Week 20 NASCAR power rankings: Ryan Blaney makes a big leap after Pocono win

Sunday's The Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway was a strategy bonanza, as is par for the course at the "Tricky Triangle."

Ryan Blaney earned the win, his second of the season, and takes a big leap up this week's rankings.

Let's take a look at where Blaney and the rest of the field stack up as the NASCAR Cup Series rolls along to the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway for Sunday's Brickyard 400 — the first time NASCAR will be racing on Indy's oval track since 2020.

1. Ryan Blaney (Last week: 4)

Blaney jumps to the top of the list after his second win this season, both in the past five races. Last year's defending champion went through a lull in April and May because of bad luck and underperforming equipment but has otherwise picked up right where he left off last fall. He's one of the title favorites once again.

2. Christopher Bell (Last week: 1)

For the first time in a number of weeks, Bell just didn't have the speed at Pocono. This was surprising considering that all three of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates (Ty Gibbs, Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin) led double-digit laps, but sometimes a team just misses the setup. Expect Bell to be back to form in Indy.

3. Tyler Reddick (Last week: 3)

Reddick's rock-solid consistency lately continued at Pocono with a sixth-place result, inching him even closer to the points lead. (He's only 15 markers back of Chase Elliott and 12 back of Kyle Larson.) Reddick must be one of the drivers most disappointed by Indianapolis' switch back to the oval this season after running the infield road course the past three years, but he's showing he can compete at any track type.

4. Kyle Larson (Last week: 2)

It's been quite some time since Larson was ranked any lower than No. 2 here, but after a disappointing showing in Pocono, he takes a tumble. Larson seemed to be in position to win late in the going after a quiet afternoon but was nabbed for speeding when he took the lead on the final pit stop. Larson, who finished 13th, lost the points lead to teammate Chase Elliott.

5. Denny Hamlin (Last week: 7)

Hamlin got back on track with a runner-up finish in the Pennsylvania mountains, leading 31 laps in the process and winning the race's second stage. He might have been able to pick up his eighth Pocono win had it not been for a strategy call by Blaney's No. 12 team to short-pit him at the end of that stage. Nevertheless, it was a needed good finish for Hamlin after five consecutive results outside the top 10.

6. Chase Elliott (Last week: 5)

Elliott took over the points lead thanks to Larson's off day, but despite that and his ninth-place finish, he must be kicking himself for what could have been. NASCAR Most Popular Driver had one of the fastest cars all afternoon before speeding on pit road for the first time in 2.5 years cost him a shot at the win.

7. Martin Truex Jr. (Last week: 6)

Truex had speed early at Pocono and won the first stage but lost his track position through the strategy shuffling and never quite got it back. He finished eighth and can be thankful that he finally had an uneventful race in the luck department, but the chances to reach victory lane again as his career winds to a close are running out.

8. William Byron (Last week: 10)

Pocono was a get-right performance for Byron, who ran in the top five all day and finished fourth. His streak of failing to lead a lap extends to seven races, though, so he must be itching to lead the pack again at some point soon. Perhaps he could do that in Indy, where he has paced the field for at least one circuit in each of his three career starts on the oval.

9. Ty Gibbs (Last week: 9)

Gibbs earned his second pole of the season at Pocono and led 21 laps, but as has been the theme for him and his No. 54 team, he struggled to maintain track position throughout the race. He had fallen out of contention even before a blown engine ended his race, causing him to finish 27th, and now falls to only 67 points to the good in terms of the playoff hunt.

10. Alex Bowman (Last week: 12)

The momentum is real for Bowman, who followed up his win on the Chicago Street Course with a third-place effort in Pocono in which he battled for the lead on the final restart. It hasn't been the most dominant season of Bowman's career, but it's arguably his most consistent. If he can earn only five more top-10 finishes in the final 15 races, he'll set a career high in the category with 17.

11. Chris Buescher (Last week: 11)

Buescher might have had the race won had the third and final stage all run under the green flag, as he was leading and driving away from the field before a rash of yellows caused one more strategy shakeup. He finished a solid 11th, but unfortunately for him, that was one position behind Bubba Wallace, the driver looking to replace him in the playoffs. He remains in the danger zone at only 44 points to the good, but on the plus side, he passed one driver in the standings.

12. Ross Chastain (Last week: 8)

That driver would be Chastain, whose terrible luck at Pocono throughout his career continued Sunday. He didn't seem to have much speed even before crashing out and finishing 36th, dropping him to the final spot in the playoffs at only 27 markers above Wallace. Nobody needs a shift in momentum more than the "Melon Man," as Chastain has finished outside the top 20 three weeks in a row.

13. Joey Logano (Last week: 14)

Logano earned a quiet, uneventful fifth at Pocono while his teammate won the race, proving Team Penske continues to be formidable on NASCAR's flat ovals. Logano has finished runner-up twice at Indianapolis, so don't be surprised if he's a contender there as well.

14. Brad Keselowski (Last week: 13)

Keselowski led 20 laps Sunday and hung around in the top 10 for most of the afternoon, finishing a respectable seventh. Surprisingly, that is his first single-digit finish since his third-place finish at Gateway six races ago. As a Brickyard 400 winner in 2018, he'll be one to watch in Indy.

15. Bubba Wallace (Last week: not ranked)

A solid day for Wallace moved him back into the rankings. His 10th-place finish, combined with Chastain's accident, allows him to close back within 27 points of the final playoff spot. Wallace didn't start off the afternoon strong at Pocono but improved throughout, a promising sign because that has been one of his team's weaknesses in 2024.

16. Todd Gilliland (Last week: 15)

Nobody else deserved the final spot, so Gilliland stays in the rankings by default despite his 34th-place DNF due to a brake failure. Sunday was Gilliland's first finish outside the top 20 since Dover 10 races ago, and he remains 20th in the points standings. He'll look to start a new string of solid finishes at the Brickyard.

Dropped out : Kyle Busch