pit, but Reddick gets wind of it and comes too.  Nearly a drag race off of pit road, but Reddick maintains the lead over Blaney just barely.   Lap 72 – Now Michael McDowell is in the lead, nearly everyone behind him has pit.  He’s running 3 seconds slower a lap, but has a decent lead.   Lap 75 – CAUTION – Ross Chastain loses a tire!  Also, Alex Bowman is reportedly really not feeling well.  He brings it down pit road, and Hendrick standby driver Myatt Snider swaps with him and takes over the 48 car!   Lap 79 – Back to green.  Having stayed out, Reddick leads Blaney, SVG and Zilisch to the line – Zilisch gets the raw end of the deal and gets spun out in Turn One due to an accordion effect started by Kyle Busch.  SVG gets by Blaney for P2.   Lap 82 – Chris Buescher spins at the final turn before the front stretch, again due to Kyle Busch – this time he was warring with part-time teammate Jesse Love in the 33.   Lap 84 – SVG is closing in on Reddick for the lead.  Bell is the first driver with new tires, and has made his way up to P4.   Lap 85 – Bell now to P3!   Lap 88 – Reddick has been seeing nothing but SVG in the rearview mirror, but it looks like SVG’s car is backing off.  Reddick’s lead grows to just over one second.   Lap 93 – Reddick continues to keep pushing.  His lead is now 3 seconds over SVG.   Lap 95 – Final Lap – Hocevar spins just past the start finish online on his own, but finally manages to get it back going.  It stays green to the finish, where Tyler Reddick wins his third race in a row!  The first time in NASCAR history that anyone has won the first three races of the season!   Next weekend we head west to Phoenix Raceway!

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 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 20 – 45 – 95.  Pit road speed is 40 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 45 mph.  The fuel window is approximately 34-36 laps.   This year, the NASCAR Cup Series has run 566 laps, for 1,141.16 miles so far this season.  15 drivers have completed 100% of them so far.   Top 5 Career Average Finishers at COTA: Tyler Reddick 4.60 over 5 races (1 win) Alex Bowman 5.20 over 5 races Ross Chastain 5.60 over 5 races (1 win) William Byron 6.20 over 5 races (1 win) Chase Elliott 6.25 over 4 races (1 win)   Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at COTA: Connor Zilisch 37.00 over 1 race Josh Berry 30.50 over 2 races Daniel Suarez 30.20 over 5 races Bubba Wallace 29.80 over 5 races Cody Ware 28.75 over 4 races   COTA is a Road Course.   Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Road Courses: SVG 6.36 over 12 races (6 wins) Chase Elliott 7.72 over 41 races (7 wins) Tyler Reddick 11.17 over 32 races (3 wins) Chris Buescher 12.48 over 43 races (1 win) Christopher Bell 12.85 over 32 races (3 wins)   Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Road Courses: Cody Ware 30.57 over 21 races Josh Berry 27.17 over 11 races Ty Dillon 26.92 over 31 races Riley Herbst 24.83 over 6 races Noah Gragson 24.44 over 15 races   Since this race has only been run five times, there is no winningest driver at COTA.  There are actually five different winners here, each with one win.   Drivers who ran their first Cup Series race at COTA: Connor Zilisch 2025, P37   Drivers who WON their first Cup Series race at COTA: Ross Chastain 121 st  Career Cup Series Start   Notable drivers who have not won at COTA: Kyle Busch (has won at 24 other tracks) Denny Hamlin (has won at 20 other tracks) Joey Logano (has won at 19 other tracks) Kyle Larson (has won at 18 other tracks) Brad Keselowski (has won at 17 other tracks)   Based on average finish, no driver lists COTA as their BEST track, but Connor Zilisch, Dnaiel Suarez, and Bubba Wallace list it as their 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 +1217 pts Zane Smith +663 pts Bubba Wallace +628 pts Daniel Suarez +575 pts Carson Hocevar +468 pts   Drivers Faring Worse than in 2025 Christopher Bell -893 pts