Pit Road Week 17: Kentucky

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Week 17

By Richard Tix

Many drivers had a Roller Coaster race on Saturday night. Some reach a season high (Brad Keselowski), others a low when bad luck struck (Denny Hamlin), and all the rest were just riding the bumps of Kentucky Speedways front stretch. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr wasn't the only one to make comments after the race. David Ragan and Rodney Childers also chimed in (which I will cover in This Week in NASCAR). As far as the racing goes the Quaker State 400 wasn't terrible (but it wasn't edge of your seat either). The lack of entertainment most likely came from

the fact that Brad Keselowski lead early and often. In fact, he lead 199 of 267 laps on his way to a dominant win. One things fans get bored with is these types of wins (See Jimmie Johnson at Dover). But when a driver is on he is on. Back in Richard Petty's hey day these things happened even more often, heck back in the day a winning driver would lap most of the field.

If you missed the race check out the full Quaker State 400 results here.

Pit Road Power Rankins Week 17 (Week 16)

1. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-1)- Well since I went with Jr last week he kept himself in position this week. Jr did that by finishing 5th on Saturday which makes 9 top 5's in 17 races (leads all drivers in top 5's).
2. Jimmie Johnson (LW-2)- A lot of rankings have JJ #1, which I will not argue. JJ finished 10th on Saturday night which gives him 12 top 10's in 2014, tied with Jr and 1 less the Gordon (13). 
3. Brad Keselowski (LW-7)- With the win at Kentucky, BK just clinched his spot in the Chase with 2 wins so far in 2014. BK also is second to only Jr in top 5's (8). His last 5 finishes have been very impressive, minus Sonoma (2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 22nd, and 1st).
4. Jeff Gordon (LW-3)- If you take Talladega out of the question, Jeff Gordon has a low finish of 15th. Even counting Dega Gordon has finished in the top 10 13 of 17 races and the top 15 16 of 17. He has been the model of consistency this season and showed that again at Kentucky with a 6th place finish.
5. Kevin Harvick (LW-4)- In Harvick's last 10 races he has 1 win, 4 top 5's and 6 top 10's. In fact, in his last 10 he has been runner up (2nd) three times. He also has 3 poles in that same time, so to say he has been fast might be an under statement.
6. Kasey Kahne (LW-11)- Kahne had a rough start to the 2014 season, but currently he is on a three race top 10 streak. He could be turning things around just in time. He has had a history of winning at a some of the tracks coming up.
7. Paul Menard (LW-8)- Things start to get dicey in the rankings starting here. All of the remaining guys have had there chance to shine but also have struggled. So, with that being said I have a handful of guys that could go from 7-15 in any order. Menard is first up. He finished 15th just a week after notching back to back top 5's. Menard is officially having one of his best seasons yet.
8. Joey Logano (LW-NR)- Joey Logano has had a very good season so far. He has almost always been fast in practice and in qualifying, but sometimes he falls off just a bit during the race. Most of the time he climbs back and finds a way to finish top 10, but lately he hasn't had the cars to compete for the win. However his teammate has been getting it together so I would say JoLo will be figuring it out again soon.
9. Matt Kenseth (LW-12)- Matt Kenseth is still looking for his first win of 2014, but I think he was happy to break his bad 3 race run with a 4th place finish Saturday at Kentucky. Kenseth has been slipping up (plus some bad luck) in the previous three but I would bet that this 4th place finish could turn things right back around.
10. Clint Bowyer (LW-5)- Bowyer hasn't had a very great season so far, but before his 23rd finish at Kentucky he was on a nice little roll (10th, 10th, 11th, and 4th). Because that run got him up to 5th in my rankings he hangs on for one more week.
11. Ryan Newman (LW-NR)- It has been hard to rank Newman all season. Not because Ryan has been bad, but because he has been good but not great. He sits 8th in the standings yet he doesn't have a win, is behind 20 drivers in top 5's (1), and behind 12 drivers in top 10's (6). See how it is hard to rank him? This week Newman finished 3rd so he squeak's in. NASCAR heads to Daytona and the Loudon so he has a chance to hang around for a bit.
12. Kyle Busch (LW-NR)- Last spot goes to Kyle Busch for a pretty good second place run at Kentucky. Most of the time when a driver has a stretch as bad as Kyle just had, one good finish isn't enough to get back into the top 12, but Kyle was the only one to test BK and Penske teammate Joey Logano on Saturday (led 31 laps). Maybe he can turn things around in 2014, but will it be enough to finally contend for a Championship?

Dropped Out: Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson, and Carl Edwards

Just Missed: Kurt Busch, Tony Stewart, and Marcus Ambrose

Honorable Mention: Marcus Ambrose (13th) and Michael Annett (18th)

Here are this weeks winners (Follower and other NASCAR fans who correctly picked Brad Keselowski to win at Kentucky and let me know. @NASCARBTW)

Always down for BK unless I am told otherwise!

Nice call by Garry! He overachieved and called BK leading the most laps.

Yes, I also got it right. I am now 2/17!!

As always, thank you for reading! I do appreciate it. Check back for a new This Week in NASCAR, Driver Entry List, and a Daytona Firecracker 400 preview!