Pit Road Week 17

Kentucky Speedway: Quaker State 400 2013

Nascar leaves Kentucky and also leaves with it's first four time winner in 2013, Matt Kenseth. Kenseth now leads Nascar with four wins and is one win away from tying his single season career high in wins (5). At times (when he doesn't run into bad luck or TRD engine troubles) he has look just as dominant as Jimmie Johnson. In my Driver Spotlight: Matt Kenseth article earlier this year I brought up the thought about Kenseth and if this is the year he gets another Championship?

After the third career Sprint Cup race at Kentucky we have some movers and shakers in the standings that will be touched on in the Rising, Coasting, and Falling section. If you missed it or just need a refresher of the race, check out the Full Race Results Here.


Rising:

• Jamie McMurray- How could he not be on the rising list? At Kentucky McMurray posted his first top 5 finish this season.
• Matt Kenseth- Kenseth tells that 19th place finish at Sonoma and turns it into a win at Kentucky. 4 wins for Kenseth in 2013 and if he gets his second Championship this would be one of his most dominate seasons of his career.
• Kurt Busch- Krut still couldn't find a win at Kentucky but he did manage a 6th place finish that moved him to 14th in the points.

Coating:

• Joey Logano- His stash line since the ASR: 4th, 11th, 9th, 10th, 7th, and 5th. I am still on the bandwagon that says he will get a win in 2013.
• Kevin Harvick- First week NBTW has had two guys in the coasting section. Harvicks stash line since the ASR: 10th, 10th, 2nd, 9th, 8th, and 1st. That is 6 top 10's for anyone who hasn't paid attention (6 quiet top 10's).

Falling:

• Brad Keselowski- Whoa, he has been on the edge for awhile now, but when Kurt got loose and came up and caused a multi car wreck BK's Chase hopes really hit the warning sign. Last year's  Kentucky win slingshot him towards a Title, this year it moved him out of the top 10.
• Denny Hamlin- He had troubles and finished 35th and is now all but out of Chase contention.
• Tony Stewart- Remember when he was the hottest driver in Nascar for 3 weeks and could go on one of those Summer runs? Well if he does that run will have to be restarted (28th at Sonoma and 20th at Kentucky).

Pit Road (Week 17 Power Rankings)

1. Jimmie Johnson (LW-1)- Come on Fox and Yahoo!, how can you say JJ isn't #1 still? Kenseth won but in his last 6 races he has two top 10's. JJ has dominated even in his bad races, and when we call battling back to finish 9th a bad race we have a problem. JJ maybe slipping a bit, but he has plenty of time to get hot for the Chase.
2. Kevin Harvick (LW-2)- Kentucky wasn't impressive, yet he salvaged a 10th place finish. He has finished in the top 10 every week since the ASR (6 races).
3. Clint Bowyer (LW-3)- Bowyer had a good car again and had a 3rd place finish to prove it. A 15th place finish at Pocono is his only finish outside the top 10 since the ASR.
4. Matt Kenseth (LW-8)- The big mover this week is Kentucky's race winner. He would be higher but he has been real high or low a lot lately. In his last 6 races he only has two top 10's, but a win makes you forget about that. He has been real fast, if he gets hot he could get his second title.
5. Kyle Busch (LW-9)- The middle of the pack is crowded and a lot of drivers are moving (up and down). Kyle spun out early and recovered for a 5th place finish.
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-7)- Well Dale had a car that may have been able to get his first win of 2013 but bad luck with part of DH's tire left that all but a dream. Jr still notched a spot right outside the top 10 (12th).
7. Carl Edwards (LW-5)- Another race and another under performance by Carl. Luckily for him he still manages to rack up some points and doesn't look to be falling out of the top 10 before the Chase.
8. Joey Logano (LW-11)- He and Harvick have both been quietly hot since the ASR, but Harvick has a win and one extra top 10 (JoLo's 11th was his lone non top 10 in the 6 races after the ASR).
9. Greg Biffle (LW-4)- Not Biffle's fault, he slides down the rankings after getting swept up by the Kurt and BK crash. Biffle is now down to 10th in the points but does have an important win. He may need another though to get into the Chase unless he gets hot in the last 9 races.
10. Kurt Busch (LW-10)- Kurt had another good race but another race with a less than amazing finish. Kurt will take 6th place but he know's he will need more (including a win) if he wants to get "the little one car team that could" into the Chase.
11. Martin Truex Jr (LW-NR)- Truex has a case to be higher on this list and I wouldn't argue with anyone who does (I mean I did have a Driver Spotlight on him and a MWR Article on how he is part of the MWR turnaround). His 7th place finish gave him a top 10, top 5, and a win in his last three races and is now 8th in the standings.
12. Kasey Kahne (LW-12)- Well this spot is a toss up but I gave it to Kahne because he was 12th last week. Gordon also made a case to jump back in this week with an 8th place finish. Kahne on the other hand finished 11th at Kentucky. Both he and Gordon are hanging around the 10-14th point area but Kahne has a win to hang onto unlike Gordon, hence the last spot in the Power Rankings.

Dropped Out: Tony Stewart
Just Missed: Jeff Gordon (....Again)

Nascar heads to Daytona this week to get in some restricter plate racing in. Check back into Nascar Behind the wall for a Daytona Preview and new articles throughout the week.