Pit Road Week 11

Darlington Raceway

 

So, we leave Darlington and Matt Kenseth is our winner, sound familiar this season?  People were wondering how long it would take Kenseth to adjust at Joe Gibbs Racing, I don't think anyone has any doubts anymore. The better question is will he get is second Sprint Cup Title this season? The last and only title he has was in 2013, so maybe 3 is his number.

As for the rest of the race it was pretty top heavy with the heavy hitters in Nascar. Denny Hamlin had a great showing but is leaving Darlington upset because he needs some wins to have any shot.  Lets not get too into it, most of us watched the race. Lets move on to Rising, Coasting, and Falling drivers after week 11. Need the race results? Look here, Bojangles Southern 500.

Rising, Coasting, and Falling Drivers After Darlington Raceway

Rising:

• Matt Kenseth- Can he rise anymore? Well he makes the list this week because he just secured a Chase spot. No way he drops out of the top 20 and 3 wins will be enough. Bigger question is will he win the title.
• Denny Hamlin- He needed this race. He finished second, but he also needed a win. Denny has the talent to get a few wins before the Chase so this race was a reason for optimism in 2013.
• Jeff Gordon- Well this is the first week the top 3 drivers are also the top 3 finishers in the previous race, but Gordon has been running well. Gordon slowly worked his way from the bottom into the Chase.
• Ryan Newman- Another top 10 for Newman. That is his 5th of the season which is the same ore better then 5 guys who are in a Chase spot right now. He will need to start getting top 5's and wins soon though.

Coasting:

• Carl Edwards- Three straight top 10's for Edwards leaving him safely in second in the standings. He seems to be over looked week by week but he has had a great bounce back season.

Falling:

• Brad Keselowski- Starting to get in worry mode, BK is down to 6th in the standings. He has had a lot of bad luck, I mean a lot. If it was a battle he would be right there with Kyle Busch. Anyways he doesn't have a win yet so he will be worrying until he does.
• Aric Almirola- Almirola, this past weeks Driver Spotlight driver, had three straight top 10's before finishing 20th this week. He is still in a Chase spot but he needs to run well week by week to fight off guys like Truex, Newman, and McMurray.

Pit Road (Week 11 Power Rankings)

1. Matt Kenseth (LW-2)- Jimmie Johnson did nothing to lose the top spot, but Kenseth has just been red hot. He has the most wins in Nascar (3), just retained points taken from him earlier this season, and now hasn't finished higher then 14th in 7 races (5 top 10's and 2 Win's).
2. Jimmie Johnson (LW-1)- JJ didn't lose 1st but rather Kenseth took it. JJ hasn't nothing to worry about, he is first in the standings and he just finished in the top 5 again (6th of the season).
3. Carl Edwards (LW-3)- Carl has been consistent in 2013 and just wont fall off. Finishing 7th at Darlington gives him his 7th top 10 of the season.
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-6)- Jr gets back into the top 5 in the Power Rankings while getting back into the top 10 at Darlington (9).
5. Clint Bowyer (LW-5)- Didn't have a great run at Darlington but he managed a 11th place finish which comes up huge come Chase time.
6. Brad Keselowski (LW-4)- BK started 2013 off like he ended 2012, as a Champ, but lately bad luck and bad runs have taken a tole. He has slipped to 6th in the Standings with zero wins on the season.
7. Kevin Harvick (LW-9)- If you take out the two plate races Harvick hasn't finished worse then 14th (2 crashes at Daytona and Dega took him out). He also only has 3 top 10's on the season. Consistent but not great, yet, Harvick could make a run during the Chase.
8. Kyle Busch (LW-10)- Kyle dominated most of the evening until getting anywhere near Kahne, when he took a turn for the worst. He still managed a 6th place finish and is safe for the Chase right now. Tough standings to move in has Kyle sitting pretty still until he makes another run.
9. Kasey Kahne (LW-8)- Kahne had a great run until Kyle got near him, which has been bad luck this season. Those too just can't run side by side this year without the air taken one or both of there cars to the wall.
10. Jeff Gordon (LW-NR)- Jumping into the Sprint Cup Chase top 12, and jumping back into the NBTW Power Rankings. Gordon has quietly been running pretty well as of late and that was topped off with a 3rd place finish Saturday.
11. Aric Almirola (LW-7)- Last week he went 11 to 7, this week right back down. He is still having a great season but he will be on the edge all season long until he finds career win number one.
12. Martin Truex Jr (LW-11)- Tough call this week on Truex and Menard who were 11 and 12 last week, plus Biffle had a good run. Unfortunately for them Truex finished 12th and has had a good season after making the Chase last year, but will need more if he wants to make it back to back years.

Dropped Out: Paul Menard
Just Missed: Greg Biffle

Well we have an "off" week, which means the excitement of the All-Star race at Charlotte which has no points included but tons of money for the taking. I will not have a race preview or review for All Star weekend but will have articles including Tweets of the Week All Star addition.