Pit Road Week 28: New Hampshire

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Week 28

By Richard Tix

Two Chase races in and its been officially announced that Team Penske was ready for it. Both drivers (Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano) have won and advanced to the next round. Now, this is probably the least important round to win in because 12 guys move on anyways, but it does send a signal to other teams that Penske is still in fact fast.

That's after a full regular season of seeing these two cars run up front and take poles week in and week out. Going into the final race of the first segment Hamlin, Greg Biffle,  Kurt Busch, and Aric Almirola all sit outside the top 12 after AJ Allmendinger had a 13th place run. 

The final 10 spots are still wide open this coming Sunday when NASCAR heads to Dover so things should continue to heat up between some drivers. It's been a pretty eventful 2014 Chase so far, but one thing is disappointing to me, and that's that Kyle Larson didn't make the Chase. So far he has Chase race finishes of 3rd and 2nd which would pretty much lock him into the final 12. It is interesting to see if he will continue this and bring it with him into 2015. If he does he could start to be a true contender already.

2014 Sylvania 300 full results

Pit Road Power Rankings Week 28 (Week 27)

1. Brad Keselowski (LW-1)- He finished 7th after an up and down day (mostly up). He showed he could fight back from deep in the field and led a bunch of laps (78) on the day. All of this after taking the Pole.
2. Joey Logano (LW-4)- JoLo wins at his home track, pretty cool to get it in the Chase. He is part of the Penske Duo that has been fast to start the Chase (and most of the year). 
3. Kevin Harvick (LW-3)- If not for BK's run and JoLo's win Harvick would be #1 this week. He has two straight top 5's to start the Chase and has led 183 laps so far (Chicagoland and NHMS).
4. Jimmie Johnson (LW-5)- JJ was a bit off at Chicago (12th) but had a nice run at NHMS. Now NASCAR heads to Dover where 6-time has dominated lately. 
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-6)- Jr will be safe with 11th and 9th, heck those kinds of finishes should get him into the final 8 drivers, but he will have to find another gear if he wants to make Miami.
6. Jeff Gordon (LW-2)- Gordon was running towards the front on Sunday when he had a left front go down which ruined his day. He ended up limping around for a 26th place finish, but still is pretty safe to make the next round. No real harm done.
7. Kyle Busch (LW-9)- He has disappointing me in 2014 after I picked him to win this years Championship, but his run on Sunday started to redeem himself. He took a beat up car that looked like crap and turned it into an 8th place finish. 
8. Matt Kenseth (LW-7)- Kenseth is only up 2 points on 12th (-40 to -42) going into Dover. Having a beat up car on Sunday did not help (21st).
9. AJ Allmendinger (LW-14)- So far AJ has been the shocker of the first round. He finished an unimpressive 22nd at Chicago but turned it around for a 13th at NHMS. He is in 10th right now, but that is only a point up on 12th so he will still need a quality run at Dover. (21st earlier this season)
10. Kasey Kahne (LW-11)- 13th and 23rd place finishes aren't going to get anyone very far in this years Chase (or any Chase format). Kahne needs to get back what he found at Atlanta to turn this Chase around.
11. Ryan Newman (LW-12)- The Chase has seen Newman be, well, Newman. His 2014 season has been very average (yet, best in the RCR crew). His 2014 Chase has also been average (if not below) with finishes of 15th and 18th on Sunday.
12. Greg Biffle (LW-15)- Biffle just doesn't have it in 2014, or maybe it's RFR. Either way, something has been missing all season.
13. Carl Edwards (LW-13)- Not impressive so far in the Chase (20th and 17th) Carl can still move on to the next round. But runs like this will see him getting the boot soon if he doesn't turn it around. He also can afford a bad run at Dover or he might not advance.
14. Kurt Busch (LW-8)- Kurt was one of many victims to hit the wall on Sunday, but he never really found his way back up front like some (his brother for one). He finished 36th and is now in the bottom 4 drivers going into Dover.
15. Aric Almirola (LW-16)- His 6th place run was awesome to watch, sadly it still leaves him 10 points from 12th (Kasey Kahne). The nice thing about this first round is one bad race and you still have a chance (however small).
16. Denny Hamlin (LW-10)-Rough week for DH. He had an issue with his fuel tank/lines that set him back then got into an incident with a teammate. In the end he had too big of a hole and finished 37th.

No one picked Joey Logano this week. I had a lot of Harvick, Keselowski, and Gordon picks but no one picked Joey to win at his home track. Better luck next week.

However, we had this smart remark that I thought at least deserved a shout out. Technically correct.