NASCAR.com’s John Crane ranks the top 20 NASCAR Cup Series drivers competing for the 2026 championship after Ryan Blaney’s win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and before Saturday’s regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
RELATED: 2026 Cup Series schedule | Cup Series standings
Analysis: From the jump, it looked like it was going to be one of those days, with Hamlin getting caught in a slippery Lap 1 mess with Tyler Reddick. But Hamlin weathered the storm, and as Mother Nature’s conditions improved, so did Hamlin. The No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was rewarded with a seventh-place result and the No. 1 seed in The Chase. Daytona International Speedway hasn’t been kind to Hamlin since the Next Gen era began in 2022, but at this juncture, it doesn’t necessarily matter. Now, it’s about prepping for the 10-race postseason afterward.
Analysis: Resolve could best describe the No. 12’s Loudon day. After outlasting the early weather lulls and triumphing in Stage 2, pit-road trouble following the second segment looked to be a dagger. Earlier in the season, it was. Now, though? Hardly, with Blaney rebounding to capture his second lobster in as many seasons. A 32-point gain to the cutline was, naturally, the biggest improvement among all drivers, and with a race win and four top 10s in nine Daytona starts in a Next Gen machine, more momentum could certainly be up for grabs.
Analysis: He hasn’t won (yet?), but Bell has been on the uptick for a fair bit now, with a New England P4 acting as the No. 20 driver’s seventh top-seven result in the last eight races. Overcoming a pit-road miscue following Stage 1’s conclusion further illustrates Bell’s scorcher of late. Bell, who enters the top five in the Cup standings for the first time this season, will next contest Daytona; in 13 career Cup starts, he has three top-10 results. The good news? All three have come since the Next Gen car’s introduction in 2023.
Analysis: A P6 at Loudon was Gibbs’ first top 10 at the track in four Cup attempts, continuing a 10-race streak with finishes of 10th or better dating back to Pocono Raceway in June. The question for the No. 54: Can the team A) hold off the Toyotas behind him in the standings and B) make a play against Denny Hamlin and Blaney at the top? Daytona will be the last chance to sharpen the playoff blade before Chase action begins, with Gibbs possessing two top 10s at the Florida track, including an eighth-place result in last summer’s bout.
Analysis: Waiting for the next shoe to drop has been a theme of Reddick’s summer. That theme looked like it would continue at Loudon, where, despite starting on the pole, the No. 45 spun from the lead on the opening lap. Rolling up the proverbial sleeves after a P31 result in Stage 1, Reddick gradually worked his way to contention, finishing Stage 2 in 11th and concluding Sunday’s contest in eighth, only his third top 10 in the last nine races. Can Reddick keep momentum going at Daytona, the site of his first win of 2026? We’ll see.
Analysis: Chalk Loudon as a forgetful day for the No. 19, with Briscoe’s 26th-place finish snapping a four-race streak of sixth-place results or better. As such, it’s no surprise that Briscoe’s 26-point drop to the cutline was tied for the biggest dip of the day (Chase Elliott). Despite already having clinched a Chase berth, that stings. Next is Daytona, where Briscoe hasn’t had much success in the results column, only totaling three top 10s in 11 starts. That said, he has led laps in six of the last seven Daytona races, so maybe this can shift for the better.
Analysis: Larson was one of six drivers to clinch a Chase berth Sunday, capturing his fifth stage win and tallying his first top five since Sonoma Raceway in June. Leading double-digit laps (18) for the first time since Chicagoland Speedway in July and totaling 48 points — his most since Charlotte Motor Speedway in May — perhaps suggest the defending champion is close to a breakthrough on the victory front, but then again, this tune has been sung before. Is this the time? To be determined. Larson has six top 10s and zero top fives in 24 Daytona Cup starts.
Analysis: Given the wave Logano is riding — seven consecutive finishes of 14th or better — it only makes sense that the No. 22 Team Penske Ford also clinched a Chase berth at Loudon following a P14 finish. Logano continues to hold serve at ninth in the Cup Series standings, but there remains a chance that the three-time Cup Series champion could scoot higher. In 35 Daytona Cup contests, Logano has one victory, nine top fives and 12 top 10s. In nine Daytona races in the Next Gen era, Logano ranks second in points (288). The wave of momentum could continue.
Analysis: For the first time since 2023, Buescher will go postseason racing, clinching a bid after finishing 18th at New Hampshire. It was a quiet day for the No. 17 RFK Racing Ford otherwise, save for getting clogged in Reddick’s Lap 1 slide and finishing seventh in Stage 2. It could crank up quickly at the “World Center of Racing,” where, in nine Next Gen races, Buescher leads full-timers in average finish (11.1) and points (292). Much like Bell and Larson, we have been waiting for that checkered flag to wave for the No. 17. This could be the place.
Analysis: Speaking of quiet, look no further than Elliott at New Hampshire, finishing 23rd in both stages and ending the day one lap down in 25th. The 2020 Cup champion has not rattled off back-to-back top fives since Talladega Superspeedway and Texas Motor Speedway — the site of his second win of 2026 — in April and May, respectively. When will the next hot stretch come for the No. 9? Will it come? Daytona offers a mixed bag, with seven career DNFs, but his 176 laps led in 21 races does rank fifth among active drivers.
