Pit Road Week 19: New Hampshire

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Week 19

By Richard Tix

This weeks review will not only be late, but also short. That's because this past week I missed the entire race at Loudon because I was at all the MLB All-Star activities. To some this is not an excuse, but I am not only a NASCAR fan but also a MLB fan. Also, as much as I try and get on here to get NASCAR fans as much info they need every weekend (and I hate missing it because I enjoy getting it out there) I also do not get paid to do this!

Now, if NASCAR wants to start paying me (or ESPN, Fox, Sporting News, etc) then I will make a way to catch everything and never miss a week.

I did check twitter from time to time and was glad to see Brad Keselowski won. Not just because I am a fan of his (because I try to leave some of that out of the blog and stay unbiased) but because he was driving the Redd's Apple Ale car. In my opinion it is one of the nicest looking paint schemes in the past two years but they have not made a die cast of it. Well, I not assume there will be a race win die-cast of the car that I will be able to add to my very small collection.

This week we head into a bye week on the NASCAR schedule, so I guess the mid-week Power Rankings can help hold you over for the time being. 

Camping World RV Sales 301 Results

Pit Road Power Rankings: Week 19 (Week 18)

1. Brad Keselowski (LW-3)- Two wins in three races rocketed BK past others this week. Since Richmond the #2 team has been on it for the most part (take out two restricter plate races and 22nd at Sonoma and he is on fire. He is leading all drivers with 9 top 5's (tied with Dale Jr) and also leading with 3 wins (tied with JJ).
2. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-2)- Jr is having a really good last run with CC Steve Letarte. He has 9 (tied with BK for most) top 5's so far this season. Last season in total Jr had 10 top 5's. He is also only 9 top 10's away from tying last years top 10 mark of 22 which was the most top 10's he has had in a single season.
3. Clint Bowyer (LW-4)- Check out his stats since Dover; other then Kentucky he has 5 top 10's, 1 top 5, and one 11th place finish. During that 7 race run he has an average finish of 10.43 which I would say is very under the radar. 
4. Jeff Gordon (LW-1)- A bit of a drop for a guy who was just #1 last week, JG had a dissapointing 26th place finish after leading 19 laps. He is still leading NASCAR in points and his only two finishes higher then 15th are Talladega and now Loudon.
5. Kyle Busch (LW-NR)- Yes I did move Kyle from not ranked all the way up to 4th. But take a look at some of the drivers on the rankings.... This win and your in thing has caused some roller coaster like seasons for normally consistent guys. Oh, and Kyle has two runner up finishes in his last 3 races.
6. Matt Kenseth (LW-12)- Kenseth hasn't been as consistent as he was when 2014 started but he has started to turn it back around. He now has two 4th place finishes in his last 3 (coincidentally the same two races Kyle finished 2nd). 
7. Ryan Newman (LW-NR)- Newman is 7th in points so far this year and the way it has been going I think he is a lock to get into the Chase on points, but I really thought he had a shot at winning Loudon to get in on a win. By his standard, he is having a very typical and normal season so it seems the move to RCR hasn't hurt him or helped him so far.
8. Jimmie Johnson (LW-5)- 3 bad finishes in 4 races (Texas-Talladega) then 7 awesome races including 3 wins (Kansas-Sonoma) and then two bad races from bad luck. This is JJ season in a nut shell. The good thing for the #48 team is they still have time to figure out the consistency thing. And if history tells us anything we know that JJ can do it and will get hot at the right time.
9. Denny Hamlin (LW-NR)- When fans talk about roller coaster seasons Denny Hamlin has to come to mind. From the "I'm Back" statement at Daytona, to early struggles, to a two race top 5 streak where it looked like he was going to get it going, things just haven't come in long streaks for DH. He has started a two race top 10 streak so maybe he can keep this one going?
10. Paul Menard (LW-6)- Menard has been having a pretty good season but as of late it has just been mediocre (15th, 16th, and 19th this past week at Loudon). Right now he would be in the Chase as he is the 4th highest driver in points after the 11 guys that won are in. Right now he has a 17 point lead over Austin Dillon who has the 5th most points by a non race winner.
11. Kasey Kahne (LW-10)- Kahne is on the need a win soon or panic list right now. Just two short races ago he was on a three race top 10 streak and it looked like he may find a win and get into the Chase. He got caught up in a wreck at Daytona but rebounded nicely with an 11th place finish at Loudon. Each race that he finishes without a win will bring another notch of pressure.
12. Austin Dillon (LW-NR)- He hasn't had the top 5 and top 10 finishes like fellow rookie Kyle Larson has had, but he has been consistent. He still has a better average finish then Larson by 0.1.

Dropped Out: Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Marcus Ambrose

Just Missed: Kurt Busch

Honorable Mention: Kyle Larson (3rd), Ricky Stenhouse Jr (9th), and Martin Truex Jr (12th)

Lot's of changes in the power rankings this week. It was some time coming though, as teams and drivers have been up and down now for awhile. Some top drivers like JJ will go on a hot streak and then loose it. If the trend continues the hottest driver right now (Brad Keselowski) will go back on a cold streak soon. It is just the way it goes. The teams that have locked themselves in the Chase can try different things from week to week. I will stand by my point that the most consistent teams will have the best chance to make the final four so figuring it out by the last 10 races will be key (the last race is out the window though as any one of the four could have a good or bad race to seal there fate). 

This week we did have a handful of Twitter followers let me know that Brad Keselowski was going to win at New Hampshire. So here is a shout out to them! 

So far its a good year to pick BK every week. I think you are safe to keep the trend going Dave

That's it for this weeks (short) review and Power Rankings. As always thanks for checking out NASCAR Behind the Wall. Being I was out of commission on here for the All Star Weekend and now NASCAR has a week off I am not sure how many new articles will be up this week. NBTW will have all of your race weekend information for next weekend though!