
The Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour remains one of the most important proving grounds in Professional Bull Riders, providing established veterans, international competitors and emerging stars an opportunity to earn Velocity Global points and move toward the sport’s biggest stages. PBR uses Velocity Global points to help determine which new riders advance to Unleash The Beast, while the top eligible riders can also earn invitations to the PBR World Finals.
The 2026 season produced an especially compelling championship race. Grayson Cole ultimately made history by capturing his second Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour championship, becoming the first rider in the tour’s 12-year history to win multiple season titles.
PBR’s current official final standings list Nick Tetz second, followed by Macaulie Leather, Dener Barbosa and Daniel Keeping to complete the Top 5.
As attention turns toward the next Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour season, here is a breakdown of the final 2026 Top 10 and four projected season-long prop bets.
RankRiderPointsAvg. ScoreRidesOutsRide %1Grayson Cole655.0085.29145326.42%2Nick Tetz630.5085.86162176.19%3Macaulie Leather611.0084.29203458.82%4Dener Barbosa590.0083.71213953.85%5Daniel Keeping560.0087.2091181.82%6Romario Leite545.5083.89174240.48%7Wyatt Rogers517.5080.94173943.59%8Trace Redd499.5086.41102540.00%9Elijah Jennings483.0084.50113630.56%10Brody Robinson421.5081.79186527.69%
PBR’s official standings provide the points, scoring averages, rides, outs and riding percentages above.
2026 Finish: 1st — 655 points
Grayson Cole entered the season as a former Velocity Tour champion and finished it by making history.
Cole captured the 2026 Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Championship, adding the title to his 2024 crown and becoming the first two-time champion in tour history.
The final standings show Cole with 655 points. He accumulated those points despite a relatively low 26.42% overall riding percentage, illustrating just how effectively he converted his best performances into meaningful championship points.
Cole entered the Finals with a significant points advantage and had already recorded three event victories during the regular-season campaign.
He went 0-for-2 at the Finals, but the work he had done throughout the season was enough to protect the championship.
Next-season outlook: Cole has already proven he knows how to manage a season-long championship race. If he continues competing regularly on the Velocity Tour, he immediately belongs among the favorites to contend again.
2026 Finish: 2nd — 630.50 points
Nick Tetz may have produced the most eye-catching statistical season of anyone near the top of the standings.
PBR’s current standings list Tetz with 630.50 points, a 76.19% riding percentage and 16 qualified rides in just 21 outs. His 85.86 average score also ranked among the strongest numbers in the Top 10.
Tetz did not need a huge number of appearances to accumulate points. By the end of the regular season, he had already collected four Velocity Tour event wins and six Top-5 finishes in only seven listed events at that stage of the campaign.
That efficiency is what makes him such an intriguing future championship candidate.
Next-season outlook: If Tetz gets enough opportunities on the Velocity Tour, he has the statistical profile of a champion. A rider covering more than three-quarters of his bulls becomes extremely difficult to keep off leaderboards.
2026 Finish: 3rd — 611 points
Macaulie Leather’s season presents one of the most interesting cases in the entire Top 10.
He finished with 611 points, 20 qualified rides in 34 outs and a 58.82% riding percentage.
Yet he accomplished that without winning a Velocity Tour event.
The Finals article credited Leather with eight Top-5 finishes in 12 events, an extraordinary level of consistency without an accompanying victory. He added another strong performance in Corpus Christi, finishing fifth at the Finals after covering two bulls.
Leather also earned one of the available pathways into the PBR World Finals following the Velocity season.
Next-season outlook: Leather is one of the strongest candidates for positive regression in event wins. If he continues reaching Top-5 positions at anything close to his 2026 rate, eventually those near-misses should become victories.
2026 Finish: 4th — 590 points
Dener Barbosa brought veteran experience and remarkable consistency to the Velocity Tour.
He finished with 590 points, 21 qualified rides in 39 attempts and a 53.85% riding percentage.
Barbosa had already accumulated 10 Top-5 finishes through 16 events entering the regular-season finale, showing how regularly he positioned himself near the top of event leaderboards.
He then delivered again at the Velocity Tour Finals, finishing third after going 3-for-3 with a 230.85-point aggregate.
Next-season outlook: Barbosa’s combination of volume and consistency gives him a high floor. If more of those Top-5 performances become outright victories, another championship challenge is realistic.
2026 Finish: 5th — 560 points
No rider in the final Top 10 created a more explosive finish than Daniel Keeping.
Keeping finished with 560 points despite only 11 recorded outs, making nine qualified rides for an incredible 81.82% riding percentage. His 87.20 scoring average was also the highest among the final Top 10.
Then he dominated the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals.
Keeping went a perfect 3-for-3, winning all three rounds and producing scores of 90.75, 90.95 and 88.10 for a 269.80-point aggregate. He earned 346 Velocity points during the Finals event alone.
That performance transformed his season.
Next-season outlook: Keeping is the ultimate high-upside contender. His sample was much smaller than most of the riders around him, but an 81.82% riding percentage and the best scoring average in the Top 10 cannot be ignored.
2026 Finish: 6th — 545.50 points
Romario Leite steadily worked his way into the championship picture throughout the season.
He finished with 545.50 points, 17 qualified rides in 42 attempts and a 40.48% riding percentage.
Leite caught fire down the stretch, earning his first listed Velocity Tour victory of the season at Knoxville in the regular-season finale. That victory helped solidify his position among the leading championship contenders.
Leite also earned an opportunity to advance to the PBR World Finals through his Velocity Tour performance.
Next-season outlook: His ceiling depends on consistency. If Leite can increase his riding percentage while maintaining his ability to win events, he has Top-5 and championship potential.
