Nearly every position among the top 20 changed hands in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Nashville with Eli Tomac reassuming the lead and last week’s most powerful rider Justin Barcia dropping dramatically after crashing on Lap 8 and finishing 21st. This was a sharp contrast to last week when practically none of the top 20 riders changed positions.
The 2023 Supercross championship was radically altered last week in the first 450 heat when Cooper Webb’s front wheel washed out in the third turn. When he went to the ground, his helmet was struck at speed by Adam Cianciarulo and the result was a concussion that will put an end to his 2023 Supercross campaign. Most of the remaining riders in the top five in SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Nashville are ones who have shown consistent speed.
The NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings look at the past 45 days for the 450SX division, which includes races from Daytona through Nashville and during that span, Tomac has been almost perfect in podium finishes in his heats and mains. An eighth-place result in the Indianapolis main is the only time he’s been outside the top five and as long as he continues to ride that well in the next two rounds, there is not going to be any question about the championship.
Chase Sexton is 18 points behind Tomac with two rounds remaining. His focus remains on overcoming that deficit, but that is not the most important thing for Sexton, who will need a mistake by Tomac in order to take the title. But in a very large sense, Sexton has already done what he needs to do. After several consecutive races with mistakes, he rode perfectly at Atlanta and Nashville in the last three rounds and that will give him some momentum heading into the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Series.
MORE: Chase Sexton moves into second after Cooper Webb injured
Ken Roczen was involved in a spirited battle for fourth in the points’ standings with Justin Barcia and Jason Anderson heading into this week. Accidents for those two riders in Nashville, in addition to the injury sustained by Webb, have changed his focus. He now has a chance to end the season third in points, which is not something most experts would have expected at the beginning of 2023 when Roczen made the move to Suzuki. His third-place finish in Nashville is his third consecutive podium.
With seven consecutive top-five finishes from Daytona through his New Jersey win, Barcia was the hottest rider on the circuit. He picked up where he left off with a heat win ahead of Sexton and Roczen, but an accident in the Nashville main earned minimal points both in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings and championship.
With Webb’s injury, Cianciarulo ranks fifth among active riders despite missing several rounds in the middle of the season. Cianciarulo is fighting previous injuries and a mental state that proves challenging each week. As soon as he breaks into the top five the floodgates will open and Cianciarulo’s confidence will be restored. For now, he’s finished between sixth and 10th in 10 of the 12 rounds he’s made.
Rising to eighth, Colt Nichols scored his first top five of the season in Nashville with a fourth-place result. He missed four rounds from Daytona through Seattle with an injury but has earned three top-10s in the four races since he returned.
450 Rankings
| This Week | Driver | Power Avg. | Last Week | Diff. |
| 1. | Eli Tomac | 88.58 | 4 | 3 |
| 2. | Chase Sexton | 88.00 | 2 | 0 |
| 3. | Ken Roczen | 83.00 | 5 | 2 |
| 4. | Justin Barcia | 80.17 | 1 | -3 |
| 5. | Cooper Webb injured | 78.00 | 3 | -2 |
| 6. | Adam Cianciarulo | 72.50 | 7 | 1 |
| 7. | Aaron Plessinger injured | 67.88 | 8 | 1 |
| 8. | Colt Nichols | 65.50 | 10 | 2 |
| 9. | Dean Wilson | 63.50 | 12 | 3 |
| 10. | Justin Hill | 61.50 | 11 | 1 |
| 11. | Jason Anderson | 58.67 | 9 | -2 |
| 12. | Kyle Chisholm | 52.42 | 16 | 4 |
| 13. | Josh Hill | 47.75 | 14 | 1 |
| 14. | Shane McElrath | 46.58 | 13 | -1 |
| 15. | Benny Bloss | 45.82 | 15 | 0 |
| 16. | Fredrik Noren | 43.73 | 18 | 2 |
| 17. | Logan Karnow | 42.40 | 21 | 4 |
| 18. | Kevin Moranz | 41.00 | 19 | 1 |
| 19. | Chase Marquier | 40.83 | 20 | 1 |
| 20. | Grant Harlan | 40.33 | 17 | -3 |
Hunter Lawrence clinched the 205 East championship last week in style by winning his heat and the main. He will enter the season finale with only one thought in mind and that will be to beat his brother Jett Lawrence in the East/West Shootout and finish the season with a clear lead in season victories. Hunter and Jett can still end the season with seven wins apiece and both riders have been almost perfect in heat races as well.
