As we now find ourselves 23 races into the 2023 season, here is a look at how the field shakes up. Disagree with something? Join the conversation on social media and yell at me!
1) Martin Truex Jr.
The current points leader, MTJ has been the class of the field most of the year with three wins and 13 top-10’s on the season. MTJ also recently announced that he will be back in the JGR #19 for at least one more year in 2024.
2) Denny Hamlin
Riding three straight podium finishes – a win at Pocono, second at Richmond, and third at Michigan, Denny Hamlin remains one of the toughest guys to beat in the sport.
3) Kyle Larson
While the season has been a bit up and down for Larson, with five DNF’s resulting from some on track chaos, Larson still shows time and time again that he may be the pound for pound most talented driver in the series with 10 top-10’s and two wins on the season. He currently sits sixth in points though thanks largely to those DNF’s.
4) Chris Buescher
Talk about a hot streak! Chris Buescher has won two consecutive races, and has seemingly completely reinvigorated RFK Racing from a mid-pack also ran, to a legitimate title contender. He’s only sitting 11th in points right now, but this team is getting hot at the right time – and by hot, I mean RED hot.
5) William Byron
The series leader in race wins on the year is also leading the series in stage victories with seven. On top of that he’s only trailing Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr. in top-5’s with eight, and only trails Truex and Kyle Busch in top-10’s with 11. But he also has eight finishes outside of the top-20 (including three of the last four races), which is keeping him third in points.
6) Kyle Busch
While he has been battling some mid-season woes recently, with two DNF’s in his last four races, and an additional p21 at Pocono, Busch has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he’s still the same old Rowdy, with or without JGR. He has thrived with Richard Childress Racing so far, and is a legitimate title contender.
7) Christopher Bell
Currently 4th in points, Christopher Bell is continuing to quietly put up consistent numbers for JGR. He has cooled off a bit lately, with only three top-10’s in the last 12 races, but he is seemingly always competitive, and has 11 top-10’s and a win on the year.
8) Kevin Harvick
The lone bright spot at SHR, Kevin Harvick’s farewell tour has been going fairly well. Currently fifth in points thanks to some great consistency that has seen him only collect one DNF on the year, Harvick is the only thing holding beleaguered Stewart Haas Racing together. It makes one wonder what next year will look like for the program without Harvick’s steady hand on the wheel?
9) Ross Chastain
Despite taking a bit of a step back in 2023 compared to his incredible 2022, Chastain is one of those guys that you can never count out. His aggression has been tempered a bit this year – likely thanks to how much vitriol followed him around last season – but he has still been able to put together plenty of competitive runs on the year.
10) Brad Keselowski
Last year in his first season for Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, Brad Keselowski was pretty much abysmal compared to what we would usually expect from him. Had he lost it? Were the RFK cars just terrible? Safe to say he has been putting those doubts to bed this year as he has racked up ten top-10’s, five top-5’s, and finds himself securely in the playoff picture.
11) Joey Logano
He’s the defending champ, has a win, and seven top-5’s. But he’s also sitting 12th in points, and has been noticeably inconsistent on the year.
12) Ryan Blaney
While higher in points (9th) than his Penske teammate, one has to admit that Blaney still just doesn’t feel like he has taken the step forward necessary to feel like a legitimate threat to win any given week. It still feels like it would be an upset when he is in the conversation.
13) Bubba Wallace
While he hasn’t had race winning speed as often as many would expect, he has been consistent enough on the year to find himself on the verge of his first career playoff berth, barring multiple first time winners in the next few races.
14) Chase Elliott
2023 has been a year to forget for Chase Elliott. An off the track injury, a suspension, inconsistent results. Yikes.
15) Ty Gibbs
Rookie of the year shoe-in Ty Gibbs has gotten consistently better as the year has drawn on. Don’t be surprised if he snags a win at some point.
16) Tyler Reddick
After his blazing hot start with is new team that yielded three top-5’s and a win in his first six races for 23XI, Reddick has come back down to Earth and is driving like someone in a new program again. He has finished outside of the top-20 in six of the last nine races – but also has two top-10’s and a runner up finish over that span.
17) Daniel Suarez
It’s also largely been a year to forget for Daniel Suarez. His year has been marked by inconsistency and underwhelming results that currently have him on the outside looking in for the playoffs. But that said, you can’t rule out someone driving for Trackhouse – he’s a threat to win just about any week.
18) Michael McDowell
Pretty easily the most surprisingly impressive driver/team combo this year, Front Row Motorsports and Michael McDowell have stepped their game up big time, and find themselves right in the thick of the playoff hunt. It’s good to see a small team making such big gains.
19) Alex Bowman
Another Hendrick driver who has had a year to forget. In the ten races since returning from a back injury he has yet to score a top-10, and thanks to a L1 penalty he is firmly outside of the playoff bubble. It feels like we are approaching a point with Bowman where one has to wonder what the future holds for him.
20) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
To be completely honest, after his 2022 campaign I doubted whether Ricky Stenhouse Jr would even have a ride this year. Safe to say he has proven me wrong, winning the Daytona 500, and putting up surprisingly competitive and consistent results ever since.
21) A.J. Allmendinger
Allmendinger is seemingly doing the best he can for a Kaulig Racing operation that has largely been unable to produce cars capable of winning anywhere other than road courses. With that said, with two road courses on the schedule before the playoffs begin, don’t be surprised on Allmendinger pulls out a win and shakes up the playoff picture even further.
22) Erik Jones
While backsliding a bit from last year, things have improved a bit for the 43 team as of late, with only one finish outside of the top-20 and three top-10’s in the last seven races.
23) Austin Dillon
Quietly playing second fiddle to his new RCR teammate on the year, Austin Dillon has secured six top-10’s, but also seven DNF’s. He currently sits 29th in points thanks to a L1 penalty.
24) Justin Haley
Haley has just been doing his thing on the year – staying out of trouble, and holding a pretty wheel. Let’s see what happens with RWR next year though…
25) Austin Cindric
Austin Cindric continues to underwhelm in his sophomore season, with only three top-10’s and 14 finishes outside of the top-20. With no season-opening win to hang his hat on, Cindric is likely to miss the playoffs this year.
26) Corey LaJoie
Another surprise in the 2023 season has been the speed Corey LaJoie and the Spire Motorsports 7 team has been able to show. While he has only recorded one top-10 on the year (p4 at Atlanta) he has secured 12 top-20’s and no DNF’s. This is a team on the rise.
27) Chase Briscoe
SHR Backslide victim #1
28) Aric Almirola
SHR Backslide victim #2
29) Ryan Preece
SHR Backslide victim #3
If there was a superlative award for “most unfortunate disappointment of the year” Preece would get my vote. I genuinely believed that he would have a playoff caliber season, but the results have simply not been there. Not even close, really. It’s hard to pin that entirely on Preece of course given SHR’s struggles, but he does seem to have a strange talent of always finding himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.
30) Todd Gilliland
In what looked like it could be his siren song for FRM, as he was replaced in select races by Zane Smith, Gilliland has done well enough this year to secure a contract extension with the improving team. Good for him! Now hopefully FRM will start getting him some cars on par with McDowell’s.
31) Harrison Burton
With a sophomore year that has not yet seen any real improvement, you have to wonder how long Harrison Burton is for this series – especially in a car as historic as the WBR #21.
32) Ty Dillon
You may not have noticed, but yes, Ty Dillon has run every race this year. Riding under the radar, Dillon is generally doing exactly what was presumably asked of him when he inked his deal to drive a second entry for fledgling Spire Motorsports – keep the wheels on it. After collecting two DNF’s in the season’s first two races, Dillon has only collected three more DNF’s since, and has scored three top-20’s in an aggressively underfunded #77 entry.
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