NASCAR Power Rankings: Martin Truex Jr. regains lead in seesaw battle with William Byron

1 Martin Truex Jr. Martin Truex’s victory at New Hampshire gave him the sixth season of his career where he had three or more wins. In all but one of these seasons (2016), Truex ended up in 4 league. 2 William Byron William Byron led early laps in New Hampshire, but his car was never quite straight after a pit road contact and he fell back to 24th at the finish. That cost him the lead in regular season points, as he is now 17 points behind Truex. 3 Denny Hamlin Seventh-place Denny Hamlin in New Hampshire got stuck between the two 23XI cars, with Tyler Reddick finishing sixth and Bubba Wallace finishing eighth. It will make one happy driver and one happy car owner behind the wheel of the #11. 4 Christopher Bell — Christopher Bell took pole in New Hampshire and had one of the fastest cars, but multiple pit road issues cost him a track position he could never regain before driver error does not send him into the wall of turn 3 at the end of the race. 29th place at the checkered flag marked Bell’s worst finish at one of his best tracks. 5 Joey Logan Maybe Martin Truex Jr. was taking it easy in the final laps, but it looked like Joey Logano had mounted a charge in the final two laps. He ran out of time to battle for the win, but a second-place finish provided a solid New England homecoming for the Middletown, Connecticut native. 6 Brad Keselowski In 2011, brothers Brad and Brian Keselowski worked together in their Duel race at Daytona to get the family car to qualify for Brian’s first and only Daytona 500. The two paired up again in New Hampshire, this time with Brian serving as a backup. as a spotter for Brad’s fifth place. 7 Kyle Larson With a third-place finish, Kyle Larson was one of five former Cup champions to finish in the top five at New Hampshire. This is the first time this has happened since Las Vegas in March 2019, and only the fourth time overall. 8 Kyle Busch Kyle Busch’s car was evil from the time they unloaded it on Saturday until it finally came to an end and wrecked in the first corner. In the trash goes all the setup notes that Randall Burnett and his crew had for the #8 car. 9 Michael McDowell — In 2021, Michael McDowell made the playoffs early in the season by winning the Daytona 500. It speaks volumes about the growth of Front Row Motorsports that McDowell is now above the cut line due to points alone. ten Chris Buescher A 15th-place finish at New Hampshire marked Chris Buescher’s third consecutive top-15 finish and his seventh in eight races since Darlington in May. Buescher stays well above the cut line heading to Pocono, where he picked up his first career victory in 2016. 11 Chase Elliot A lack of stage points somewhat dampens the positive impact a 12th-place finish in New Hampshire had for Chase Elliott. With just 25 points earned, Elliott is currently 60 points from the cut line with six runs remaining until the playoffs. 12 Tyler Red Dick Another week, another great save from Tyler Reddick. He could have taken out himself and Justin Haley when he broke away out of turn four, but he got it back and finished sixth. 13 Daniel Suarez A turning point in team leader Travis Mack’s career came in 2019 and 2020, when he maxed out Michael Annett’s performance as a team leader in the Xfinity Series. He’s done the same since with Daniel Suarez thanks in part to some good strategic calls like the one he employed in New Hampshire to give Suarez a better finish than he otherwise might have had. 14 ryan blaney Sometimes a pit crew can make a critical mistake during their final pit stop, leaving a driver seething with what could have been. But running on his air hose was pilot error on the part of Ryan Blaney after his crew did their job of putting him in position to fight for the win. 15 AJ Allmendinger AJ Allmendinger’s blistering streak came to an end in New Hampshire, as he spun to bring out the first warning of the day before finishing 19th. Allmendinger now sits 20 points below the cut line with some ground to make up for next week at Pocono. 16 Erik Jones Earlier in the season, a spin like that of Erik Jones in the middle of the race may have ruined his whole day. But in New Hampshire, Jones and his team reacted to that adversity by finding their position on the track and driving to another finish just outside the top 10. 17 Ross Chestnut Ross Chastain had been incredibly hot and cold since about mid-May. A 23rd-place finish at New Hampshire where Chastain was never really a factor in the top half of the field continued that trend that dropped him from the regular-season championship fight to sixth in points. 18 Kevin Harvick Team leader Rodney Childers’ strategy over the last long has got Kevin Harvick back on track after a couple of disappointing finishes. A fourth place marked Harvick’s best overall finish since a second at Darlington in May. 19 Bubba Wallace Bubba Wallace’s growth as a driver over the past few years was evident in New Hampshire as early brake issues that nearly cost him a spot on the lead lap threatened to derail the #23 driver. Instead, Wallace stayed in the zone and eventually regained the top 10 for an eighth-place finish. 20 Austin Dillon A ninth-place finish at New Hampshire gave Austin Dillon his fifth top 10 of the season, nearly half of the 11 he had last season. What he misses are the first five races, as he has only had one all year compared to five in 2022. 21 Justin Haley Much like his Kaulig Racing teammate, New Hampshire also tempered a recent hot streak that Justin Haley had experienced. He had a pit road collision with William Byron and finished an undefinable 17th. 22 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ricky Stenhouse’s day was almost doomed after the first warning, when he stayed out and continued to drop a lead on the 35th and fell one lap behind. But of course Stenhouse was able to grab the lead at the end of the race and finish a pretty respectable 18th considering the circumstances. 23 Austin Cindric Austin Cindric and his team must be careful not to fall back into poor performances, as a 25th-place finish in New Hampshire sapped some of his momentum after the last two races. The good news is that Pocono is a good lead for Cindric, as he won there in the Xfinity Series. 24 Alex Bowman Alex Bowman had a potential top 10 in New Hampshire, but even settling for 14th after a late-race incident felt like a step in the right direction. It’s still not enough for Bowman to get back in the playoffs, but it shows Bowman’s team is capable of better finishes than they’ve had since their driver returned from injury. 25 Aric Almirola What could have been for Aric Almirola. He had one of the best cars in the field and had the pace for a top five and maybe even more, but all it took was a loose wheel thanks to a crew error for the make it from the lead to the hard in the wall of turn two. 26 Chasing Briscoe Chase Briscoe regained the Power Rankings with a 10th place finish, his fifth top 10 of the 2023 season. It was also Richard Boswell’s first top 10 in his sixth run as Cup team leader since 2017. 27 Ty Gibbs Ty Gibbs’ weekend in New Hampshire was a classic case of a rookie driver not capitalizing or executing with a fast race car. Gibbs was able to climb into the top 15 after problems in qualifying, but he finished 27th after coming back down the track in the final laps. 28 Corey Joy Corey LaJoie finished several laps in 33rd after hitting the wall at the end of the first stage, but there was at least one bright spot to his day: LaJoie was able to get his car repaired and finish the race, which meant that he remains the only driver in the Cup not to have a single DNF this year. 29 Todd Gilliland The white, orange and maroon A&W paint scheme is a Front Row Motorsports classic, and the same basic scheme has done them a lot of good over the years. Gilliland drove those colors to a 21st-place finish in New Hampshire. 30 Ryan Precece Ryan Preece isn’t the kind of rider you want to piss off, especially not at his home track in New Hampshire. Preece got hit on the wall by Michael McDowell late in Sunday’s race, and Preece made sure to confront him about it.