NASCAR Contender Rankings: Can Anyone Challenge Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell?

Denny Hamlin can’t have more days like the one he had at the Southern 500. A bad pit stop dropped him into the pack, and he got caught up damaging his car while battling for position. He made the most out of what could have been a disastrous day and only lost 13 points off his lead. But another one of those and he’s no longer at the top of the standings. Here are my NASCAR Cup Series championship contender rankings after one race in The Chase and with nine races remaining. This weekend, the Cup teams are headed to the 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway (Gateway). On The Verge (Alphabetical Order): Chris Buescher (RFK Racing No. 17 Ford, -88 points behind leader): Buescher bent a toe link before the halfway point at Darlington. He has never led a lap at Gateway. William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet, -114): His engine went up in smoke at Darlington and that’s been his season. He has one top 10 at Gateway. Austin Cindric (Team Penske 2 Ford, -102): He needs a win at Gateway to get back into it. He won there in 2024. Carson Hocevar (Spire Motorsports No. 77 Chevy, -89): Making Brad Keselowski angry is never a good thing. He’ll need to make some noise at Gateway, where he ran solid in his Cup debut in 2023. Ryan Preece (RFK Racing No. 60 Ford, -104): Can’t have to come down pit road for a loose wheel like he did at Darlington. His average finish at Gateway is 19.7. Daniel Suárez (Spire Motorsports No. 7 Chevy, -94): Suárez had a disappointing 21st at Darlington and averages a 22nd-place finish at Gateway. Contender Rankings Logano fell a spot in these rankings because he didn’t show enough speed at Darlington, which doesn’t give much hope that he’ll do well at intermediates. He didn’t earn any stage points and salvaged a ninth by staying out on old tires. Gateway is the place for him to start a championship run. He’s been top five at Gateway in each of the four Cup races there, starting with a win in 2022. An eighth-place finish was good, but 15 stage points at Darlington is what was really great for Wallace. He has just one career top 10 at Gateway, though, and has an average finish there of 21.3. He needs a good day this Sunday. There was miscommunication on the final pit stop and some back-and-forth banter on the radio. It was not his team’s best day and Elliott finished 14th. The No. 9 team will need to be at its best the rest of the way. Elliott has one top five in three starts at Gateway. Larson seems to be in a good headspace. The team gambled a little bit at Darlington as he was running fourth but then stayed out on old tires when many pitted late in the race. He ended up finishing fifth. Larson did show championship promise as he led 99 laps. He is strong at Gateway, where he has an average finish of 9.5 in four starts. Darlington is such a good track for Briscoe that a sixth-place finish was a little bit disappointing — especially considering it looked like he had the tools for a Southern 500 three-peat. He has one pole and one top five in four Gateway starts. Gibbs finished second at Darlington but earned just one stage point, so he ranked seventh in points earned on the day. He needs more than that to remain on championship pace. He has one top 10 in three Gateway starts. Blaney finished fourth at Darlington and earned 11 stage points. But he was never really a factor, and he’ll need to be a factor soon. Will Gateway be the place? He has two top fives and 120 laps led in four races. Reddick said he felt good entering The Chase, and that showed at Darlington, as he won the opening stage and finished third. If he runs well at Gateway, it would be a sign that this team truly has returned to the form it had at the start of the year. He has one top five in four starts at Gateway with an average finish of 17.8. Bell is coming off the big win at Darlington and threatening Hamlin as the championship favorite. He is oozing confidence heading into Gateway, where he has been consistent but not dominant. There, he has finishes of ninth, 11th, seventh and seventh in his four starts. Hamlin stays at the top of the list because of the season he has had and not because of his 18th at Darlington. Can he rebound at Gateway? For sure. He is the defending winner and has three top fives in four starts at the track.



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