There was a lot of chaos on the track at Nashville Superspeedway last weekend, but the changes in the NBC Sports NASCAR Power Rankings were less drastic.
Christopher Bell remains in first place, but Chris Buescher has once again made the top five and jumped up the rankings.
The race series will take to the streets of Chicago on Sunday (4:30 p.m. ET, broadcast on NBC).
This week’s NBC Sports NASCAR power rankings
1. Christopher Bell (last week: #1) — He won both stages and led a race-high 131 laps before crashing in traffic, and Bell later accepted responsibility, saying, “I just let my guard down there, I lost my cool, I tried to make something happen, I got in a bad situation and spun out.” Bell’s mistake is offset by the fact that he has won stages in four of the last six races, has earned a series-high 24 playoff points, and has led 28.9% of the last laps. VI race.
2. Kyle Larson (2) — His eighth-place finish means he has now finished in the top 10 in six of his last eight starts, including two wins and one runner-up finish.
3. Tyler Reddick (4) — Despite the frustration of not being able to overtake Joey Logano for the win, Reddick finished third at Nashville. He has five top 10 finishes in his last six starts. Reddick ranked second in average running position at Nashville with 6.1.
4. Chase Elliott (3) — He finished 18th this season despite multiple incidents on the frontstretch and still finished inside the top 20.
5. Denny Hamlin (6) — He was in line to win twice in overtime, but a caution extended the race and he eventually surrendered the lead and had to pit for fuel. Hamlin finished 12th, but had the best average running position of the race with 4.5.
6. Ryan Blaney (7) — His sixth-place finish means he has finished in the top 10 in three of the past four races.
7. Chris Buescher (NR) — He has now finished fifth in his second consecutive race. Buescher has three top five finishes in the past four races.
8. Brad Keselowski (5) — He crashed and finished 25th. He has four top 10s in the past seven races.
9. William Byron (8) — He placed 19th at Nashville. Byron won three of the first eight races this year but has five top-10 finishes in the 11 races since.
10. Ross Chastain (9) — Chastain was in the lead going into the overtime restart, but was put on a downward trajectory by the signing of Kyle Larson. Chastain finished the game in 33rd place, a season-worst ranking.
Dropped out: Josh Berry
