On his way to the Cup Series, Ty Gibbs proved to be such an advanced talent as a young race car driver that he was immediately successful in virtually everything he stepped in. In moving to Cup and taking some time to develop, he's illustrated just how difficult the highest ranks of stock car racing are -- and just how dangerous it is now that his talent is beginning to show through in Cup equipment.
After earning four top fives and 10 top 10s in his entire Rookie of the Year-winning campaign in 2023, Gibbs has proven to be one of the hottest drivers of the early part of 2024, as he has earned five top-10 finishes in a row including three top fives and a best finish of third twice. Not only is Gibbs on an easy pace to surpass his statistical highs from a year ago and validate expectations of a breakout season for him, but the 21-year-old grandson of Pro Football Hall of Famer and NASCAR Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs is second in the Cup Series points standings and seems imminently bound for his first career victory.
After being listed second last week in a Joe Gibbs Racing 1-2-3, Gibbs is the new leader in the CBS Sports NASCAR Power Rankings over all three of his teammates, giving JGR a 1-2-3-4 at the top of the standings.
Here's a look at CBS Sports' updated NASCAR Power Rankings following Circuit of the Americas:
| Rank | Driver | Change | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ty Gibbs | Since we're on Ty Gibbs First Win Watch entering Richmond, let's make note of the five drivers in history who have earned their first Cup win at Richmond: James Hylton (1970), Neil Bonnett (1977), Kyle Petty (1986), Tony Stewart (1999) and Kasey Kahne (2005). | ||
| 2 | Christopher Bell | If you remove his troubles at Atlanta and Las Vegas, Christopher Bell has had as good a start to 2024 as any driver in Cup. His average finish from his four best races is fourth, and that's with a 10th at Bristol weighing down the average. | ||
| 3 | Martin Truex Jr. | -- | Apparently, Richmond is one of those Martin Truex Jr. home tracks you hear so much about. He always runs well there and has three Richmond wins since 2019. | |
| 4 | Denny Hamlin | Denny Hamlin only wound up 14th at the finish in COTA, but he earned 10 points plus a playoff point by staying out at the end of Stage 2 to take the stage win. Those are the kind of points days that get forgotten in the grand scheme of things, but could end up making a great deal of difference come playoff time. | ||
| 5 | Ryan Blaney | It was clear that Ryan Blaney was going to make it in NASCAR when he ran up front and finished seventh in a Tommy Baldwin car in his Xfinity debut there in 2012, but strangely, it hasn't been a good track for him at all in his Cup career. Blaney has just three top 10s at Richmond with only one finish better than 10th. | ||
| 6 | Ross Chastain | -- | Ross Chastain ended up being the lone challenger to William Byron the entire day at Circuit of the Americas, taking the lead on a restart and keeping himself out front for 10 laps. Chastain would fall out of contention for the win after his crew got outperformed by Byron's on pit road, but he still wound up a solid seventh. | |
| 7 | William Byron | The sheer dominance of William Byron at COTA felt like something out of an F1 race. Speaking of which, LEGO just released a building set of the McLaren driven by F1 legend Ayrton Senna -- has anyone asked Byron if he's built it yet? | ||
| 8 | Alex Bowman | The Hack is Back! Alex Bowman's fourth-place run at COTA was his third of the 2024 season, serving notice that he's all the way back after last year's back injury. He now heads to Richmond where he earned his first of a career-high four wins in 2021. | ||
| 9 | Chris Buescher | -- | Chris Buescher has enjoyed tremendous success in Richmond's second date the past two years, with a third in 2022 and a win last July. He's looking for the same sort of success now in the spring race, where he finished two laps down in 30th a season ago. | |
| 10 | Tyler Reddick | You would think that Tyler Reddick would have a better record at a track like Richmond, but strangely he has yet to score a single top 10 finish there in Cup. His best Richmond finish to date is an 11th in his first start there in 2020. | ||
| 11 | Kyle Larson | As a rookie in 2014, Kyle Larson earned his first career Cup pole at Richmond and then immediately spun out in the first corner. He's since earned two Richmond wins, including the spring race last year. | ||
| 12 | Chase Elliott | After track limits penalties wreaked havoc on the Xfinity and Truck Series races, the lone controversy of the Cup race came by way of Chase Elliott, who had been running in the top five before he got sideways in the esses and got penalized for cutting the course. Elliott's team tried to argue the call to no avail, and Elliott would wind up 16th as his winless streak continues to grow in length. | ||
