Following Shane van Gisbergen’s nail-biting win over Chase Briscoe at Sonoma, the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season has officially reached its halfway point.
Eight more races remain in the regular season before the 10-race “Chase” gets underway in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sept. 6. While most of the drivers in the provisional “Chase” field right now are not much of a surprise, that does not apply to all of them.
As NASCAR makes its long-awaited return to Chicagoland Speedway on Sunday (6 p.m. ET, TNT, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), here are three drivers who have impressed the most at the season’s midway point, ranked in inverse order based on their average finish.
Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 Toyota
After posting the second-worst average finish (17.9) of his full-time Cup Series career last season, Gibbs needed to prove himself in 2026 and show that he truly belongs on Sundays.
With an average finish improvement of 5.9 positions compared to this time last season, good for fourth-best in the entire series, Gibbs has officially arrived. In addition to his first Cup Series win at Bristol earlier this season, Gibbs already has more top fives (seven) and top 10s (11) than all of the 2025 campaign.
He is also putting himself toward the front in qualifying with the best average starting position (9.3) of his career. Even at Sonoma, when Gibbs’ team sacrificed track position by winning both stages and having to drive back through the field, he still finished third and has emerged as a proven contender each week.
Daniel Suarez, Spire Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet
Coming off the worst season of his Trackhouse Racing tenure after finishing 29th in points, many questioned if the move to Spire Motorsports was going to be a beneficial one for Suarez.
He has proved those doubters wrong by already matching his top fives from last season (two) and leading more laps (38) in just half the season. That does not even include his first crown jewel win in the rain-shortened Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte and a career-best 11.8 average starting position.
Suarez’s 14.6 average finish through the first 18 races is 6.8 positions better than last season, good for second-most in the series. A tire issue led to a 31st-place finish at Sonoma, but he currently sits ninth in points and has been one of the biggest surprises of the season.
Carson Hocevar, Spire Motorsports No. 77 Chevrolet
Much like his teammate, Hocevar has had a breakout season and is solidly inside the “Chase” picture at eighth in the standings, 120 points clear of Erik Jones.
Unlike last season, when wins slipped away from him multiple times, Hocevar finally got to experience the taste of victory at the Cup level by winning at Talladega and delivering the first of what is sure to be many memorable post-race celebrations.
Hocevar has had the best average finish improvement (+7.2) of any driver in the series since last season. He is also just 22 laps shy of the most laps he has ever led in a season and has the best average starting position of his career (10.8), a clear sign of the bright future that could be ahead for Hocevar if he can limit his enemies on the track.