NASCAR Chase leader Kyle Larson’s disastrous day at Phoenix Raceway threw the championship race into chaos, shrinking his 49-point lead to five after a blown tire left him 34th. But Larson still holds the top spot in the Fox Sports NASCAR Cup power rankings, according to motorsports insider Bob Pockrass.
Larson started 22nd, never found speed and collected three points. Six drivers now sit within 56 of him with three races left. The reigning champion carries that thin margin into Talladega, with a crowded field behind him and no way to know who cracks first.
Fox’s weekly power rankings still put Larson at No. 1, with a far smaller margin than a week ago. Pockrass expects him to be the favorite at Homestead, though he must get there, preferably still leading the points, to control his own title hopes, according to Pockrass in his latest ranking published Monday.
| 2026 NASCAR CUP SERIES — THE CHASE STANDINGS | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| After Phoenix Raceway • Race 33 of 36 • October 18, 2026 • Top 16 in The Chase | ||||||||||
| Pos | No. | Driver | Mfr | Points | Behind | Wins | Top 5s | Top 10s | DNFs | Laps Led |
| 1 | 5 | Kyle Larson | Chev | 2370 | — | 2 | 14 | 19 | 4 | 1,215 |
| 2 ▲1 | 20 | Christopher Bell | Toyota | 2365 | -5 | 1 | 15 | 18 | 4 | 792 |
| 3 ▲1 | 19 | Chase Briscoe | Toyota | 2346 | -24 | 3 | 13 | 18 | 6 | 662 |
| 4 ▼2 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 2339 | -31 | 4 | 16 | 21 | 0 | 993 |
| 5 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 2330 | -40 | 3 | 11 | 22 | 5 | 1,100 |
| 6 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 2326 | -44 | 3 | 7 | 15 | 3 | 809 |
| 7 | 45 | Tyler Reddick | Toyota | 2314 | -56 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 2 | 542 |
| 8 | 2 | Austin Cindric | Ford | 2240 | -130 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 3 | 85 |
| 9 | 54 | Ty Gibbs | Toyota | 2238 | -132 | 2 | 12 | 19 | 5 | 402 |
| 10 ▲2 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chev | 2221 | -149 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 3 | 318 |
| 11 ▼1 | 77 | Carson Hocevar | Chev | 2212 | -158 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 2 | 198 |
| 12 ▼1 | 23 | Bubba Wallace | Toyota | 2208 | -162 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 4 | 316 |
| 13 ▲1 | 7 | Daniel Suárez | Chev | 2182 | -188 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 2 | 42 |
| 14 ▼1 | 24 | William Byron | Chev | 2180 | -190 | 0 | 5 | 15 | 5 | 178 |
| 15 | 17 | Chris Buescher | Ford | 2166 | -204 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 81 |
| 16 | 60 | Ryan Preece | Ford | 2159 | -211 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 55 |
| Top 16 drivers competing in The Chase • 10-race championship battle • 3 races remaining • ▲/▼ = position change from previous race. Chev = Chevrolet. Source: NASCAR.com, after Phoenix Raceway Race 33. | ||||||||||
Kyle Larson’s Phoenix Collapse Reshapes the Chase
Larson qualified poorly, according to the Associated Press qualifying report, and the race never improved. Pockrass wrote that Larson ran somewhere between 20th and 25th for much of the afternoon before his tire failed.
“I didn’t expect to be good, but I didn’t expect to be that bad either,” Larson said, as quoted by NBC Sports.
Phoenix had been friendly territory for the defending NASCAR champion. Seven days earlier, Pockrass noted Larson had six finishes of third or fourth in his last seven starts there, according to the Fox Sports Oct. 12 rankings. That ranking had Denny Hamlin second, 49 points back, with Chase Briscoe third and Christopher Bell fourth.
Now Bell is the closest anyone has been to Larson in weeks, according to Kelly Crandall of RACER.
Contender Rankings Versus the Points Standings
Pockrass’s top seven track the standings closely. Larson, Bell and Briscoe hold identical spots in both, and the lone swap comes in the middle. Pockrass has Ryan Blaney fourth and Hamlin fifth, while the points put Hamlin 31 back and Blaney 40 back. The order comes after Race 33 of 36, according to NASCAR’s official Cup Series standings.
Denny Hamlin held his place in Pockrass’s rankings even after a flat tire and a speeding penalty left him 28th, because he still gained 18 points on Larson. Briscoe, meanwhile, trailed by 123 points after Kansas Speedway and has cut that to 24 by winning two of the last three races.
Tyler Reddick ended a 23-race winless streak at Phoenix and now sits seventh, 56 back. Blaney finished second at a track where he had won the last two Cup races, and now trails by 40. Joey Logano swept both stages, finished sixth and trails by 44.
“I felt like we were a long shot before this, but still could do it,” Logano said. “I don’t feel like so much of a long shot anymore,” as quoted by RACER’s Kelly Crandall.
“Teams crack during this time of year. We’ve seen it over and over again,” Logano said, as quoted by RACER.
Christopher Bell led the most laps at Phoenix before finishing fourth.
“It’s going to be a battle, that’s for sure. We’re right there in it,” Bell said, as quoted by NBC Sports.
Larson looks ahead to Talladega.
“We’ve done well at the superspeedways, so hopefully we can execute, get some points and keep ourselves in the hunt,” he said, as quoted by NBC Sports. Briscoe, the defending winner there, finished 29th in the spring race, according to Pockrass.
NASCAR Power Rankings: Kyle Larson’s Phoenix Disaster Throws Chase Into Chaos