NASCAR Cup Series

NASCAR Contender Rankings: Can Red-Hot Chase Briscoe Make A Run For The Title?

Published Oct. 12, 2026 2:07 p.m. ET

Chase Briscoe has back-to-back wins, but can he rally to win the title?

He has cut his gap between himself and the points leader, Kyle Larson, from 123 two weeks ago to 65 points after winning races at Las Vegas and Charlotte.

That seems like a lot, but that means he would have to win another two of the final four races to have a shot. A driver on a hot streak, possibly, could be a threat.

Here are my Cup title contender rankings with Phoenix, Talladega, Martinsville and Homestead as the only four races left in the season.

On The Verge (Alphabetical Order):

Chris Buescher (RFK Racing No. 17 Ford, -216 points behind leader): Buescher finished 10th for his first Chase top-10 but he still lost 20 points to Larson.

William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet, -208): Byron got caught up in the Alex Bowman wreck and lost another 48 points to Larson.

Chase Elliott (Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet, -185): Elliott was 12th at Charlotte, which continued a meh Chase for him as he lost 22 points to Larson.

Carson Hocevar (Spire Motorsports No. 77 Chevrolet, -180): Hocevar was 14th at Charlotte and will look to get back into the top 10. He lost 22 points to Larson.

Ryan Preece (RFK Racing No. 60 Ford, -227): Preece was 15th at Charlotte, dropping another 27 points behind.

Daniel Suárez (Spire Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet, -215): Suárez was 13th and lost 20 points to Larson. A top-10 season should be the goal.

Contender Rankings

10.

Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 Toyota (-156)

Gibbs slapped the wall early and lost seven laps as the team made repairs. A 34th-place finish (and losing 46 points to Larson) made any very small championship hopes now non-existent. Gibbs has two top fives in seven starts at Phoenix, including a fourth at the track in March.

Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing No. 23 Toyota (-185)

Wallace was an innocent victim in the Alex Bowman crash and his 37th-place day put him definitively out of any championship contention as he lost 48 points to Larson. Wallace has never finished in the top five at Phoenix, where he earned a career-best finish of sixth in March.

Austin Cindric, Team Penske No. 2 Ford (-145)

Cindric finished fourth and sixth in the two stages but faded late to finish 17th at Charlotte, losing another 17 points to Larson. Cindric has no career top 10s at Phoenix, so he will look to just put together a solid day. He started third in March but ended up 34th after a crash.

Tyler Reddick, 23XI Racing No. 45 Toyota (-114)

Reddick finished eighth for back-to-back top 10s, but those aren’t going to win a title. He lost another eight points to Larson. Phoenix isn’t a great track for Reddick. There, he has two top fives in the nine Next Gen races. He started eighth and finished eighth in March.

Joey Logano, Team Penske No. 22 Ford (-92)

Logano was ninth at Charlotte and the intermediate swing hurt this team as they finished 20th, 10th and ninth since his victory at Bristol. He dropped another 21 points to Larson. Logano loves Phoenix, though. He won races there to capture the 2022 and 2024 titles and has led 261 laps in the last three Phoenix races. He was on the pole in March, but a crash relegated him to 31st.

Ryan Blaney, Team Penske No. 12 Ford (-85)

A third-place Charlotte finish was solid for Blaney, who still dropped five points to Larson. But a fifth, a fifth and a third in the three intermediate-track races is definitely something that has to please this team. And now they head to Phoenix, where Blaney has won the last two races and has four runner-up finishes among his eight top fives in the nine Next Gen races at Phoenix.

Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota (-51)

A frustrated Bell finished second by inches to Briscoe, and he saw being potentially just 31 points behind Larson to being down 51 points. That was a gain of just four on the day. He has the opportunity to gain points at Phoenix, where he won the 2024 and 2025 spring races. He was second to Blaney in March, where he led 17 laps. He has led 324 laps in the last four races at the track.

Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota (-65)

Briscoe has cut 58 points into Larson’s lead with back-to-back victories. He is on a roll and Phoenix can be a good track for him. Briscoe earned his first career Cup victory when he captured the 2022 spring race there. He has finished outside the top 15, though, in his last four Phoenix starts, including two crashes — one of which resulted in a 37th-place finish in March.

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota (-49)

Hamlin lost nine more points to Larson despite a fifth-place finish. The reason? A penalty early in the race at Charlotte where a crew member fell over the pit road wall when trying to reach for a tire resulted in him not earning any points in the opening stage. Phoenix has been both kind and brutal to Hamlin. He led 208 laps at Phoenix a year ago before the late caution and a four-tire pit stop foiled his championship hopes. He has finishes of second, sixth and fifth in his last three Phoenix starts.

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet (Leader, +49)

Larson made the most of his day by earning the third-most points at Charlotte as he won the opening stage, finished fourth in the second stage and wound up sixth in the race. He extended his lead over Hamlin by nine points but did lose four points to Bell. Larson says that Phoenix isn’t a great track for him, but the stats say it is a very good one. He has six finishes of third or fourth in his last seven Phoenix starts.