Denny Hamlin -629 pts Kyle Larson -608 pts Alex Bowman -570 pts Ty Gibbs -513 pts   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 110 Chevrolet 69 Ford 64   Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:   Chartered Team Standings 23XI 110 Front Row 61 Penske 61 RFK 60 Hendrick 59 Spire 57 Trackhouse 51 Joe Gibbs 49 Kaulig 48 Hyak 36 Legacy Motor Club 34 RCR 30 Rick Ware 30 Haas Factory 29 Wood Bros 29   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 29 Ryan Blaney 21 Austin Cindric 19 William Byron 16 Tyler Reddick 15 Chase Elliott 12 Carson Hocevar 12 Kyle Busch 11 Zane Smith 10 Chris Buescher 9   Milestone Watch Ross Chastain Looking for his 40 th  Career Top 5 Chase Briscoe Looking for his 30 th  Career Top 5 Christopher Bell Looking for his 60 th  Career Top 5 Ryan Blaney Looking for his 170 th  Career Top 10   Scorigami Update Atlanta was the first time that: Connor Zilisch finished 30 th   Carson Hocevar finished 4 th     Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:   Winless Streaks Cole Custer 135 races Erik Jones 119 races Kyle Busch 95 races Michael McDowell 86 races Daniel Suarez 72 races Brad Keselowski 61 races AJ Allmendinger 58 races Alex Bowman 50 races Chris Buescher 46 races Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 43 races   The race begins Sunday, March 1 st   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 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 Zilisch won this race last year.   Tomorrow’s race will be 65 laps long (for a total of 153.14 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 20 – 40 – 65.  Pit road speed is 40 mph, and the caution vehicle runs at 45 mph.    This year, the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series has run 283 laps, for 551.02 miles so far this season.  Only 8 cars have completed 100% of all laps.   Top 5 Career Average Finishers at COTA: Sam Mayer 6.00 over 4 races Jesse Love 6.00 over 2 races Taylor Gray 7.00 over 1 race Austin Hill 11.25 over 4 races Parker Retzlaff 14.00 over 2 races   Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at COTA: Josh Bilicki 29.00 over 4 races Kyle Sieg 26.50 over 2 races Josh Williams 26.50 over 2 races Nick Sanchez 24.00 over 1 race Ryan Ellis 23.25 over 4 races   COTA is a Road Course   Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Road Courses: Austin Hill 10.26 over 30 races Austin Green 11.00 over 13 races Sam Mayer 13.51 over 31 races (4 wins) Taylor Gray 13.57 over 7 races Jesse Love 13.64 over 13 races   Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Road Courses: William Sawalich 30.00 over 6 races Ryan Ellis 27.06 over 32 races Kyle Sieg 27.02 over 18 races Dean Thompson 24.86 over 7 races Anthony Alfredo 23.99 over 28 races   AJ Allmendinger is the winningest driver in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at COTA, with 2 wins.    Drivers who ran their first Cup Series race at COTA: Austin Green 2024, P7   Notable drivers who have not won at COTA: Justin Allgaier (has won at 20 other tracks) 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)   Based on average finish, Dean Thompson lists COTA as his BEST track, but no driver lists it as their WORST.   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 Austin Hill +626 pts Sheldon Creed +436 pts Ryan Ellis +340 pts Jesse Love +207 pts Blaine Perkins +155 pts   Drivers Faring Worse than in 2025 Harrison Burton -639 pts Sam Mayer -493 pts Brandon Jones -289 pts Dean Thompson -228 pts Nick Sanchez -203 pts     Rookie of the Year Battle Patrick Staropoli 43 Lavar Scott 30   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 110 Ford 48 Toyota 39   Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:   Chartered Team Standings RCR 87 Haas Factory 68 Jordan Anderson 64 JR Motorsports 64 Viking 58 Young’s 50 Alpha Prime 43 Big Machine 43 Hendrick 43 SS-Green Light 43 Joe Gibbs 39 AM Racing 35 RSS Racing 35 Sam Hunt 34 Hettinger 31 Peterson 31 Barrett-Cope 