By Adam Carabine
Zane Smith – This week: 34th – Last week: 34th
Darlington was not a friend to Zane Smith, he had a DNF, and finished 35th.
Harrison Burton – This week: 33rd – Last week: 33rd
A lead lap finish, P22 is better than we’ve seen from Burton in a bit, but it’ll take more than that to move up.
Austin Dillon – This week: 32nd – Last week: 31st
What has happened to this team? Dillon is in a free-fall.
Michael McDowell – This week: 31st – Last week: 32nd
McDowell has been making his way forward in the Power Rankings with some solid finishes. A Top 10 at Darlington helped for sure.
Austin Cindric – This week: 30th – Last week: 30th
When Cindric brings it home in 20th, and that’s seen as an improvement? Not great.
Carson Hocevar – This week: 29th – Last week: 28th
Hocevar started the year strong, and was leading in the Rookie of the Year battle for a while. He lost it to Josh Berry this weekend with a P26 finish.
Corey LaJoie – This week: 28th – Last week: 29th
Finishing just outside of the Top 15, on a tough track like Darlington? Decent weekend for the 7 team.
Justin Haley – This week: 27th – Last week: 27th
We congratulated Haley on a P18 last week, this week he followed up with a P9. Maybe he’s finding his footing with Rick Ware Racing.
Daniel Hemric – This week: 26th – Last week: 23rd
Two consecutive weeks of Hemric plummeting in the Power Rankings. He finished 33rd at Darlington.
Erik Jones – This week: 25th – Last week: 25th
Solid, quiet week for Erik Jones in his return from injury. He can perform better at Darlington, we know, but a Top 20 with a broken back isn’t too shabby.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – This week: 24th – Last week: 21st
Another underwhelming performance from Stenhouse. P23 isn’t terrible, but nothing shines in his underlying stats either.
Ryan Preece – This week: 23rd – Last week: 22nd
P17 for Preece. Sure, it could have been worse, but he was the worst finisher of all the Stewart-Haas cars.
John Hunter Nemechek – This week: 22nd – Last week: 20th
A rough day for Nemechek, a P31 has him fall two spots.
Todd Gilliland – This week: 21st – Last week: 24th
A spicy day on the 38’s radio, and a solid day for the Power Rankings. A Top 15 finish for Gilliland, but he also got extra points in Stage One, and happened to have the most Quality Passes of any driver all day.
Josh Berry – This week: 20th – Last week: 26th
Biggest mover of the week, Josh Berry finished 3rd at Darlington (after starting 33rd, no less). It’s no wonder he had the best passing differential on the day too.
Daniel Suarez – This week: 19th – Last week: 17th
When Suarez won at Atlanta, the overall consensus at the time was that he had saved his seat at Trackhouse. With what we’ve seen from the 99 team since then, now I’m not so sure.
Noah Gragson – This week: 18th – Last week: 19th
Make that seven Top 20s in a row for Noah, after a P14 at Darlington. He’s regaining some of his Xfinity prowess!
Bubba Wallace – This week: 17th – Last week: 18th
A Top-10 in Darlington for Bubba Wallace moves him up the ladder a little more. Plus he scored some points in each stage break. Bubba is in the Top 10 of stage points earned this season.
Joey Logano – This week: 16th – Last week: 15th
Another woeful finish for Joey Logano. He did score 7 stage points, and was running in the Top 10 for most of the day, so he’s got that going for him.
Chase Briscoe – This week: 15th – Last week: 16th
A Top 5 for Briscoe at a track that’s notoriously difficult to drive bodes well for this team. Hopefully that’s a shift in momentum for them.
Chris Buescher – This week: 14th – Last week: 13th
Aside from the actual finishing position, Buescher actually had a solid race. He was in contention until Tyler Reddick’s failed slide job did him in. P30 drops him one spot this week.
Christopher Bell – This week: 13th – Last week: 14th
It was a quiet race for Bell this week, but he managed to pull out a P13 at a tough track.
Alex Bowman – This week: 12th – Last week: 12th
Bowman continues to be underrepresented on TV, as his Hendrick teammates seem to take all the screentime. He finished P8 at Darlington, that’s four Top 10s in a row now.
Kyle Busch – This week: 11th – Last week: 11th
Has Kyle Busch started doubting his transition to RCR yet? He was supposed to elevate them, but have they brought him down? He keeps his position this week but it’s very much in danger.
Ryan Blaney – This week: 10th – Last week: 7th
It wasn’t entirely his fault, but Blaney had a rough race at Darlington. DNF, finishing last, and throw in some profanities on his radio too. He tends to bounce back pretty well, so don’t count him out yet.
Ross Chastain – This week: 9th – Last week: 10th
It sometimes feels like Chastain and Suarez are not teammates, they tend to run so differently. A disappointing day for Suarez, but P11 for Chastain is something he can be happy with.
Ty Gibbs – This week: 8th – Last week: 8th
A really solid day for Ty Gibbs at Darlington. He gets a runner-up finish, ties for the most stage points on the day, and spent the majority of the day in the Top 5.
Brad Keselowski – This week: 7th – Last week: 9th
The only reason Gibbs didn’t move up was because of Keselowski’s impressive win. Did luck play a factor? Yes, but he’s been knocking at the door for a while, too. He tied Reddick for the best average running position all day, and finally broke the winless streak!
Chase Elliott – This week: 6th – Last week: 5th
A poor qualifying effort kept Chase Elliott from success at Darlington. He had good passing numbers, and did eventually make his way up to finish 12th, but the others around him had better days.
William Byron – This week: 5th – Last week: 4th
It’s hard to imagine a world where Byron finishes P6 and drops a spot, but here we are. He and Chase Elliott were likely supplanted by the incredible day Reddick had (up until the mistake at the end). It’s definitely harder to maintain your spot in the Power Rankings at the top.
Tyler Reddick – This week: 4th – Last week: 6th
Don’t let that P32 fool you. Reddick had a stellar day, all up until he tangled with Buescher in the final run to the finish. He led 174 laps (a career high, and the most of anyone all day), had the fastest car on track for 75 laps (again, the most of anyone), and even won a stage. Yes, the finishing position was bad, but watch out for Reddick.
Martin Truex Jr. – This week: 3rd – Last week: 3rd
Truex was having a solid day until he got caught in a wreck on a restart stackup. His car wasn’t the same after that, and they couldn’t seem to find the balance. However, some decent underlying stats kept him in the Top 3 of the Power Rankings.
Denny Hamlin – This week: 2nd – Last week: 2nd
Somehow a quiet day for Denny still wound up being a P4. You didn’t see much of him, but he’s consistently getting results.
Kyle Larson – This week: 1st – Last week: 1st
Unfortunately for Larson, his tires did not agree with him at Darlington and he wound up crashing out of the race with about 40 laps to go. He earned plenty of stage points, though, and had some solid passing numbers. Plus, Larson has been so good, it’s hard to dock him a spot in the Power Rankings for a DNF just yet.
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