Pit Road Week 26: Richmond

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Week 26

By Richard Tix

NASCAR's 2014 season started out with a huge mess of news. Richards Childress announced he was bringing back the #3 (Remember when that hit the NASCAR Nation? Doesn't seem like it was as big of a deal anymore). Then NASCAR announced a new penalty system for teams that try to push the limit. On top of that, NASCAR changed the points system for the season and the Chase.

That last decision lead us to the final race of the regular season at Richmond. 16 drivers could get in and we only had 13 winners, which meant 3 drivers could get in on points. Well, in the end Newman and Biffle ended up hanging on (Matt Kenseth was already locked in before the race).

While everyone was racing for the final two spots (points or a win to lock you in) Brad Keselowski was racing to enter the Chase as the lone driver in first. Just like that, BK left Richmond with 4 wins in the 2014 season (regular season leading 4 wins). Now the interesting part starts, the Chase,

10 races left which are broke down into four rounds. 16 drivers will enter the next set of three races and only 12 will move on (A win and you move on and then the next highest drivers in points will round out the top 12. The next set of three races will be run the exact same, resulting in 8 drivers left. Once again, you win and you automatically move on to the next round if you are not already eliminated. Three more races and four more drivers will be lost and only four will head into Miami that will still have a shot at the Championship.

Miami could provide some fireworks if all four guys find a way to the front or it could be a snooze fest if one guy runs away with it (but this is always the case in NASCAR points racing). But, this year the highest finisher of the four win. So it all comes down to Miami. For now, it all comes down to the power rankings.

This week I am going to completely reset the rankings. No need to worry what they were ranked last week. We are heading into the Chase, so I am only considering the Chase guys this week (once the Chase gets going the other guys will be sifted back in if they are running well) and we are also do all 16 this week, then back down to the top 12 the rest of the way like we have been doing. The rankings are reset by how hot they're entering, what there chances look like, and season results so far.

Pit Road Power Rankings (Week 25)

1. Jeff Gordon- Consistency is King here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, win and you move to the next round. But, first round it's only possible to have 3 winners so 9 guys move on no matter what in points. Anyways, with Gordon who cares about that because he also has three wins on the season. Could he get title number five?
2. Jimmie Johnson- Yeah, starting him number two.... If this was solely on who has the best chance to win and not a mix of things like that and full season results he would be number 1 because he is Jimmie Johnson. But, he still has four straight top 10's going into the Chase, which is bad news for other drivers.
3. Brad Keselowski- The Blue (White) Deuce has been fast all year long. In the Chase, that will help, but BK will still have to find a bit more consistency. He does have the most wins so far in 2014 (four) and also a leading 11 top 5's (tied with Dale Jr). The thing is, he only has 13 top 10's so those quality top 10's might be needed. 
4. Kevin Harvick- "Freaky Fast." That has been Kevin Harvick all season. In his last 7 races he has 5 top 10's and 3 Pole awards. He is called "the closer" but he has yet to close out a season #1, this might be his best shot.
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr- Speaking of a guy with no Championships, Jr comes in this year having one of his better seasons. Unfortunately for Jr he doesn't have a top 10 since Michigan. Could this be the year Jr finally wins a Championship? That has been the talk since the Daytona 500.
6. Joey Logano- JoLo could easily be higher on this list, but he is still young and unproven in the Chase. All of that aside, he is entering with 6 top 10's in his last 7 races (14th at Atlanta). Both Penske cars have been fast in 2014 so I expect one (if not both) to be in at least the final 8, if not final 4.
7. Matt Kenseth- Matt Kenseth did himself no favor's when he didn't win in the first 26 races. The nice thing is he still ran well enough to get into the Chase. The other good thing? I think he is due for a win and what a better time then during the Chase.
8. Carl Edwards- Carl and Roush cars haven't been overly impressive this season, but he has been hanging on. He has had some very good Chase results in the past, but does Roush have enough in Calr's last season?
9. Kurt Busch- He has been quiet lately, but in his last 6 races he has two top 5's and three top 10's. His other finishes during that time were 13th, 13th, and 31st. Not terrible considering how slow this season started. He also gets the nod over the others (including his little brother) because he has won a Championship before.
10. Kasey Kahne- It took him awhile to get a win in 2014 (Atlanta, race 25) but he did it and got in. He would have won the wild card spot with that win in last years Chase rules too (so don't say its just this years rules). I think he could make a run if he can continue his last decent runs he has had late in the season.
11. Kyle Busch- I can't believe I put faith in this kid finally this season. I thought in 2013 he was turning the corner where he would take his talent and put a head on him (sorry Rowdy fans, i'm just upset I predicted him to start the season to finally put it together and win the Championship). Well, I was wrong. Maybe he can put it together in the Chase, but his history begs to differ. It was a rough 2014 stretch where he just fell apart, but lucky for him the talent is still there.
12. Denny Hamlin- I predicted all three JGR guys would be strong in 2014 (pre season), but I didn't see it this year. I also predicted Kyle and Denny would make the final four at Miami, that's looking like a long shot as well. DH just hasn't been very consistent week to week like he used to be before his accident last season with JoLo.
13. Greg Biffle- Biffle made one heck of a "points" run down the stretch to lock his spot in. I had him missing out of the Chase because I didn't think he could make up that ground. I was wrong. Now I don't think he quite has it to get to the last four drivers. Wait and see...
14. Ryan Newman- Consistent? Sure. Will he advance onto the final in Miami? Most likely not unless he gets a win during the final 12 or final 8. Hey, crazier things have happened, but at least he can say he was the most consistent guy at a struggling team.
15. Aric Almirola- The starting position of Aric and AJ is exactly the same (19.2) and there finish position is almost identical (Aric- 20.1 AJ-20.9). So I gave the nod to Aric with 6 top 10's over AJ's 4. 
16. AJ Allmendinger- AJ got his road course victory and birth into the Chase. Now he will get to have special stickers and get his car highlighted from time to time in the first three races. Nice exposure and come back story for him and that team. Just because he will probably be out of the Chase after three races does not mean this wasn't a good season. Just too many top teams with even better equipment (and $$$), plus the fact that he isn't Jimmie Johnson.

I may continue the top 16 until the cuts happen down to 12 drivers. I will keep the top 12 drivers the remainder of the season, because who doesn't love power rankings? With a catch, only drivers remaining in the Chase can make that section (so, if its 8 drivers left, they will make up the top 8). However, once you are out of the Chase ANY driver can take your spot. So when we are down to the last race the top 4 will be made up of the last 4 drivers, but the remaining 8 spots (rankings 5-12) can be made up of anyone whether they were in the Chase originally or not. Hopefully that's simple enough for everyone. It will be much easier after three races when we can get down to our normal top 12. 

Last but not least we have our weekly winners. The guys (or ladies) that tweet me the winner before the rest of us know the race winner! Next season I am thinking about keeping better track of this (how many times someone predicts the winner, how many times they actually vote, etc).

I know Dave has been on here at least four times (All BK)

I also know Garry (also writes for TimerSports, good stuff for Fantasy NASCAR info) has made it in the Fan Victory Circle a few times as well. 

That's it for Richmond and the 2014 regular season on NASCAR Behind the Wall. Next up, Chicago and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase. As always, thanks for checking out the blog and check back in as the Entry list and Weekend Schedule will be coming. Plus later this week our Chicago Preview.