Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen at Watkins Glen International became the first race in 20 years of NASCAR’s playoffs in which no playoff driver finished inside the top five.
Chris Buescher won in an exciting finish, passing Shane van Gisbergen on the final lap. For the power rankings, though, it’s hard to say what to make of Sunday’s action when so many of the top title contenders raced poorly.
With that in mind, we still rank the field with one race remaining in the Round of 12, the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday.
1. Tyler Reddick (Last week: 1)
The bad news for Reddick is that he was involved in multiple incidents at Watkins Glen and finished 27th. The good news is that both of the two drivers immediately behind him in last week’s rankings were wrecked on the first lap. In fact, nobody even in the top 10 of those rankings finished better than 12th Sunday. With a 30-point cushion over the cutline, Reddick should be safe in Bristol barring disaster.
2. Kyle Larson (Last week: 4)
Larson is the aforementioned driver who finished 12th at the Glen, overcoming significant adversity in the process. He was penalized on pit road and spent most of the race with less-than-ideal track position, but a week after crashing early on in Atlanta, he maximized his result and will enter Bristol a solid 26 points to the good at a track where he’s had plenty of success.
3. Christopher Bell (Last week: 3)
Bell made lemonade out of lemons Sunday, finishing 14th after suffered damage on Lap 1 in a big pileup. He avoided the late restart chaos and enters Bristol 46 points to the good. That’s the best position of anyone besides Joey Logano, who locked himself into the next round with his Atlanta win.
4. Ryan Blaney (Last week: 2)
Blaney qualified deep in the field in Watkins Glen, and it proved to be costly when his race ended with terminal damage from the stack-up on the first lap, causing him to finish last. Thankfully for Blaney, all the points he accumulated in Atlanta came in handy for the defending series champion. He remains 29 markers safe.
5. Chase Elliott (Last week: 5)
Elliott remains lurking just outside the top tier of title favorites. He didn’t have the dominant type of showing that he’s had at Watkins Glen in years past, finishing 19th after being damaged on one of the late restarts, but it was still a better day than many of his playoff opponents experienced. He’ll head into Bristol 30 points to the good.
6. Joey Logano (Last week: 7)
Logano was playing with house money at the Glen after his Atlanta win, and had an up-and-down afternoon full of strategy gambles before ultimately finishing 15th. He and his team could afford the risk, but what he might not be able to afford is the ire of his former teammate, Brad Keselowski, who Logano got into and cost valuable points to leave Keselowski in a bad position entering Bristol. He’d better hope that doesn’t come back to bite him later in the playoffs.
7. Ross Chastain (Last week: 11)
Chastain has been on a mission the past two weeks after missing the playoffs. He had one of the strongest weekends at the Glen, winning the pole and leading 51 of 92 laps en route to a fourth-place finish. The thought of Chastain racing with nothing to lose for the rest of the year is proving to be an inconvenient wrinkle for the playoff drivers to deal with thus far.
8. William Byron (Last week: 6)
Also involved in the late wreck with Keselowski was Byron, whose car got on top of Keselowski’s. Both drivers were amazingly able to finish the race, though Byron did so multiple laps down and finished 34th. It’s not the result he wanted while trying to defend his 2023 Watkins Glen win, but on the bright side, he’s still 25 points safe entering Bristol.
9. Denny Hamlin (Last week: 8)
Hamlin is the driver who Byron and others are being compared to points-wise in the above paragraphs, as he finds himself below the cutline after his second consecutive dismal showing. He suffered damage in two separate incidents, including one on the first lap of the race, and had to scrap and claw to a 23rd-place finish that leaves him six points back of Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe. Hamlin will need a big night in Bristol, and thankfully for him, he has won the past two races there.
10. Ty Gibbs (Last week: 10)
Speaking of Gibbs, it wasn’t the ideal day for Hamlin’s teammate either as he finished just ahead of him in 22nd. Gibbs picked up stage points to help himself, but he can’t be feeling comfortable about his points situation entering Bristol at only six markers ahead of Hamlin. There would never be a better time for the second-year driver to finally break into victory lane than next week, as he’s led upwards of 100 laps in each of the past two Bristol races.
11. Chris Buescher (Last week: not ranked)
Chastain was far from the only non-playoff driver making noise at the Glen, as Buescher became the 16th different driver to find the win column in 2024 after his exciting last-lap pass on ringer van Gisbergen. It doesn’t do him much good in the big picture, but it keeps him right with Chastain in the battle for “best of the rest” points honors. It’s going to be an exciting battle between the two of them the rest of the way, with Chastain currently eight markers ahead.
12. Kyle Busch (Last week: 9)
Busch’s hot streak finally ended at Watkins Glen after Corey LaJoie spun him to trigger the accident on the first lap. He spent the rest of the afternoon nursing his car around to the finish, doing so in 30th place to snap his run of four consecutive top-10s. He’s more than 100 points behind Buescher and Chastain, so it’s all about breaking into the winner’s circle at some point in these final eight races. He’s done that eight times at Bristol, but he has struggled there since joining Richard Childress Racing.
13. Austin Cindric (Last week: 16)
It’s a small sample size, but Cindric is one of the hottest drivers in the Cup Series during the playoffs. He backed up his strong Atlanta run with a 10th-place result at the Glen after starting fifth, and is in a better position entering Bristol than anyone besides Logano or Bell, 43 markers ahead of Hamlin. Just as he did in 2022, Cindric should safely advance out of the first round.
14. Chase Briscoe (Last week: NR)
Briscoe bounced back in a big way after his early crash in Atlanta, finishing sixth to top all playoff drivers in Watkins Glen. He had a strong car all race, earning himself solid stage points and putting him above the cutline in a tie with Gibbs at six points clear of Hamlin. He’ll still have his work cut out for him in Bristol given how good Gibbs and Hamlin are there, but he made his job Saturday night a lot easier.
15. Daniel Suarez (Last week: 15)
Suarez had a roller-coaster of an afternoon, starting off strong before spinning into the gravel and then finishing 13th after fighting back from a lap down. Given the struggles of many other playoff drivers, he’s in solid position entering Bristol at 36 points to the good. He should be able to breathe easy Saturday.
16. Carson Hocevar (Last week: NR)
It’s time to give Hocevar his flowers. He has flirted with entering the rankings at a few different points this season and finally makes it after a career-best third place at the Glen. It was no fluke, either, as the rookie ran inside the top 10 for most of the race, which is becoming a more common occurrence throughout the season. He’s in good position to win Rookie of the Year.
Dropped out: Bubba Wallace, Brad Keselowski, Alex Bowman