24 DGM 14 Jeremy Clements 13 Joey Gase 7   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 30 #1 Car 29 #88 Car 27 Austin Hill 24 Jesse Love 20 Sheldon Creed 12 Sammy Smith 9 Brandon Jones 9 Jeremy Clements 8 Taylor Gray 8   Milestone Watch Justin Allgaier Looking for his 170 th  Career Top 5 Taylor Gray Looking for his 19 th  Career Top 5 Sheldon Creed Looking for his 70 th  Career Top 10 Harrison Burton Looking for his 60 th  Career Top 10 Taylor Gray Looking for his 10 th  Career Top 10    Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:   Winless Streaks Jeremy Clements 111 races Jeb Burton 92 races Harrison Burton 69 races Sammy Smith 25 races Justin Allgaier 21 races Nick Sanchez 18 races Sam Mayer 13 races Brandon Jones 7 races Taylor Gray 3 races Jesse Love 2 races   The race begins Saturday, February 28 th  at 3:00 pm EST (12:00 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 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 the runways at Albert Whitted Airport. This is the first time that NASCAR will participate at the track, but it has been a staple on the IndyCar schedule for years.   While usually the Trucks race on Friday, this week they’re racing early Saturday morning.  Saturday’s race will be 80 laps long (for a total of 144.64 miles), with stage breaks occurring at 20 – 40 – 80.  The fuel window is unknown, as this is the first time they will be visiting.   This year, the NASCAR Crafstman Truck Series has run 227 laps, for 447.50 miles so far this season.  Seven drivers have completed all of them so far.   St. Petersburg is a Road Course.   Top 5 Career Average Finishers at Road Courses: Gio Ruggiero 3.00 over 2 races Daniel Hemric 7.83 over 4 races Grant Enfinger 10.21 over 12 races Tyler Ankrum 10.82 over 12 races Ty Majeski 11.08 over 9 races   Bottom 5 Career Average Finishers at Road Courses: Frankie Muniz 28.00 over 1 race Kris Wright 24.00 over 6 races Dawson Sutton 21.50 over 2 races Layne Riggs 20.33 over 3 races Jake Garcia 19.88 over 5 races     Notable drivers who have not won at St. Pete: Grant Enfinger (has won at 11 other tracks) Ben Rhodes (has won at 7 other tracks) Chandler Smith (has won at 7 other tracks) Ty Majeski (has won at 5 other tracks) Stewart Friesen (has won at 4 other tracks)    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 Chandler Smith +455 pts Stewart Friesen +326 pts Gio Ruggiero +220 pts Andres Perez de Lara +191 pts Frankie Muniz +121 pts   Drivers Faring Worse than in 2025 Layne Riggs -643 pts Daniel Hemric -556 pts Grant Enfinger -473 pts Tanner Gray -212 pts Kaden Honeycutt -198 pts Rookie of the Year Battle Brendan Queen 53 Mini Tyrell 36 Cole Butcher 29   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 89 Ford 88 Toyota 69 RAM 57   Here is the same formula, but used on a team-vs-team basis:   Team Standings Front Row 86 TRICON 69 Spire 68 ThorSport 66 Niece 59 Kaulig RAM 57 McAnally-Hilgemann 57 Halmar Friesen 44 Reaume Bros 35 Freedom Racing 26 Rackley WAR 25 CR7 Motorsports 23 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 #7 Truck 26 #77 Truck 25 #1 Truck 22 Ty Majeski 18 Chandler Smith 17 Stewart Friesen 15 Christian Eckes 12 Layne Riggs 10 Tanner Gray 9 #45 Truck 9   Milestone Watch Chandler Smith Career Truck Series Start Number 90 Christian Eckes Looking for his 10 th  Career Truck Series Win Ty Majeski Looking for his 40 th  Career Top 5 Gio Ruggiero Looking for his 10 th  Career Top 5 Grant Enfinger Looking for his 130 th  Career Top 10 Andres Perez de Lara Looking for his 10 th  Career Top 10   Here are the top 10 longest active winless streaks:   Winless Streaks Ben Rhodes 62 races Grant Enfinger 29 races Ty Majeski 27 races Daniel Hemric 22 races Tyler Ankrum 20 races Layne Riggs 7 races Justin Haley 7 races Christian Eckes 5 races Stewart Friesen 5 races Gio Ruggiero 4 races   The race begins Saturday, February 28 th  at 12:00 pm EST (9:00 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!

