The first two points races of the 2026 NASCAR season are in the books and there have already been plenty of surprises. Although we don’t want to overreact to the small sample size, the Chase playoff format and scoring system makes performance in these races more important than ever.
Let’s dive into our latest NASCAR stock report After the AutoTrader 400, take a look at the NASCAR Cup Series drivers whose stock is rising or falling.
Stock Up: Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick

It’s only right to group the faces of 23XI Racing together. Tyler Reddick became the sixth driver in Cup Series history to win the first two points races of the season, while Bubba Wallace leads NASCAR in stage wins (two) and laps led (86). Additionally, Reddick and Wallace are two of three drivers to have a pair of top-10 finishes this season. No one is suggesting that the 23XI has reached the competition level of Hendrick Motorsports, Team Penske or Joe Gibbs Racing. What is clear, however, is that Michael Jordan’s team has two drivers they can look to with both Wallace and Redick now having reached the playoffs, who could have even more wins.
RELATED: Insider sheds light on Tyler Reddick’s future with 23XI Racing in contract year
Stock Down: Alex Bowman

There is always pressure on the fourth-best driver at Hendrick Motorsports, with fans always wondering if there is a better option available. Alex Bowman comes into 2026 in a contract year and it appears he will be a beneficiary of the new playoff format. Instead, his finish in the No. 48 car through two races has increased the pressure moving forward. After finishing 40th in the Daytona 500 thanks to an early DNF, Bowman needed a good points day at Atlanta. He had already been put in a hole in one as qualifying was rained out, resulting in him starting 36th in the Autotrader 400. Bowman finished 23rd on Sunday, failing to score a stage point and never actually breaking into the top 10. He is ranked 32nd in points at COTA, 107 points behind Tyler Reddick and 27 points behind the last playoff spot. Bowman’s margin for error is now virtually gone.
Related: AutoTrader 400 Winners, Losers
Stock up: Shane van Gisbergen

We predicted entering the season that Shane Van Gisbergen would make the NASCAR playoffs under the new format, and that feeling now looks even better. At the Daytona 500, he started 13th and moved toward the front of the field, before a wreck damaged his car and resulted in a 30th-place finish (7 points). SVG faced another challenge at the superspeedway in Atlanta. Starting 28th, he made his way into the top 10 by the end of Stage 2, and if not for Kyle Larson’s reckless move on the final lap, SVG might have finished even better than 10th (1 point in that stage). He nevertheless bounced back, avoiding further damage to finish sixth at Echopark. Through the first two points race in 2025, SVG had 18 points; He already has 45 this season and is now headed to COTA. He knows how to run at the Oval now, and that should worry the rest of the players in the field.
RELATED: NASCAR results for Cup Series today, NASCAR stage results for Atlanta
Stock Down: Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

The arrow was pointing towards Ricky Stenhouse Jr. after finishing second (35 points) in the Daytona 500. He had a chance to maintain that momentum at another superspeedway, starting from third on the grid. Instead, the No. 47 car got caught in a wreck with Ty Gibbs right in front of him at the start of Stage 2. Stenhouse finished 36th and scored just one point. He is now ranked 22nd on the leaderboard heading into COTA, where his average finishing position is a very poor 22.4.
RELATED: NASCAR takes lead after Autotrader 400
Stock Up: Daniel Suarez

Daniel Suarez will face the 2026 NASCAR season after being let go by Trackhouse Racing, forcing him to sign a one-year deal with Spire Motorsports. It was immediately clear that he would be on the chopping block, and failing to meet expectations could see him dropped from the Cup Series for once, possibly as a full-time driver. He has handled the pressure with remarkable poise, finishing seventh in the Duel 1 at Daytona (4 points), 13th in the Daytona 500 (31 points) and now fifth in the AutoTrader 400. Already at 67 points on the season, it took Suarez five races to reach that total last year with Trackhouse.
RELATED: NASCAR results for O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Echopark Speedway
Stock Down: Kyle Busch

It is becoming impossible to ignore that the partnership between Kyle Busch and Richard Childress Racing is not working. Just a day after winning the Truck Series race at Echopark, Busch finished 34th in the No. 8 car for RCR on Sunday. Now, responsibility for the accident he was involved in should fall primarily on the shoulders of the 40-year-old driver, but in his post-accident interview he clearly pointed fingers elsewhere. Busch’s winless streak in the Cup Series is rapidly approaching 100 races, and his frustration with RCR in a contract year – which is evident on the radio – makes a split this offseason feel inevitable.
RELATED: NASCAR Truck Race Stage Results and Fr8 Racing 208 Full Results
Stock Up: Zane Smith

Zane Smith is off to a much better start than he did a year ago. The driver of the No. 38 car currently sits fifth in points, ahead of Cup Series champions like Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson. He is the only driver outside of 23XI Racing to finish in the top-10 in both points races this season. To his credit, Smith is tied with Brad Keselowski in laps led (10) and ahead of Blaney (eight) in that category. Reaching the playoffs may still be a long shot for the 26-year-old, but he’s demonstrating why he should be in the Cup Series for years to come.
RELATED: NASCAR Power Rankings after Atlanta, 10 best NASCAR drivers right now
Stock Down: Denny Hamlin

Denny Hamlin certainly isn’t nervous right now about where he sits in the points. That moment won’t come until a few more races into the regular season. Unfortunately, just months after losing the Cup Series championship in heartbreaking fashion, the 45-year-old’s hopes of winning his first title this season are already fading. This is, in part, due to a change in the playoff format that he wanted. The top three finishers in the regular season have a massive points advantage over the rest of the field. Heading into March, Hamlin is 93 points out of first place and 49 points out of third. He basically can’t afford to DNF moving forward, and there are still 34 races left in the season (including the 10-race Chase).
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