Analysis: A Loudon runner-up — matching his best finish of 2026 (San Diego), not to mention his best Loudon finish in nine attempts — could be the shot in the arm Wallace needs as the No. 23 camp heads into the regular-season finale without a locked-in Chase berth. Now 75 points above the cutline, the drafting afficionado heads into the regular-season finale facing one of his top tracks; Wallace ranks second among full-timers in average finish (14.7), fourth in points (259) and sixth in laps led (97) at Daytona in the Next Gen era. This is Wallace’s bread and butter.
Analysis: It could’ve been worse at Loudon, I suppose. Sure, Hocevar had a little Slip ‘N Slide action during pace laps. Yes, the No. 77 Spire Motorsports machine spun again on Lap 84, this time after contact with Connor Zilisch. And while we’re here, Hocevar spun out a third time on Lap 203. But the 23-year-old still salvaged a top-20 finish and clinched a Chase spot. Still, some sign of upward momentum would be preferable with the postseason looming. That momentum swing might be on hold for another week, with Hocevar possessing three DNFs in five Daytona Cup starts.
Analysis: A 12th-place result at New Hampshire was acceptable for Cindric and the No. 2 camp, but the team did lose 13 points to the cutline. With seven of the last eight races resulting in finishes of 14th or better, Cindric has positioned himself inside the 16-driver cut, though a 44-point cushion is not a concrete buffer. Though Daytona was kind to Cindric to start his Cup career — a 2022 Daytona 500 win and third-place finish in that year’s summer race qualify — it has been bumpier since, with five finishes of 20th or worse. Don’t breathe too easy.
Analysis: Byron started Sunday’s New Hampshire race well, leading laps on the wets to begin action and eventually finishing Stage 1 in fourth. It was downhill from there, though, with pit-road chaos following the opening segment, coupled with a detached left-rear wheel on Lap 233, relegating the No. 24 to a 30th-place finish. Though Byron clinched a Chase berth, potential crew suspensions over the detachment could be a blow, especially for a pit crew that ranks second among all teams, according to Racing Insights. Daytona has been hit-or-miss for Byron; he has three wins and eight DNFs there.
Analysis: One of the biggest story lines of the season has been van Gisbergen’s improvement on non-road-course tracks. That continued Sunday at Loudon, with the No. 97 pilot leading 30 laps in the early going, showing the Kiwi’s adaptability to the wet-weather sets. Nevertheless, SVG lost 19 points to the cutline and heads to Daytona clinging to a 31-point lead. Three out of SVG’s four Cup starts there have resulted in finishes of 30th or worse. Can SVG cash in on that oval progression en route to a Chase berth? It’s possible. Either way, it’ll be close.
Analysis: Suárez rounded out the six drivers who clinched a Chase berth following New Hampshire action. A 20-point day for the Spire Motorsports pilot — thanks to a 17th-place finish — isn’t the end of the world, but it’s worth noting that Suárez has not accumulated a 30-point race performance since Pocono and has only tallied two top-10 results since his Charlotte victory. That big-time performance has simply eluded the No. 7 team for a bit now. Eleven DNFs in 18 Daytona Cup starts isn’t ideal, though he did finish runner-up in last year’s Daytona summer contest.
Analysis: Preece needed that performance. A 38-point day at Loudon thanks to a ninth-place finish at his home track keeps the No. 60 in the postseason hunt, with 19 markers gained to the cutline. Can his fortunes turn for the better at Daytona? They will have to if he wishes to make The Chase. In 13 Cup starts at the 2.5-mile Florida superspeedway, Preece has just three top 10s, with all three coming pre-Next Gen era (2019, 2021). He’s going to give it the college try, though. In his words: “I’m gonna race the hell out of it.”
Analysis: Similarly to his teammate in Preece, Keselowski’s 11th-place, 31-point day at New Hampshire has the RFK Racing co-owner/driver with a mathematical chance to sneak into the 16-driver Chase. With 12 points gained to the cutline, the 2012 Cup champion is still 66 points out of a spot, so help will likely be needed to prevail. That said, Keselowski has been dynamite at Daytona in the Next Gen era; his 126 laps led are tied for second-most (Cindric), and his 250 points rank fifth. Experience could be key, and Keselowski has plenty of it, especially at this venue.
Analysis: A last-place finish at Loudon officially eliminated Chastain and the No. 1 Trackhouse Racing team from Chase contention, a far cry from where Chastain and Co. had their sights set after a 10th-place finish in the standings in 2025. What’s next? That’s a good question. What can be said, though, is that there has been a drop-off, and a return to the drawing board will be necessary over the course of the remainder of the campaign should 2027 wish to be a rebound campaign. The capability is there. Can it be reacquired?
Analysis: Though he has long been eliminated from Chase contention, flowers are needed for Berry here given his run of late. His third-place finish at Loudon — his best result so far in 2026 — was his first finish of third or higher since his runner-up at, ironically, the same track a year prior. With four consecutive finishes of eighth or better since Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July, continuing momentum at Daytona and beyond will be key as the driver searches for a new race team come 2027.
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