Power Rankings: The Texas top 2 is reversed
Our Power Rankings are far from a scientific formula. In fact, it’s the perfect blend of analytics and bias against your favorite driver. And you think we dislike your favorite driver, so it makes sense, right? Direct all your complaints to us at [email protected].
1. Kevin Harvick (LW: 1): Why wasn’t Harvick’s wall-brush as he was chasing Jimmie Johnson a caution? Yes, we ask that with tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek, but with every sarcastic remark there’s a grain of truth, right? Matt Kenseth was apparent cause of two cautions, one after he slid (and saved his car), producing tire smoke, and another caution came after he brushed the wall. If you wanted to use the Kenseth basis to advocate for a late yellow, well, crazier cases have been made for things in NASCAR. Anyway, Harvick finished second. Ho-hum.
2. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 10): For as good as Harvick has been on 1.5 mile tracks (and overall), it’s nice that he’s got a stout intermediate track competitor in the No. 48 team. And yes, we just said it was glad that the 48 had emerged as competition for another driver. Someone check our temperature. Johnson has now won three of the last five races at 1.5 mile tracks. Harvick has won the other two. There’s clearly a Hendrick secret here that’s being fully utilized by two cars. Can others in and outside of Hendrick equipment find it?
3. Joey Logano (LW: 2): Anyone else incredibly happy that a mountain wasn’t made out of a molehill in the episdoe between Logano and Harvick? Logano knew he had to stay ahead of Harvick and Harvick moved Logano out of the way without being dirty about it. As Logano said after the race, it was simply racing, and it was nothing to have an overly dramatic pit road scene about. And Logano’s move may also open up an interesting debate about blocking in the Cup Series. While it’s not an accepted practice throughout the entirety of a race, given the difficulty of passing near the front of the field, at what point does it become acceptable, or at least tolerated, at the end of a race?
4. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 3): Another top 10 for Truex, who has finished there in every Sprint Cup race this season. It’s a hell of an accomplishment, especially for a team that was so far off last season. But it’s also put into 2015 perspective when you look at the standings. Truex is already 40 points out of the lead, meaning if the Texas results repeated themselves at Bristol, he’d be more than a full race out of the top spot. With eight top 10s in eight races. Crazy.
5. Brad Keselowski (LW: 5): Keselowski had a better recovery than his teammate. While Logano moved from eighth to fourth in the waning laps after he was moved out of the way by Harvick (and incredibly saved his car), Keselowski had a tire vibration, lost a lap and also committed coneslaughter. The sentencing for the coneslaughter put Keselowski at the tail end of the field for the next restart but he ended up finishing fifth, one spot behind his teammate.
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (LW: 9): That secret we talked about in the Johnson paragraph? Maybe the No. 88 team found it. While they weren’t too fast at all in qualifying, the team was exceptionally quick in race trim and Junior was near the front pretty quickly. He didn’t lead any laps but spent most of the race in the top 10 and was within spitting distance of the lead as he battled with Kevin Harvick for the rights to finish second to Johnson.
7. Kasey Kahne (LW: 8): If we’re going to give Keselowski and Logano props for their comebacks, we need to mention Kahne’s as well. Kahne had an exceptionally fast car all weekend and an unscheduled stop put him a lap down for a potential loose wheel. He got a fortuitiously-timed caution after green flag pit stops to cycle back towards the lead lap and stayed near the front of the field the rest of the way. He finished 8th.
8. Denny Hamlin (LW: 7): Denny Hamlin finished 11th? Denny Hamlin finished 11th. The No. 11 was flat out to lunch early in the race but they kept working on the car and got back near the top 10. Good points racing for that bunch despite the fact they don’t have to points race any longer because Hamlin won at Martinsville to essentially qualify for the Chase. What? You mean teams want to do as best as they can even on bad days? We’ll be damned.
9. Jeff Gordon (LW: 12): Gordon finished sixth and after his horrible start to the season is 13th in the standings. That’s what happens when you counter three bad races with four consecutive top 10s. And while the results have gotten better for Gordon, his fastest non-Martinsville car has been his Atlanta car. As you know, that race ended in a crash against a bare concrete wall. Gordon will win a race, and probably soon. We’re going to go with a Kansas repeat.
10. Kurt Busch (LW: 4): Yes, this seems awfully harsh for Busch, it’s just that we couldn’t justify keeping him above the drivers who finished ahead of him. Busch was incredibly fast at the beginning of the race but the handling disappeared on his car as the race went on and he scrapped towards a 14th place finish. Through four of seven races in 2014, Busch is now just 17 points outside the top 20.
11. Ryan Newman (LW: 11): For the second week after his team was found to have been poking holes in tires, Newman finished outside the top 10. Though we’ll clarify and say it wasn’t nearly as bad as his Martinsville debacle, where he fell like an anchor through the field after starting second. Rather he finished 12th, which was pretty typical in his 2014 season. We’re anxiously awaiting what emerges from the No. 31 team’s appeal on Thursday.
12. Aric Almirola (LW: NR): All hail the wonders of the NASCAR points system. Almirola is 10th in the standings despite not having any top-10 finishes in 2015. He’s done it by finishing 11th (twice) and not finishing any lower than 26th. Six of his seven finishes are between 11th and 19th. Is it a run that’s going to get him in the Chase again? Probably not. But it’s a lesser imitation of Ryan Newman’s 2014 so far and we saw how well that worked out last year.
Dropped Out: Matt Kenseth
The DNF: HScott Motorsports teammates Justin Allagaier and Michael Annett both had apparent tire issues that led to crashes.
– – – – – – –
Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
