I want to go back in time and recall the 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series season: It was a time before many of NASCAR's current young stars had made it to Cup, and that season featured drivers like Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez, and Bubba Wallace among the full-timers contending for the series championship. But while those three drivers have all become among the most prominent names in NASCAR, none of them earned the series title that year -- that distinction, instead, went to Chris Buescher.
Buescher won the 2015 Xfinity Series championship on exceptional consistency, as his two wins and an average finish of 8.4 proved the difference in a four-way title fight between himself, Elliott, Ty Dillon and Regan Smith. He would move to the Cup Series the next season, and he's since continued to build a reputation as a solid, smart, and somewhat underrated racer. It took a lot longer than anticipated, but all those years of work are beginning to pay off as Buescher begins to have a long awaited breakout at the Cup level.
Buescher now has back-to-back wins for the first time in his Cup career following his triumphs at Richmond and Michigan, and it's moved him all the way up to second spot in the CBS Sports NASCAR Power Rankings. Buescher's hot streak has him trailing only regular season points leader Martin Truex Jr., who Buescher had to hold off on Monday by making his car as wide as he possibly could. Buescher is joined by his teammate and boss Brad Keselowski in third, putting two RFK Racing drivers in the top three spots in the Power Rankings.
Here's a look at our updated Power Rankings:
| Rank | Driver | Change | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martin Truex Jr. | -- | What makes Chris Buescher's victory even more impressive is how Martin Truex Jr.'s car was seemingly able to summon speed at will. That was made obvious at the end of stage two, when Truex seemingly came out of nowhere in the final few laps to swipe the stage win away from Daniel Suarez. | |
| 2 | Chris Buescher | The smart money is on Chris Buescher's hot streak continuing thanks to where we're going next. With two-straight road courses upcoming, Buescher will look to keep his streak of top 10s on road courses going from a major position of strength. | ||
| 3 | Brad Keselowski | Brad Keselowski finally made it to Michigan's victory lane as a car owner, but he's still waiting for his chance to get a win for RFK Racing as a driver. His next chance to do that comes at Indianapolis, where he won the Brickyard 400 back in 2018. | ||
| 4 | Denny Hamlin | Sunday's rain delay into Monday afternoon created a unique situation where Denny Hamlin recorded a mid-race edition of his podcast on Sunday night. After the newest Actions Detrimental was released on Monday, Hamlin went on to finish third. | ||
| 5 | Tyler Reddick | Michigan was the latest illustration of how Tyler Reddick and his team have cost themselves wins in 2023 through mistakes and unforced errors at inopportune times. They'll have a good chance to change the narrative at Indy, where Reddick dominated on his way to victory last year. | ||
| 6 | Christopher Bell | After he backed his car hard into the outside wall, Christopher Bell was in an interesting position in that his car was still fast as long as his team could get the spoiler down and out of the air. They did so successfully, allowing Bell to use the raw speed in his car to finish 13th. | ||
| 7 | Joey Logano | Among Cup Series champions and the dominant drivers of his generation, Joey Logano is still looking for his first Indianapolis victory. His best finish on either the oval or the road course is a second in 2015 and 2019. | ||
| 8 | Kevin Harvick | Kevin Harvick continued a stretch of rock solid performances with an eighth at Michigan, but we're reaching the point now where we're waiting for Harvick to get his first win of 2023 and potentially his last before retirement. He hasn't won on a road course since Sonoma in 2017. | ||
| 9 | Kyle Larson | Kyle Larson was the only Hendrick driver to avoid massive issues at Michigan, as his fifth place run was the only finish for a Hendrick car better than 33rd. Larson returns to Indianapolis one year after he was involved in a nasty accident where he missed the entry to turn one at full speed. | ||
| 10 | Bubba Wallace | Using stage points to build a bigger points buffer over the cut line was a necessary step for Bubba Wallace, as road courses aren't his strong suit. But he did finish fifth at Indy last year, so he needs to maintain solid finishes over these next two races while hoping that there's no new winners that bump him down the playoff leaderboard. | ||
| 11 | William Byron | Only a few weeks ago it seemed like the regular season championship was going to come down to a duel between Martin Truex Jr. and William Byron. Now, a DNF at Michigan seemingly dashed all hopes Byron has, as he's almost 100 points behind Truex and well behind second place Denny Hamlin. | ||
| 12 | Ty Gibbs | I feel like I keep saying this, but don't overlook the damage that Ty Gibbs can do over the next two weeks as he tries to make the playoffs. Gibbs won in his first ever Xfinity Series start on the Daytona Road Course in 2021, and he followed that up with road course wins at Watkins Glen and Road America. | ||
