There's something about a change of scenery and a change of race teams that really seems to bring out the best in Kyle Busch.
Back in 2008, when he had barely matured as a 23-year-old firebrand, Busch signed with Joe Gibbs Racing after getting forced out at Hendrick Motorsports and immediately proceeded to have his breakout year. Through 16 races that year, Busch had five wins, 10 top fives and 11 top 10s as he turned from "Shrub" to "Rowdy."
Now 38 years old, age, experience and maturity have refined that burst of generational talent that Busch showed all those years ago. But in moving from Joe Gibbs Racing to Richard Childress Racing in 2023, Busch is once again excelling in new surroundings. Through 16 races, Busch has three wins, five top five and nine top-10 finishes -- including four in the last four races, a stretch including a win at Gateway, a second-place finish at Sonoma and no finishes worse than seventh.
As he positions himself to contend for a third Cup Series title, Busch has now taken over the top spot in the CBS Sports NASCAR Power Rankings as the sport enters its lone off weekend of the 2023 season.
Here's a look at our updated Power Rankings:
| Rank | Driver | Change | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kyle Busch | After a down year in 2022, the 2023 version of Kyle Busch is the one we're used to seeing. He's at the front, in the mix and a threat to win every week again. | ||
| 2 | Martin Truex Jr. | As Clint Bowyer alluded to on the TV broadcast, Martin Truex Jr. certainly knows how to stink up the show. Of his 33 career wins, nine have seen him lead 150-plus laps, and that doesn't account for him leading nearly half of the 110 laps at Sonoma. | ||
| 3 | William Byron | Compared to the rest of his season, Sonoma marked an uncharacteristically quiet outing for William Byron. He mostly took a backseat to his Hendrick teammates, earning a fourth-place finish in stage two before finishing 14th. | ||
| 4 | Kyle Larson | While Kyle Larson didn't earn any stage points due to an alternate strategy, he was a fixture in the top 10 throughout the day in Sonoma and finished a solid eighth. That should take the sting out of a weekend where his own mistake in turn 11 cost him a win in the Xfinity Series. | ||
| 5 | Ryan Blaney | Ryan Blaney lost a potential top-10 run when he got spun at the end, but he never really had it to begin with. Blaney had a difficult day that started with running at the back and got compounded by a pit road penalty. | ||
| 6 | Joey Logano | Joey Logano's results are starting to reflect his performance again. For the second straight week, the defending Cup Series champion finished third. | ||
| 7 | Christopher Bell | Christopher Bell was just a touch off the pace of Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin early in the race. But his pace was good enough to earn points in both stages and ultimately finish ninth at Sonoma. | ||
| 8 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | A 12th-place finish at Sonoma illustrated just how great a year it's been for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. so far. Through 16 races, Stenhouse's average finish of 14.6 is the best of his career. | ||
| 9 | Ross Chastain | -- | A trouble-free day for Ross Chastain ended with him getting a 10th-place finish, and it also broke a streak of three straight finishes outside the top 20. Sonoma marked a nice bounce back for Chastain after he lost what was once a sure handle on the regular season championship. | |
| 10 | Kevin Harvick | -- | As the second half of the season approaches, the "Kevin Harvick makes his final X" storylines are about to ratchet up. Sunday in Sonoma marked his final as a driver on a NASCAR on Fox broadcast -- he'll join the network's broadcast booth in 2024. | |
| 11 | Chris Buescher | Chris Buescher got his first career Xfinity Series win on a road course at Mid-Ohio back in 2014, and turning left and right has suited him just fine since. Buescher's seven straight top 10s on road courses is the longest active streak of any driver in Cup. | ||
| 12 | Bubba Wallace | While he's made some strides as a road racer, Bubba Wallace was never a factor at Sonoma and finished 17th. He'll be back in his comfort zone in two weeks in Nashville, where he had a very fast car last year despite pit road issues. | ||
| 13 | AJ Allmendinger | A top 15 streak for AJ Allmendinger came just in time for the summer months, as The Dinger parlayed his recent performances into a sixth-place run at Sonoma. That's Allmendinger's best finish of the entire 2023 season. | ||
