NASCAR Power Rankings: Can Chase Elliott overtake Kyle Larson at the top?

Bob Pockrass

FOX NASCAR Insider

Kyle Larson was either, depending on the view, impatient or should have expected that Daniel Suarez would give him enough room for them to make three-wide work at Iowa Speedway.

Their contact ended up costing Larson a chance to battle for the win Sunday, but he remains atop my power rankings heading into New Hampshire Motor Speedway this weekend.

Here’s a look at where the drivers stand and how they have done in recent weeks.

1. Kyle Larson (Last Week: 1)

Larson has two wins and a second in his last six starts, so the 34th at Iowa is somewhat of an anomaly because of a wreck. But the Hendrick Motorsports driver also finished 34th at Darlington. Despite the speed he has had this year, Larson has five finishes outside the top 20.

2. Chase Elliott (LW: 3)

A third-place finish at Iowa marked Elliott’s seventh top-5 finish in his last 11 races. It also vaulted the Hendrick Motorsports driver into the regular-season points lead.

3. Christopher Bell (LW: 4)

Bell has five top-10s, including two top-5s, in his last six Cup starts. His fourth at Iowa was even more impressive considering the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was in a backup car after a flat tire resulted in a crash in practice.

4. Denny Hamlin (LW: 2)

After five consecutive top-5 finishes, Hamlin had quite a disappointing day at Iowa as the JGR driver had to fight just to stay on the lead lap. After getting collected by Kyle Larson in a wreck, Hamlin finished two laps down in 24th.

5. Ryan Blaney (LW: 7)

After three finishes of 24th or worse, Blaney has bounced back the last two weeks with a seventh at Sonoma and then the win at Iowa. An amazing stat from Iowa — when he won Stage 1, it was the Penske driver’s first stage win since the season-opener at Daytona.

NASCAR Cup Series: Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol highlights

6. William Byron (LW: 8)

With just two top-10s in his last six starts, Byron needed a good run at Iowa. The Hendrick driver got it with a second-place finish. It was his third top-5 in the past nine races since he earned his third win of the season at Martinsville in April.

7. Brad Keselowski (LW: 9)

Keselowski finished 10th at Iowa as he has had only one finish worse than 13th in his last nine races. Among those races, the RFK Racing driver has a win, three seconds and a third.

8. Tyler Reddick (LW: 5)

Reddick had a string of three consecutive top-10s (including a pair of fourth-place finishes) snapped as he finished 22nd at Iowa. The 23XI Racing driver should know how to handle a bad day as he has five finishes outside the top 20 this year.

9. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 6)

Truex hasn’t finished in the top 10 in his last five races, including a 15th at Iowa. But he’s still on this list as he has earned stage points in three of them. This JGR team needs to find the speed it had earlier in the year.

10. Alex Bowman (LW: NR)

Bowman had five consecutive top-10 finishes before a 28th at Gateway and a 15th at Sonoma. The HMS driver got back in the top 10 with an eighth at Iowa. That’s 10 top-10s in the 17 races this year. Other drivers with 10 top-10s? Reddick, Byron and Bell.

On the verge: Josh Berry, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Ty Gibbs, Todd Gilliland, Joey Logano

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.