By Adam Carabine Welcome to the StatChat NASCAR Games!   If you’re new here, this year I thought it might be fun to share some of the silly little games I play on my NASCAR Excel Sheet throughout the season as we follow along.   BRACKET GAMES These games are similar to NASCAR’s In-Season Tournament, as created by Denny Hamlin, but my version lasts all season long.    Drivers are originally seeded by a mixture of performance from last year, with some creative discretion from m

Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture.  StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10:   Bubba Wallace – This week: 10 – Last week: 9 Despite losing another spot in the Power Rankings, this was a nice bounce-back race for Bubba Wallace after a bad one in Martinsville a few wee

Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images By Adam Carabine We’ve got a new first-time winner in the NASCAR Cup Series! After a fairly intense day at Bristol, the young grandson of JGR owner Joe Gibbs, Ty Gibbs came away with his first victory in the Cup Series.  He wasn’t dominant, but maximized a late-race strategy call to get the win, stymieing Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson along the way.   Let’s have a look at how it all shook down!   Lap 1: Pole-sitter Ryan Blaney takes the g