Power Rankings: It’s the Kyle Busch Show
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. Kyle Busch (LW: 2): Busch’s run is remarkable. It’d be remarkable if he didn’t miss the first 11 races of the year and it’s even more noteworthy because he did. And in a system that appropriately rewards winning – we’re not advocating for the F1 style, but, at the minimum, more bonus points for drivers who go to victory lane – he’s in the Chase. Except he’s not. But we’re trying to put the whole Chase thing aside and just enjoy what’s going on right now. You should too, even though we’re going to ultimately view this streak in the context of the final 10 races of the season. Let’s live for the present.
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2. Kevin Harvick (LW: 1): Sunday’s race was summed up in the eight-to-go restart between Harvick and Busch. Because Harvick didn’t have Martin Truex Jr. glued to his bumper – Truex mistimed the start – Harvick lost the top spot to Busch, who got a huge push from Joey Logano. And once Busch got out in front of Harvick, the No. 4 had no shot. Tough break for what was likely the fastest car of Sunday’s race.
3. Joey Logano (LW: 4): If you get a chance to watch the final restart of Sunday’s race again, pay close attention to the gap Logano and Busch get on the rest of the field. Logano was able to clear everyone else and get behind Busch while everyone from Harvick on back was two-by-two. The holes the cars cut in the air was apparent as the top two sprinted away from the field like they had gotten the invincibility star from Mario Kart. Hey, maybe invincibility stars are what NASCAR needs to add at Indianapolis to create more passing?
4. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 3): Johnson was a non-factor throughout Sunday’s race. Pretty surprising, don’t you think? The team was clearly concerned about something after his qualifying run in the second round. He posted the slowest time of the 12 qualifiers and the team pored over the car post-qualifying. Whatever tweaks they made didn’t work out too well as Johnson finished 15th. Or he could have had a fast car and we just didn’t realize it because of the lack of track position.
5. Kurt Busch (LW: 5): Busch finished eighth after starting 14th. That sounds boring, but Busch had a pretty eventful day. He had to pit a bit earlier than he wanted to on the first round of stops because of a flat tire. Strategy got him back to the front of the field and he ended up eighth. After the race, Busch said he didn’t have a winning car, but eighth was worse than where he figured he’d finish. Yeah, the No. 41 team is fast.
6. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 7): The top-10 train is back on the tracks. After four weeks off the rails for repairs, Truex got his 16th top-10 finish in 20 races after finishing fourth on Sunday. He said he mistimed his push of Harvick on the third-to-last restart because he forgot to ask his spotter for help on timing out the caution. Yes “accelerating when the driver ahead of you goes” sounds easy to do, but an assist from the eyes in the sky can be invaluable.
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (LW: 6): Your last memory of Earnhardt Jr.’s Brickyard likely is of him sliding around in turn one after clipping the grass of Kasey Kahne’s bumper. Junior took a higher line into the corner than Kahne did and when he got down to the bottom to blunt Kahne’s run, his teammate was there and calamity ensued. But did you know that Junior ended up making up six spots after that incident and finished 22nd, ahead of Kahne and others?
8. Brad Keselowski (LW: 8): Keselowski had a fast car on Friday but didn’t get that same speed on Saturday. He qualified 31st, which meant getting to the front was an exceptionally tall task. And he did get the lead of the race late, though he had to pit for fuel so it was a bit of a false lead. He did end up finishing 10th, which is still a 21-spot increase. The only driver who made up more spots was Ryan Newman. He finished a spot behind Keselowski after starting last because his qualifying time was disallowed.
9. Denny Hamlin (LW: 10): After a bashed up hood during Friday, Hamlin was likely OK with a fifth-place finish. He called passing on Sunday “excruciatingly difficult,” which seems about as apt a summation as any. He also – accurately – said that anyone outside of the first two rows on the late restarts had no shot at the lead. “I felt like we had a shot at it, but you just have to restart in the first couple rows to contend for a win and really whoever comes off turn two with the lead has pretty much got it,” Hamlin said. “You’re really racing towards turn two and that’s about it.”
10. Matt Kenseth (LW: 11): While Keselowski and Newman made significant gains from their starting positions, Kenseth did too. He started 23rd and finished seventh on a day where he called the aero tweaks NASCAR made “terrible.” We’ll see what these same rules do at Michigan. Our guess is it’ll look a bit like a restrictor plate race at times, especially on restarts.
11. Carl Edwards (LW: 12): After starting first, Edwards fell to 13th. He seemed to have one of the better cars of the day while he was up front, but much like many others in the field, he wasn’t as strong in traffic. While Edwards has been stronger as of late, his likely Chase berth is overshadowing a disappointing season for him. Unless he does what Tony Stewart did in 2011 and goes on a tear to win the title.
12. Jeff Gordon (LW: 9): Gordon’s final Brickyard 400 was reduced to limping around the track with a car made out of sheetmetal, tape and a lot of sweat to beat Alex Bowman and not be in last place. What a sour 22nd chapter to Gordon’s Indianapolis career. Good thing he was sponsored by 3M during Sunday’s race. having a taped-up 3M car is still a pretty good advertisment for the company.
Lucky Dog: Clint Bowyer. Bowyer finished sixth and sent out this tweet after the race that we can’t embed for obvious reasons. But it did make us laugh.
The DNF: He finished the race, but Tony Stewart ended up 28th, the last car on the lead lap. He started fourth. Yes, his qualifying performance on Saturday was nice and made a lot of people optimistic, but Stewart has put in good qualifying performances before. It’s putting in a fast race that’s a struggle. The team seemed to have a decent car. It was just that its strategy ended up not being decent.
Dropped Out: None
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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!
