2017 NASCAR Pit Road Week 16: Sonoma

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Toyota/Save Mart 350

By Richard Tix

Sonoma Thoughts:

No Late Caution

• Just one week after what seemed like a phantom debris caution at MIS, the end of Sonoma looked to be in a spot where NASCAR might have a quick trigger finger for a yellow. Kevin Harvick was out front pretty easily and only had a small shot at not finishing (fuel). To NASCAR's credit, they didn't find a crazy reason to throw a yellow and instead it finished as expected (a yellow did fly right around when Harvick was about to cross the S/F).

Road Courses Still Equal Fun

• Road Courses being a fan favorite has become the norm in 2017. On Jeff Gluck's "Was it a good race" twitter poll Sonoma got an overwhelming 78% yes which is normal for a road course week. What is a bit crazy is if a finish like we had on Sunday (Harvick way out front and winning after a yellow came out on the final lap), happened at a 1.5 mile track the poll results most likely would have flip flopped a bunch. I understand much of that is also the racing action during the meat of the race, but it is still interesting to note. I am part of the "more road course" crowd (and the "real road course, not roval" crowd), but I don't want them over saturated either. Another stop or two at most in place of a 1.5 would work for me, plus add in some more short tracks....

No Surprise Winner

• To be fair, Watkins Glenn is where AJ Allmendinger really has excelled and where we get more "surprise" winners, but guys like Logano, Kenseth, and Bowyer can take a deep breath knowing AJ didn't win. Harvick winning was almost a lock and even without a win he was the highest in points (without a win), so his trip to VL posses no threat to the non win drivers for the most part. Up next is Daytona which has been arguably an even bigger wild card race than Sonoma has so everyone will be trying out any strategy necessary to win.

Pit Road Power Rankings: Week 16 (Week 15)

1. Martin Truex Jr (LW-1)- After a blown engine the end result wasn't what he wanted, but before it blew up on him Truex was a top contender to beat on Sunday.
2. Kyle Busch (LW-3)- Zero wins makes it tough to put Rowdy right behind Truex, but he does have three straight top tens and six top tens in his last seven. A win is coming for this team soon if they can stop losing CC's.
3. Kevin Harvick (LW-4)- I said it for about three weeks, then didn't say it last week in the power rankings: "a win is coming for this team." Well, it finally came Sunday at Sonoma. "Happy" has lead at least ten laps in nine of sixteen races this season.
4. Kyle Larson (LW-2)- After taking the pole, Sunday didn't exactly go Larson's way at Sonoma. Even after a poor day, he actually kept the top spot in the standings from Truex Jr who also had late issues.
5. Chase Elliott (LW-9)- Chase is starting to surge again after a lull from races nine to twelve. He is starting to consistently run in the top ten again, but will still need to close a race out (restarts, pit stops, CC strategy) if he wants to win before the playoffs.
6. Jamie McMurray (LW-5)- Consistency king, JMac is tied for third for most top tens (ten top tens, two driver have eleven). Three more top tens and he will match his best in a season other than the lone season he had 23 (2004).
7. Jimmie Johnson (LW-6)- 3, 3, and 6. That is JJ's wins, top fives, and top tens in 2017. He is perfectly safe, but one has to think they would want to rack up some more playoff points at some point while Truex keeps knocking them off.
8. Denny Hamlin (LW-7)- Another JGR car starting to come to life as of late. Slowly, the 11 is starting to catch the pack. Sonoma was his second straight 4th place finish and his fourth top ten in five races.
9. Brad Keselowski (LW-10)- BK got back on track on Sunday after finishing 3rd in a car that looked like it was just part of the county fair demo derby. 
10. Ryan Blaney (LW-11)- Blaney had a pretty solid run at Sonoma for only his second Cup start here. He started 7th and finished 9th and picked up 39 points which was good for fourth most.
11. Kurt Busch (LW-NR)- Kurt is on the every other race top ten streak. The good: Sonoma was a top ten week. The bad: Daytona is on a non top ten week....
12. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-NR)- He's back. It's been awhile since Junior cracked the top 12 on NBTW, but after his second top ten in a row he will grace the very bottom as we head to one of his best tracks, Daytona.

Dropped Out: Matt Kenseth (LW-8) and Erik Jones (LW-12)

Just Missed: Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, and Ryan Newman