SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s Power Rankings – October 11, 2023

Pete Pistone will unveil Power Rankings each week of the NASCAR season. Check out this week’s edition of NASCAR Power Rankings below, and listen to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) on the SiriusXM App and web player now.

Read all of Pete Pistone’s previous Power Rankings here

The NASCAR Cup Series ended the second round of the Playoffs at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Here’s a look at the “Power Rankings” after Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400:

1. William Byron

Byron’s stellar second round ended with another second place finish at The Roval. He appears more than capable of getting through this round and into the Championship 4 as he looks to bring Hendrick Motorsports the first Cup title for the No. 24 car since Jeff Gordon won the 2001 title.

Playoff Ranking: 1st
Last Week: 2nd

2. Kyle Larson

A back-up car and basically a last place starting spot was how Larson’s Charlotte weekend kicked off. But he did an admirable job of moving through the field and Larson now heads into a stretch of four tracks to end the season where he’s won before in his career.

Playoff Ranking: 4th
Last Week: 3rd

3. Denny Hamlin

The Joe Gibbs racing driver had built up enough of a points cushion that even with a last place Charlotte finish, Hamlin easily advanced to the Round of 8. But now comes the time when Hamlin and company need to shine if he expects to make it to the Championship 4 and run yet again for the elusive Cup title.

Playoff Ranking: 3rd
Last Week: 1st

4. Chris Buescher

The best hope for Ford to have a back-to-back champion to follow Joey Logano’s 2022 title belongs to Buescher. He has a chance to be the highest finishing RFK driver in the standings since Greg Biffle’s fifth place effort in 2012.

Point Standings: 4th
Last Week: 5th

5. Tyler Reddick

The 23XI Racing organization still have a shot at the title thanks to Reddick making it to the Round of 8. This shapes up to be an interesting next trio of races for Reddick where he definitely has a chance to take a win and advance.

Playoff Ranking: 7th
Last Week: 9th

6. Christopher Bell

He didn’t need the drama of a year ago when he scored the walk off Roval win to advance to the Round of 8. But the question remains if Bell can have a better first two races in this round than he did last season that necessitated having to win Martinsville to advance.

Playoff Ranking: 5th
Last Week: 8th

7. Ryan Blaney

He has his work cut out for him to advance to the Championship 4 as Blaney enters the Round of 8 a full ten points below the cut line. He’ll have to find a way to show the 1.5-mile prowess he has back in May when he won the Coca-Cola 600.

Playoff Ranking: 8th
Last Week: 10th

8. Chase Elliott

Still alive in the owners championship but Elliott has now gone past the one year mark since his last Cup victory, There’s still time for the No. 9 team and Elliott remains an interesting X factor in the final four races of the season.

Point Standings: 17th
Last Week: 4th

9. Bubba Wallace

Eliminated from the Playoffs after the second round just didn’t pan out for Wallace. Still it was a solid effort for the on half of the 23XI Racing team and Wallace has solidified his spot as one of the sport’s top drivers.

Point Standings: 11th
Last Week: 7th

10. Alex Bowman

A top-10 machine in recent weeks, Bowman’s finish at The Roval gave him double digit top-10 finishes for the sixth straight season. Bowman might have the chance to play a little spoiler in the Playoff picture down the stretch,.

Point Standings: 20th
Last Week: NR

Dropped Out: Brad Keselowski

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