© Jim Dedmon/Imagn
For about 90 percent of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Martinsville, it looked like a sure thing that Denny Hamlin would take home yet another victory at a track he often dominates.
However, they don’t throw the checkered flag until 100 percent of the race, and after a late strategy call, a timely caution, and some impressive driving, Chase Elliott walked away with his first victory of the 2026 season.
Elliott’s victory not only moves him up the points standings but also in the latest edition of our NASCAR Power Rankings, which features significant movement this week.
2026 NASCAR Cup Series Power Rankings: Week 7
Prior to this weekend, Hamlin noted that points leader Tyler Reddick, who drives for Hamlin and Michael Jordan’s 23XI race team, would need to improve on short tracks if he wanted to win a championship.
That proved true for much of Sunday, as Reddick failed to compete for the victory, opening up the front of the field to not only Hamlin, but some new faces who enter (or in one case, re-enter) our power rankings this week.
Just two drivers from last week’s top 10 held steady this week, making for a number of interesting talking points heading into a week off for Easter.
10) Joey Logano
© Gary A. Vasquez/Imagn
Joey Logano began the season in second place in our initial power rankings following the Daytona 500. But he slowly and steadily slid down the order, culminating with his removal from the top 10 altogether after a disastrous performance a week ago in Darlington.
However, the Team Penske veteran showed why he’s a three-time series champion this weekend, qualifying in the top 10 and running strongly for the entirety of the race before bringing home a third-place finish.
Logano scored 46 points on the day to not only gain four spots in the point standings but also move back into our power rankings.
Last Week: UR NASCAR Point Standings: 12th (-168)
9) Bubba Wallace
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The biggest loser, by far, this week is Bubba Wallace, who plummets six spots in the power rankings after a second-straight dismal finish.
A week ago, Wallace qualified and ran well at Darlington before a pit-road miscue put him back in the pack, and he got caught up in an accident that was no fault of his own.
This week, however, was a different story.
Wallace looked strong in practice. But he only qualified in 15th position, ran outside the top 10 for a majority of the day, and then ended his own day early by crashing into Carson Hocevar with 78 laps remaining in the race.
Wallace finished 36th on the day and dropped like an anchor in the point standings from third to 11th.
Last Week: 3rd NASCAR Point Standings: 11th (-147)
8) Kyle Larson
© Dave Kallmann / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Larson gained a spot in this week’s rankings, but it was more or less by default.
The Hendrick Motorsports star qualified back in 13th and spent most of the race mired in the back end or outside of the top 10. He failed to score points in the opening stage and finished just ninth in the second stage, picking up two points.
He then tried to go off strategy and briefly worked his way as high as seventh before sliding to a solid, yet underwhelming ninth-place finish.
Last Week: 9th NASCAR Point Standings: 9th (-147)
7) Ty Gibbs
© Daniel Bartel/Imagn
This is an entry that perhaps could have come sooner. Over recent weeks, Gibbs, the grandson of team owner and Hall of Fame NFL coach Joe Gibbs, has been the second-best driver for the powerhouse team behind Hamlin.
After a brutal start at Daytona and Atlanta, Gibbs has ripped off five consecutive finishes inside the top six. On Sunday, he was the second-best car behind Hamlin for most of the race before ultimately bringing home a strong fourth-place finish.
Gibbs, once thought to be the sport’s top prospect, is still looking for his first Cup Series win in his third full-time season. But it’s looking more and more like a matter of “when,” not “if” he’ll get it.
Last Week: UR NASCAR Point Standings: 6th (-131)
6) William Byron
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The last time the NASCAR Cup Series came to Martinsville, Byron dominated en route to a victory that secured him a spot in the 2025 championship four at Phoenix.
This weekend wasn’t quite as impressive as a performance, but it was still plenty strong.
Byron qualified on the outside of the front row next to Hamlin and finished the opening stage in the same position. He then backed that up with a fifth-place finish both in the second stage and the race.
Byron didn’t quite have race-winning speed on Sunday. But he showed enough for fans to believe his first win of the season isn’t far off.