2026 Finish: 7th — 517.50 points
Wyatt Rogers put together a quietly productive campaign.
He finished with 517.50 points, 17 rides in 39 outs and a 43.59% riding percentage.
Rogers also demonstrated consistency during the regular season, recording seven Top-5 finishes and an event victory before the Finals.
Although he did not record a qualified ride during the Velocity Finals, his season body of work was strong enough to earn one of the opportunities to advance to the PBR World Finals.
Next-season outlook: Rogers does not need a complete overhaul. More event victories and a modest improvement in riding percentage could turn him from a Top-10 rider into a serious Top-5 threat.
2026 Finish: 8th — 499.50 points
Trace Redd demonstrated that he can win against quality competition.
He closed the season with 499.50 points and an 86.41 average score, the second-highest scoring average among the final Top 10 behind Daniel Keeping.
Redd won the Velocity Tour event in Reno and produced two event victories and five Top-5 finishes during his limited schedule.
The 40% riding percentage leaves room for improvement, but his scoring average demonstrates what happens when he reaches the whistle.
Next-season outlook: Redd is a sleeper championship candidate. A jump from 40% into the 45-50% range could have a significant effect because his successful rides already generate strong scores.
2026 Finish: 9th — 483 points
Elijah Jennings emerged as one of the tour’s most exciting young riders.
At only 18 years old, Jennings earned his first career PBR victory in Grand Rapids in January.
He quickly proved it was not a one-week breakthrough.
Just two weeks later, Jennings won again at Hampton, becoming the only rider at the event to cover two bulls and moving to No. 2 in the Velocity standings at that point in the season.
He ultimately finished ninth with 483 points, 11 qualified rides and a 30.56% riding percentage.
Next-season outlook: Jennings may possess more developmental upside than almost anyone in the Top 10. The event-winning ability is already present. Greater consistency could produce a major standings jump.
2026 Finish: 10th — 421.50 points
Brody Robinson took the high-volume route to the Top 10.
He logged 65 outs, the most of anyone in the final Top 10, and converted 18 of them into qualified rides.
The 27.69% riding percentage was relatively low, but Robinson’s willingness and ability to compete repeatedly allowed him to continue accumulating points.
He also recorded five Top-5 finishes during the campaign despite failing to win an event.
Next-season outlook: Robinson’s pathway upward is straightforward: maintain the volume while improving efficiency. Even a moderate increase in his riding percentage could dramatically increase his points total.
The following are projected season-long betting props created for analysis and entertainment. They are not being presented as currently posted sportsbook markets.
Tetz finished second in the official standings with 630.50 points despite only 21 recorded outs.
More importantly, he covered 76.19% of his bulls and averaged 85.86 points per qualified ride.
His four Velocity Tour victories during the 2026 regular season demonstrated that the efficiency translated into event wins.
If he competes in enough Velocity events, another Top-3 season is very realistic.
Leather may be the strongest positive-regression candidate on the tour.
He finished third with 611 points and covered 58.82% of his bulls, while the final event standings credited him with eight Top-5 finishes despite zero victories.
That combination suggests Leather repeatedly put himself in winning position but simply did not finish the job.
One breakthrough victory is a reasonable expectation if that level of consistency continues.
Keeping provided a small sample size but extraordinary production.
He finished with two listed victories and 560 points while making only 11 outs, and his 81.82% riding percentage was the highest among the final Top 10.
His Finals performance was even more impressive: three bulls, three qualified rides, three round wins and two 90-point scores.
If Keeping makes multiple Velocity Tour appearances, two victories are well within his demonstrated ceiling.
The international depth near the top of the 2026 standings was impossible to overlook.
Canada’s Nick Tetz finished second, Australia’s Macaulie Leather finished third, Brazil’s Dener Barbosa finished fourth and Brazil’s Romario Leite finished sixth.
That means four international riders occupied four of the first six positions behind American champion Grayson Cole.
With that level of talent throughout the field, backing an international rider to claim the next championship presents an intriguing season-long angle.
Macaulie Leather is my favorite prop from this group.
Finishing third in the championship with 611 points, a 58.82% riding percentage and 20 qualified rides would already qualify as a strong season. Doing it without a single event victory makes his performance even more interesting.
Leather consistently put himself in contention, with the Finals standings crediting him with eight Top-5 finishes.
If he reproduces that level of consistency, asking him to convert only one of those opportunities into an event championship is a much lower bar than asking him to win the overall tour title.
Grayson Cole enters the next chapter of his career having already accomplished something no other Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour rider had done: win two season championships. His 2024 and 2026 titles establish him as one of the defining riders in the history of the tour.
But the numbers show that the field behind him is extremely dangerous.
Nick Tetz produced a phenomenal 76.19% riding percentage while finishing second. Macaulie Leather combined consistency and volume to finish third without winning an event. Dener Barbosa remained near the front through repeated Top-5 performances, while Daniel Keeping exploded into fifth after one of the most dominant Velocity Finals performances imaginable.
Romario Leite and Wyatt Rogers provided veteran consistency, Trace Redd showed high-end scoring ability, and Elijah Jennings established himself as one of PBR’s most intriguing young prospects by winning twice as an 18-year-old. Brody Robinson completed the Top 10 through relentless volume and persistence.
That mixture of champions, international contenders, established professionals and young breakout candidates is exactly what makes the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour so compelling. It is not simply a secondary PBR circuit—it is a place where the next wave of Unleash The Beast contenders and future World Finals qualifiers can emerge.
Heading toward the next season, Tetz, Leather, Barbosa and Keeping appear capable of challenging Cole’s standard, while Jennings may be the name with the greatest long-term upside. If 2026 was any indication, the race for the next Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour championship should remain wide open until the final bulls are bucked.

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