Chastain’s last lap pass to win at Talladega has catapulted him in our rankings
• 7 min read
With 10 races now in the record books for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season, there’s enough of a sample size to discern which drivers stand out from the pack, which are mired in the middle and which ones bring up the rear. Naturally, this means just who’s at the front and when is especially of interest, especially when there’s a change at the very top of the pylon.
By leading the exact lap he needed to at Talladega Superspeedway, Ross Chastain was able to take his second win of the season and re-take the top spot in the CBS Sports NASCAR Power Rankings, passing Ryan Blaney as Driver No. 12 moves back a spot.
Blaney now battles Chastain for the top spot in these Power Rankings and Chase Elliott for the Cup Series points lead, as Elliott moves up to third as he continues to lead the regular season championship.
As the finishing order of a Talladega race is often deceiving, with some who ran at the front not finishing there and others who hung out for much of the day getting it done at the finish, movement in this week’s Power Rankings was not so dramatic as weeks’ past. After leading 25 laps and nearly winning, Erik Jones is the biggest mover with four spots gained, topping five other drivers who each gained three spots. Chase Briscoe and Daniel Suarez both lost the most spots (-4), but both remain in the top 15 after early crashes prevented them from contending this past Sunday.
Here’s a look at our updated rankings in their entirety:
