2016 Pit Road Week 29: Dover

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Dover International Speedway

By Richard Tix

First thing's first: being called a hater by someone who has never read your articles or a tweet of your's before is ironic, because that person is as much a hater as you are since they know nothing about you.

I was called a hater on Sunday for calling out TV media (and others) who continue to try and hold onto the notion that Furniture Row is still a small team beating the odds. They're trying to sell the Cinderella story when the story has run it's course.

Why is this wrong? Because Furniture Row is no longer a small team, they're a legit title contender who is practically a fifth Joe Gibbs Racing car. That is no slight to Furniture Row, those guys worked their butt's off to get to this point and overcome the odds.

But, that story ended last season, it's time to stop harping on an old story and move on with the truth.

I like Martin Truex Jr and love that a once small team is expanding and becoming a real threat in NASCAR. However, this is like Gonzaga in college basketball (hopefully some of you get this). They were a media Cinderella darling for a short period of time, but eventually got so big they were a legit contender and the story-line was gone. College media understood that, the fans understood that, and Gonzaga understood that.

Story-lines change and we need to adapt with them. It doesn't make you a hater, it makes you a person who understands the context of situations and how they're forever changing. I try and keep is as real and unbiased as I can here. So, lets hit a few things you need to know if you just started following me.

I run Behind the Wall and try and keep my bias of drivers neutral for rankings and articles.

I am a huge Brad Keseloski fan and have been since he was working his way up. I am a Dodge fan so many of my drivers roots have passed through those ram horns.

I also like Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott (I know, weird situation), Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer, and Kyle Larson.

When I first started watching in the 90's I was a young kid and latched onto Jeff Gordon like so many fans did over time. 

I was raised a King Petty guy (Mopar). By oldest brother is much older then me (I was an oops) and he was a Petty guy, so I followed suit. 

I have since dropped Gordon, Hamlin, and Kahne when people ask me who I am a fan of, but only because my list is huge (well some other things have turned me off from Denny as well). If you asked me, I would say I'm a BK fan, but I really do like a lot of guys. It comes with the nature of writing and just loving the sport.

I do like the newest Chase format and have from the start. However, I have always had a few thing's that I though needed adjustment (adding tracks to the full schedule and changing the final race year to year to name a few).

Even drivers I have disliked in the past have had their up's and downs when compared to m,y opinion. To be honest, I have had some of the best discussions on Twitter with fans of drivers I am not a big fan of. 

Last thing: I really wish they would add a few more short tracks (Iowa Speedway being one) and even a road course or two. I have held this opinion for awhile now and will not change it. I think they could drop a few 1.5 mile tracks that have two stops to make room. 

Oh, and I am from Minnesota and its tough to find a ton of people who consider themselves NASCAR fans. We're here, but we're hard to find. 

Now, onto the Power Rankings.

A review of the Chase Power Ranking Rules:

For the first three races we will have 16 drivers ranked and they will all come from the Chase field. Once NASCAR cuts the field to 12 so will Behind the Wall (again, all Chase drivers). Once we cut to 8 drivers I will still rank the top 12, but the top 8 will be only drivers left in the Chase and the remaining four can be anyone (previous Chase drivers OR someone who was never in the Chase). This type format will continue all the way down to the final (so in the end the Champion will be number one and the other eleven can be anyone in the Sprint Cup.

We're down to 12 Chase drivers so only those 12 are in the rankings this week.

Pit Road Power Rankings Week 29 (Week 28)

1. Martin Truex (LW-1)- Right now Truex is as hot as they come and NASCAR will hit two 1.5 mile tracks in the next three. Why is that important? Well, because he has been pretty darn good on 1.5 mile's while at Furniture Row.
2. Brad Keselowski (LW-2)- Three top 5's in the Chase, tied for the most wins this season, the most top 5's all year, and stuck in 7th place in the standings. Weird, huh? It's a non factor if BK keeps running this well, these stats will advance him to Miami if he keeps it up. 
3. Kyle Busch (LW-4)- Rowdy led a lap ion every Chase race and also finished in the top 10 all three times. He was runner up at Dover on Sunday and knows how to navigate this Chase.
4. Joey Logano (LW-5)- It's a bit crazy to think JoLo has only won one race in 2016, but that's where we are right now. 
5. Kevin Harvick (LW-3)- Tough luck on Sunday, but guys it can happen at anytime, why all the Rodney Childers attacking on twitter? Harvick still looks like a title contender and already had a win.
6. Matt Kenseth (LW-6)- Hard to argue with 9th, 2nd, and 5th place finishes during the Chase. Nice work running well and advancing.
7. Jimmie Johnson (LW-8)- This season is the lowest on average I have ever had JJ in the rankings, weird. Whats not weird is the No. 48 team is running better in the Chase, but can they keep it going against JGR?
8. Denny Hamlin (LW-7)- Ten top 10's in the last eleven races, not bad Hamlin. The last time he was out of the top 15 was thirteen races ago, and that was the unpredictable Daytona.
9. Chase Elliott (LW-9)- Will he win the Championship as a rookie? Odds are 99% no, but two third place finishes this round are impressive stats to add to a great rookie campaign. 
10. Kurt Busch (LW-10)- They survived with a lone top 10 and three top 15's. It wasn't pretty and they will need more this round, but they made it.
11. Austin Dillon (LW-13)- Yeah, a poor running by CGR helped, but Dillon didn't hurt himself by finishing 8th, and that's what it is all about. Nice work moving on and doing what you could to gain points.
12. Carl Edwards (LW-11)- I'm not sure what to think of the No 19 team. They would reel off two wins in this round at any moment, but right now they're lagging behind the other four JGR cars (yes, the No. 78 is a fifth JGR car).