NASCAR Power Rankings: Denny Hamlin eyes top spot after Richmond win

Denny Hamlin jumped two spots in these rankings with the win Sunday at Richmond, but Christopher Bell holds on to the top spot as he has five top-10s in seven races this year, while Hamlin has just three.

A speeding penalty ruined Bell’s hopes at Richmond, where he rallied to finish sixth. For the comments for each driver in the rankings, we look at how prone they are to penalties so far this year.

1. Christopher Bell (Last Week: 1) 

Bell has had three speeding penalties this year. He had one at Atlanta early in the race and then one at Las Vegas, although the Vegas one came after a spin, so he already was going to be at the rear. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s certainly most frustrating speeding penalty was the one at Richmond.

2. Denny Hamlin (LW: 4)

Hamlin, who has a reputation of earning speeding penalties, has just one in the first seven races, and that one came at Daytona after an accident, so he already was going to be at the rear of the field. He has been penalty-free in the last five races, so it’s not surprising that two of those were victories for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.

3. Kyle Larson (LW: 3)

Larson does not have any speeding penalties this year. He did have to rally at Bristol from a pit-road violation where the Hendrick Motorsports team’s tire rolled out of his pit box and hit a crew member, who was doing a pit stop for another team.

4. William Byron (LW: 2)

Byron has not had a speeding penalty this year. He did get called for vehicle interference early in the Daytona 500. That obviously didn’t ruin his day — the Hendrick Motorsports driver ended up winning the race.

5. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 8)

Truex has just one speeding penalty this year, and that came after an accident where he already was going to be restarting at the rear. His Joe Gibbs Racing pit crew also has not been penalized for any violations.

6. Ty Gibbs (LW: 5)

Gibbs has had his share of penalties, which wouldn’t be surprising for a driver in his second year in Cup. He drove through too many pit boxes at Atlanta. His Joe Gibbs Racing team did have a tire get loose and interfere with another crew at Bristol. And then he had a speeding penalty at Richmond, which ruined his day.

7. Chase Elliott (LW: NR)

Elliott has not sped on pit road this year. His most costly penalty was cutting the Circuit of the Americas course in the esses that resulted in a pass-through. And that was the result of him going off course to save the car after it got loose.

8. Tyler Reddick (LW: 9)

Reddick so far has avoided any speeding penalties this year. All of the penalties for the 23XI Racing driver have come after incidents, where he would come down pit road too soon and/or have too many crew members working on the car.

9. Ryan Blaney (LW: 7)

Blaney got caught for speeding at Bristol, which put him at the tail end of the field about midway through the race. He did rally back into the top 10 before he was among those who had a tire issue during the event. The Team Penske driver has one of the best crews on pit road this year.

10. Alex Bowman (LW: 10) 

Bowman has had a relatively clean season with penalties in only one race, and those were following an accident. The Hendrick driver would have had a better finish at Richmond except he was on the wrong end when it came to pit strategy, getting lapped by the end of the second stage. 

On the verge: Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace

Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass.

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