NASCAR Power Rankings: Chase Elliott stays No. 1

How great is Chase Elliott‘s season? On Sunday at Pocono he didn’t lead a lap and still won the race.

Of course, the circumstances were a bit weird. Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch crossed the finish line ahead of Elliott, but Elliott was declared the winner after Hamlin and Busch were disqualified.

As far as the rankings go, it didn’t really matter if Elliott finished first or third. It was another excellent week for the Georgia driver, who now has five straight top-two finishes, including three wins across that stretch.

Elliott remains atop the NBC Sports NASCAR Power Rankings for another week.

The Cup Series moves on to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC).

1. Chase Elliott (Last week: No. 1) — The summer stretch is being very kind to the former series champion. Five straight top-two finishes is a remarkable statistic in a season filled with crashes.

2. Kyle Larson (Last week: No. 3) — Larson moves up a spot this week after a fifth-place run and 18 laps led at Pocono. He has three top fives in the past five races.

3. Ross Chastain (Last week: No. 2) — Is the Ross Chastain-Denny Hamlin drama at an end now that Hamlin exacted a bit of revenge by limiting Chastain’s racing space late in the Pocono race? Maybe. Chastain’s crash dropped him to a 32nd-place finish, and he lost a spot in the rankings.

4. Christopher Bell (Last week: No. 5) — Bell has a win and a fourth in the past two races and drove a Joe Gibbs Racing car that was legal Sunday. Continuing to illustrate improved consistency,, he jumps from fifth to fourth this week.

5. Kevin Harvick (Last week: No. 6) — Harvick’s long winless streak continues, but he had a car strong enough to challenge for a top three Sunday at Pocono. He lost