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 points, and was in contention for a good chunk of the day.  P18 finish after some attrition near the end, but Logano looks good early this year.   Daniel Suarez – This week: 9 – Last week: 7 Atlanta might be Suarez’s favourite track.  He’s got one of his two Cup Series wins there, and he finished P5 there this week.  He kind of appeared out of nowhere near the end of the race (even the FOX Broadcast commented that they hadn’t mentioned him at all up until that point).  I’m not sure I had Suarez in the Top 10 in points after 2 races on my 2026 Bingo Card.    Carson Hocevar – This week: 8 – Last week: 17 Hocevar is a polarizing driver in the Cup Series.  He’s exciting to watch, though that comes at a cost sometimes.  His aggression and seeming lack of caring about his other drivers out on the track make for some good TV, but some don’t like his tactics.  Regardless of how you feel, he finished P4 this week, earned some stage points, and led a couple of laps.  He was looking for his first Cup Series win, and I feel it could be coming soon.   Chase Elliott – This week: 7 – Last week: 18 Another somewhat quiet race at EchoPark Speedway, Chase Elliott finished P11 but wasn’t super visible most of the day.  He did lead 11 laps, and had an average running position of 10 th .  That’s two solid weeks in a row for Chase, and he moves up into the Top 10 of the Power Rankings.   Ryan Blaney – This week: 6 – Last week: 15 A solid day for Ryan Blaney in Atlanta puts him in the Top 10 of our Power Rankings as well.  Points earned in both stages, 6 laps led, and a Top 10 finish on the day.  Blaney looked like he was struggling with the handling of his car through some of the day, but managed to work through it and bring it home P10.   William Byron – This week: 5 – Last week: 4 This goes to show that finishing position doesn’t always dictate how you fare in the Power Rankings.  Despite Byron’s P28 finish after a calamitous finish to the race on Sunday, he stays in the Top 5 of the Power Rankings. It was a great day on the track for Byron up until those final few laps.  He had the second-most stage points, and the most Quality Passes (288) of anyone in the field.  He crashed out 15 laps early of what ended up being the finish of the race, but he’s still looking good to start this season.   Ross Chastain – This week: 4 – Last week: 14 A nice day at EchoPark Speedway for Ross Chastain moves him up into our Top 10 Power Rankings.  He finished P3, earned a stage point, and showed a nice mixture of aggression and maturity on the track throughout the race.  He was in a position to win it right at the end, but just fell short.   Zane Smith – This week: 3 – Last week: 2 Zane Smith is in the Top 5 of the points standings right now.  I know it’s only two races, but still! This is great for the young driver.  He and Tyler Reddick are the only two drivers to have two Top 10s in two races to start the year.  He didn’t earn any stage points on Sunday, but still finished P7, and even led a lap.    Bubba Wallace – This week: 2   – Last week: 6 Bubba Wallace really is showing he’s one of the cars to beat at these drafting tracks.  Two weeks in a row and he has been a threat both times.  An ill-timed block on the final lap of the second overtime attempt thwarted his hopes for a victory, but he had a great day nonetheless.  He had the most stage points of any driver (which included a win in Stage Two), tied for the best average running position (6 th ) and led 46 laps on the day.  He jokingly said he might be in trouble next week at COTA, but we’ll see how his Power Ranking spot is affected next week.   Tyler Reddick – This week: 1 – Last week: 1 It was probably pretty obvious who would be on the top of the Power Rankings this week.  It was hard to go with anyone other than Tyler Reddick, who put together back-to-back wins to start this 2026 season.  He’s looked fast, focused, and also smart.  He led the most laps at EchoPark Speedway, earned extra points in both stages, and oh right, he also won the race.  He’s also no slouch on road courses, could we see him go three in a row next week?   Biggest Movers   Riley Herbst – This week: 26 – Last week: 3 Falls 23 places   Chase Briscoe – This week: 11 – Last week: 31 Gains 20 places   Rest of the List 11. Chase Briscoe LW: 31 +20 12. SVG LW: 26 +14 13. Noah Gragson LW: 10 -3 14. Ty Dillon LW: 13 -1 15. AJ Allmendinger LW: 24 +9 16. Ryan Preece LW: 28 +12 17. Chris Buescher LW: 5 -12 18. Austin Cindric LW: 25 +7 19. Kyle Larson LW: 11 -8 20. Connor Zilisch LW: 27 +7 21. Denny Hamlin LW: 30 +9 22. Brad Keselowski LW: 22 -- 23. Michael McDowell LW: 19 -4 24. Kyle Busch LW: 9 -15 25. Cody Ware LW: 20 -5 26. Riley Herbst LW: 3 -23 27. Christopher Bell LW: 36 +9 28. Alex Bowman LW: 32 +4 29. Erik Jones LW: 29 -- 30. JH Nemechek LW: 21 -9 31. Todd Gilliland LW: 34 +3 32. Ty Gibbs LW: 16 -16 33. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. LW: 12 -21 34. Austin Dillon LW: 35 +1 35. Cole Custer LW: 33 -2 36. Josh Berry LW: 23 -13

Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images By Adam Carabine Tyler Reddick makes it back-to-back wins to start the 2026 NASCAR Cup Season!   Despite some earlier damage, and no front right fender, Reddick was able to make his way back up to the front for a Double-Overtime win at EchoPark Speedway in Atlanta.   Lap 1: Due to rained out qualifying, the math-based qualifying metric was used, and last week’s winner Tyler Reddick started on the pole.   Lap 4: Joey Logano and Reddick were trading the lead back and forth, lap by lap, as they each led one of the two-wide lines.   Lap 29:  Carson Hocevar has a tire go down, tags the wall, and limps it to pit road.  It stays green, and Hocevar loses two laps getting it fixed.   Lap 43:  Because of Hocevar’s fresh tires, it looks like he might get one of his laps back by making his way to the front of the pack.    Lap 60:  Stage One finishes completely green, Austin Cindric came from starting 30 th  to win the first stage.   Lap 65: Larson wins the race off pit road to get the lead.  Penalties on pit road to Ryan Blaney for speeding and Cody Ware for pitting outside of his box.   Lap 69:  Green flag for Stage Two!   Lap 82:  CAUTION – Ty Gibbs and Josh Berry get the worst of it, they’re both out of the race.  Gibbs’ car sets fire to the grass for a moment, but they put it out.   Lap 88:  Pits open, Larson maintains the lead through another round of pit stops.   Lap 92:  Green flag   Lap 103: CAUTION – Bigger wreck with Riley Herbst, Austin Dillon, Todd Gilliland and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. involved.  Stenhouse is the lone DNF after this wreck.   Lap 111: The top 18 cars stay out, and most everyone else comes down for a fuel top-up and some fresh tires.  Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace make up the front row as the green flag flies again.   Lap 124: CAUTION – Kyle Busch gets loose, moves up the track, gets a little nudge from Noah Gragson, which sends Busch spinning and hitting the inside wall on the backstretch.  That’s the end of his day.   Lap 131: Back to green.   Lap 160: End of Stage Two – finishes under caution at the last minute as Kyle Larson comes down the track, seemingly not realizing SVG is below him.  He spins, hits the outside wall hard, and is done for the day.  Important note: Bubba Wallace wins Stage Two (his second stage win of the season already).   Lap 170: Final Stage is Green!   Lap 198: CAUTION – SVG gets loose and spins on his own.  Todd Gilliland is the free pass.   Lap 201: Pits open, most everyone comes down.  Denny Hamlin is off first with a fuel-only pit stop.   Lap 204: Green flag again.   Lap 224: CAUTION – a big one, Hamlin looks to have started things, but a bunch of cars are involved, including Tyler Reddick, Michael McDowell, Connor Zilisch, Alex Bowman, etc.    Lap 232: Back to green.   Lap 239: CAUTION – Joey Logano gets turned by Carson Hocevar, though it looks like Logano did it to himself by cutting off Hocevar’s nose.    Lap 244: Back to green.   Lap 257: CAUTION – William Byron got loose, hit the wall and lost a lot of speed.  Further back in the pack, everyone trying to avoid him end up getting into a big wreck.  This ends the race for Austin Cindric, Austin Dillon, Byron, Gilliland, and Cody Ware.   Lap 260: The scheduled end of this race – but we are going to Overtime because of all the cleanup needed after that last wreck.   OT1: Immediately after taking the green flag, Hocevar tries to find an opening between leaders Bubba Wallace and Christopher Bell.  Bell goes into the wall, and CAUTION comes out again.    OT2:    Green flag, then White flag.  Bubba Wallace tries to block the high line, but goes too high and Hocevar capitalizes on a crossover move. Tyler Reddick on the bottom gets a good push from Chase Briscoe, and makes his way to the checkered flag for the second week in a row!

