At the end of the 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, Tyler Reddick earned the right to be able to call himself a NASCAR champion. And he snuck up on everyone in doing so.
Despite not winning once after prevailing in the season opener at Daytona (in the closest finish ever in any NASCAR national touring series), Reddick methodically made his way through the playoffs and then delivered an all-time performance at Homestead, riding the wall all the way to a bookend victory that earned him his first of what ended up being two Xfinity Series titles.
Reddick moved up to the Cup Series after his second Xfinity title in 2019, but to this point hadn't replicated his playoff success at the highest level of stock car racing. But now, that opportunity may very well have come. Reddick's victory at Kansas Speedway allowed him to make the Round of 12 for the first time in his Cup career, moving his pursuit of a Cup championship forward and moving him up to first in the CBS Sports NASCAR Power Rankings.
Here's a look at our updated Power Rankings:
| Rank | Driver | Change | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tyler Reddick | Tyler Reddick's win at Kansas already ensures that he'll have the deepest playoff run of his four-year Cup career so far. Reddick had been eliminated from the playoffs in the Round of 16 in both 2021 and 2022. | ||
| 2 | Kyle Larson | Despite only a few laps on his tires, Cliff Daniels elected to have Kyle Larson come back to pit road for fresh rubber before a long green flag run, which proved pivotal in gaining Larson back the gobs of track position he lost on a restart. It's those sort of calls that drive home how Daniels is among the brightest minds among Cup crew chiefs. | ||
| 3 | Brad Keselowski | The Bristol Night Race has to have been circled on Brad Keselowski's calendar all year long. He led 109 laps in the Night Race last year before a flat tire cost him the win. | ||
| 4 | Denny Hamlin | Denny Hamlin has taken issue with the way drivers have been laying back on restarts, but he didn't absolve himself of a poor restart he got in overtime. That ended up being the difference, as he was too late to catch Tyler Reddick at the checkered flag. | ||
| 5 | William Byron | William Byron had a potential top-five run going before a spin, and his car was never quite the same afterwards. A 15th-place finish, however, allowed Byron to salvage his day and left him still in a good position to advance at Bristol. | ||
| 6 | Chris Buescher | Chris Buescher cutting a tire with seven laps to go ended up having disastrous consequences, as a 27th-place finish dropped him to just 13 points above the cut line. The good news is that Buescher enters the Bristol Night Race as its defending winner. | ||
| 7 | Erik Jones | Having been by far and away the best non-playoff driver in the Round of 16, keep a close eye on Erik Jones to potentially play spoiler at Bristol. He's won there twice in the Xfinity Series and has finishes of second and third in Cup. | ||
| 8 | Kevin Harvick | -- | Kevin Harvick has been a central character in two of the last three Bristol Night Races, winning in 2020 and almost winning in 2021 before his dispute with Chase Elliott. Keep that in mind as Harvick has come closer and closer to contending for wins the past few weeks. | |
| 9 | Chase Elliott | The criticism towards Chase Elliott for taking a swipe at Kyle Larson -- his own teammate -- for innocuous pit road contact is warranted. At a minimum, it suggests Elliott can still be impulsive when he's upset, as was the case in the Coke 600 in May. | ||
| 10 | Kyle Busch | Considering the setbacks he's suffered in practice both weekends of the Round of 16, it speaks to Kyle Busch's resilience that he's been able to dig out of the holes he gets put in on race day. 11th- and seventh-place finishes have Busch 24 points above the cut line and in good shape to advance at Bristol. | ||
| 11 | Joey Logano | Like the "hidden yards" that football coaches talk about on special teams, pay attention to the "hidden points" that Joey Logano gained at Kansas. A two-tire call by crew chief Paul Wolfe led to a 10-point swing in Logano's favor, which could prove absolutely massive down the road. | ||
| 12 | Ross Chastain | A pit road penalty ended up being a major setback, but Kansas was yet another illustration that Chastain has his pace from early in the year back. Chastain had a top 10 car after starting sixth and rebounded to finish 13th. | ||
| 13 | Bubba Wallace | Bubba Wallace had one of the fastest cars at Kansas and was in great shape to earn tons of points and contend for the win. Instead, a blown tire ruined his day and left him 19 points below the cut line. Sometimes, that's just racin'. | ||
