The Pennzoil 400 marked the fifth points race of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, providing the third winner to this point. We also saw some of NASCAR's best drivers perform very well at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, resulting in things getting a little closer to normal in the weekly rankings.
Let's take a look at our latest NASCAR Power Rankings coming out of Las Vegas.
1. Tyler Reddick (First: 1)
Tyler Reddick dropped out of the top 10 for the first time this season, finishing 13th in the Pennzoil 400. However, he scored record points in both stages, before the No. 45 car suffered a slight decline after the final pit stop. Despite his worst season finish, Reddick still tied for the fourth-most laps led (112) among top-10 (four) and top-5 (three) teams in the Cup Series and the top average finishing position in the Cup Series (4.8). Reddick is currently ranked No. 1 in the NASCAR Power Rankings, but he's now in a position where he could be overtaken by Darlington.
RELATED: NASCAR standings after Las Vegas
2. Christopher Bell (First: 4)
Making it three consecutive top four finishes for Christopher Bell. The No. 20 car did not have the same pace as teammate Denny Hamlin, but Las Vegas consistently scored over 50 points with Bell taking the stage win. Bell did not just lead the Cup Series in laps (225); He is the first driver to complete 200 laps this season and has tied Reddick for the longest streak of top-5 finishes (three) this year. The disastrous performance at Daytona (35th place, 3 points) seems like a distant memory and it won't be even a month until Joe Gibbs Racing has two race winners in 2026.
Read more: Best NASCAR races 2026, ranking every NASCAR race this season
3. Denny Hamlin (1st: 6)
No one was beating Denny Hamlin in the Pennzoil 400. After finishing third in Stage 1, he dropped to the back of the field (31st) on the restart for speeding on pit road (50.03 mph). It didn't take long for the No. 11 car to get back into the top 15 and finished Stage 2 in fifth place. At that point it was clear that no matter who had the fastest car on Sunday, Hamlin was headed to victory. After running at the front of the field at Daytona and Atlanta, but falling back due to car damage from wrecks caused by his teammates, Hamlin now has three consecutive top-10 finishes with an average finishing position of 5.33 and a total of 145 points during that span. Oh, he's also now headed to Darlington where he's a spring season winner.
Related: Pennzoil 400 Results
4. Bubba Wallace (First: 3)
We're five races into this season and Bubba Wallace still has the second-most points in the Cup Series. Part of that is certainly due to the stages, as he became the first driver to score 50 stage points this year. That said, it's also worth acknowledging that Wallace ranks sixth in laps led (86), he's tied with Kyle Larson for the highest average spot in mid-race (7.60) and he leads the game in quality passes (690). That leaves you with a driver who has had the most top 10 finishes (four) on road courses with a season-worst finish of 11th.
RELATED: Denny Hamlin praises Bubba Wallace for elite improvement
5. Chase Elliott (First: 7)
The only driver who made Denny Hamlin sweat a little in the final stages was Chase Elliott. It says a lot about where this No. 11 car is, as Las Vegas Motor Speedway has not been particularly kind to the team in recent years. While Elliott did not perform particularly well in the stages on Sunday (3 points total), the adjustments made put him in position to challenge Hamlin at the end. Leading up to Darlington, Elliott has finished 11th or better four times with more than 33 points in each race. Phoenix (23rd) was clearly an example of a flawed game plan, but Elliott is back on track to win the regular season championship.
6. Kyle Larson (1st: 5)
Kyle Larson won his first NASCAR race in 2026, most recently in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series. At a track where he has historically dominated, Larson finished second in both stages (18 points) and led the second-most laps (62 points), but he lost a bit of balance with the car in the final stages and he finished seventh. Larson's average finishing position over the last three races is 5.333, but the No. 5 team is coming up just short of the finish line. It's only a matter of time before that changes and his OARS win on Saturday showed he can still find victory lane even when he doesn't have the best car.
7. Ryan Blaney (First: 2)
After the win in Phoenix, Team Penske was not having it at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It's a testament to Blaney's driving that he finished sixth on the same day Joey Logano finished 21st, and we saw that carryover on Sunday. Blaney scored two stage points (ninth in Stage 1), but fell to the middle of the pack and finished 16th in the Pennzoil 400. Through five races, Blaney finished outside the top 15 twice with one win and two top 10 finishes.
8. William Byron (before: 8)
William Byron had his best performance of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, scoring his first top-5 finish of the year and scoring 49 points in the process. While the No. 24 didn't have the pace to catch Hamlin in the long sprint in the final stages, there were some great battles earlier in the race. Byron and Hendrick Motorsports are righting the ship after three consecutive races outside the top 10, and he'll likely climb the NASCAR power rankings in short order.
9. Ty Gibbs (previously: unranked)
It certainly seems as if the commentary surrounding Ty Gibbs in the Spire Motorsports-Joe Gibbs Racing legal battle has lit a fire for the young driver. In the first two races of the season, Gibbs scored a total of 15 points with an average finishing position of 30.0. The No. 54 car is now coming off a three-race run with 123 points and an average finishing position of 4.333. Gibbs, 23, is certainly starting to look like the driver his grandfather always believed he could become. A first career Cup Series win remains elusive for Ty, but it's impossible to ignore how well he has performed of late.
10. Chase Briscoe (Previously: Unranked)
Chase Briscoe managed to finish eighth in the Pennzoil 400, truly one of the most impressive performances of the weekend. Due to a poor start to the season, which affected the metrics for qualifying order, he was part of the first qualifying group and started 18th on Sunday. Things got worse for the No. 19 team, as Briscoe received a speeding penalty in Stage 1 and then a penalty for pitting outside the box in Stage 2, resulting in him spending most of the race a lap down. He was successful in making a comeback in the top-10. He still has two DNFs on his record this season, but Brisco's driving when the car isn't being seriously damaged is reminiscent of last season.
