2016 NASCAR Pit Road Week 13: Charlotte

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Coca-Cola 600

Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

By Richard Tix

This week the Behind the Wall review will be short and sweet. Sometimes life gets in the way and bigger things become priority (yes, even over NASCAR/Racing). Every Memorial weekend and Labor Day weekend I go camping with family. Parents, Siblings, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Cousin's kids, etc all getting together and enjoying each other's company. 

Lot's of camp fires, fishing, bike rides, and a few cold refreshments take precedence over catching the race. Some years we make a bike ride into town and hit up a small local bar to watch the race, but this year the kids were focused on fishing so the bike ride got lost in the shuffle. 

Not much beats the time spent with family even if it means skipping the annual trip to watch the race. Instead we caught a good handful of sunnies and crappies and taught the kids how to clean their catch. Then, we had a fish fry over the open camp fire so to say I missed out on the race would be a reach as I was still living life.

With that introduction, lets skip right to the part where Martin Truex Jr dominated the race and Behind the Wall went over the week 13 Power Rankings!

Pit Road Power Rankings Week 13 (Week 12)

1. Kevin Harvick (LW-1)- Great car, great night, just finished one spot too low. Harvick on average ran in the top 5 all night. He has two second place finishes in the last three races. Finish: 2nd
2. Kurt Busch (LW-3)- Barring a total let down, Kurt is already in the Chase without a win. That's because he has been so consistent so far through 13 races. Kurt owns a seven race top 10 streak going back to Texas. Finish: 6th
3. Kyle Busch (LW-2)- Back to back races in a wreck, Kyle's hot start will give him a pass for now. Eventually bad luck will catch up to him in the rankings, but for now he is too fast to drop too far on the list. Finish: 33rd
4. Martin Truex Jr (LW-7)- Dominating almost doesn't do Martin's Coca-Cola 600 run justice. Truex has led 611 laps in the last three races (Charlotte, Dover, and Kansas). 611 laps would be a career best alone, not even mentioning that he actually has 809 laps led this season. Finish: 1st
5. Chase Elliott (LW-4)- Four straight top 10's, six in his last seven, and nine on the season. Chase has put together s very, very solid rookie campaign and is the second highest driver in points without a win (only behind Kurt Busch). Finish: 8th
6. Brad Keselowski (LW-5)- The No. 2 has started to find a rythym as of late with four straight top 10's including his win at Talladega. He ran well both weekends at CMS but wasn't a threat to win while JoLo and Truex ran away with both. Finish: 5th
7. Matt Kenseth (LW-9)- Kenseth's bad luck seems to be turning finally after his win at Dover. He now has a win, two top 5's, and four top 10's in his last five races. Finish: 7th
8. Jimmie Johnson (LW-10)- JJ's inconsistencies hurt him in the rankings the past month or so, but his run at Charlotte will help to right that ship. He ran an astounding 2nd place on average Sunday and finished close to that as well. Finish: 3rd
9. Carl Edwards (LW-6)- Similar to JJ, Carl has been on a cold streak lately after winning back to back and rattling off six straight top 10's earlier this season. Maybe the team is testing new stuff? Either way, they haven't been on near the streak they were. Finish: 18th
10. Joey Logano (LW-12)- Things might be looking up for JoLo in 2016 after his All Star Race win. He followed that up with a nice run in the Coca-Cola 600, but he still isn't at the level he was in 2015, yet. Finish: 9th
11. Denny Hamlin (LW-NR)- Back to back top 10's are enough to get the 2016 Daytona 500 winner back in the Behind the Wall rankings. It's been awhile, but he looked better at Dover and Charlotte. Finish: 4th
12. Kyle Larson (LW-NR)- One lone top 10 in his last handful of races (Dover), but he has been showing a ton of his talent lately. After the battle with Kenseth and Elliott at Dover, his runs at the All Star Race with Elliott and then JoLo were a blast from his rookie season. Finish: 13th

Dropped Out: Ryan Blaney (LW-8) and Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-11)

Just Missed: Ryan Newman and Austin Dillon