Last Week: 8th NASCAR Point Standings: 5th (-115)
5) Christopher Bell
© Gary A. Vasquez/Imagn
Like Larson, Bell moves up a spot this week, not because of anything he did, but because of Wallace’s significant slide. After three impressive performances in a row at Circuit of the Americas, Phoenix, and Las Vegas, Bell has struggled the last couple of weeks at tracks where you’d expect him to compete for the win.
After finishing in 19th last week at Darlington, Bell came to Martinsville this week and qualified in 11th, the third best of the four Joe Gibbs Racing cars.
He then proceeded to miss out on points in both stage one and stage two, before rallying for a solid seventh-place finish. It’s nowhere near time to hit the panic button for Bell and his team, and he still sits strongly in the standings, but you have to wonder where the speed has been the last two weeks.
Last Week: 6th NASCAR Point Standings: 7th (-141)
4) Chase Elliott
© Jim Dedmon/Imagn
There’s an argument to be made for Elliott being higher on this list. After all, he’s been inside the top five of our power rankings since Week 1 at Daytona and just picked up a huge win, the first for Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet during the 2026 season.
But he finds himself in a very strong fourth position, failing to jump over our top three only because of the context of his victory.
Elliott qualified decently, starting in 10th position. But he couldn’t hold his position in the top 10 to end either stage one or stage two, meaning he took home zero additional points. With 75 percent of the race completed, it looked as if Elliott would slide down both the point standings and power rankings.
That’s when he and crew chief Alan Gustafson made a bold call to pit well before the final window would typically open. Elliott used the fresher tires to drive to the front of the field, then caught an extremely fortunate caution just as he was beginning to drop back down the running order.
From there, Elliott did a fantastic job not only to hold position, but to beat Hamlin, who had been the dominant driver of the day.
Last Week: 5th NASCAR Point Standings: 4th (-104)
3) Denny Hamlin
© Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn
There’s not a single driver in the NASCAR Cup Series today that has more “what-if” moments in their career than Denny Hamlin, and you can add Sunday’s race at Martinsville to the list.
Simply put, Hamlin was dominant. He sat on the pole. He led 292 of 400 laps, and he looked set to run away with the victory.
But then it all came undone. A late caution put Hamlin on the outside of the front row during a restart after Ross Chastain opted to stay out on old tires. Hamlin then missed a shift on the restart, fell behind Elliott, and couldn’t recover his track position on the final restart of the race.
Add into the matter an incident with Ryan Blaney that seemed to take some speed out of both of their cars, and Hamlin’s dream day turned in an extremely impressive, yet disappointing performance.
Last Week: 3rd NASCAR Point Standings: 3rd (-94)
3) Ryan Blaney
© Cody Scanlan/The Register / USA TODAY NETWORK
If Hamlin is the master of Martinsville, Ryan Blaney isn’t far behind. The Team Penske star has two wins and six top-five finishes in his last 10 races at the track and looked every bit as strong as expected late in Sunday’s race.
Blaney qualified 12th, worked his way up eighth by the end of stage one, fourth by the end of stage two, and was contending for the victory late in the race when Hamlin slid up and shoved him into the wall, pushing him all the way back to eighth.
Blaney ultimately rebounded for a strong sixth-place finish, but he expressed his displeasure with Hamlin following the race.
Last Week: 2nd NASCAR Point Standings: 2nd (-82)
1) Tyler Reddick
© Scott Sewell/Imagn
When you win four of the first six races of the season, you give yourself a good amount leeway both in the standings and our power rankings.
Reddick didn’t have an awful day on Sunday. But it could certainly be classed as mediocre. He qualified in eighth position and finished the opening two stages in ninth and seventh respectively. He then got cycled back down the order due to an issue in the pits and struggled to recover, bringing home a 15th-place finish.
Ultimately, Reddick lost just 15 points to second-placed Blaney in the point standings. But the overall performance proved Hamlin’s earlier statement true: Reddick will have to get better on short tracks if he wants to take home a championship.
Last Week: 1st NASCAR Point Standings: 1st