Who is the best NASCAR driver right now? We’re through 10 Cup Series races this season coming out of Talladega. Following a wild finish in the GEICO 500, it’s time to revisit our NASCAR power rankings.
For now, we’re examining the 10 best NASCAR drivers in 2024. However, we’ll dive further into the 5 drivers who missed the cut when we further update our NASCAR power rankings later this week. Bookmark this page for updates every Monday.
NASCAR power rankings: Best NASCAR drivers 2024
1. William Byron
- William Byron stats: 3 wins, 4 top 5s, 7 top 10s, 149 laps led, 10.0 average finish
William Byron is the best NASCAR drier right now. He made it through a chaotic finish at the Talladega Superspeedway, finishing seventh and recording his fifth consecutive top-10 finish. The rough day at Bristol Motor Speedway (35th place, 2 points) is the only reason Byron doesn’t have one of the highest average finishes in NASCAR this season. Outside of that, however, he’s been a near lock to finish top 10 on Sundays.
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2. Kyle Larson
- Kyle Larson stats: 1 win, 4 top 10s, 4 top 5s, 3 poles, 1 DNF, 531 laps led, 12.7 average finish
When things go bad for Kyle Larson, it goes to the extremes. An unapproved adjustment to the roof rail of the No. 5 car prevented the No. 5 car from qualifying at Talladega on Saturday. On Sunday, he had to serve a pass-through penalty to start the GEICO 500 and he was without his crew chief. He still worked his way back into the top 10 late in Stage 3, before slipping back to 15th on the final lap before chaos ensued. With so much of the field wiped out in the final lap, Larson avoids a fall in the NASCAR power rankings. However, the volatility of his outcomes this year – three finishes outside top 20 – shows the spectrum of outcomes for him so far.
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3. Chase Elliott
- Chase Elliott stats: 1 win, 3 top 5s, 4 top 10s, 131 laps led, 10.8 average finish
After snapping his 42-race winless streak a week ago, Chase Elliott finished 15th in the GEICO 500 on Sunday. However, he continues to do an outstanding job in qualifying with six top-10 starting positions on the year including six in the top five of the starting lineup. Plus, he’s getting more consistent results with an average finishing position of 8.0 in the last six races. With the recent wave of success he’s been having, we’ll likely see Elliott pick up a second win in 2024.
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4. Tyler Reddick
- Tyler Reddick stats: 1 win, 4 Top 5s, 7 top 10s, 1 DNG, 124 laps led, 12.8 average finish
When Brad Keselowski lost control on the final turn, Tyler Reddick took full advantage for a thrilling finish. Reddick’s last-second surge stole the win from Brad Keselowski, providing the 23XI Racing team with its first win in 2024 and giving his son an unforgettable moment with Michael Jordan. Reddick had a rough stretch earlier in the season, with an average finish of 20.2 from Daytona through Bristol, but he now has five consecutive top-10 finishes with an average finish of 5.4 in the last five races.
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5. Denny Hamlin
- Denny Hamlin stats: 2 wins, 2 top 5s, 3 top 10s, 1 pole, 1 DNG, 399 laps led, 15.5 average finish
It was a great day at Talladega for Denny Hamlin as a team owner, with 23XI’s Tyler Reddick picking up the first win of the season with Michael Jordan in attendance. For the No. 11 car and Joe Gibbs Racing, however, it was a weekend to forget. After placing 23rd in qualifying, Hamlin and the Toyota team attempted a late-race fuel strategy that could’ve led to a great finish. Instead, some issues coming off pit road spiraled into more aggressive driving on the track which first took out Erik Jones and Bubba Wallace, with the carnage then ending Hamlin’s day before he could make a run. Hamlin keeps a top-five spot in the NASCAR power rankings for now, but after consecutive finishes outside the top 30, a repeat of that in Dover will change things.
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6. Martin Truex Jr
- Martin Truex Jr stats: 2 top 5s, 5 top 10s, 368 laps led, 10.0 average finish
Martin Truex Jr. got off to a rough start in 2024, starting 27th at Daytona 500 and having to fight his way to 15th place. Since then, the N0. 19 has started no worse than 12th with five consecutive top-10 starting positions. Unfortunately, it’s not translating to great finishes. On Sunday, it was the last-turn crash ahead of him that wiped out a potential top-five finish into coming in 11th. It marks the third consecutive race that Truex Jr. has finished outside the top 10. However, he boasts the third-highest laps-led percentage (12.7 percent) in NASCAR and when you share exclusive company with Larson and Hamlin, we’re still going to consider you one of the best drivers in 2024.
Related: NASCAR schedule
7. Ty Gibbs
- Ty Gibbs stats: 3 top 5s, 5 top 10s, 201 laps led, 11.1 average start, 11.7 average finish
In just his second season, Ty Gibbs has earned his place in the top 10 of consensus NASCAR power rankings. The 21-year-old driver placed 22nd on Sunday in the GEICO 500, giving him four consecutive races outside the top 20, it only came after a stretch of four straight top-10 finishes. Gibbs also has the fourth-most laps led (201) this season, so while there are peaks and valleys for him in 2024, he’s already proving to be one of NASCAR’s emerging stars.
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8. Christopher Bell
- Christopher Bell stats: 1 win, 3 top 5s, 5 top 10s, 2 DNFs, 120 laps led, 17.9 average finish
Christopher Bell is the representation of extreme results this season. After a DNF (38th place) at Talladega on Sunday, Bell has now finished outside the top 30 four times this season, including twice in the last three races. Of course, sandwiched in between all of that is a win at Phoenix, sixth at Richmond and 2nd at Circuit of the Americas. Bell’s peak moments are right up there with the best NASCAR drivers, but there’s volatility.
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9. Ryan Blaney
- Ryan Blaney stats: 4 top 5s, 4 top 10s, 1 pole, 1 DNG, 75 laps led, 14.7 average start, 14.5 average finish
Ryan Blaney started the 2024 NASCAR season on a fantastic run with three consecutive top 5 finishes, racking up 134 points from Atlanta through Phoenix. While he did finish fifth at Martinsville (32 points) and 13th at Circuit of the Americas, Blaney’s average finish over the last six races is at 17.5 and he hasn’t cracked the top 20 in the last two weekends. The ups and downs seem to be pretty common with Blaney, though, so we won’t be surprised if the upswing comes in May.
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10. Bubba Wallace
- Bubba Wallace stats: 4 top 10s, 3 top 4s, 1 DNF< 28 laps led, 11.9 average start, 16.5 average finish
Bubba Wallace and the Toyota team saved their ‘Plan A’ and just started putting it on display at Talladega when disaster struck. A little aggressive driving by John Hunter Nemechek led to him getting into the back of Wallace’s car and due to poor timing over a bump, Wallace got into Erik Jones and it spiraled into the worst crash of the day. The 36th-place finish wiped out a strong two-race streak of top-10 placements for Wallace. However, he does have three top-5 finishes this year with speeds and starting positions that suggest he should be consistently competing for a top-10 spot all season.
Related: Why Bubba Wallace is one of the 10 best NASCAR drivers 2024