For anyone who is a longtime NASCAR fan, there is a certain satisfying quality in seeing the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet roll into Victory Lane on a regular basis.
When a summer storm in Atlanta brought out the checkered flag early, William Byron's fourth win of the 2023 season marked the most wins in a single season for the No. 24 car since 2014, when Jeff Gordon won four in the penultimate season of his Hall of Fame career. With Byron now leading the regular season points standings and leading all drivers in wins this season, there is a temptation to be reminded of the days when Gordon rose to superstardom in the 1990s, stockpiling wins and championships at a torrid pace.
In some ways, it's only natural to see Byron's excellence this season, think of Gordon, and think of what a return to prominence for Gordon's old car does for NASCAR as a whole. But with that being said, Jeff Gordon has already had his time -- and the man himself believes that Byron's time is just beginning.
"To me right now, it's about building superstars and recognizable faces and names. That's what's gonna help grow the sport. We've lost a lot of them in a short period of time, and it's about building them back up," Gordon said after the Quaker State 400. "And I think William is on the cusp of doing that by going to Victory Lane, winning races, and leading as many laps as he has."
Byron has not only assumed the mantle of regular season points leader with just seven races to go before the playoffs, but he's also taken back the top spot in the CBS Sports NASCAR Power Rankings. Byron leads the way this week as several drivers who are trying to make the playoffs on points -- AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher and Michael McDowell -- all moved into the top 10 after standout runs in Atlanta.
Here's a look at our updated Power Rankings:
| Rank | Driver | Change | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | William Byron | William Byron now becomes the second driver this season to reach the eight career wins mark, joining Ryan Blaney. Both share that spot with Kyle Petty, who had eight career wins from 1986 to 1995. | ||
| 2 | Kyle Busch | Kyle Busch's move to Richard Childress Racing has allowed him to take advantage of his new team's strong speedway program. Busch now has two top fives and three top 10s in four drafting races this season, one of which was a win at Talladega. | ||
| 3 | Martin Truex Jr. | Martin Truex Jr. found something on the top of the track at Atlanta, and it was exciting to watch him make up gobs of positions using the high line on his march through the field. But a 29th place finish cost Truex the points lead, as he now trails Byron by 21. | ||
| 4 | Christopher Bell | -- | NASCAR's past two trips to New Hampshire have seen Christopher Bell win an Xfinity race, finish second in a Cup race in 2021, and then win a Cup race in 2022. Bell is proving to have the magic touch when it comes to The Magic Mile. | |
| 5 | Denny Hamlin | For the second week in a row, Alex Bowman had his race ruined as the result of contact with Denny Hamlin. I guess Hamlin finally got him back for Martinsville in 2021. | ||
| 6 | AJ Allmendinger | Strategy put AJ Allmendinger in a position to win at Atlanta, and a third place finish now has him on the verge of making it onto the plus side of the playoff cut line. Allmendinger is now 13 points back of the cut line entering New Hampshire. | ||
| 7 | Chris Buescher | Chris Buescher's 39 laps led at Atlanta set a new high mark for him in 2023, eclipsing the 32 laps he led in the Daytona 500. Buescher's lap led total was the most he's had in a single race since last year at Bristol, where he led 169 on his way to victory. | ||
| 8 | Joey Logano | -- | Joey Logano was a factor early in Atlanta by leading twice for 11 laps, but he was caught in 17th by the time the rains came. Next up for Logano is a New Hampshire homecoming, as the two-time Cup champ is a native New Englander. | |
| 9 | Michael McDowell | A big pat on the back is in order for crew chief Travis Pederson. Pederson had the guts to have McDowell run long on fuel in hopes that rain would end the race early, and the move paying off -- barely -- put McDowell above the playoff cut line by three points. | ||
| 10 | Chase Elliott | Watch out for Chase Elliott this weekend in New Hampshire. In this race last year, Elliott led 13 laps late before finishing second after being passed for the lead by Christopher Bell. | ||
| 11 | Daniel Suarez | Daniel Suarez came the closest of any driver who gambled on an early ending in Atlanta to getting a win that would have locked him into the playoffs. But I'm sure Suarez and his team were more than happy to leave with a second place finish that puts them three points above the cut line. | ||
| 12 | Kyle Larson | I don't know for a fact how Kyle Larson feels about the new Atlanta, but the new Atlanta certainly doesn't like him. With a DNF on Sunday night, Larson has now failed to finish three out of four races since the track was reconfigured. | ||
| 13 | Ross Chastain | The news of Ross Chastain picking up Busch Light as a new sponsor for next year is great for NASCAR in that it continues to show that it's possible to reach the top of stock car racing on talent and merit as opposed to deep pocketbooks. If Chastain and Josh Berry can do it, so can other young drivers trying to make it without a development deal or big sponsorship behind them. | ||