| 13 | Ryan Blaney | I tuned into Ryan Blaney's radio twice at Michigan, and both times he was dropping F bombs whether it was about Corey LaJoie's driving or about the handling of his own car. Blaney's frustrations would ultimately lead to a ninth place run, his first top 10 finish in nearly a full month. | ||
| 14 | Erik Jones | The week that was in Michigan had to be a high point in Erik Jones' life. The Byron, Mich. native returned home to get married on Wednesday, then continued a stretch of improved performances with a top 10 run on Sunday into Monday. | ||
| 15 | Ross Chastain | Ross Chastain led the opening 16 laps of the race in Michigan, then snapped a top 10 dry spell with a seventh place finish. Those were the first laps Chastain had led and his first top 10 finish since his win at Nashville back in June. | ||
| 16 | Kyle Busch | Kyle Busch was the first car out of the race in Michigan, spinning and crashing after just 14 laps while racing Ryan Blaney for position. Busch now has two DNFs due to crashes in his last four starts. | ||
| 17 | Aric Almirola | -- | With Martin Truex Jr. confirming this weekend that he would return to Cup in 2024, Aric Almirola's decision on whether to keep racing or retire is the next major domino to fall in the Silly Season. As the industry starts to focus more on his future, Almirola just missed out on another top 15 finish with a 16th place run at Michigan. | |
| 18 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | -- | While we tend to say that drivers are "locked into" the playoffs after they win, that's technically not the case until it's mathematically true. After opening the season by winning the Daytona 500, Ricky Stenhouse has now officially clinched a 2023 playoff spot with three races remaining in the regular season. | |
| 19 | Daniel Suarez | I alluded to the speed Daniel Suarez's team showed at Michigan in my Power Rankings column last week, and Travis Mack's crew did indeed still have their touch. Suarez finished sixth at Michigan and scored chunks of stage points, moving him to within five points of the cut line. | ||
| 20 | Chase Elliott | After crashing out at Michigan, Chase Elliott effectively declared that winning a race is his only option to make the playoffs. He's got a great shot with two road course races next, but he hasn't actually had a win on one since Road America in 2021. | ||
| 21 | Michael McDowell | Michael McDowell's efforts to hold onto his playoff spot were foiled early, as contact with Chase Briscoe caved in his front end and hampered the performance of his car on his way to finishing 24th. Now, McDowell has fallen below the cut line by three points, but the coming stretch of road races should work in his favor. | ||
| 22 | Austin Cindric | Austin Cindric ran up inside the top 10 and finished 12th at Michigan, and next up is a trip to Indianapolis where he finished second a year ago. Cindric is on the verge of entering the top 20 in the points standings and shouldn't be counted out as far as making the playoffs goes. | ||
| 23 | Austin Dillon | Austin Dillon kept a bad situation from becoming worse at Michigan, as he salvaged a 19th place finish after having to make an unscheduled pit stop with a tire going down. Realistically speaking, the focus for Dillon's team is likely to just get through Indy and Watkins Glen and then go for another walkoff win at Daytona at the end of the month. | ||
| 24 | Corey LaJoie | After signing a long-term contract extension with Spire Motorsports, Corey LaJoie is looking to be a part of his race team taking their next steps from the point they've already reached. That point is being a team capable of top 15 finishes, and LaJoie earned another one with a 15th place run at Michigan. | ||
| 25 | Ryan Preece | After a fifth place run at Richmond, Michigan served as a bit of a reality check for Ryan Preece and his team. Preece blew a right rear tire and finished 22nd, the first car one lap down. | ||
| 26 | AJ Allmendinger | Out of any driver on the playoff bubble, I think AJ Allmendinger's range of outcomes is by far the widest. He could earn a bunch of points on the road courses and point his way in, he could win on one of the two road courses -- and don't think he can't win Daytona either -- or he could fail to do any of those things and miss the playoffs entirely. | ||
| 27 | Alex Bowman | Before getting in a wreck on the backstretch, Alex Bowman was having one of his strongest runs of the season and was primed to potentially make up major ground on the cut line. The 19 laps that Bowman led at Michigan are the most he's led in a race all season. | ||
| 28 | Chase Briscoe | Chase Briscoe's day at Michigan was ruined by contact with Alex Bowman, leaving him with yet another poor finish in a season full of frustration. A return home to Indiana this week should amount to a nice reset for Briscoe, who was in contention to win on the Indy road course in 2021. | ||
| 29 | Harrison Burton | Harrison Burton, Austin Cindric and Todd Gilliland all playing Wii Sports during the rain delay was wild to me considering that all three drivers were literal children when the console launched in November of 2006. There also used to be a fun steering wheel accessory that the Wiimote could fit in -- I used it a lot in online Mario Kart way back when. | ||
| 30 | Todd Gilliland | Friendly fire was Todd Gilliland's undoing at Michigan, as contact with Front Row Motorsports teammate Michael McDowell put Gilliland in the backstretch wall and ruined his race. Now he'll head back to Indianapolis, where he finished a career-best fourth last year. |
