By Adam Carabine
A look at the Top Ten in our weekly Power Rankings, plus the biggest movers! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs, with an emphasis placed on the most recent 5 races.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – This week: 10 – Last week: 10
Somehow Stenhouse sticks around in the Top 10 this week. Still riding high from his stats at Daytona and Atlanta, Stenhouse will continue to fall back to earth here as we get farther away from those races. If you took away any stage points, Stenhouse actually has more points than Josh Berry.
Joey Logano – This week: 9 – Last week: 9
Still searching for his elusive first Top 10 of the season, Logano’s finishes have left a little to be desired. However, his last three finishes have been in the Top 15, and he had a solid day at Homestead, leading all drivers in Pass Differential.
Chase Elliott – This week: 8 – Last week: 7
Elliott slips one spot, though you can probably thank an obscure penalty for that. The 9 team was dinged for not entering pit road single file. You don’t hear that called often, though upon replay it looks like it was a legitimate penalty. Chase is looking for that finishing speed still, but he’s in the hunt each week.
Austin Cindric – This week: 7 – Last week: 8
Cindric’s Homestead finish might not have been where he’d have liked it (P19) but he scored points in both stages, and earned some solid stats in the underlying numbers. His average running position on the day was 11th, so his finish isn’t indicative of the day he had.
Ryan Blaney – This week: 6 – Last week: 11
Despite the DNF and the 36th place finish, the rest of Blaney’s day at Homestead was going pretty well. That is, until his engine blew for the second time in three races. He led the most laps (124), had one of the fastest cars on the track, and earned himself a spot back in the Power Rankings Top Ten.
Tyler Reddick – This week: 5 – Last week: 3
Homestead being one of Reddick’s favourite tracks, expectations were high. On the surface, a P8 finish with solid underlying numbers isn’t a terrible day at all – but you can’t help but think the 45 team is disappointed with how the day turned out. Bonus for having the most quality passes of anyone though, with 84.
Kyle Larson – This week: 4 – Last week: 6
We’re accustomed to seeing Larson dominate races, and yet his victory at Homestead was really the result of a late-race pass. He only led 19 laps en route to his first win of the season. He probably tagged the wall more than 19 times.
Alex Bowman – This week: 3 – Last week: 5
Bowman was close to keeping the B-names stat alive (in case you didn’t notice, all five races leading into Homestead were won by drivers whose last names start with B), but he had it fall apart in the final moments of the race. With Larson creeping up and putting pressure on him, he tagged the wall and had to settle for a P2 finish.
Christopher Bell – This week: 2 – Last week: 1
Bell falls from the top spot this week after a P29 finish at Homestead. He was actually pretty fast on the track, but an early spin took him out of contention. He finished a lap down but still managed to have 29 fast laps on the day. He may have the most wins of any driver, but he’ll want to work on consistency, since he’s actually fifth in points.
William Byron – This week: 1 – Last week: 2
Your Daytona 500 champion is the points leader, and has probably been the most consistent of any driver to start this season. He’s only finished outside of the Top 12 once in six races. That consistency, paired with some stage points and solid underlying numbers at Homestead, gives us a new top driver in the Power Rankings!
Biggest Movers
Carson Hocevar – This week: 33 – Last week: 23
Falls 10 places
Austin Dillon – This week: 28 – Last week: 34
Gains 6 places
Rest of the List
11. Kyle Busch LW: 4 -7
12. Bubba Wallace LW: 16 +4
13. Denny Hamlin LW: 17 +4
14. Ryan Preece LW: 14 --
15. JH Nemechek LW: 12 -3
16. Chris Buescher LW: 19 +3
17. Michael McDowell LW: 18 +1
18. Chase Briscoe LW: 21 +3
19. Josh Berry LW: 15 -4
20. Daniel Suarez LW: 22 +2
21. Ross Chastain LW: 13 -8
22. Todd Gilliland LW: 20 -2
23. Erik Jones LW: 26 +3
24. Justin Haley LW: 27 +3
25. SVG LW: 24 -1
26. Riley Herbst LW: 25 -1
27. Ty Dillon LW: 29 +2
28. Austin Dillon LW: 34 +6
29. Ty Gibbs LW: 28 -1
30. Brad Keselowski LW: 31 +1
31. AJ Allmendinger LW: 30 -1
32. Noah Gragson LW: 32 --
33. Carson Hocevar LW: 23 -10
34. Zane Smith LW: 33 -1
35. Cole Custer LW: 36 +1
36. Cody Ware LW: 35 -1
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