Pit Road: Week 8

Kansas Speedway

This past Sunday Nascar visited Kansas Speedway for the first time this season. Kansas brought us our third two time winner of the season (Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch) and now Matt Kenseth. It was pretty much a Matt Kenseth kind of day. He lead early and often and found his way back up front at the end of the day.

Some other drivers made some noise, some for good others for bad. Kyle Busch was part of the latter after starting the day out early spinning and causing the first caution and then later loosing control and getting hit by Joey Logano (when he couldn't get out of the way) ending his day. On the other end, Brad Keselowski went through just about everything a driver could and found his way to a 6th place finish.

Anyways lets get on with it (chances are you watched the race). Here is the full results of the STP 400 at Kansas. Now the Rising, Coasting, and Falling Categories.

Rising:

• Matt Kenseth- After back to back weeks of finishing just outside the top 10, Kenseth gets his second win of the season. Very strong race this past week for Kenseth
• Jamie McMurray- McMurray finished up quietly in 7th place on Sunday and is still sitting 11th in the standings.
• Aric Almirola- He just notched his second top 10 finish in a row (8th) and is still making a run at the Chase (13th).

Coasting:

• Kasey Kahne- Set it on cruise control, Kahne made his way back into the top 5 again (4th time this season)
• Clint Bowyer- Seems like every other week he is in the hunt for a top 5 (actually check out his finishes and other than a 6th at Phoenix its true.

Falling:

• Kyle Busch- Kyle just had a rough weekend in Kansas. I don't think the stay in the falling category will last too long though.
• Joey Logano- Wow has it been a long fall for JoLo. First he goes from in the Chase to 14th after the Penske penalties. Then he drops from 14th to 20th after he and his spotter made the wrong call on where Kyle's car would be. He needs a good finish to get going and save his hot start and chances at the Chase.

Ouch. twitter.com/addicted2energ…
— Avery Hage #NFB (@addicted2energy) April 21, 2013

Pit Road (Week 8 Power Rankings)

1. Jimmie Johnson (LW-2)- Not a long fall from the top spot for JJ. He Had his moments at Kansas but at the end of the day didn't have enough for Kenseth or Kahne, finishing 3rd.
2. Brad Keselowski (LW-3)- Almost put Kahne here, but like I said about Kahne last week, this is the race that makes Champions. He started out 33rd and had early struggles that put him down laps, almost made it back just to stay a lap down, then made it back towards the front. Guess what happened next? Yeah part of his car ripped off. Well it didn't stop BK he made his way to a 6th place finish.
3. Kasey Kahne (LW-4)- Kahne got back to his hot streak that was off set by a 11th at Texas. Kahne, just like last time Kenseth won, had a winning car but just didn't have enough. (Finishing 2nd)
4. Kyle Busch (LW-1)- Rough, rough week for Kyle. But I can not look past his hot start to the 2013 season and drop him any farther. We will see how he handles this set back.
5. Matt Kenseth (LW-8)- Kenseth make a big jump again this week after his second win (He made this jump last time too). Last time he won he followed by a 35th place finish that hampered his run up the Power Rankings, will he change it this time around?
6. Greg Biffle (LW-5)- Not a great showing by the Biff at Kansas, he finished 19th, but that came after three straight top 10's. Needs to get back going to stay near the top 5.
7. Carl Edwards (LW-7)- Carl not with the best finish at Kansas (17th) but he still sits 6th in the points and has a good chance at a Chase spot early in 2013.
8. Clint Bowyer (LW-9)- Bowyer got his 3rd top 5 of the season at Kansas (Home) and will look to get some more consistency going.
9. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-6)- You can breathe Jr Nation. He is still 5th in the points, and sits great on the season, but this is about who is hot, and well, Jr hasn't been. He really has had some bad luck the past three weeks, but the tune of 24th, 29th, 16th just wont cut it too much longer.
10. Paul Menard (LW-NR)- The 10th spot was a tough one, but I went with the guy who just finished 10th at Kansas. If you are counting that's four top 10's on the season. Menard is also 10th in points if you are wondering.

Dropping out- Joey Logano (LW-10)
Just Missed- Aric Almirola, Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Jeff Gordon, and Martin Truex Jr

Next week's Power Rankings should be interesting. So many drivers are right on the cusp of being in and guys like Jr and Edwards just need one great finish to jump back up to the top 5.