From Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs to Brad Keselowski and Ryan Preece, When Teammates’ Success Puts the Spotlight on Your Struggles

There’s nothing quite like having a teammate in the NASCAR Cup Series. They share data, make great drafting partners, block for you, give emotional support when times are good or bad and almost always have your back (except maybe if you’re Joey Logano and Austin Cindric). But having teammates can sometimes also be detrimental to your own success – or lack thereof.

After Sunday’s race at Talladega, NASCAR stats whiz Daniel Céspedes crunched the numbers and came up with some very interesting statistics that he posted on X.

Through Talladega, the 10^th race of the 36-race NASCAR Cup season, Céspedes analyzed 30 drivers and, in instances of two particular teams, a massive disparity between teammates and how their numbers compared to the same 10-race period last year.

The biggest disparity came from RFK Racing. The team’s newcomer Ryan Preece, who was with the now-defunct Stewart-Haas Racing last season, is 79 points ahead of his pace in last season’s first 10 races. This makes him one of the most improved drivers this year (Three top-10s in 2025 vs one top-10 last year after 10 races).

Preece’s numbers would have been even higher if his career-best second-place finish at Talladega wasn’t disqualified by NASCAR, leaving him with a 38^th-place finish. What’s more, Preece would have been ranked 12^th in the standings if it wasn’t for the DQ, which dropped him to 18^th. At this point last year with SHR, Preece was ranked 23^rd.

But even with the ‘Dega disappointment, Preece is still way ahead of his boss, Brad Keselowski. The 2012 Cup champion is off to one of the worst starts of his career.

After Talladega, Keselowski now has 121 fewer points after the first 10 races this season than he did at the same stage last season. To say the least, Keselowski’s performance this year has been abysmal, with zero top-10 finishes, compared to four top-fives last season after 10 races.

Not only is that the largest year over year discrepancy of any full-time Cup driver, but Keselowski is also 32^nd in the standings heading into this Sunday’s race in Texas. In comparison, he was 14^th at the same point last season.

Big differences at JGR: Bell vs. Gibbs

And then there’s Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell and teammate Ty Gibbs, grandson of the team patriarch.

Bell is off to his best start of his Cup career, with a series-high three wins and two additional top-three finishes vs. one win and two other top-three showings in 2024.

Add all that together and Bell is 51 points ahead of his pace at the same point last year. He also heads to Texas fifth in the Cup standings, 10 points behind fourth-ranked Chase Elliott and 30 points behind third-ranked and Bell’s JGR teammate Denny Hamlin.

Then there’s the younger Gibbs, who has the second-biggest points drop (107) from 2024 to 2025, behind only Keselowski. Much of the reason for that drop is obviously performance-related, or in his case, lack thereof. At this point last year, Ty Gibbs had three top-fives in the first 10 races. But this year, he has managed just one top-five.

Ty Gibbs currently sits a dismal 22^nd in the Cup standings, the lowest of the four JGR drivers. That’s a far cry from where he was after the first 10 races last year: 8^th.

It will be interesting to see where Preece, Keselowski, Bell and Gibbs are at after the 20^th race of the season.