| 14 | Denny Hamlin | Sunday's race at Sonoma took place 17 years to the day that Hamlin scored his first career win at Pocono in 2006. While it looked promising early, the day did not entail win No. 50 after Hamlin crashed out late. | ||
| 15 | Brad Keselowski | While Chris Buescher has carried the banner for RFK Racing, the boss needs to be wary. Though he finished a respectable 16th at Sonoma, that marked his third straight finish outside the top 15. | ||
| 16 | Michael McDowell | Michael McDowell had race-winning speed at Sonoma, but his chances of challenging Truex for the win were dashed when a delinquent lug nut ruined his final pit stop. McDowell recovered nicely, capitalizing on his fast car to finish seventh. | ||
| 17 | Tyler Reddick | I personally loved the quick thinking and ingenuity of Tyler Reddick to turn around in turn 11 and drive back to the pits after cutting a tire on the exit of the corner. But NASCAR didn't, as they determined he cut the course and ordered him to serve a pass-through penalty. | ||
| 18 | Ryan Preece | Ryan Preece has turned what was a rough season into a string of good runs, as a 13th-place finish at Sonoma marked his third top 15 in the last four races. Not only that, but Preece hasn't had a finish worse than 17th since Darlington. | ||
| 19 | Alex Bowman | A 15th-place outing wasn't spectacular for Alex Bowman by any means, but it's certainly enough for him right now. Entering NASCAR's off week, Bowman currently holds the final spot on the playoff grid by three points despite missing three races. | ||
| 20 | Corey LaJoie | One week after his opportunity to drive for Hendrick Motorsports marked a bit of a letdown, Corey LaJoie's run at Sonoma served a reminder that he's still elevating Spire Motorsports. LaJoie had the race's fastest lap at one point and finished 20th. | ||
| 21 | Chase Elliott | It wasn't likely that staying out on the final caution was the winning strategy for Chase Elliott, but he and his Alan Gustafson-led crew had to do something to try and get a win and get in the playoffs. Expect more contrarian strategies from Elliott's team over the next 10 weeks. | ||
| 22 | Austin Dillon | Austin Dillon got very sideways on the exit of Turn 11 during a long run, and an assist from Ty Gibbs finished the job and spun him around. Dillon would recover to finish 19th. | ||
| 23 | Ty Gibbs | Ty Gibbs had a top-five start to the day in Sonoma, but he couldn't sustain that pace and faded to 18th at the finish. Still, he continued to build on his sizable advantage in the Rookie of the Year race with Noah Gragson sidelined. | ||
| 24 | Daniel Suarez | The good vibes from a top 10 at Gateway didn't last for Daniel Suarez. One year after his first career win, Suarez missed a shift on the opening lap at Sonoma and was never a factor on his way to finishing 22nd. | ||
| 25 | Justin Haley | It's going to take a lot of work for Justin Haley to become a road racer on the same level as veteran teammate AJ Allmendinger. Haley just missed out on a top 20 at Sonoma, finishing 21st. | ||
| 26 | Todd Gilliland | Unlike in the Coca-Cola 600, Todd Gilliland had a far better day in Rick Ware's No. 51 than his usual No. 38 did. Gilliland finished 24th while Zane Smith wound up 34th after he was caught up in a pit road miscue that brought out the first caution of the day. | ||
| 27 | Austin Cindric | For as good as Austin Cindric is at road racing, it was shocking that he ran as poorly as he did at Sonoma. The Penske cars looked well off on Saturday, and that continued into Sunday as Cindric finished 25th. | ||
| 28 | Ty Dillon | While he angered Josh Bilicki with a divebomb move that ended up spinning Bilicki, that was a small price to pay for Ty Dillon keeping up his recent consistency. Dillon's average finish since Kansas is a 24.8. | ||
| 29 | Harrison Burton | The struggles of Team Penske at Sonoma extended to their close affiliate in the Wood Brothers, as Harrison Burton was never a factor either. Burton's second straight finish outside the top 20 saps some of the good vibes that some nice runs in the month of May had created. | ||
| 30 | Aric Almirola | Aric Almirola's win in the Xfinity Series race at Sonoma was a popular one for one of the genuine good guys of the Cup Series. Sadly, Almirola followed up his win on Saturday with a spin and 28th-place finish on Sunday. |
