Matt Johnson
WHo is the best driver in NASCAR? There have been four races this season and two winners, with Ryan Blaney joining Tyler Reddick in victory lane this season. There’s been two clear-cut top drivers through the first month of the season, but several others are making noise right now on the track as well.
Let’s dive into our NASCAR power rankings right now, evalatuating the 10 best drivers heading to Las Vegas.
1. Tyler Reddick (Previously: 1)
Tyler Reddick remains the best NASCAR driver in 2026. While he didn’t win the Straight Talk Wireless 500, snapping his streak at three, he recorded the fourth-most points (39) with an eighth-place finish and he placed in both stages at Phoenix. Reddick is the only Cup Series driver to record a top-10 finish in every race this season, with an average finishing position of 2.8 that is far higher than the second-best driver at 8.8. He also still has 60 more points than Ryan Blaney with a 97-point lead over Chase Elliott in fourth. It’s going to take a little while for someone to overtake Reddick.
Related: Denny Hamlin Predicts Where Tyler Reddick Finishes in Regular Season Points
2. Ryan Blaney (Previously: 3)
The iconic mustache has its first trip to victory lane of 2026. Ryan Blaney is finding his stride early in the season, with Sunday marking his third consecutive top-10 finish and he has scored 27-plus points in all four races this year. What was most impressive on Sunday was Blaney keeping his cool after the pit crew twice made blunders with the tires that required him to come back down pit road, dropping him to the back of the field; he roared back to pass 49 cars all while maintaining his composure on the radio. The overall consistency from Blaney and the No. 12 car’s speed are also why he has the most stage points (44) in the Cup Series right now.
Related: Winners, Losers from Straight Talk Wireless 500
3. Bubba Wallace (Previously: 4)
Skeptics of Bubba Wallace’s success early this season would’ve argued that it came on superspeedways, but he’d come back to earth in the next two weeks at COTA (road course) and Phoenix (21.2 average finishing position with 23XI Racing). Instead, he delivered a career-best finish at a track for the second consecutive week. Particularly impressive is the fact that the No. 23 car started 28th on the grid for Sunday’s race and had to serve a speeding penalty, but he still worked his way through the field to place fifth in Stage 2 and then came in sixth at the finish. Wallace is tied with Blaney for the second-most top 10s (three), he ranks second in average finishing position (8.8) and laps led (86), and he could’ve fared even better at Daytona had William Byron not come up in front of him, requiring a last-second save by the 23 on the final lap.
Related: Denny Hamlin Praises Bubba Wallace’s for Specific Improvement
4. Christopher Bell (Previously: 9)
Christopher Bell might’ve had the fastest car at Phoenix on Sunday, and he certainly showed the most dominance, leading 56.4 percent (176) of the 312 laps. He took second in Stage 1 and then came back to snag his first stage victory of the season later in the day, finishing with 19 stage points. Unfortunately for Bell, some late cautions shook things up, and the No. 20 team’s four-tire strategy didn’t pay off in time for him to get back past Blaney. Still, he can feel great about the fact that he’s picked up 88 points in the last two races with an average finishing position of 2.5, catapulting up 18 spots alone this week in the standings.
Related: Straight Talk Wireless 500 Winner, NASCAR Stage Results for Sunday
5. Kyle Larson (Previously: 5)
While the No. 5 car qualified second at Phoenix, Kyle Larson reported there were issues during practice, and those problems showed up early in the race. He dropped to 13th by the end of the first stage and then had to drop to the rear of the field for speeding on pit road. He fought his way back to take ninth in Stage 2 and then overcame a jack issue, dropping him five spots in the final stage, to finish third. Now, Hendrick Motorsports should be a little concerned that the No. 5 car wasn’t capable of leading a single lap in Phoenix, but that’s twice now Larson has overcome issues with the car (cool suit and water at COTA) to snag top-six finishes with 30-plus points. If he can do this when the team is still making adjustments with the new car body, wins are coming soon.
Related: NASCAR Points Standings after Phoenix, Cup Series Points Leaders Right Now
6. Denny Hamlin (Previously: 7)
Denny Hamlin called last week’s 10th-place finish at COTA the equivalent of a top-five finish on an oval track. On Sunday, he got that fifth-place finish and came out of Phoenix with the third-most points (47) on the day. While the No. 11 car was never quite good enough to win the Straight Talk Wireless 500, Hamlin got the most out of it that he could. While he’s only 12th in points currently, jumping up 11 spots this week, the future Hall of Famer has accrued 99 points over the last three races, and his average finishing position (14.8, ninth in Cup Series) could be a lot better if the No. 11 car hadn’t suffered damage in wrecks caused by other drivers at Daytona (Justin Allgaier) and Atlanta (Joey Logano).
7. Chase Elliott (Previously: 2)
Chase Elliott didn’t have a shot at even a top-10 finish on Sunday. Unfortunately for him, after qualifying 26th, the car put out there by Hendrick Motorsports simply wasn’t good enough to be a factor in the race. That was a theme throughout Sunday, as evidenced by him placing 20th in Stage 1, 13th in Stage 2, and finishing 23rd at the checkered flag. It’s a massive letdown for the No. 9 team, but Elliott really can’t be at all faulted for what happened. Fortunately, he did have three consecutive top-10 finishes before this, and the No. 9 car had an average starting position of 4.3 coming into Phoenix.
8. William Byron (Previously: 6)
It hasn’t necessarily been a banner start to the season for William Byron and the No. 24 team. However, they do seem to be turning a corner. Byron qualified 10th for the second consecutive week, with his average finishing position over the last three races now at 10.7. He also delivered a season-best finish of seventh at Phoenix, the first time he’s been in the top 10 this year. What Byron and Hendrick Motorsports have to feel a bit better about is the fact that, while this hasn’t been an ideal start to the year, they’ve scored 25-plus points in every race this season and there’s plenty of time to get back into the thick of things for a top-three spot in points.
9. Shane van Gisbergen (Previously: 8)
The rest of the field should now be sweating a bit about the improvements made by Shane van Gisbergen. Phoenix was a bad track for him last year and things looked bleak twice on Sunday when he twice drew the caution, first because of a blown tire and then after the car got loose before getting spun by contact from Austin Dillon. Impressively, SVG still battled his way back to finish 11th in Sunday’s race. He now has an average finishing position of 6.3 over the last three races, including Atlanta (6th) and Phoenix (11th). Let’s also keep in mind that he led 3 laps at the Daytona 500. SVG is a force to be reckoned with moving forward, because he’ll win multiple road-course races this season and snag top-10s on ovals.
Related: Denny Hamlin Reveals Which Driver Can Challenge SVG’s Road-Course Dominance
10. Joey Logano (Previously: 10)
The fact that Joey Logano logged a DNF at Phoenix Raceway feels fitting, given his inexplicable move earlier in the final stage (Lap 217) took out Ross Chastain, Austin Cindric, and Anthony Alfredo. It felt like karma found its way back to the No. 22 car. With that said, Logano still led 73 laps on Sunday and recorded the fastest lap. That allowed him to leave Phoenix with 23 points despite finishing 31st with a wrecked car. Through four races this season, he’s tied for the sixth-most points with the third-most laps led (108), and he leads the Cup Series in average starting position (6.5).
