NASCAR Power Rankings: Talladega win boosts Tyler Reddick
With the unpredictability of Talladega last week, there was little movement in these rankings except for two big jumps.
Tyler Reddick, with his win, went from sixth to second. That's because it marked his fifth consecutive top-10 finish, with three of those top-5s.
Brad Keselowski jumps back in the rankings after his second-place finish. It was his fourth top-5 in his last seven starts.
Of all the stats that I saw last week, the one that surprised me the most was that Chase Elliott has the best average finish of drivers in the Next Gen era.
Well, active drivers. Technically, Travis Pastrana, with an 11th-place finish in his one start, has the best average finish. But Elliott is tops among all active drivers at 12.48 after the race at Talladega.
So for the comments in this week's power rankings (based on recent performance), we'll take a look at where the driver is on this list (thanks to the database from Racing Insights) of best performance in the Next Gen era (2022-2024). Any driver with fewer than a full season of starts (36) is not counted when I list where these drivers rank in average finish.
1. William Byron (Last Week: 1)
Byron is second in average finish behind his teammate with a 12.87. But he leads in what many would consider the most important category — the Hendrick Motorsports driver has 11 victories in the Next Gen era.
2. Tyler Reddick (LW: 6)
Reddick is 13th among drivers in the Next Gen era, which he opened at Richard Childress Racing before moving to 23XI Racing prior to last season. He has an average finish of 16.15. His six wins tie him for fourth overall.
FINAL LAPS: Tyler Reddick wins chaotic Geico 500
3. Kyle Larson (LW: 2)
This probably won't surprise many. Larson ranks second in wins in the Next Gen era behind his Hendrick teammate Byron as Larson has nine victories. But he's just eighth overall in average finish at 14.16. Where does Larson top a list? His 32 top-5 finishes are the best. And his 19 stage wins are more than any other driver.
4. Chase Elliott (LW: 3)
As mentioned, Elliott tops the Next Gen era with an average finish of 12.48. He has six wins, tying him for fourth. Elliott does have seven fewer starts than most of his competition because of the races he missed last year.
5. Denny Hamlin (LW: 4)
Like Larson, few would be surprised that Hamlin ranks high in wins, as he is third overall with eight. The Joe Gibbs Racing veteran is seventh in average finish at 14.13.
6. Christopher Bell (LW: 5)
Bell has pretty impressive stats in the Next Gen era. He is fourth in average finish at 13.93. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is tops in poles with 10 as well as top-10 finishes with 44.
7. Brad Keselowski (LW: NR)
Keselowski is 15th overall in average finish (16.65) in the Next Gen era, which coincides with his era as a team co-owner at RFK Racing. He is one of only five drivers who have started every Next Gen race (82 of them) and has not won (the others are Justin Haley, Corey LaJoie, Todd Gilliland and Harrison Burton).
One Michael celebrates, another Michael not so much after a wild finish at Talladega
8. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 8)
Truex ranks third overall in average finish in the Next Gen era at 13.63. What makes that a really wild stat is he is 11th in top-5s (15) and ninth in top-10s (37). But he's second in top-20s at 63.
9. Ty Gibbs (LW: 7)
Considering he's in just his second full-time Cup season, Gibbs is lowest among these drivers listed here as he is 20th in average finish (18.41) in the Next Gen. The JGR driver still seeks his first Cup victory.
10. Alex Bowman (LW: NR)
Bowman sits just ahead of Keselowski in the Next Gen average finish rankings as he is 14th with a 16.55. He has missed eight races of the Next Gen era because of injury.
On the verge: Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace
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.