| 14 | Brad Keselowski | Brad Keselowski didn't need that last caution to come out before the rain came at Atlanta. Considering that he drove all the way up to sixth after pitting from the lead, I feel confident in saying that he could have gotten the top spot back with a few more laps to work with. | ||
| 15 | Justin Haley | An eighth-place finish in Sunday's Cup race was somewhat overshadowed by Haley's last lap in Saturday's Xfinity race, where he caught a lot of flak for appearing to race teammate Daniel Hemric for second instead of push him to the win. I think it's the first time I've ever seen people mad at Justin Haley. | ||
| 16 | Tyler Reddick | Tyler Reddick's night and a couple of other drivers' could have gone very, very poorly in a hurry had Reddick not been able to catch his car when it got plum sideways on the exit of the dogleg headed to turn one. Reddick's save was worth its place on the highlight reel and proves once again that he's one of the best natural wheelmen in NASCAR | ||
| 17 | Ryan Blaney | A ninth place finish at Atlanta with a stage win and 20 laps led helped get Blaney back headed in the right direction after a rough few weeks. Blaney gained two spots in the Cup points standings, improving to seventh. | ||
| 18 | Erik Jones | The front bumper of Erik Jones' car was quite active in Atlanta, as he was involved in triggering several mid-race incidents. It worked for him, though, as an 11th place finish continued Jones' recent recovery from a poor start to the year. | ||
| 19 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Another top 10 finish at Atlanta gave Stenhouse his sixth such result of the year, tying the second-most he's ever had in a single season. The Daytona 500 champion remains on pace for the best year of his Cup career. | ||
| 20 | Austin Cindric | Newly-bespectacled Austin Cindric was active at the front in Atlanta, leading 10 laps and swapping the lead in a spirited mid-race duel with Brad Keselowski. Those are the most laps Cindric has led in a Cup race since he led 13 at Daytona last August. | ||
| 21 | Kevin Harvick | Atlanta's pre-race tribute to Kevin Harvick was terrific, but his final race at the track where he got his very first Cup win was spoiled when he was sent spinning through the infield late in the going. That continues a summer swoon for Harvick, who has dropped to ninth in points. | ||
| 22 | Corey LaJoie | Sunday marked the first time that LaJoie has not been at the front by the end of a race at new Atlanta, as his No. 7 got spun to trigger a mutli-car crash in the middle of the race. But there'll be other opportunities for LaJoie, as The Athletic reported that he is closing in on a multi-year contract extension with Spire Motorsports. | ||
| 23 | Austin Dillon | -- | In his past five races, Austin Dillon has only finished inside the top 15 once, and just two of his finishes have been inside the top 20. That includes good runs at Gateway and Chicago spoiled by late-race crashes, but Dillon is going to need to step it up in order to be a factor in the race for the playoffs. | |
| 24 | Ty Gibbs | Coming off of a top 10 that put him on the plus side of the cut line, Atlanta ended up being the exact opposite of what Ty Gibbs and his team needed. Gibbs was swept up in a multi-car accident and finished 34th, dropping him all the way back to 26 points below the cut line. | ||
| 25 | Alex Bowman | Alex Bowman factored into the race for the lead at the front and seemed destined for good run at Atlanta until he was collected in a spin by Denny Hamlin. He and his team may have flashed a sign of life, but Bowman is now 44 points back of the cut line at 22nd in the standings. | ||
| 26 | Ryan Preece | Chalk this weekend up as one that Ryan Preece has been looking forward to. New Hampshire is to New England racers what Daytona is to the rest, and the Berlin, Conn. native won here in Modifieds back in 2021. | ||
| 27 | Bubba Wallace | Bubba Wallace was in the right place at the wrong time, as he was in the mix for a top 10 finish when Ryan Preece spun and collected him to bring out the caution that wound up ending the race. Wallace now moves on to New Hampshire, where a third place finish last year sparked what ended up being a great second half of 2022. | ||
| 28 | Todd Gilliland | -- | Poking around the garage area in pre-race, I heard that Todd Gilliland was pretty bullish on his chances after a ninth place qualifying run at Atlanta. There was a little more meat on the bone to be had, but a 16th place run isn't anything for him to sniff at either. | |
| 29 | Aric Almirola | Though he only finished 18th, Atlanta proved to be a great shot in the arm for Aric Almirola and his team. Almirola won his fifth career pole and proceeded to lead 46 laps, the most he's led in a single Cup race in three years. | ||
| 30 | J.J. Yeley | Welcome to the Power Rankings, J.J.! J.J. Yeley's seventh place finish was his first top 10 since the 2013 Daytona 500 and best overall finish in 15 years, highlighting a 2023 season that has seen the journeyman driver become a factor on an improved Rick Ware Racing team. |
