Weekly Review and Power Rankings
Week 8
By Richard Tix
The 8th race of the NASCAR season brought fans the first Saturday Night race of the season at Darlington and after 7 different winners to start the season Darlington also brought the first multi time winner of 2014. Early in the race it was all about Joey Logano and Jeff Gordon up front. Gordon seemed to be strong on long runs, but on a night of short runs this ended up being part of his downfall.
For much of the rest of the race it really seemed to be much of the same. A caution would come out for someone getting a larger than normal Darlington stripe and Harvick would win the restart. Time after time fans watched Harvick take the restart and racked up more laps lead on the night.
Then late in the race Jimmie Johnson, after a long day/night of finding the right set up (he fought from the back all the way up to second) seemed to have a contending car. While in second and running comparable times to Harvick a caution flew with about 0 to go. JJ, Dale Jr, Kenseth, and Gordon all took two tires. In my opinion I though guys who were already up front like JJ and Kenseth should have taken four. Harvick took four fresh tires but started behind the others who took two.
To many fans surprise, Jr won the restart and actually looked like he could hold on with two tires, if not JJ also looked like he could take the win. Harvick was charging with four, but it didn't seem like he had enough time. Then, another late caution came out and everything changed. Now Harvick didn't have to fight through as much traffic. JJ took the lead on the GWC as Harvick started 3rd and Jr seemed to get a slow restart.
If you need another look at the full race results, check them out here for the Bojangles Southern 500. Also, check out this weeks Darlington Preview. NASCAR takes a week off for the Easter Holiday before heading to Richmond Raceway for another Saturday Night Shootout April 26th.
Pit Road: Power Rankings Week 8 (Week 7 Power Rankings)
- Jeff Gordon (LW-1)- Gordon will keep the top spot this week after a good but not great run on Saturday night. He finished 7th but his car fell off a bit towards the end of the race. Once again he had a car on the long run but not the short, and restarts hurt him. Will he stay consistent enough to get a win eventually?
- Matt Kenseth (LW-2)- The top two in the Power Rankings ironically do not have a win in a season where wins count for more. When it comes down to it, teams need to also find chemistry and solid finishes to make the last round (a win definitely helps ease the stress though!). Kenseth hasn't seemed as strong as 2013 (which everyone expected) but most thought he would win by now especially if we have 7 different winners.
- Kyle Busch (LW-3)- The first guy in the Rankings with a win, Kyle had a rough night but still brought the car home 6th. He now has a win, a top 5, and a top 10 in his last 4 races.
- Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-7)- Jr had a small shot at winning late in the race Saturday, but other then that he had a very quiet 2nd place finish. Jr, Latarte and the 88 team worked all night to finally get the car up front so it was a great finish.
- Carl Edwards (LW-5)- 13th. Thats really all there is to say about Edwards night. At one point he was down a lap so fighting back for a 13th place finish should be a win for this team.
- Jimmie Johnson (LW-9)- What a fight out of the 48 team on Saturday. JJ spent most of the day part of the race trying to figure out anything on the car. Then they slowly figured out something he could work with. By the end of the night JJ was up front and JJ haters were all saying "nooooo anyone but JJ." Point is, JJ and the 48 is on top of things yet in 2014, but they're still pulling in a 3rd place finish. (Side note, as I said before the second to last pit, I still think they should have taken four, I think his car was just as good as Harvick's if he had four fresh tires).
- Tony Stewart (LW-8)- Without looking at the stats I would say Stewart ran 15th to 20th all night. Then I looked and he ran 9 total laps in the top 15. Yet, he finished 9th. That's a very forgettable top 10, but hey it works.
- Kevin Harvick (LW-NR)- From not ranked all the way up to 8th. This is Power Rankings not just points standings. You can make a case for even higher, because most of his bad runs are all just bad luck, but when I do mine I take in account everything. To become Champion you also have to get lucky and not have bad luck. Maybe Harvick and the 4 team is just getting it out of the way now?
- Joey Logano (LW-4)- Roller coaster night for JoLo. He took the lead early, then fell way off and even had some body issues. Then he started his climb back up to the front. Just when it looked like he would salvage a top 10 he had a hub issue and took it behind the wall.
- Kyle Larson (LW-12)- Larson now has back to back top 10 finishes twice in his 8 race career (not including his 4 2013 races). It wasn't a great day for him as he spent a lot of the race about 18th, but he finished 8th which was his high position of the race. He has kept his car mostly clean and has shown he has talent, the more experience he gets the more he will challenge for top 10's, top 5's and wins.
- Greg Biffle (LW-NR)- The Biff is back in the rankings after finishing 5th at Darlington. He was very quiet most of the night, but as it was for most of these guys, they found a way to finish well. This top 5 is just one week after he finished 6th.
- Brad Keselowski (LW-10)- Its crazy to think BK is barely hanging on to a top 12 spot in the Power Rankings, but fact is he is only hanging on because of performance and starting position, not how he finishes. In his last 5 he doesn't have a top 10, yet he is still sitting in 7th in points. Another bad finish and it will be a long run to get back into the rankings.
Dropped Out: Paul Menard and Brian Vickers
Just Missed: Austin Dillon, Ryan Newman, and Clint Bowyer
Honorable Mention: Josh Wise, AJ Allmendinger, and Danica Patrick
More Articles:
No comments:
Post a Comment