Monday, October 19, 2015

2015 Pit Road Week 31: Kansas

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Hollywood Casino 400


By Richard Tix

This week NASCAR was at Kansas for another huge race in the Chase. This round the first two races are huge because the third and final race is Talladega where anything can happen. Well, once again Joey Logano came out the winner so 11 drivers are still worried about there status for next round. Some drivers just need to stay away from the trouble, but most of them will have to push to the front, which should make for a crazy plate race.

But, before we hit the preview lets take a look at the latest Power Rankings after Kansas Speedway.



Pit Road Power Rankings Week 31 (Week 30)
  1. Joey Logano (LW-2)- Back to back wins in the second round of the Chase. Now only two drivers will advance at most by a win after Talladega and 6 will get through on points (or 7 if no new winner). Finish: 1st
  2. Denny Hamlin (LW-3)- Hamlin followed up his 4th place finish last week with a runner up finish this week. He just needs to steer clear of any terrible finishes at Talladega. Finish: 2nd
  3. Kevin Harvick (LW-1)- Harvick has three non top 10 finishes in five Chase races in 2015. That is not good, yet he is still hanging around and that has to worry other drivers. Finish: 16th
  4. Carl Edwards (LW-4)- 11 of Carls 13 top 10's this season have come in the last 14 races, not a bad time to have such a quality run. Finish: 8th
  5. Kurt Busch (LW-7)- Back to back top 10's for the first time since race 19 and 20, Kurt picked a good time to do it. Finish: 6th
  6. Brad Keselowski (LW-6)- BK took the pole, led some laps, but then settled into the top 10. This round he now has back to back 9th place finishes to give him a shot to advance. Finish: 9th
  7. Kyle Busch (LW-9)- He is still outside looking in (9th in points), but only by 6 points. Kyle and JGR have been too good to count him out just yet. Finish: 5th
  8. Jeff Gordon (LW-8)- Before the Chase things looked bleak for Gordon, but he is hanging in there for now. His back to back top 10's give him a chance to advance on points. Finish: 10th
  9. Martin Truex Jr (LW-5)- He is 8th on points right now and needs to keep it clean at Dega to have a shot. That's a lot of pressure to advance. Finish: 15th
  10. Ryan Newman (LW-10)- As I said last week, he will need more to advance this year. He just isn't getting the top 10's he was consistently getting last Chase. Finish: 11th
  11. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-11)- Last round Jr was almost cut, this round he has dug an even bigger hole and might need a win to get out of it. Finish: 21st
  12. Matt Kenseth (LW-12)- Kenseth is in the, he needs to win, category. He was going for it at Kansas, but so was Joey. That is just hard racing. Kenseth will need to do the same but come out the other end this weekend. Finish: 14th



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