| 13 | Chase Briscoe | After enduring one of the worst seasons possible in 2023, Chase Briscoe has enjoyed much improved results and great consistency to start 2024. At COTA, Briscoe brought home a 13th-place finish for the second week in a row. | ||
| 14 | Joey Logano | Joey Logano attempted his Cup debut at Richmond in the fall of 2008, and he likely would have easily made the field had rain not cancelled qualifying and sent him home. Logano has since earned two Richmond wins in his career. | ||
| 15 | Bubba Wallace | There was a time where Bubba Wallace would have let the damage he suffered on the opening lap ruin his entire day, but he and his crew stayed in the game and their efforts ended up paying off with a 15th-place finish. That's yet another illustration of Wallace's growth as a competitor as he heads back to Richmond, where he led 80 laps last July. | ||
| 16 | Brad Keselowski | It sure felt like Brad Keselowski hit everything in COTA except the lottery. A 33rd-place finish tied Keselowski's worst result of the entire season, and that includes DNFs due to crashes in the Daytona 500 and at Atlanta. | ||
| 17 | Michael McDowell | I expected Michael McDowell to be one of the contenders at COTA, but he only ended up finding the front of the field on strategy as opposed to raw speed. And that was before a power steering failure relegated him to a 38th-place finish. | ||
| 18 | Kyle Busch | At almost 39 years old, Kyle Busch has earned the right to play enforcer in the Cup Series garage. His displeasure with the way Christopher Bell raced him and his post-race warning to him is surely going to be a storyline to monitor entering Richmond. | ||
| 19 | Daniel Suarez | Another year, another COTA finish that doesn't reflect the way Daniel Suarez is capable of running there. A pit road speeding penalty ruined Suarez's day, and he would wind up finishing 31st. | ||
| 20 | Justin Haley | Justin Haley earns a bump in his Power Rankings spot this week based on performance, albeit with a car that wasn't exactly legal. Haley had a top 15 run the entire day before finishing 17th, but he would be disqualified in post-race inspection after his car failed to meet minimum weight requirements. | ||
| 21 | John Hunter Nemechek | John Hunter Nemechek had an eventful day in the Xfinity Series race at COTA on Saturday, battling back from multiple issues to earn a third-place finish. On Sunday, his Cup race ended in almost the same place it started in 21st. | ||
| 22 | Todd Gilliland | Todd Gilliland played the strategy game at Circuit of the Americas, earning a fourth place finish in Stage 2 and then making his way up into the top five again during a green flag pit cycle. But his strategy didn't pay off in anything better than a 26th-place finish. | ||
| 23 | Ryan Preece | -- | Be sure to count Ryan Preece among the drivers to watch next week at Richmond. He was excellent there last July, running well up inside the top five before earning a season-best fifth-place finish. | |
| 24 | Carson Hocevar | -- | Look out for Carson Hocevar to perform well at Richmond the way he has in several races to start his rookie year. The last time NASCAR raced at Richmond, Hocevar took the win in the Craftsman Truck Series race last July. | |
| 25 | Corey LaJoie | Circuit of the Americas presented a big what if for Corey LaJoie. He earned his best starting spot ever with a fifth-place run in qualifying, but he was immediately set back in the field due to an incident and damage on the first lap and finished 24th. | ||
| 26 | Noah Gragson | William Byron's crew, very smartly, tried to use the feud that Noah Gragson has with Ty Gibbs stemming from their battle for the Xfinity Series title in 2022 as leverage to give Byron room late in the race when Gragson was about to be put a lap down. It ended up being a moot point, as Gragson spun out to cap off another disappointing day. | ||
| 27 | Erik Jones | It was a long day at COTA for Erik Jones, who was never a factor and finished 31st for the second time in the past three races. Richmond doesn't exactly promise a panacea for Jones, as he has just one top-10 finish there in Cup and none since his rookie year in 2017. | ||
| 28 | Josh Berry | You have to think that Josh Berry is eagerly awaiting a chance to get back to Richmond after a poor showing at COTA. If you'll recall, Berry proved himself worthy of a Cup ride in last year's spring race at Richmond, where he finished second subbing for Chase Elliott. | ||
| 29 | Zane Smith | Zane Smith is back in the Power Rankings this week, as a 19th-place finish at COTA finally got him off the schneid of poor finishes. Smith's first top 20 since the Daytona 500 also made him the highest finishing rookie on Sunday. | ||
| 30 | Austin Dillon | Austin Dillon is also back in the Power Rankings thanks to his COTA performance, as a top five in Stage 1 gave him some much needed points to crawl out of the hole he's set himself in after a terrible start to the year. Granted, an eventual 25th-place finish shows he and his team still have a long ways to go to turn things around. |