| 14 | Christopher Bell | After two-straight poles to start the playoffs, the battle is on for the fastest man in NASCAR. Bell's four poles on the 2023 season ties Denny Hamlin's mark for the most in Cup with eight races still to go. | ||
| 15 | Ryan Blaney | Bristol feels like one of the racetracks where Ryan Blaney is bound to break through at some point. Blaney's had fast and dominant performances at Bristol in the past -- the spring races in 2018 and 2020 both come to mind -- but has gotten taken out due to accidents. | ||
| 16 | Aric Almirola | With Legacy Motor Club hiring John Hunter Nemechek and Kaulig Racing seemingly ready to announce a driver for 2024, the No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing ride feels like the last major domino to fall in Silly Season. That'll be determined by exactly what decision Almirola makes on his future after putting off retirement following 2022. | ||
| 17 | Corey LaJoie | A 22nd-place finish at Kansas marked the 18th time this season that Corey LaJoie has finished a race on the lead lap. That sets a new career-high for him in that category, exceeding the 17 lead lap finishes he had a year ago. | ||
| 18 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | The understanding for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and his team was that there wasn't much margin for them to have a pedestrian race like they did at Kansas. The good news: Bristol is among Stenhouse's best tracks as he has six top-five finishes there in his Cup career. | ||
| 19 | Alex Bowman | With the No. 48 team's focus being built back up toward 2024, there has to be some level of encouragement with how Alex Bowman has been running lately. After a 10th-place finish at Kansas, Bowman now has three top-five finishes in his last five starts. | ||
| 20 | Daniel Suarez | Crew chief Travis Mack isn't letting Daniel Suarez and the No. 99 team end the 2023 season on a quiet note. Suarez led 12 laps on alternate strategy at Kansas and swung for the fence at the end, staying out on old tires to lead at the overtime restart. | ||
| 21 | Michael McDowell | The yellow that Michael McDowell needed in order to make his strategy work on the final long green flag run never came, putting him in a very deep points hole entering the elimination race at Bristol. McDowell will likely have to win to advance in the playoffs. | ||
| 22 | Martin Truex Jr. | Depending on what happens at Bristol, Martin Truex Jr.'s 2023 playoffs could end up becoming the Gold Standard for playoff disaster classes. Despite winning the regular season title, Truex is below the cut line and in danger of elimination after a blown tire ended his race after just four laps at Kansas. | ||
| 23 | Ty Gibbs | Ty Gibbs somewhat quietly enjoyed a 14th-place run at Kansas, breaking out of a funk that two-straight races with accidents had left him in. Prior to Daytona and Darlington, Gibbs had been enjoying a streak of five-straight finishes inside the top 15. | ||
| 24 | Chase Briscoe | Back in April, a fifth-place finish in the Bristol Dirt Race kicked off a streak of three-straight top five finishes for Chase Briscoe. He'll hope that another such streak begins Saturday night, as those are the only top five finishes he's had all season. | ||
| 25 | AJ Allmendinger | AJ Allmendinger entered Kansas off the personal high of becoming a dad, but an unscheduled pit stop coupled with a pit road penalty led to his day short-circuiting. A 30th-place finish won't cut it when baby needs a new pair of shoes. | ||
| 26 | Justin Haley | Justin Haley just missed out on breaking his top 20 drought at Kansas, finishing 21st. For his next act, Haley is one-upping his revival of the Tide Ride in the spring by running a Mountain Dew paint scheme at Bristol, another longtime favorite in NASCAR. | ||
| 27 | Austin Dillon | -- | When Austin Dillon got loose and hit the wall mid-race at Kansas, it completely ruined a day that had seen Dillon maintain top-10 pace after qualifying eighth. A 33rd-place run marked Dillon's third finish of 31st or worse in his last four races. | |
| 28 | Ryan Preece | Ryan Preece is back in the Power Rankings this week after putting his Daytona crash behind him. Preece quietly had a nice day at Kansas and finished 18th. | ||
| 29 | Austin Cindric | Austin Cindric never recovered from getting sent around mid-race by Michael McDowell, finishing two laps down in 31st. Despite some solid runs in August offering some optimism, Cindric now has three-straight finishes of 31st or worse. | ||
| 30 | Todd Gilliland | With the exception of Watkins Glen, it's been a rough stretch of races for Todd Gilliland since Richmond. He only has one finish better than 25th since the month of July ended. |
