NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings after 2019 Food City 500
By Asher Fair
Following Kyle Busch’s series-high third victory of the season at Bristol Motor Speedway, how do the NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings look?
Through the first four races of the 36-race NASCAR Cup Series season, four different drivers had earned one victory. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch won the season opener and the season’s fourth race, respectively, while Team Penske teammates Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano won the season’s second and third races, respectively.
Through the first eight races of the season, these four drivers are still the only drivers who have won any races so far this season.
After Busch won the season’s fifth race, Keselowski won the season’s sixth race and Hamlin won the season’s seventh race, Busch continued this trend by winning the season’s eighth race, the Food City 500, at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Busch’s victory in this 500-lap race around the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked Bristol Motor Speedway oval in Bristol, Tennessee made him the first driver to win three races in the 2019 season, just as his victory in the race at Auto Club Speedway a few weeks ago made him the first driver to win two races in the 2019 season.
How did Busch’s third victory of the season affect the NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings? Here are the non-formulated NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings following the Food City 500.
Non-formulated NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings
Rank – Driver – Car, Team, Manufacturer – [Last Rank (Trend)]
1st – Kyle Busch – #18, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota – [2nd (+1)]
2nd – Joey Logano – #22, Team Penske, Ford – [4th (+2)]
3rd – Denny Hamlin – #11, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota – [1st (-2)]
4th – Kevin Harvick – #4, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford – [3rd (-1)]
5th – Kurt Busch – #1, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet – [8th (+3)]
6th – Ryan Blaney – #12, Team Penske, Ford – [10th (+4)]
7th – Brad Keselowski – #2, Team Penske, Ford – [7th (0)]
8th – Martin Truex Jr. – #19, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota – [6th (-2)]
9th – Chase Elliott – #9, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet – [9th (0)]
10th – Clint Bowyer – #14, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford – [11th (+1)]
11th – Aric Almirola – #10, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford – [5th (-6)]
12th – Daniel Suarez – #41, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford – [12th (0)]
13th – Jimmie Johnson – #48, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet – [14th (+1)]
14th – Paul Menard – #21, Wood Brothers Racing, Ford – [21st (+7)]
15th – Ryan Newman – #6, Roush Fenway Racing, Ford – [19th (+4)]
16th – Kyle Larson – #42, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet – [16th (0)]
17th – Austin Dillon – #3, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet – [17th (0)]
18th – William Byron – #24, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet – [18th (0)]
19th – Erik Jones – #20, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota – [13th (-6)]
20th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – #17, Roush Fenway Racing, Ford – [15th (-5)]
21st – Ty Dillon – #13, Germain Racing, Chevrolet – [23rd (+2)]
22nd – Alex Bowman – #88, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet – [20th (-2)]
23rd – Chris Buescher – #37, JTG Daugherty Racing, Chevrolet – [22nd (-1)]
24th – Matt DiBenedetto – #95, Leavine Family Racing, Toyota – [25th (+1)]
25th – Darrell Wallace Jr. – #43, Richard Petty Motorsports, Chevrolet – [27th (+2)]
26th – David Ragan – #38, Front Row Motorsports, Ford – [28th (+2)]
27th – Ryan Preece – #47, JTG Daugherty Racing, Chevrolet – [24th (-3)]
28th – Michael McDowell – #34, Front Row Motorsports, Ford – [26th (-2)]
29th – Matt Tifft – #36, Front Row Motorsports, Ford – [30th (+1)]
30th – Daniel Hemric – #8, Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet – [29th (-1)]
31st – Landon Cassill – #00, StarCom Racing, Chevrolet – [32nd (+1)]
32nd – Corey LaJoie – #32, Go Fas Racing, Ford – [31st (-1)]
Biggest Movers
Up: Paul Menard (+7)
Down: Aric Almirola, Erik Jones (-6)
Here are the formulated NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings following the action at Bristol Motor Speedway. To see how the formulated NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings are calculated, click here.