2015 Pit Road Week 16: Sonoma

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Week 16: Toyota Save Mart 350

By Richard Tix

NASCAR headed into Sonoma with a ton of questions. Would an underdog win? Would someone steal a Chase spot? Can AJ Allmendinger get another road course win?

Well, AJ won the Pole and it looked possible all of those questions would be answered. Until Sunday came around and Kyle Busch won the Toyota Save Mart 350. Now, we have even more questions to be answered. Will Kyle sweep in and steal a Chase spot after sitting out with an injury for 11 races? Kyle got the win, but he now needs to make up ground and get into the top 30 in points to make the Chase. Can Kyle make up the points difference? Will someone else steal a win later at Watkins Glen?

As it stands right now Kyle Busch has 125 points and is 136 points behind Cole Whitt who has 261 and is 30th in points. Kyle now has 10 races left to make up those 136 points before the Chase, keep in mind Justin Allgaier is sitting at 260 points, so Kyle has to catch an pass both.

It wont be an easy thing to do, but it will be a fun story line to watch down the stretch. 

Onto the Power Rankings. Let's check out the movers and shakers this week:

Pit Road Power Rankings Week 16 (Week 15)

1. Kevin Harvick (LW-2)- Harvick notched another top 5 on the season which is a Cup leading 11. He now has 11 top 5's and 14 top 10's in 16 races. Its another great start for Harvick, but he hasn't been seeing Victory Lane lately. Finish: 4th
2. Jimmie Johnson (LW-3)- Not a lot of movement with these top guys. JJ once again had a strong weekend where he lead 45 laps (most by any driver on Sunday) and finished in the top 10. Finish: 6th
3. Kurt Busch (LW-6)- Who is second behind Harvick in laps lead in 2015? Thats right, its Kurt in 3 less races than most other drivers. Again on Sunday he lead 43 laps, which was good for second most on the day. Finish: 2nd
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-5)- Jr is having another good run in 2015, but gets overlooked because guys like JJ, Harvick, Truex, and Kurt are doing even better. Don't count him out of the title hunt just yet. Finish: 7th
5. Joey Logano (LW-4)- Three straight top 5's for Logano, maybe I am being too tough on him? It's a really strong stretch for him, but he still has only lead 7 laps in those three races, many of the guys above him can say more than that. Finish: 5th 
6. Martin Truex Jr (LW-1)- Rough day for Truex. Seems like the only way to hold him back right now is for him to be involved in a wreck. Well, he doesn't have to worry about that for now after getting his win at Pocono. Finish: 42nd
7. Jamie McMurray (LW-7)- Now that Truex Jr got his win in 2015, McMurray is the next driver up to be underrated on the season and win-less. He currently is 7th in points and has been sitting in the top 9 for 8 races. Maybe his time to come is this weekend at Daytona? Finish: 11th
8. Kasey Kahne (LW-10)- Kahne hasn't been terrible this year, be he also hasn't been amazing. Instead, he has been pretty consistent and on Sunday he added a top 10 to that list of consistency. Finish: 8th
9. Brad Keselowski (LW-8)- BK has sat 6th in the points standings for 7 straight weeks. In that time it has been tough to know what you will get from him. He has 3 top 10's in that time, but also 3 finishes of 17+ (the other finish was 12th, right in the middle). Finish: 19th
10. Clint Bowyer (LW-NR)-Bowyer makes a stop on the NBTW Power Rankings and it has been awhile. Clint's 3rd place finish was his first top 5 of the season and his third top 10 in the past four races. He seems to be picking up a bit of steam lately. Finish: 3rd
11. Matt Kenseth (LW-9)- Kenseth is behind win-less drivers like Kahne and McMurray and almost behind Kurt Busch (who sat out three races). It hasn't been a strong season for the #20 team, but at least they have that one win to get them to the Chase. Finish: 21st
12. Paul Menard (LW-NR)- Menard has been in and out of these bottom spots for mush of the season. He just keeps hanging around. He has been in the top 16 in points ever since the third race of the year and lately he has been hanging around the top 12. He may not get a win, but he might put himself in position for a spot on points. Finish: 13th

Dropped Out: Jeff Gordon (LW-11) and Denny Hamlin (LW-12)

Just Missed: Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson

Honorable Mention: Sam Hornish Jr (10th place) and Tony Stewart (12th place)

No one correctly picked Kyle Busch to win this weekend at Sonoma. It has been a rough few weeks for me getting the word out to vote on winners, but this week we had an ok showing, just no lucky guesses. This weekend we head for Daytona on Fourth of July Weekend for the Firecracker 400 (Coke Zero 400). Hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable Holiday weekend! Check back in for the entry list a preview! As always, thanks for checking out NASCAR Behind the Wall!