Austin Dillon’s last-lap win at Richmond was controversial, but there’s a clear consensus he’s No. 1 in this week’s NBC Sports NASCAR Power Rankings.
The driver there was the same as before, Tyler Reddick.
The 23XI Racing driver has continued to perform consistently and remains in the lead heading into Sunday’s race at Michigan International Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET on USA Network).
This week’s NBC Sports NASCAR power rankings
1. Tyler Reddick (Last time: 1st): Reddick’s third-place finish is his fourth top-three finish in the last five races. Reddick has six consecutive top-10 finishes and has closed the gap to series leader Kyle Larson to five points in the season standings.
2. Kyle Larson (3) — A relatively quiet race at Richmond. He led 17 laps and finished seventh. He has finished in the top 10 in four of the last six Cup races. Last weekend’s stage marked the first time in eight races that he failed to score points.
3. Christopher Bell (4) — Finished 6th despite a pit road speeding penalty. At Richmond, Bell was found to be speeding on pit road for the third consecutive race. Bell led 122 laps and earned 19 stage points. He won Stage 1 and was runner-up in Stage 2. He has a series-high 10 stage wins this year.
Austin Dillon celebrated his first Cup win since August 2022, but other players left Richmond in a bad mood.
4. Ryan Blaney (2) — 11th at Richmond gave Blaney five consecutive races with a finish of 11th or better, including a win (Pocono) and a third-place finish (Indianapolis).
5. Chase Elliott (5) — The ninth-place finish marks Elliott’s third consecutive race with a ninth- or 10th-place finish and just the second time in the last five races that he has scored points in both stages.
6. Denny Hamlin (7) — The runner-up finish is just his second top-10 finish in the last eight races, but he’s still leading laps. He led a race-high 124 laps at Richmond. Hamlin had the best average running position at Richmond with 2.8. He has led five of the last six races.
7. Bubba Wallace (8) — Having never finished higher than 12th in the past 12 Cup races at Richmond, Wallace finished fourth on Sunday to move into the final playoff spot with three races remaining in the regular season. Wallace has four top-10 finishes in the past five races and earned points in both stages for the first time in the past nine races.
8. Joey Logano (10) — A favorite to win until Austin Dillon pushed him away on the final lap. Logano spun into the wall and finished 19th. He had the second-best average running position at Richmond with a 4.5 overall finish.
Cookout 400’s wild final lap
Check out the chaotic finish of the Cook Out 400, where the two leading cars dropped out before the checkered flag even waved.
9. William Byron (9) — 13th place marked his third top-15 finish in the past four races, but he has not led a lap in the past nine races, the longest drought of his Cup career.
10. Alex Bowman (6) — A tough race at Richmond was compounded by a pit road speeding penalty. He finished 28th. In his last four races, he has finished with a win, 3rd, 31st and 28th.
