Power Rankings: Oh what the heck, let’s make a change at the top
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. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 3): After finishing third on Sunday at Michigan, Truex has 14 top-10 finishes in 15 races. Richard Petty did that in 1969. No one else has done it. Yeah, a guy with fewer career wins (3) than Petty’s career titles (7) makes for an odd comparison, but here we are with the way Truex is running. Because of Kevin Harvick’s misfortune on pit road, Truex has Harvick’s points lead down to 15.
2. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 1): After having a long pit stop in the beginning stages of the race to fix some damage to the left rear because of contact, it felt like the No. 48 team was playing for the race to go the full distance. The track position he lost because of the pit stop couldn’t be made up in one run. He ended the race 19th and a lap down, but had the race gone the full 200 laps, we wouldn’t have been surprised to see the No. 48 in the top 10.
3. Kevin Harvick (LW: 2): And we wouldn’t have been surprised to see Harvick in the top 10 either. Harvick was forced to pit a lap after a green flag pit stop after the valve stem had been knocked off his right-front tire. If the race would have gone green for a while, Harvick could have mitigated the damage. Instead, a caution flag flew not long after and Harvick was caught a lap down. Then, as the race ended more than 60 laps from the scheduled finish, Harvick had no opportunity to make up those spots.
4. Kurt Busch (LW: 5): We’re not shorting Busch because of a rain-shortened win, rather we’re not punishing Harvick and Johnson for poor finishes because of the what-if factor. Unlike Kyle Larson’s potential win, Busch’s victory was not one based on strategy or luck. His team made the backup car just as fast as his primary car showed in the first practice and he worked his way towards the front after starting 24th.
5. Joey Logano (LW: 4): Another pit road-related miscue, another recovery for Logano. This time Logano had to recover from running out of fuel on lap 95. He got to pit road but he lost a ton of positions. And, somehow, he got most of them back and finished fifth. On one hand, Logano and the No. 22 team’s ability to recover from these mistakes is a good sign for the Chase. Salvaging a good finish could be the difference between survival and elimination. On the other, the ability to run a clean race consistently is necessary for a title.
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (LW: 6): Hey, Junior finished second. He didn’t have anything for Busch over the final segment, but he was the only Hendrick Motorsports car that didn’t get messed up with a late caution during green flag stops. But this wasn’t a second-place finish on circumstance. Junior was fast from the get-go and was near the front most of the day. And hopefully he’s done with ugly Michigan paint schemes. That was not a pretty car he was driving.
7. Matt Kenseth (LW: 7): Tsk, tsk, Flatline. You couldn’t match your son. Does this mean you have to give up the seat of your No. 20? If you’re unaware of what we’re talking about, Ross Kenseth got his first ARCA win on Friday at Michigan. Matt Kenseth finished fourth on Sunday. We imagine that if Ross wants to try to trash-talk dad about his weekend performance, Matt will simply point to his 2003 Winston Cup title trophy or his two Daytona 500 wins.
8. Jamie McMurray (LW: 9): Hey, it’s another top 10 for McMurray. He finished seventh, bringing his total to seven on the season. He had 13 all last year. Yeah, this is a similar way we described McMurray in his paragraph after Pocono, but you can’t get annoyed about that. We’re writing about a rain-shortened race. Be thankful you’re getting all 12 entries in this week’s rankings.
9. Kasey Kahne (LW: 8): Kahne got the pole but only led the second lap. Yeah, he didn’t even lead the first lap. That went to Carl Edwards. He didn’t have one of the best long-run cars, but it was good enough to stay in the top 10. However, he was a lap down during a yellow flag late in the race and got 15th after he took the wave-around. We’re still not sure if Kahne or Jeff Gordon will win first.
10. Brad Keselowski (LW: 10): Keselowski finished a spot behind his teammate in sixth. He said he thought he had a car capable of a better finish over the last part of the race, but yeah, it rained. Rained. Rained. Rained. We’re also sure to call him “Brad” Keselowski this week as a certain host of Fox called him “Brian” after the rain came for a fourth time. And Brad had even been interviewed at length earlier in the race.
11. Denny Hamlin (LW: 11): Our 11th-place driver finished 11th. It’s a nice recovery after Hamlin was at the back end of the top 30 for part of the race. Since winning at Michigan in 2011, Hamlin’s finishes there have been 35th, 34th, 11th, 30th, 20th, 29th, 7th and 11th. So we’re going to go ahead and call Sunday’s race a success, don’t you think?
12. Carl Edwards (LW: 12): Edwards’ statistics are still mind-boggling. Yeah, he’s likely in the Chase because of his Charlotte win, but the win is his only top-five finish and his only other top-10 finish is a 10th at Texas. His average finish is improving because he’s finished inside the top 20 in the last three races since the win, but this is far from a Kenseth-in-2013 scenario. Unless Edwards goes all Tony Stewart-in-2011 during the Chase. And that would be all sorts of fun.
(Un)Lucky Dog: Six measly miles between the rain and his pit stop separated Kyle Larson from a win.
The DNF: We’re going to avoid piling on Kyle Busch and instead ask Greg Biffle what in the world was going on. He finished 36th.
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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!
