Week 5 NASCAR power rankings: Kyle Larson in driver's seat after topsy-turvy race

Sunday's Food City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway provided tons of twists and turns, with exceptionally high tire wear giving fans a recipe for 54 lead changes and five lead-lap finishers.

Denny Hamlin won, and while he moves up in this week's power rankings, another driver has reclaimed the top spot as the series prepares for the season's first road course race this weekend in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

1. Kyle Larson (Last week: 2)

Larson and Ryan Blaney have spent the past few weeks trading the top spot. After Blaney's car fell off badly in the second half of the race at Bristol, Larson fought through adversity to score a solid fifth. As a result, he's back ahead of the field. Larson is the most consistently competitive driver in 2024, and he's tied for the points lead with...

2. Martin Truex Jr. (Last week: 4)

For each of what feels like the past three or four years, preseason expectations for Truex were for him to fade out of NASCAR's elite tier. But that's not happening. His runner-up finish at Bristol is only the latest in a series of strong runs to start this season. Sunday's finish came on one of his weaker tracks.

3. Denny Hamlin (Last week: 8)

A week after he spun out a potentially race-winning car at Phoenix, Hamlin bounced back in a big way with his second straight Bristol win, holding off Truex as both drivers slipped and slid on old tires while maneuvering through lapped traffic. After being highly critical of the significant tire wear early in the race, one can imagine Hamlin isn't singing the same tune now.

4. Ty Gibbs (Last week: 9)

The future is now for Gibbs, the 21-year-old prodigy and grandson of team owner Joe Gibbs. After starting the season with two unremarkable races on the superspeedways, he has been among the top contenders each week. At Bristol, he led 137 laps before fading to ninth. The second-year driver is ahead of schedule in his rise to stardom, and his first win feels imminent.

5. Ryan Blaney (Last week: 1)

After ping-ponging between the No. 1 and No. 2 spots the past few weeks, Blaney slid to a 16th-place finish at Bristol despite winning the pole and leading 14 laps early on (one of 16 different drivers to do so). He was one of the many victims of the race's extremely high tire wear and finished two laps down.

6. Tyler Reddick (Last week: 3)

Another driver dropping back a bit is Reddick, but he won't be penalized too much because it wasn't his fault he wrecked only 30 laps in and had to spend the rest of the afternoon puttering around off the pace. It's onto the next one for the driver of the No. 45 car. He is the defending winner at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin.

7. Christopher Bell (Last week: 7)

Much like his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Bell was a factor throughout the afternoon at Bristol, but he didn't seem to have the same blazing speed he did at Phoenix a week ago. His 10th-place finish brought up the rear at JGR, and he trails Truex, Gibbs and Hamlin in points. (Bell is eighth.) Still, it has been a solid past few weeks for Bell as he looks to keep the momentum going.

8. Brad Keselowski (Last week: 12)

Make that back-to-back top-fives for Keselowski after his disastrous start to the season. He may have had the best car on Sunday that wasn't a JGR Toyota, finishing third and moving up to 13th in points after sitting 28th two weeks ago. On the downside, though, he has been dreadful on road courses in recent years, so one shouldn't expect him to be a factor in Austin.

9. Ross Chastain (Last week: 5)

Chastain had another fairly unmemorable race at Bristol, and this time he wasn't able to strategize his way to the front at the end given the final green-flag run lasted for more than 100 laps. He still wound up 15th, and the fact that he sits seventh in points without yet showing the speed we all know he's capable of could be bad news for the rest of the field.

10. Chase Elliott (Last week: 11)

Elliott has hovered around the edge of the top 10 in these rankings all season. After an up-and-down day in which he led early, he fell back with an electrical issue but rebounded to a solid eighth-place finish. As a road-course ace, he should have a great chance to kick his season into a higher gear in Austin, where he won in 2021.

11. Chris Buescher (Last week: 15)

Buescher started deep in the field after botching his qualifying run, but it didn't take him long to crack the top 10. He ended the first stage running third and stayed near the front throughout the rest of the race, finishing seventh and moving into the playoff picture at 14th in points. This underrated road racer will be a driver to watch in Austin — he hails from Prosper, Texas, near Dallas.

12. William Byron (Last week: 6)

It's been a rough go for Byron since winning the Daytona 500. He has only scored one additional top-10 finish, and at Bristol, he got turned into the wall early on, causing him to finish eight laps down in 35th. He has fallen to 10th in points.

13. Chase Briscoe (Last week: unranked)

Briscoe has hovered on the doorstep of these rankings but had yet to make the jump inside. A 13th-place finish, combined with several drivers toward the back of last week's list having bad days, boosted him into the rankings. He seems to be bouncing back nicely from his disastrous 2023.

14. Kyle Busch (Last week: 10)

After his great start to the season, he has had back-to-back forgettable races and fallen to 16th in points. Unlike at Phoenix, he had speed in Bristol, but he was one of the biggest victims of the tire issues, spinning multiple times and finishing two laps down in 25th. He should be able to bounce back in Austin, where he finished second last year.

15. Josh Berry (Last week: NR)

Perhaps the surprise of the weekend was Tennessee native Berry, who qualified on the front row and led 25 laps before finishing 12th. He had a less-than-ideal start to the season (no finishes better than 20th), but his short-track background undoubtedly helped him have a race worthy of a shoutout. He's still 26th in points, so don't expect him to remain in these rankings barring a strong run in Austin.

16. John Hunter Nemechek (Last week: NR)

Rounding out this week's list is Nemechek, who somewhat surprisingly finds himself  inside the playoffs as he's tied for 14th in points. His sixth-place finish at Bristol was his second top-10 of the season, and at times, he seemed like he had the best non-JGR car. After spending three years away from the Cup Series following his up-and-down 2020 rookie campaign, Nemechek seems much better prepared for NASCAR's top level.

Dropped out: Noah Gragson, Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano