NASCAR Power Rankings: Breaking Down Top 10 Entering Daytona 500
The Clash — NASCAR's preseason exhibition race — isn’t a great predictor of how drivers will perform this year. But it does give a little bit of a sense of the attitude and confidence a team has going into the season. After Ryan Preece won the Clash last Wednesday at Bowman Gray Stadium, he definitely joins the top 10, as does his RFK Racing teammate Chris Buescher. Here’s a look at the drivers and a look at their Daytona 500 history going into the biggest race of the season (2:30 p.m. ET Sunday, FOX): Dropped out: Tyler Reddick (Last Week: 8), Alex Bowman (Last Week: 10) On the verge: Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Ross Chastain, Ty Gibbs, Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace 10. Chris Buescher (Last Week: Not Ranked) Buescher finished eighth in the Clash and now seeks his first Daytona 500 victory. He has three top-five finishes in the Daytona 500, with a best finish of third in 2020. The RFK Racing driver also has been eliminated in accidents in four of his 10 Daytona 500 starts. 9. Joey Logano (Last Week: 9) Logano finished 11th in the Clash and probably is looking forward to the Daytona 500, where he has one win (2015) in 17 starts. The Team Penske driver was second in 2023 but has wrecked out of the last two Daytona 500s. 8. Ryan Preece (Last Week: Not Ranked) Preece, who does not have a Cup points-race win, was emotional in winning the Clash. Now he heads to Daytona, where he has flipped twice in his career, including the 500 a year ago. The RFK Racing driver has six Daytona 500 starts with two top 10s. 7. Christopher Bell (Last Week: 3) Bell was 13th at the Clash, a little bit of a disappointing result. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver had back-to-back third-place finishes in the Daytona 500 in 2023 and 2024. He was eliminated by a wreck last year and finished 31st. 6. Chase Elliott (Last Week: 2) Elliott, who finished 17th in the Clash, has one top five in 10 starts in the Daytona 500. He was second in the 2021 race. The Hendrick driver also has sat on the pole twice back in his first two Daytona 500 races in 2016 and 2017. 5. Kyle Larson (Last Week: 4) Larson, who sat on the pole but was 16th in the Clash, seeks his first Daytona 500 win in his 13th Daytona 500 start. The Hendrick driver is not known for prowess on the drafting tracks. He has four top 10s but no top fives in the Daytona 500. 4. Chase Briscoe (Last Week: 6) Briscoe finished sixth in the Clash. Briscoe has six career Daytona 500 starts, including starting from the pole and finishing fourth last year in his first race with Joe Gibbs Racing. He was third in the 2022 Daytona 500. 3. Denny Hamlin (Last Week: 7)Hamlin had a couple of spins but wound up fifth in the Clash. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has three Daytona 500 victories (2016, 2019 and 2020) in 20 starts. But he hasn’t finished top 10 in any of the last four Daytona 500s. Maybe not coincidentally, those are the four Daytona 500s with the Next Gen car. 2. William Byron (Last Week: 5) Byron was second in the Clash. The Hendrick driver has eight starts in the Daytona 500 and never had a top-20 finish until his back-to-back victories in 2024 and 2025. He led just a combined 14 laps in those two victories. 1. Ryan Blaney (Last Week: 1) Blaney was third in the Clash. The Team Penske driver has 11 career Daytona 500 starts, and he could almost taste the victory as he was second in 2017 and 2020. He has six top-10 finishes and has led 208 laps in the Daytona 500 during his career.