NASCAR power rankings: Martin Truex Jr. moves to top spot after Sonoma win

Martin Truex Jr. didn’t just win Sunday at Sonoma Raceway. He vaulted to the top spot in the NASCAR Cup Series standings.

Except an accident at Darlington, where he led 145 laps, he has rattled off an incredible string of finishes of first, eighth, third, fifth and first at a variety of tracks.

With five top-five finishes in the last eight races, this Joe Gibbs Racing team is showing they are now more likely not to beat themselves. And that puts him atop the power rankings heading into the off week.

Here’s a look, with commentary on how many laps these drivers have led this year, typically a sign of just how close a driver is to winning week in and week out: 

1. Martin Truex Jr. (Last Week: 3): Truex ranks third in the series by leading 10.1 percent (434 of 4,296) of all laps this year. He led laps in just three of the first nine races but now has led in five of the last seven. 

2. Kyle Larson (LW: 2): Larson ranks second in laps led this year at 13.7 percent. He has had an overall up-and-down season when it comes to finishes as he has led in 10 of the 16 races — but he has led just six laps in his last three starts. 

3. Kyle Busch (LW: 6): Busch has three wins this year but ranks just eighth in laps led at about 5%. He’s led “only” 214 laps this year — 121 of them in his win a couple of weeks ago at WWTR Gateway. 

4. William Byron (LW: 1): Byron drops a few spots in the standings and some might wonder why he was so high to begin with. Well, beyond his three wins this year, he has led more laps than any other driver — 717, for 16.7 percent of the entire season. He has led at least one lap in 10 races this year and at least 25 laps in seven races.

5. Denny Hamlin (LW: 4): Hamlin ranks sixth overall in laps led at 5.9 percent for the season. That’s a surprise because if you think it seems he runs up front every week, he has — he has led in 12 of this year’s 16 races.

6. Ross Chastain (LW: 5): Chastain is fourth overall in laps led at 8.1 percent. But in a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world, he has led just one lap in the last three races. He has three races — Fontana, Dover and Darlington — in which he has led at least 90 laps.

7. Christopher Bell (LW: 8): Bell ranks ninth in laps led at 4.8 percent. Nearly half of all those laps came at Bristol, as he led 100 laps of the dirt race. His other 106 laps led came at seven other events, and only two (Daytona and Charlotte) did he lead more than 10.

8. Ryan Blaney (LW: 7): Blaney is fifth overall in laps led at 7.4 percent for the season. More than half of his 319 laps led came at Charlotte, where he led 163 laps. He then led 83 laps the following week at WWTR Gateway. After leading laps in just four of the first 12 races, he has led laps in three of the last four.

9. Joey Logano (LW: NR): It might come as a little bit of a surprise that Logano is seventh overall in laps led at 5.1 percent. That’s because it is easy to have a short memory — he has led just 11 laps in the last seven races after leading 206 in the first nine (140 of those laps coming at Atlanta).

10. Chris Buescher (LW: NR): Buescher is on this list for his consistently very good finishes. It’s not because he’s leading laps. He’s led just 50 laps this year (1.2 percent), with 32 of those laps in the season-opener at Daytona. 

Dropped out: Kevin Harvick (LW: 9), Tyler Reddick (LW: 10)

On the verge: Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Tyler Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

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

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