A recurring theme in racing is that when two drivers have a prominent run-in or some sort of dispute one week, they can't seem to get away from each other from that point onward.
Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway, William Byron took exception to getting run into the wall while racing Denny Hamlin for second, and he proceeded to retaliate by spinning Hamlin out under caution. Then, Hamlin started to spar with Byron under caution, setting the tone for a driver feud that will likely color the rest of their respective seasons.
And interestingly enough, both have found the top of the CBS Sports NASCAR Power Rankings independent of their incident together.
Byron moves up to the top spot while Hamlin takes second after a disastrous outing for Christopher Bell caused him to drop from first to fifth in the Power Rankings. Bell was one of the biggest losers of the weekend, as his five spots lost were matched only by Bubba Wallace (-5) and exceeded only by Alex Bowman (-6). Meanwhile, Tyler Reddick was the biggest gainer (+5) after rebounding from playoff elimination to earn his third win of the season.
Here's a look at our updated rankings in their entirety:
| Rank | Driver | Change | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | William Byron | You never know what can happen at Talladega, but William Byron might be a driver who's primed to emerge well from there. Byron led the most laps (38) in Talladega's spring race. | ||
| 2 | Denny Hamlin | Denny Hamlin proved earlier this year at Pocono that he's got both bark and bite when he settled the score with Ross Chastain. Woe be William Byron if Hamlin leads him to a similar fate deep in the playoffs. | ||
| 3 | Chase Elliott | -- | Chase Elliott is going to have to follow a similar path to the one he followed in the Round of 16. Elliott crashed out of the Southern 500, but used better finishes and his wealth of playoff points to advance to the next round. | |
| 4 | Kyle Larson | Kyle Larson now has three top 10 finishes in a row, his third such streak of the 2022 season. The last one he had included a second-place finish at Talladega in April. | ||
| 5 | Christopher Bell | The start of the Round of 12 couldn't have gone worse for Christopher Bell after an exceptional Round of 16. He crashed out and finished 34th, putting him well below the cut line with Talladega and the Charlotte Roval next to come. | ||
| 6 | Ryan Blaney | A fourth place finish at Texas is just what Ryan Blaney needed entering two tracks he's historically done well at. Blaney has won in two photo finishes at Talladega, and also won in the final corner at the Charlotte Roval in 2018. | ||
| 7 | Joey Logano | A runner-up finish at Texas gets Joey Logano back on track after a flat finish to the Round of 16. He's now the points leader with 30 points to the good on the cutoff line. | ||
| 8 | Ross Chastain | Ross Chastain has begun to look more like the Ross Chastain of the first half of the season, but contact with Aric Almirola kept him from a better finish at Texas. Chastain had to pit to fix left front damage and finished 13th. | ||
| 9 | Chase Briscoe | Chase Briscoe continues to step it up in the playoffs, as a fifth-place finish at Texas marked his first top five since the Coke 600 in May. Not only that, but it was also his first outright top 10 since then. | ||
| 10 | Daniel Suarez | The Trackhouse Racing teammates of Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez were the two top earners of stage points at Texas. Suarez would get the best finish of the two, crossing the finish line in 12th. | ||
| 11 | Austin Cindric | -- | Austin Cindric does not get enough credit for the talent he has as a driver. Texas marked the second week in a row that he made an outstanding evasive maneuver to avoid a car spinning in front of him. | |
| 12 | Tyler Reddick | So much for the news cycle being against Tyler Reddick. His three wins on the 2022 season are now second only to Chase Elliott's four. | ||
| 13 | Chris Buescher | Chris Buescher's homecoming looked like it was going to be a proud one, as he was running third and running down the two leaders late in the race. But a right rear tire failure spoiled his chances of a potential Texas two step. | ||
| 14 | Brad Keselowski | Brad Keselowski has turned it on in recent weeks, with two top 10s and a chance at winning Bristol in-between. Now he heads to Talladega, where he has six career wins. | ||
| 15 | Justin Haley | Justin Haley is going to be a driver to watch in 2023 given how high some of his highs in 2022 have been. Haley matched his season-best finish with a third-place run at Texas. | ||
| 16 | Michael McDowell | Michael McDowell once again found the front of the field at Texas, leading his sixth race of the year for a total of 12 laps. Four of those races have come since Watkins Glen in August. | ||
| 17 | Kevin Harvick | When Kevin Harvick cut a tire and crashed out of the lead, it looked as though his day was going to be over. But Harvick stayed in the game, salvaging a 19th place finish ahead of a number of undamaged cars on the lead lap. | ||
| 18 | Bubba Wallace | Another power steering issue made for a long day for Bubba Wallace, but there's going to be some good that comes out of it. Under the red flag, Wallace's fiancee texted him that he was putting work in towards his "wedding bod". | ||
| 19 | Erik Jones | Erik Jones had one of the fastest cars late in the race at Texas, just missing out on a top five finish in sixth. It was his 11th top 10 finish of the season, tying him for the most for a driver of the No. 43 since Richard Petty retired. | ||
| 20 | Alex Bowman | Props to Alex Bowman for keeping at it after his crash at Texas. Bowman not only was able to pick up spots when others fell out of the race, but also picked up multiple laps on his way to a 29th place finish that may matter down the road. | ||
| 21 | Austin Dillon | Austin Dillon had a sixth-place finish in Stage 2 and led three laps, but he didn't have track position when he needed it. Dillon finished 17th as Tyler Reddick brought another trophy back to RCR. | ||
| 22 | Martin Truex Jr. | With just six races left in 2022, Martin Truex Jr. continues to have just 13 top 10 finishes. If that stands, it would be the fewest he's scored in a season since he had just five in all of 2014. | ||
| 23 | Cole Custer | It doesn't get much worse than nobody noticing when you're involved in a crash. Cole Custer's crash after cutting a tire was completely overshadowed by playoff driver Christopher Bell spinning and bringing the caution out at the same time. | ||
| 24 | Corey LaJoie | With two top 15s in a row, Corey LaJoie has momentum leading into a Talladega race he might have a legitimate shot at winning. LaJoie has led 26 laps in superspeedway races this year. | ||
| 25 | Harrison Burton | Harrison Burton had one of the most impressive runs of his young Cup career at Texas, making a pass for the lead under green and pacing the field for 15 laps. Texas has always been good to the Burton family, as Harrison's father Jeff won the track's inaugural Cup race in 1997. | ||
| 26 | Kyle Busch | The end of Kyle Busch's tenure at Joe Gibbs Racing is starting to remind me of the end of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s at DEI in 2007 -- A lot of poor finishes, wrecked cars, broken equipment and disappointment. | ||
| 27 | Aric Almirola | Next weekend at Talladega might be Aric Almirola's last best shot to win a Cup race in 2022. Almirola won at Talladega in the fall of 2018, and three of crew chief Drew Blickensderfer's four Cup wins have come on superspeedways. | ||
| 28 | Ty Dillon | Very quietly, Ty Dillon got one of his better finishes of the 2022 season at Texas. Dillon finished 16th, just ahead of big brother in 17th. | ||
| 29 | Todd Gilliland | It was a shame that Todd Gilliland had a problem on the final restart, because he looked very impressive late in the race at Texas. He ran as high as second on strategy and ran solidly inside the top five on a long green flag run. | ||
| 30 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | -- | Though he ended up crashing out of third, Ricky Stenhouse led a season-high 23 laps at Texas with the help of some alternate strategy. His previous best was 22 laps led at Atlanta in March. |
