Kyle Larson leads early NASCAR Power Rankings for 2024
Kyle Larson takes the top spot in the NASCAR Power Rankings heading toward the 2024 Cup Series season.
Larson ended last season second in points. Ryan Blaney won the championship. William Byron, who led the series with six wins, joins his Hendrick Motorsports teammate near the top of the power rankings.
EARLY NBC SPORTS NASCAR POWER RANKINGS FOR 2024
1. Kyle Larson (2023 final ranking: 2) — Larson has 17 wins and a championship since joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2021. He has led the most laps twice in the past three seasons. Larson remains one of the championship favorites, as he continues working with crew chief Cliff Daniels. A key for Larson will be to reduce his number of DNFs from eight last season.
2. William Byron (3) — Byron set career-best marks last season with six wins, 21 top-10 finishes, 15 top fives and an average finish of 11.0. Byron will continue to be a factor next season after reaching the Championship 4 for the first time.
3. Denny Hamlin (5) — Hamlin fell short of the Championship 4 but still ended the season fifth in points after winning three races. This was the fifth straight season he was fifth or better in points. Hamlin has won at least one race in 17 of the past 18 seasons and will continue to contend regularly in 2024.
4. Ryan Blaney (1) — Blaney broke through last season and won the championship for the first time in his career. Ford teams struggled early but Blaney won three races and showed that he could rise to the occasion.
5. Christopher Bell (4) — Bell is the only driver with appearances in the Championship 4 in both seasons of the Next Gen era. He has five wins across the last two seasons but his team has struggled with consistency at times. He will remain a contender entering his fourth season with Joe Gibbs Racing.
6. Martin Truex Jr. (10) — The playoffs were disappointing for Truex as he only had two top-10 finishes over the final 10 races. He still ended the season with three wins and the regular-season championship. Truex told NBC Sports after the season that his sixth-place finish in the season finale shows that the No. 19 team can "still do it."
7. Kyle Busch (NR) — Busch got off to a hot start with Richard Childress Racing as he won three times in the first 15 races. The No. 8 team faded as the season continued, something that is a focus for Busch heading into his second season at RCR. The two-time champion will likely contend for multiple wins as he focuses on cleaning up personal mistakes that led to spins in practice and qualifying late in the season.
8. Joey Logano (NR) — Logano only won one race last season before becoming the first reigning champion to be eliminated in the Round of 16. He still reached victory lane for the 12th consecutive season. Logano is a two-time Cup champion who has won at least three races every even-numbered season since the playoff elimination format began in 2014. The expectation is that he will continue this trend.
9. Tyler Reddick (8) — Reddick won two races in his first season with 23XI Racing and reached the Round of 8. There were times of struggles -– five straight finishes of 27th or worse during the summer –- but Reddick still matched his career-best numbers for top-10 finishes (16) and top fives (10). Progress is the expectation for Reddick as he enters his second season with 23XI Racing.
10. Chris Buescher (6) — Buescher broke through with three wins and his first appearance in the Round of 8 as RFK Racing established itself as a contending organization. Now Buescher will have to show that he can continue this progress as Ford moves to a new body, the Dark Horse Mustang.
