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Power Rankings: Top 10 titleless drivers who could win it all in 2021
By Pat DeCola | Tuesday, January 12, 2021
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NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the top 10 drivers without a championship across all national series who could bring home the big one in 2021.
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10. Alex Bowman, Cup Series
Best standings finish: 6th (2020)
2020 stats: 1 win, 6 top fives, 15 top 10s, 14.7 average finish
Comment: Now entering his fourth year as a Cup full-timer but shifting over to the vaunted No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, look for Bowman to pick right back up where he left off (seven top 10s in the playoffs) and turn a lot of heads as part of the championship conversation all season long in 2021.
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
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9. John Hunter Nemechek, Camping World Truck Series
Best standings finish: 8th (2016, '17)
2020 stats: 3 top 10s, 22.4 average finish (Cup Series)
Comment: Nemechek surprised many by perhaps overperforming relative to his rookie status and car in 2020 at the Cup level. He now returns to the CWTS in arguably the best equipment he's been in (Kyle Busch Motorsports), with a lot more experience under his belt than when he found success in the series as a teenager a handful of years ago. The pieces are in place for a championship run.
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8. AJ Allmendinger, Xfinity Series
Best standings finish: 24th (2020, part-time)
2020 stats: 2 wins, 6 top fives, eight top 10s, 8.9 average finish (11 races)
Comment: 'Dinger's career has been long and winding, but how fitting for one of the sport's best road-course racers. He's now in a full-time competitive ride -- that he excelled in last year running part-time -- and is perhaps the most experienced driver at the Xfinity Series level with an enthusiasm for racing equal to or greater than some of the twenty-somethings he's racing against. There's a lot to like about a potential Allmendinger title run.
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7. Kyle Larson, Cup Series
Best standings finish: 6th (2019)
2020 stats: 1 top five, three top 10s, 11.0 average finish (four races)
Comment: Larson's talent has never been in question, and he's now positioned in what is likely to be his best shot at his first NASCAR title after signing with Hendrick Motorsports. He's only won multiple races in a season once before (four, 2017), but it's not hard to picture a rejuvenated Larson topping that figure in what could easily be a resurgent year.
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6. Zane Smith, Camping World Truck Series
Best standings finish: 2nd (2020)
2020 stats: 2 wins, 7 top fives, 13 top 10s, 10.5 average finish
Comment: Smith certainly made a name for himself in 2020, riding a strong rookie campaign to a runner-up spot at Phoenix in the championship to close the season with three straight top threes. As the saying goes, there's nowhere to go but up.
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5. Harrison Burton, Xfinity Series
Best standings finish: 8th (2020)
2020 stats: 4 wins, 15 top fives, 22 top 10s, 10.0 average finish
Comment: After opening the season with two wins amidst 10 straight top 10s, it appeared the '20 championship was his to lose ... and he did, falling short of even the Championship 4. Burton added a pair of strong wins at the tail end of the season after righting the ship, and chances are he'll take the experience gained from an up-and-down season all the way to a title shot at Phoenix.
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
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4. Austin Hill, Camping World Truck Series
Best standings finish: 5th (2019)
2020 stats: 2 wins, 11 top fives, 17 top 10s, 9.0 average finish
Comment: Hill was the Truck Series' version of Kevin Harvick in 2020, failing to reach the Championship 4 after notching the Regular Season Championship. Albeit with two fewer wins, his '20 was markedly better than a strong '19, and his trajectory indicates an even better '21 lies ahead. And that could easily mean championship.
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3. Noah Gragson, Xfinity Series
Best standings finish: 5th (2020)
2020 stats: 2 wins, 17 top fives, 25 top 10s, 8.8 average finish
Comment: Gragson's 2020 was quite stellar, seeing a near double in top 10s year over year, adding his first series wins and compiling 622 of his 704 career laps led. Just scratching the surface of his potential, Gragson might be the biggest threat to Austin Cindric's title defense.
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2. Ryan Blaney, Cup Series
Best standings finish: 7th (2019)
2020 stats: 1 win, 11 top fives, 17 top 10s, 13.8 average finish
Comment: Blaney has been good for several years in a row, but has yet to really take that next step up to greatness that many perhaps expected out of him by now. That happens this year. He's got a championship-winning crew chief at the helm, sported one of the fastest -- and unluckiest -- cars in the field last year and just saw one of his (younger) best friends take home his first title. They drive for competing organizations and manufacturers and something tells me that could light a fire under him for 2021.
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1. Denny Hamlin, Cup Series
Best standings finish: 2nd (2010)
2020 stats: 7 wins, 18 top fives, 21 top 10s, 9.4 average finish
Comment: For as long as he's racing and as long as he goes without winning a title, Hamlin wil likely always be No. 1 on this list. He's entered the hallowed Mark Martin/Junior Johnson realm of best drivers to never win a title. It looked like 2020 might be his year, but it wasn't meant to be, falling short in the Championship 4 for the second straight year. Primed as JGR's top driver entering this season, Hamlin has the best chance of any titleless driver to finally hoist the big trophy at season's end.
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