Just when it appeared the season could be slipping away from William Byron, he won Sunday at Iowa Speedway.
It was Byron’s first victory since the Daytona 500, making him a big mover on this week’s list.
Just how much parity (or misfortune) have drivers had in Cup? Only four drivers — Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace — have posted top-10 finishes in each of the last three races.
That makes this list even more subjective than it typically is as the series heads to Watkins Glen this weekend.
Dropped out: Christopher Bell (Last Week: 6)
On the verge: Bell, Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, Ty Gibbs, Joey Logano, Tyler Reddick
10. Alex Bowman (Last Week: 7)
Bowman finished seventh at Iowa and now has finishes of eighth, seventh and seventh in his last three starts. That followed a stretch where the Hendrick driver had one top-10 in six races.
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9. Brad Keselowski (Last Week: NR)
Keselowski was third at Iowa after finishes of 10th and fifth in the previous two races. The RFK Racing co-owner has five top-10s in his last seven starts.
8. Bubba Wallace (Last Week: 10)
Wallace followed his win at Indianapolis with a sixth-place finish at Iowa. After a stretch of four races with finishes outside the top-20, the 23XI Racing driver has a seventh, first and sixth in his last three starts.
7. Ryan Preece (Last Week: 9)
Preece placed fifth at Iowa for back-to-back top-5 finishes. It was also the seventh top-10 in the last 12 starts for the RFK Racing driver.
6. Chase Elliott (Last Week: 4)
After a stretch of five finishes of sixth or better in six races, Elliott has had finishes of 13th and 14th the last couple of weeks. The Hendrick driver has dropped to second behind teammate William Byron in the Cup standings.
5. Chase Briscoe (Last Week: 5)
Briscoe has three second-place finishes in his last four starts as his feast-or-famine season continues. Since the Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s win at Pocono, he has finishes of 35th, 23rd, second, second, 18th and second.
4. William Byron (Last Week: 8)
Byron’s big victory at Iowa should give him a little more confidence that the team can executive — and have good fortune — for wins. It was a little wild that the Hendrick driver had not posted a top-5 in the eight races prior to Iowa.
3. Kyle Larson (Last Week: 2)
After finishes of fourth and second in his previous two starts, Larson had a bad day at Iowa and finished 28th. He had speed — he started third — but restarts were not the Hendrick driver’s friend.
2. Denny Hamlin (Last Week: 1)
Coming off a win at Dover and a third-place finish at Indy, a spin at Iowa contributed to a 24th-place finish for Hamlin. That shouldn’t be too big of a deal for the JGR driver, but likely puts him out of regular-season title contention.
1. Ryan Blaney (Last Week: 3)
Blaney is probably a little bit of a strange choice at No. 1, but he led 29 laps at Iowa and finished fourth, which followed finishes of eighth and seventh in the last two races. For a driver with seven DNFs this year, to be seventh in the standings is still pretty remarkable.
Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.
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