Watching what was once his car drive to victory on the final lap, Kurt Busch -- the 2004 Cup Series champion and now an essential member of 23XI Racing -- tried to put things in perspective as he fought through the emotions of watching the No. 45 win a race without him in it. "It's forward together on this program," he said on Fox's broadcast.
Originally, the plan had been for Tyler Reddick to drive out the final year of his deal with Richard Childress Racing in 2023 before moving over to 23XI, who he signed with midway through last year, in 2024. But when it became clear that Kurt Busch would not be able to return from concussion symptoms he suffered from after a crash at Pocono, Reddick's timeline to join the team was accelerated, putting him behind the wheel of the No. 45 for 2023 and beyond.
After two DNFs to start the year, Reddick is now on a hot streak following his win at Circuit of the Americas, with three top fives in the last three races moving him up to third in the newest edition of the CBS Sports NASCAR Power Rankings. Reddick moves up to third as William Byron, who he spent much of Sunday battling for the win with, re-takes the Power Rankings lead.
Reddick gained a full six spots from last week, tying him with Michael McDowell for the biggest improvement this week. Meanwhile, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney both were the biggest movers in the wrong direction with seven spots lost.
Here's a look at our updated Power Rankings:
| Rank | Driver | Change | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | William Byron | William Byron had one of the fastest cars at COTA, putting himself in a position to get his third win of the season. That win could very well come at Richmond next week, where Byron led 122 laps before getting passed for the win with five laps to go. | ||
| 2 | Alex Bowman | -- | No Blake Harris, no problem: Alex Bowman continues to have an outstanding start to 2023, finishing third at COTA for his third top five already this season. He had just four in all of 2022. | |
| 3 | Tyler Reddick | The knock on Tyler Reddick last year was that he would be incredibly fast almost everywhere, but his actual results were all over the place. If finishes of third, fifth, and first suggest he's becoming more consistent, watch out. | ||
| 4 | Kyle Busch | -- | Kyle Busch didn't have the raw speed to contend for the win at COTA, so his team employed an alternate strategy that saw him come to pit road under green and then try to pass a bunch of other cars in fuel conservation mode. That strategy ended up working, as Busch gained tons of track position by staying out under a late yellow on his way to a second place finish. | |
| 5 | Christopher Bell | Christopher Bell was well on his way to yet another top 10 finish before the caution with 12 laps to go, which then put him up front on old tires. Everything went sideways from there, and Bell ended up getting wrecked in overtime and finishing 31st. | ||
| 6 | Joey Logano | Joey Logano's team employed an interesting strategy midway through the race at COTA, as Logano went longer than anyone on a fuel run before coming in for service. Logano would later get collected in a crash and finished 28th. | ||
| 7 | Ross Chastain | While a fourth place run got Ross Chastain back in the top five, it did make him the only driver of the weekend to not defend his 2022 COTA win. Zane Smith and AJ Allmendinger went back-to-back in the Truck and Xfinity races on Saturday. | ||
| 8 | Kyle Larson | Kyle Larson had such a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day at COTA that I was honestly stunned to see him finish 14th. Almost no one got used up more than he did on Sunday. | ||
| 9 | Kevin Harvick | Some of the late race moves that were being pulled at COTA would have been unthinkable 20 years ago when Kevin Harvick was a young gun in Cup. On Sunday, the cagey vet was able to keep his nose clean at the finish and come home 13th. | ||
| 10 | Corey LaJoie | Is it too soon to start discussing this as a breakout season for Corey LaJoie? In six races so far this year, he's had four finishes of 16th or better and nearly had another top 10 finish at COTA. | ||
| 11 | Austin Cindric | Austin Cindric put his road racing skills to work in Austin, Texas, tying his season-best result with a sixth place finish. Cindric has now led laps in two consecutive starts, the first time he's done that since he ran a limited schedule in 2021. | ||
| 12 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | It took him a long time to do it, but a seventh place finish at COTA meant that Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finally got a top 10 finish on a road course. He hadn't had a single one since going to Cup full-time in 2013. | ||
