William Byron takes over the top spot in the NASCAR Power Rankings after a runner-up finish at the Charlotte Roval.
Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick both moved up the list after the Round of 12 elimination race while Brad Keselowski fell multiple spots.
NBC SPORTS NASCAR POWER RANKINGS
1. William Byron (Last Week: 2nd) — He finished second at the Charlotte Roval behind AJ Allmendinger. Byron finished no worse than second in the three races making up the Round of 12, the biggest wild card of the playoffs. He has only one finish outside of the top 10 in the past eight races. Now Byron heads to Las Vegas where he won in the spring.
2. Denny Hamlin (1) — A crash led to a last-place finish at the Roval. Hamlin still moved on to the Round of 8 after scoring eight points in stage 2. The elimination race marked only his second finish outside of the top five in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
3. Kyle Larson (3) — He started last at the Roval after crashing in practice. He finished 13th after scoring six stage points. Larson advanced to the Round of 8, which includes Las Vegas, Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville. He has a combined 20 top-10 finishes and three wins at these tracks.
4. Chase Elliott (4) — He finished ninth at the Charlotte Roval after recovering from a caution that threw off his pit strategy and kept him out on the track until the end of stage 2. His worst finish in the past seven races is 11th at Texas. His consistency has moved the No. 9 Chevrolet to the Round of 8 in the owner championship.
5. Chris Buescher (5) — He finished seventh at the Charlotte Roval and moved to the Round of 8 for the first time in his career. Buescher has three top-10 finishes in the playoffs and five top 20s. He enters the Round of 8 only three points below the cutline.
6. Bubba Wallace (7) — He failed to advance to the Round of 8 but delivered one of his best performances on a road course. He qualified fourth, ran inside of the top five and scored 13 stage points. He finished 16th after getting spun in an incident started by Daniel Suarez. Wallace only needs two top-10 finishes to match his single-season career-best (10).
Bubba Wallace spins!
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) October 8, 2023
Daniel Suarez hit Austin Cindric, who gets into the No. 23! #NASCARPlayoffs | NBC pic.twitter.com/UXLlvjotFN
7. Tyler Reddick (9) — He started from the pole, won stage 1, finished fourth in stage 2 and sixth in the race. He had one of the best cars, to the point that multiple other drivers said he was the only one that could pass. Reddick advanced to the Round of 8 for the first time in his career.
8. Christopher Bell (8) — He finished 15th at the Charlotte Roval after scoring 15 stage points. He advanced to the Round of 8 for the second time in his Cup career. Next up for Bell are three tracks where he has contended for top-10 finishes.
9. Brad Keselowski (6) — He failed to advance to the Round of 8 after missing out on stage points, finishing 18th at the Charlotte Roval and falling below the cutline. This closed out a round where his best finish was seventh at Texas and his worst was 32nd at Talladega.
10. Martin Truex Jr. (10) — He finished 20th at the Charlotte Roval after scoring 10 stage points. It was his seventh straight finish of 17th or worse. Truex still advanced to the Round of 8 with the bonus playoff points earned in the regular season. Now he is 15 points above the cutline heading to tracks where he has six combined wins.