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 points in Stage One, and finished the race P11.    Kyle Busch – This week: 9 – Last week: -- Kyle Busch started the season off with a bang, winning the first pole of the year.  He was involved in some carnage (who wasn’t?) throughout the race but rebounded nicely to a P15 finish.    Joey Logano – This week: 8 – Last week: -- Logano won one of the duels, putting him on the second row of the Daytona 500 starting lineup.  Despite an average running position of 16 th , he found his way back up front and finished in third – the same place he started.  Compared to others, his underlying numbers weren’t as strong, but a strong finish still counts.   Daniel Suarez – This week: 7 – Last week: -- Suarez, brand new in the 7 car this year, had a solid outing at Daytona.  Points in both stages, a +23 passing differential, and a P13 race finish.  I’d like to see this momentum continue into Atlanta before I’m completely sold.   Bubba Wallace – This week: 6 – Last week: -- Bubba Wallace led the most laps of anyone at Daytona (40), won Stage Two, and finished with a Top 10.  He’s a gifted drafting track racer, and probably hoped for better for himself, but it’s a good start to the season.   Chris Buescher – This week: 5 – Last week: -- Buescher literally qualified worse than anyone in the field, but rallied back to finish P7 on a strong day for RFK Racing.  He also got points in both stages, led four laps, and tied for the best average running position on the day.    William Byron – This week: 4 – Last week: -- Byron had to move to a backup car and start at the rear of the field.  Then he got caught up in some carnage and sustained some fairly substantial damage.  Despite all that, he had the highest pass differential on the day (+57) and finished P12.  Talk about making the most out of a rough start!   Riley Herbst – This week: 3 – Last week: -- While much was made of a poorly timed block at the end of the race in front of Brad Keselowski, let’s give Herbst his props for being there in the conversation at the end of the 500.  Widely seen as the clear third driver at 23XI last year, Herbst had a solid run all day, earned some stage points, and was in position to take the victory at the end.  He messed up his own day, and a few others’, but a solid start to the season for the young driver.   Zane Smith – This week: 2   – Last week: -- I didn’t necessarily have Zane Smith on my Daytona Bingo Card this year, but he certainly showed up in fashion!  He won the first stage despite starting 30 th , led 9 laps, and finished P6.  It’s early to say whether this is a sign of things to come this year for Zane Smith and the 38 team, but it’s nice to see a smaller team get some success.   Tyler Reddick – This week: 1 – Last week: -- After a winless season, and a tumultuous year last year with his family’s health, Tyler Reddick came back and won the biggest race of the year. A few impressive moments of wreck-avoidance, both during “The Big One,” earlier on, and on the final lap, allowed Reddick to cross the finish line first.  He may have only led one lap, but it was the most important one. Rest of the List 11. Kyle Larson LW: -- -- 12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. LW: -- -- 13. Ty Dillon LW: -- -- 14. Ross Chastain LW: -- -- 15. Ryan Blaney LW: -- -- 16. Ty Gibbs LW: -- -- 17. Carson Hocevar LW: -- -- 18. Chase Elliott LW: -- -- 19. Michael McDowell LW: -- -- 20. Cody Ware LW: -- -- 21. JH Nemechek LW: -- -- 22. Brad Keselowski LW: -- -- 23. Josh Berry LW: -- -- 24. AJ Allmendinger LW: -- -- 25. Austin Cindric LW: -- -- 26. SVG LW: -- -- 27. Connor Zilisch LW: -- -- 28. Ryan Preece LW: -- -- 29. Erik Jones LW: -- -- 30. Denny Hamlin LW: -- -- 31. Chase Briscoe LW: -- -- 32. Alex Bowman LW: -- -- 33. Cole Custer LW: -- -- 34. Todd Gilliland LW: -- -- 35. Austin Dillon LW: -- -- 36. Christopher Bell LW: -- --

Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images By Adam Carabine Tyler Reddick reigned supreme at The Great American Race.  Time for a quick recap of the notable moments!   The Daytona 500 initially got moved up an hour to avoid some potential inclement weather.  They were able to get the entire race in with no rain.   Lap 3 In honour of the 25 th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt’s passing, the fans stood silently with three fingers in the air.  Commentary on FOX was quiet for the whole lap as well.   Lap 5: BJ McLeod suffers a mechanical failure of some sort, bringing out the first caution of the day.  His day would be done pretty quickly, but no one else got too banged up.   Lap 12: After most cars came down pit road to top up on fuel, the race returned to green.   Lap 65: End of Stage One, won by Zane Smith.  The Top 10 had enough fuel from topping up earlier, and managed to avoid the green flag pit cycle in order to collect the stage points.   Lap 72: Stage Two is Green!   Lap 86: Caution is out for a decent-sized incident involving Connor Zilisch, Austin Dillon, Cody Ware and Ross Chastain.  All were able to continue, and they returned to green on lap 92.   Lap 124: The BIG ONE catches many drivers, and they end up finishing Stage Two under caution as they continue to clean up.   Lap 136: Green flag on the final stage.    Lap 150: With everyone in major fuel saving mode, lap times have fallen to around 51s, about 4.5s slower than top speeds.   Lap 181: Some green flag pit stops start, Toyotas first.   Lap 185: The fuel saving doesn’t work so well for Cole Custer as he runs out of gas, but he limps his way to pit road and it stays green.   Lap 190: Everyone but Michael McDowell has pit.   Lap 192: Another BIG caution, with Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell taking the wrost of it.   Lap 197: Green flag with 4 to go   Lap 200: Multiple crashes on the final lap, but NASCAR lets them run it out under green.  Despite Chase Elliott leading at the end of Turn Four, Tyler Reddick emerges victorious!

By Adam Carabine Counting down the final 30 days to the 2026 Daytona 500, we are looking at last year's Top 30 drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series. Today's driver: Kyle Larson Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images No. 5 Car – Hendrick Motorsports   2025 Stats Standings 1 st Wins 3 Points 5,034 Stage Points 297 Stage Wins 10 Laps Led 1,126 Lead Lap Finishes 30 Average Finish 13.2 DNFs 2 Races since last win 24   What Does Success Look Like in 2026? Kyle Larson is widely seen as one of the most talented drivers in the world, and with good reason.  He seems to be successful in whatever type of moving vehicle he jumps into.  Because of that, the expectations are higher, and anything other than winning the championship again this year would be seen as a letdown.   Best-Case Scenario in 2026? Larson wins multiple races and stays consistent enough to win the Championship.  He’s also pretty darn good at Homestead, the final track on the schedule.   Most Likely Outcome in 2026? I think sometimes Larson gets bored out on the track because his skill level is so high.  Often it seems like some of his slip-ups are unforced human errors.  I think Larson wins a few this year, but comes up short of the championship.   Bold Prediction? The Indy 500 has perfect weather, and Larson misses out on another chance at the double, ahead of the Coca-Cola 600.  (He will win the 600 because he’s mad).

By Adam Carabine Counting down the final 30 days to the 2026 Daytona 500, we are looking at last year's Top 30 drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series. Today's driver: Denny Hamlin Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images No. 11 Car – Joe Gibbs Racing   2025 Stats Standings 2 nd Wins 6 Points 5,031 Stage Points 232 Stage Wins 6 Laps Led 1,024 Lead Lap Finishes 31 Average Finish 14.0 DNFs 4 Races since last win 3   What Does Success Look Like in 2026? Denny Hamlin has had such an awful offseason, that just finding some normalcy to start 2026 might be a success for him.  I’m hesitant to put him in Championship-or-bust mode this year, because he’s been in it for years, and last year might have been his best opportunity.  I’d like to see Denny Hamlin win another few races this year, and maybe the new Chase format plays into his hand to win a championship? Or maybe it doesn’t, and that’s okay.   Best-Case Scenario in 2026? Best-Case is going to have to be Hamlin winning the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Championship.  He’s been pining over this since the start of his storied career, and it has not materialized.  He’s got the skills to do it, he just needs some luck, for a change.   Most Likely Outcome in 2026? If you believe in the chaos of the universe, it’s probably most likely that Denny gets about as close to winning a championship as possible, and something super weird and fluky happens and he doesn’t.  Apologies to Denny fans everywhere.   Bold Prediction? I’m not sure how bold it is, but I’ll say Denny wins the Championship, and then immediately retires from driving.