| 13 | Brad Keselowski | Brad Keselowski bottomed out and spun on the opening lap at COTA, and it never got better from there. A driveshaft failure finally put Keselowski's car out of its misery after 56 laps. | ||
| 14 | Daniel Suarez | Sunday might have been Daniel Suarez's race to win had it gone green to the checkered flag. Suarez thought he was good to go on fuel and was running down leader Tyler Reddick in second before Brad Keselowski stalled to completely take away his advantage. | ||
| 15 | Ryan Blaney | Like Kyle Larson and Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney also spent much of Sunday's race getting used up. Blaney finished 21st, interrupting a streak of top 10 finishes he had starting at Phoenix. | ||
| 16 | Chris Buescher | Even with a second place finish at Sonoma last year, Chris Buescher's development as a road racer has somehow gone under the radar. The lone Texan in the field got an eighth place finish in his home state's capitol. | ||
| 17 | Ty Gibbs | For the second week in a row, Ty Gibbs finished ninth to tie what's now his career-best finish. Now it's off to Richmond, where Gibbs won in the Xfinity Series last year. | ||
| 18 | Denny Hamlin | After so many years on Joe Gibbs' No. 18, it was strange to see Denny Hamlin's No. 11 carrying an Interstate Batteries paint scheme. Hamlin was Sunday's winning car owner, but he himself was a non-factor on his way to finishing 16th. | ||
| 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | A top 10 or even a top 5 run could have been in store for Martin Truex Jr., but he was one of several drivers who would get driven through and spun on restarts in Turn 1. Truex would salvage a 17th place finish. | ||
| 20 | Michael McDowell | A spin cost Michael McDowell his first top 10 of the season, but he would manage to not finish that far off with a 12th place run. That's McDowell's best finish of the season so far, and it's his second top 15 run in the last three races. | ||
| 21 | AJ Allmendinger | As could have been expected, A.J. Allmendinger was very fast at Circuit of the Americas and had a top 10 run going. That all went awry when Allmendinger got crashed in turn one, sending him to the garage prematurely and to a disappointing 34th place finish. | ||
| 22 | Todd Gilliland | From his time in the Truck Series onwards, Todd Gilliland has proven to be quite the road racer. Of his three top 10s in Cup, two of them have now come on road courses after a 10th place finish at COTA. | ||
| 23 | Erik Jones | Erik Jones was lucky that he didn't get obliterated early on, as he took a pretty solid shot from Bubba Wallace's car when the No. 23's brakes failed on corner entry. Jones would end up getting muscled out of the way in Overtime and finished 23rd. | ||
| 24 | Chase Briscoe | Chase Briscoe went for a spin at COTA, but he was able to get something that his season has lacked so far on days where he's had trouble: A decent finish in 15th. | ||
| 25 | Bubba Wallace | Bubba Wallace has a history of riding emotional rollercoasters and being much harder on himself than he needs to be when things go wrong. Contrary to his suggestion, no one's going to replace him at 23XI -- but it's been a disappointing start to the season outside of a top five at Las Vegas. | ||
| 26 | Austin Dillon | Austin Dillon found his way into the top five at one point, but his day would come to an end due to crash damage just before the scheduled finish. Debris from Dillon's car brought out the pivotal caution that took Sunday's race to three overtimes. | ||
| 27 | Justin Haley | A lot of drivers who got divebombed and spun on Sunday had it happen to them in turn one. Justin Haley was different, as he got spun entering another sharp corner in turn 11. He would recover to finish 19th. | ||
| 28 | Noah Gragson | Noah Gragson was primed to follow up a 12th place run at Atlanta with another strong finish, as he was challenging for a top 10 finish in the closing laps at COTA. But Gragson would get involved in a crash in Overtime, knocking him back to 20th. | ||
| 29 | Aric Almirola | After being the last victim of Triple Overtime, Aric Almirola limped home a lap down in 30th, the last car running. It's been a miserable start to the year for Almirola, and it could be a long one if he and his team don't figure something out. | ||
| 30 | Harrison Burton | Harrison Burton has made it back into the Power Rankings after a respectable run at COTA. Burton finished 22nd despite transmission issues, as his car lost first gear midway through the race. |
