Power Rankings: Rating the 12 points races of the season
Welcome to the 1/3rd mark of the 2016 Sprint Cup Series season. Since there was so much apparent confusion after Saturday night’s All-Star Race, we didn’t want to add to the chaos by letting our Power Rankings be affected by a non-points race. So since we’re 12 races in to the season, we figured that this would be a good time to look back at them all.
We rated the finishes to Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series races earlier in the season but this set of rankings is taking the entirety of the races into account. That’s why it may look a bit different from what you saw earlier this year. Let’s get to it.
1. Richmond: Fully admitting that we may be biased because we saw this one in person, Richmond has the top spot in our rankings. Not only was the finish one of the best of the season, the racing from lap 1 to 400 was fantastic. The decision to move the race to the daytime paid off as drivers looked for every edge of pavement throughout Richmond’s corners to find some speed. Two and three-wide racing throughought the field was commonplace. Winner: Carl Edwards.
2. California: The turnaround of Auto Club Speedway from pariah to on a pedestal continues to be impressive. Thanks to lower downforce and tire wear, the race was once again extremely entertaining even as Kevin Harvick led 142 laps. Winner: Jimmie Johnson
3. Atlanta: Atlanta may not have been the most thrilling of races for people at home. However it still gets the No. 3 spot. It was our first chance to see the lower downforce tweaks and drivers emerged from their cars with rave reviews for the rule changes. Of course, after the disaster that was last year, they could have probably ridden bikes at Atlanta and said the same thing. But the second race of the season started the good racing vibes. Winner: Jimmie Johnson.
4. Talladega: Yes, the discussion after the Talladega race centered around flying cars. And with good reason. But when you look past that (scary) aspect, it was the best overall restrictor plate race of the year. Yes, even better than the Daytona 500 despite its fantastic finish. Winner: Brad Keselowski.
5. Dover: Should Dover be higher on this list? That question may be from the recency bias though. Last week’s race was potentially the best at the track in eight years. Not only could drivers race each other for the lead intensely at the end of the race, they were able to race each other all over the track throughout the entire race. Winner: Matt Kenseth.
6. Daytona: As we said when ranking the finishes of the races, Daytona would have been a letdown if it wasn’t for the crazy final mile of the race. The race was controlled by the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas and if there wasn’t a last-lap pass for the win, the biggest memory of the race would have been Chase Elliott or Dale Earnhardt Jr. crashing. That doesn’t speak too well to the awesomeness of the race. Winner: Denny Hamlin.
7. Phoenix: This year’s race was one of the better Phoenix races in recent memory. But like Dover, Phoenix hasn’t exactly been a thrilling track. Yeah, the finish was great, but the biggest takeaway from the overall race was that tire wear finally had an influence on the repaved surface. That’s good news for the future. Winner: Kevin Harvick.
8. Bristol: This Bristol is just fine, thank you. Yeah, the “old Bristol” had the bump-and-run as a part of the passing repertoire, but it was a one-groove track. That one groove was just on the bottom rather than the top. And as Brad Keselowski showed us at one point throughout the race, it’s possible to bump a driver out of the way in the high groove without crashing him. Winner: Carl Edwards.
9. Martinsville: Kyle Busch ruined Martinsville. OK, we’re kidding. Is it possible to ruin Martinsville? Busch led 352 laps while no one else led more than 72. Three drivers who started outside the top 20 finished in the top 10, however. That’s never a bad thing. Winner: Kyle Busch.
10. Las Vegas: If this was last year, Vegas would probably be higher on the list. But alas, it barely cracks the top 10 here. Outside of Brad Keselowski chasing down Kyle Busch for the lead on older tires, no one is going to remember Vegas as being epically thrilling. But no one is going to remember it for being a bad race either. Winner: Brad Keselowski.
11. Kansas: This race brought back the dreaded “track position” phrase. In a season of tire wear and easier passing, you automatically get docked a bunch of spots if the winner’s crew chief emphasizes track position in a post-race press conference. Winner: Kyle Busch.
12. Texas: Texas races need to be shortened to 400 miles. We think Martin Truex Jr. will agree with this sentiment as he’d be the winner if this year’s race was 100 miles shorter (Yes, Trevor Bayne was leading at the 400-mile mark but that was a strategy play. It was Truex’s race to lose). Winner: Kyle Busch.
– – – – – – –
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!
