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With the unpredictability of Talladega last week, there weren’t many changes in these rankings except for two significant jumps. Tyler Reddick moved from sixth place to second after securing his fifth consecutive top-10 finish with three of those being third or better placements. Brad Keselowski also made a comeback into the rankings following his runner-up position at Talladega, which marked his fourth top-5 result in his last seven races.
The surprising statistic that caught my attention was Chase Elliott’s exceptional performance during the Next Gen era (2022 to present). Despite Travis Pastrana’s better average finish after racing once with an 11th place, it is still Elliott who leads among all active drivers at a remarkable score of 12.48.
In compiling this week’s power rankings (based on recent performance), we considered the list ranking the best performances in the Next Gen era that was created by Racing Insights’ database. Drivers with fewer than thirty-six starts during this period are not included while computing an individual’s average finish percentage as well as position at races ended since the Next Gen car’s introduction.
William Byron continues to hold onto his top spot in these rankings, closely followed by Reddick whose score is marginally lower (12.87) but beats all others on account of possessing more wins during this period – eleven compared to nine for Kyle Larson who occupies the third position. Chase Elliott’s impressive average finish percentage has earned him fourth place, despite having fewer starts than most due to his absence from races last year.
Kyle Larson comes in fifth spot on our list, second only to Byron with regard to victories but behind Denny Hamlin when ranking the Next Gen era drivers by their typical end-of-race positions (14th). Christopher Bell follows closely behind him and ranks fourth overall due to his outstanding average finish percentage of 13.93 in this period, while also leading all other racers with ten pole position starts during this timeframe.
Brad Keselowski’s return has led to an impressive second-place result at Talladega last week and he now ranks seventh on our list based upon his average finish percentage of 16.65 in the Next Gen era; nonetheless, unlike others within his tier or beyond this spot that I will present momentarily, Keselowski is yet to win a race during this period (the other drivers who have not won are Justin Haley, Corey LaJoie, Todd Gilliland and Harrison Burton). Martin Truex Jr ranks as third amongst racers with the most number of top-5 finishes in the Next Gen era.
Ty Gibbs occupies ninth place on our list due to his average finish percentage (18.41) during this period, which is lower than that achieved by Keselowski and Truex Jr; however, it should be noted that he’s still searching for a maiden Cup Series victory. Alex Bowman follows closely behind him in tenth place with an average finish score of 16.55 throughout the Next Gen era while having missed eight races because of injuries.
Additionally, we’re tracking other drivers on the brink – Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain and Joey Logano have also performed remarkably during this period, deserving recognition but missing out due to various factors which put them at ranks further down in our overall Next Gen Era Driver ranking system.
Bob Pockrass is a NASCAR reporter for FOX Sports who has been covering motorsports events like the Daytona 500 over three decades, working with ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene Magazine and The (Daytona Beach)News-Journal along his impressive journalism career. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass for more updates about NASCAR’s Next Gen Era events.
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