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: 8
Stenhouse is slowly but steadily falling out of the Top 10 as the tracks on the schedule suit his abilities less and less. Unless something wild happens, expect to see him out of the Top 10 next week.
Joey Logano – This week: 9 – Last week: 7
Logano seems to have a car capable of winning pretty much every week, and yet closing out races seems to be a struggle for this team. A solid performance in Vegas, with 40 laps led is good, but he’s also the only defending champion to not have a Top 10 in his first 5 races.
Austin Cindric – This week: 8 – Last week: 10
Cindric has been a surprise in these first few weeks of ‘normal’ tracks. While he’s always competitive at the drafting tracks, and he’s certainly no slouch at road courses, expectations were probably lower for Cindric at the standard ovals. He put up a great performance in Vegas, where he won the first stage and finished P6.
Chase Elliott – This week: 7 – Last week: 9
It was a quietly solid day for Elliott in Vegas, where he earned his third straight Top 10. Consistency is key in climbing the Power Rankings, and he’s doing just that. Throw in some stage points and some great passing numbers, and he’s moved up to 7th.
Kyle Larson – This week: 6 – Last week: 12
Larson was the best performer in underlying statistics at Vegas. He led the most laps, had the best average running position, and was the fastest car on track 40 separate times – the most of any driver. Oh, and he won Stage Two. We haven’t seen him in victory lane yet this year, but he’s proving to be a weekly favourite.
Alex Bowman – This week: 5 – Last week: 6
Aside from Atlanta, Bowman’s finishes this year have all been in the Top 9. For a driver who was rumoured to be on the hot seat, he sure has shown up this year. In Vegas, he scored stage points, laps led, a bunch of Quality Passes (green flag passes while in the Top 15), and a P7 finish.
Kyle Busch – This week: 4 – Last week: 3
It was a tough day for Busch at his hometown track in Las Vegas, but his finishing position didn’t necessarily tell the whole story. He led a few laps, somehow maintained a positive pass differential despite the damage he took on. All of this to say he remains in the Top 5 for the Power Rankings for now, but he’ll need a bounce back next week to stay there.
Tyler Reddick – This week: 3 – Last week: 5
Another example of the finishing position not necessarily matching the day. On what could be called a botched strategy call, Reddick came down to get fuel and tires just before the final caution came out, and he lost a ton of track position as a result. So while he finished 24th on the day, he also led 34 laps, and even won the extra point for Xfinity’s fastest lap.
William Byron – This week: 2 – Last week: 2
It was another solid showing for the 24 team at Las Vegas. Byron held serve to maintain his 2nd place Power Rankings spot, with stage points, the most Quality Passes of anyone, and oh yeah – a P4 finish.
Christopher Bell – This week: 1 – Last week: 1
So he couldn’t compete the four-in-a-row, that’s okay. He was bound to lose again at some point. And did he actually lose? He had a rough day with penalties, and yet he translated that to the highest pass differential of the field, and salvaged a completely respectable P12 on the day.
Biggest Movers
Ryan Blaney – This week: 11 – Last week: 4
Falls 7 places
Josh Berry – This week: 15 – Last week: 23
Gains 8 places
Daniel Suarez – This week: 22 – Last week: 30
Gains 8 places
Rest of the List
11. Ryan Blaney LW: 4
12. JH Nemechek LW: 11
13. Ross Chastain LW: 20
14. Ryan Preece LW: 15
15. Josh Berry LW: 23
16. Bubba Wallace LW: 16
17. Denny Hamlin LW: 13
18. Michael McDowell LW: 14
19. Chris Buescher LW: 18
20. Todd Gilliland LW: 17
21. Chase Briscoe LW: 22
22. Daniel Suarez LW: 30
23. Carson Hocevar LW: 24
24. SVG LW: 19
25. Riley Herbst LW: 25
26. Erik Jones LW: 21
27. Justin Haley LW: 32
28. Ty Gibbs LW: 28
29. Ty Dillon LW: 26
30. AJ Allmendinger LW: 34
31. Brad Keselowski LW: 35
32. Noah Gragson LW: 27
33. Zane Smith LW: 29
34. Austin Dillon LW: 31
35. Cody Ware LW: 33
36. Cole Custer LW: 36
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