Jo Shimoda has to wonder what the championship would have been like if he had not missed the start of the season to injury. Since returning to action at Atlanta he has had a reason to be happy at the close of each round. He scored a top-five on that hybrid track, won the first heat race of his career in New Jersey and scored a podium last week in Nashville. If the Lawrence brothers worry about one another in Salt Lake City, Shimoda could steal the win.
Haiden Deegan is third among active 250 East riders and he’s accomplished that with a mixture of speed and consistency. In nine rounds, he has a worst finish of eighth and three podiums. He believes he would be better situated in the points if he had been a little more aggressive in the opening rounds, but it is more likely that he needed to get comfortable with this level of competition before he unleashed the beast of his personality.
Jordon Smith led early in Nashville and had a great opportunity to win. Lawrence did not want to do anything to jeopardize his championship and was not going to press the envelope until several riders retired and guaranteed him at least a 20th-place result. Smith jumped wide midway through the race and lost the lead. He also loss some momentum and allowed Shimoda to get around as well.
Max Anstie was back in his familiar position last week in Nashville. Earning his eighth top-five of the season in nine rounds, the only time he’s stumbled was with a crash in Detroit that sent him to the haulers last in the rundown. As Anstie get increasingly comfortable in the 250 division, he is going to rise even higher in NBC’s SuperMotocross Power Rankings and Nashville was another step in the right direction.
250 Rankings
| This Week | Driver | Power Avg. | Last Week | Diff. |
| 1. | Jett Lawrence - W | 91.80 | 2 | 1 |
| 2. | Hunter Lawrence - E | 91.15 | 1 | -1 |
| 3. | Cameron McAdoo - W injured | 86.25 | 7 | 4 |
| 4. | RJ Hampshire - W | 84.80 | 10 | 6 |
| 5. | Jo Shimoda - E | 80.67 | 6 | 1 |
| 6. | Nate Thrasher - E injured | 80.25 | 4 | -2 |
| 7. | Haiden Deegan - E | 79.65 | 5 | -2 |
| 8. | Levi Kitchen - W | 79.20 | 3 | -5 |
| 9. | Pierce Brown - W | 77.00 | 12 | 3 |
| 10. | Jordon Smith - E | 76.84 | 9 | -1 |
| 11. | Max Anstie - E | 76.60 | 8 | -3 |
| 12. | Enzo Lopes - W | 75.70 | 18 | 6 |
| 13. | Jeremy Martin - E | 74.44 | 11 | -2 |
| 14. | Max Vohland - W | 70.20 | 13 | -1 |
| 15. | Chris Blose - E | 68.45 | 15 | 0 |
| 16. | Tom Vialle - E | 67.50 | 16 | 0 |
| 17. | Chance Hymas - E | 67.10 | 17 | 0 |
| 18. | Michael Mosiman - E | 65.80 | 19 | 1 |
| 19. | Mitchell Oldenburg - W | 64.00 | 14 | -5 |
| 20. | Carson Mumford - W | 61.38 | 20 | 0 |
* The NBC Power Rankings assign 100 points to a Main event winner and 90 points for each Heat and Triple Crown win, (Triple Crown wins are included with heat wins below the rider’s name). The points decrement by a percentage equal to the number of riders in the field until the last place rider in each event receives five points. The Power Ranking is the average of these percentage points over the past 45 days for the 450 class and last 90 days for 250s (because of the split nature of their season).
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 14 AT NEW JERSEY: The top 20 settles in
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 13 AT ATLANTA: Justin Barcia leapfrogs the Big 3
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 12 AT GLENDALE: Eli Tomac gains momentum
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 11 AT SEATTLE: Cooper Webb, Tomac overtake Chase Sexton
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 10 AT DETROIT: Chase Sexton narrowly leads Cooper Webb
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 8 AT DAYTONA: Sexton unseats Eli Tomac
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 7 AT ARLINGTON: Jason Anderson narrowly trails Tomac
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 6 AT OAKLAND: Perfect night keeps Tomac first
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 5 AT TAMPA: Sexton, Webb close in
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 4 AT HOUSTON: Tomac rebounds from A2 crash, retakes lead
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 3 AT ANAHEIM 2: Consistency makes Ken Roczen king
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 2 AT SAN DIEGO: Roczen moves up, Sexton falls
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 1 AT ANAHEIM 1: Tomac, Jett Lawrence gain an early advantage