2017 NASCAR Pit Road Week 24: Bristol

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Bass Pro Shops/NRA Night Race

By Richard Tix

The Week 24 NASCAR Power Rankings after Kyle Busch's win at Bristol.

Pit Road Power Rankings: Week 24 (Week 23)

1. Kyle Busch (LW-2)- A weekend sweep, 53 total points on Saturday, and another 6 playoff points sure are going to help come playoff time. He's getting hot at the right time.
2. Martin Truex Jr (LW-1)- Truex gets a pass, heck he's run so well he can take a pass in each round of the playoffs until Homestead.
3. Denny Hamlin (LW-5)- Michigan and IMS, two larger tracks where HP and clean air are king... Those are the only two races in the last seven that Hamlin hasn't finished 4th or better.
4. Kyle Larson (LW-6)- Larson breaks up the Toyota theme at the top here, but not for long. A 9th place finish after a win at MIS wasn't what he wanted, but it wasn't terrible either.
5. Matt Kenseth (LW-8)- The top four finishers on Saturday were all Toyota, Kenseth was one of those four (4th).
6. Erik Jones (LW-9)- What a strong run. For most of the race everyone was thinking, "what if Erik wins this thing?" He's been trending up, but he will need a win to get into the playoffs and it might just happen.
7. Kevin Harvick (LW-7)- After only a top 15 and top 20 finish the two previous weeks, Harvick got back on track with an 8th place finish on Saturday.
8. Chase Elliott (LW-4)- The finish was a let down, but the 24 has been the fastest HMS car all year (week to week).
9. Ryan Newman (LW-NR)- Quietly that's back to back top ten finishes for Newman. They just need to find the consistency they had back in 2014.
10. Brad Keselowski (LW-3)- Poor qualifying effort and a poor night overall, Bristol will be forgettable.
11. Trevor Bayne (LW-NR)- Back to back top tens are a good way to forget about all the poor finished of late.
12. Kurt Busch (LW-NR)- Kurt now hoas two top tens in his last three races and three straight of 11th or better.

Dropped Out: Daniel Suarez (LW-10), Jamie McMurray (LW-11) and Chris Buescher (LW-12)

Just Missed: Ryan Blaney and Jimmie Johnson