Power Rankings: The 12 finishes of 2016 from best to worst
Without any racing last weekend, we need a special edition of Power Rankings. So why not relive the 12 finishes from the 2016 NASCAR season so far?
We’ve had five Sprint Cup Series races, five Xfinity Series races and two Camping World Truck Series races in 2016. Let’s thrown them all in the same pot and see what rises to the top.
NOTE: “Finish” is not the same as the race. Rather than rate entire races, we’re just focusing on the endings. These rankings would likely look different if we took entire races into account.
1. Sprint Cup Series, Daytona 500: Yeah, there’s no way we can come close to justifying anything else being ahead of the Daytona 500. Not only was it the closest finish in Daytona 500 history at 0.01 seconds, Denny Hamlin’s win over Martin Truex Jr. seemingly came out of nowhere. Halfway down the backstretch on the final lap you might have been thinking we were heading for a letdown of a checkered flag.
This was no letdown.
2. Xfinity Series, Auto Club Speedway: Had this race happened in the Cup Series, it perhaps snags the top spot ahead of the Daytona 500. That’s how bonkers it was. We can’t remember the last time we saw the leader blow a tire on the final lap (the 1990 Daytona 500 comes to mind), and not only that, his two closest pursuers ran out of gas. That meant the driver who was a distant fourth when the white flag flew ended up winning the race.
3. Sprint Cup Series, Phoenix: Tires mattered at Phoenix. When was the last time that we said that? In previous Phoenix races, Kevin Harvick would have been a guarantee to win the race if he stayed out simply because of the lack of tire falloff at the recently-paved track. Not this year. Carl Edwards’ two-tire pit strategy was inches from paying off as he ran down Harvick over the final two laps and was 0.01 seconds from swiping the surprise win.
4. Xfinity Series, Daytona: There wasn’t a lead change over the last 14 laps, but the finish was dramatic. Chase Elliott held off Joey Logano as the field somehow didn’t have a massive crash in the waning laps. We feel like the race deserves a bonus for the lack of a crash.
5. Sprint Cup Series, Las Vegas: Yeah, Brad Keselowski ended up running away from everyone else over the final few laps, but his win felt a bit improbable. After staying out on the final caution of the race, Keselowski had older tires than Kyle Busch, who took the lead. But Keselowski’s car was incredibly good on long runs and he got past Joey Logano. Then as Busch’s tires went away, Keselowski cruised on past for his second Vegas win in three races.
6. Sprint Cup Series, California: You’re so sneaky, Jimmie Johnson. Harvick dominated this race and was in position to get his second-straight win when Johnson drove past him on the final restart. Once Johnson got past Harvick, the 2014 champion was helpless to get past. Had Kyle Busch not had a tire issue late in the race to bring out that final caution, no one was catching Harvick.
7. Truck Series, Atlanta: John Hunter Nemechek scored his second career win by surviving an amalgamation of incidents over the last part of the race. The relative calm of the finish was a stark contrast from the craziness that enveloped the second half of the race, but it was still entertaining.
8. Sprint Cup Series, Atlanta: Johnson took the lead from Harvick with a faster and earlier pit stop. While Harvick was able to close the gap to Johnson, when he got within six seconds of the six-time champion, he stalled out. Harvick had a chance to go after Johnson when Ryan Newman crashed to bring out a green-white-checker finish, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. ended up being the driver who finished second.
9. Truck Series, Daytona: Since we said the Daytona Xfinity race deserved bonus points for not having a caution near the end of the race, we’re not going to give this race a boost for the crazy crash that included Christopher Bell’s truck flipping through the air. Had the caution not come out at the beginning of the final lap, we’re not sure Johnny Sauter would have held on to win the race.
10. (TIE) The Xfinity Series races Kyle Busch won: Busch won at Atlanta, Las Vegas and Phoenix. He led 493 laps in those three races and the shortest time led at the end of the race was 14 laps at Phoenix. And that was only because of a green flag pit stop cycle that was manipulated by Keselowski and the No. 22 team. All the drama we lacked in these three wins combined to give us that crazy Auto Club finish.
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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!
