This weekend, NASCAR Cup and Xfinity racing will return to NBC and USA Network at Iowa Speedway. The inaugural Cup race at Iowa will air on USA Network on Sunday night. In this week’s Power Rankings, Kyle Larson takes the top spot after winning at Sonoma for his third victory of the season, making it his second win in his last five Cup starts.
After a string of five straight top-five finishes, Denny Hamlin finished last at Sonoma for the second consecutive year, ending his streak. Chase Elliott finished fourth at Sonoma, marking his sixth top-five finish in the last 10 races as he climbed from ninth to second in the points during that stretch. Brad Keselowski’s 13th-place finish ended his streak of three straight top-three results, though he has five top-fives in the last eight races and has moved up to seventh in the points standings.
Tyler Reddick won a stage and finished eighth at Sonoma for his third consecutive top-10 finish. Christopher Bell’s ninth-place finish was his fourth top-10 in the last five races. William Byron’s struggles continued as he finished 30th at Sonoma after encountering tire issues and being involved in an incident, marking the fourth time in the last six races he has failed to finish in the top 10.
Ross Chastain’s fifth-place finish at Sonoma marked his second top-10 finish in the last three races, while Alex Bowman finished 15th, his second race outside the top 10 after a streak of five straight top-10 finishes. Ty Gibbs hit the Turn 11 wall at Sonoma and finished 37th, marking his first finish outside the top 10 in the last four races.
Martin Truex Jr., who had been ranked seventh earlier this season, dropped out of the top 10 this week after finishing outside of
