2015 Week 13 Pit Road: Dover

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Week 13: FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks

By Richard Tix

We are just going to skip right to the Power Rankings this week. I missed just about everything except for the occasional look at the running order. I do apologize for falling behind this past week for everyone who check's out NASCAR Behind the Wall daily/weekly, but I was getting married! So, hopefully it was an ok excuse. 

I will try and get everything in this week, but next week I will miss the Power Rankings and previews most likely as I will be on my honeymoon. Once back, it will be back to our regularly schedule Behind the Wall information! 

ifantasyrace.com has a ton of fantasy information if that is what you're looking for and they can help keep you in the loop. Also, they have a great DraftKings deal going on still, for any fantasy lovers. 

You can also check out TimerSports.blogspot.com  for more fantasy info. You can still check back her at NASCAR Behind the Wall as I will still try and get a few updates up.

Pit Road Power Rankings Week 13 (Week 12)

1. Kevin Harvick (LW-1)- Sometimes I feel I should just name these the "Everyone after Kevin Harvick Rankings." After a great 2014 season, 2015 has actually been better (so far). All he needs to do is focus on winning another Championship. Finish: 2nd
2. Jimmie Johnson (LW-4)- It wasn't the typical JJ Dover win, as he only lead 23 total laps, but again he took the #48 to Victory Lane. That totals 4 wins in 2015. Finish: 1st
3. Martin Truex Jr (LW-2)- Truex is within 44 points of Harvick, yet he has zero wins. Just think about that for a second (Harvick has 2 wins and 9 top 5's, Truex has 3 top 5's). Truex is also up 32 points on Joey Logano. But, when will the win come? He was so close at Dover. Finish: 6th
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-3)- Jr didn't have a great day on Sunday. He wasn't a front runner at all and he struggled to get there. It was his third worst race via "driver rating" of the season. Finish: 14th
5. Jeff Gordon (LW-8)- 2015 isn't going as well as 2014 was for Gordon, but he still has stayed pretty consistent. After a few sup par finishes, Gordon finally got back in the top 10 on Sunday. Finish: 10th
6. Brad Keselowski (LW-9)- BK has been in the middle of this large grouping of drivers in the second tier for 2015. First tier is Harvick and JJ (maybe Truex), and then there is a long list thought about 10 or 11 on this ranking in another tier. All these guys have show glimpses, but right now its the Kevin and Jimmie show. Finish: 12th
7. Ryan Newman (LW-7)- Dover was an uncharacteristic poor finish for Newman. It hasn't happened much in the last two seasons, so he may bounce back at Pocono. Finish: 18th
8. Joey Logano (LW-10)- JoLo is still starting out races up front (most of the time in the top 5), but hasn't been pulling off top 5's and top 10's at as high of a rate as the beginning of 2015. JoLo and the #22 team have nothing to worry about, but will be focusing on finishing for the Chase. Finish: 11th
9. Kurt Busch (LW-5)- Dover was Kurt's worst finish of the season and actually his first outside the top 15 in his first 10 races. At this point is doesn't matter as he has a win and is sitting nicely in 15th. Finish: 31st
10. Matt Kenseth (LW-6)- I thought after a few really good races and a fourth place starting position Kenseth would challenge for the win. Then he has troubles with his car and he had to settle for packing it up with a back of the pack finish. Finish: 39th
11. Kasey Kahne (LW-NR)- Kahne finally got back in the top 10 on Sunday for the first time since Richmond. He still has only lead laps in three races this year, but the top 5 at Dover is promising. Finish: 4th
12. Paul Menard (LW-NR)- Menard has been quiet, but he has worked his way to 12th in the points standings. At Dover he notched his third top 10 of the season and his first since Talladega. Finish: 8th

Dropped Out: Carl Edwards (LW-11) and Kyle Busch (LW-12)

Just Missed: Kyle Larson and Aric Almirola

Honorable Mention: David Ragan in the #55 (13th)

Pit Road Week 29: Dover

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Week 29

By Richard Tix

After Dover NASCAR officially is down to 12 drivers remaining in the Chase for a Sprint Cup Title. Aric Almirola, AJ Allmendinger, Kurt Busch, and Greg Biffle all dropped out of the running at the Moster Mile. 

Some drivers impressed in the first three races (BK, JoLo, Harvick, and Gordon) while others had there struggles (Kahne, Hamlin, and Edwards) but they all get to move on and start fresh. So who will come out strong in the next three Chase races? Will someone lock in there spot at Kansas or will an underdog steal a win? We will dive into that in this weeks preview on Wednesday, until the check out this weeks Power Rankings.

Pit Road Power Rankings Week 29 (Week 28)

1. Brad Keselowski (LW-1)- If he starts to struggle this round then the first three races will be forgoten quickly, but right now he is on fire. He won the first race, fought through adversity for a 7th, and then came up just short yesterday (2nd). 
2. Joey Logano (LW-2)- The first round was all about Team Penske, but that round is over and doesn't mean a thing for the next three races, Everyone starts over so there is no rest in the #22 camp.
3. Jeff Gordon (LW-6)- Gordon had a rough finish to Loudon (blowing a right front late), but he bounced back in a huge way at Dover with a win. It's too bad he can't use that in knowing he will be in the next round, because it all starts over again this week,
4. Kevin Harvick (LW-3)- 223 laps led on the day for Harvick. He get's into the next round and was fast, thats what should be important to him right now. 
5. Jimmie Johnson (LW-4)- A full Dover race with JJ not leading a single lap? JJ still finished 3rd on the day, but Harvick got the nod over JJ because of how much he ran in front.
6. Kyle Busch (LW-7)- Quietly he has turned his rough regular season into an impressive post season (7th, 8th, and 10th). He started top 5 in all three Chase races so far, which has helped, but he is also turning on some consistency. 
7. Matt Kenseth (LW-8)- Speaking of consistency, Matt Kenseth got into the Chase off consistency. He got through the first round by finishing strong on Sunday (5th). Maybe he finally gets win #1 in 2014?
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-5)- Jr was one of the lowest Chase contenders to move on Sunday (Only Kahne finished lower and moved on). Dale finished 17th on a day to forget, lucky for him they start all over this weekend. His best and only top 10 finish was 9th at Loudon, he may need a bit more this round.
9. Ryan Newman (LW-11)- Newman advances by running well, but not great. Pretty much the definition of his 2014 season. But, for the first round that is all you need. It's still possible that he can do it again this round, but he may need to finish top 15 in every race and pull off a couple top 10's. 
10. Carl Edwards (LW-13)- Carl is going to need more to move on to the final 8. 20th, 17th, and 11th just wont get it done.
11. Denny Hamlin (LW-16)- The bottom guys get to hit refresh, which DH really wanted to do after Loudon (37th). Well DH hit his own refresh button on his way to a 12th place finish at Dover which moved him onto the next round.
12. Kasey Kahne (LW-10)- Kahne almost fell out of the last Chase spot after finishing 20th at Dover. It was a slow first three races where Kasey only picked up one top 15 and two top 20's, but as it is with everyone, he gets a fresh start.
13. Kyle Larson (LW-NR)- How great would it have been if Kyle Larson had made the Chase? He would be top 3 in these rankings after finishes of 3rd, 2nd, and 6th. Unfortunately, he can only get to 13th in the standings for now (or highest non Chase driver). 
14. Martin Truex Jr (LW-NR)- A rough falling out from MWR to Furniture Row that was mostly unfair for Truex, he has done well so far in the three Chase races (14th, 12th, and 7th). 
15. Clint Bowyer (LW-NR)- If he had made the Chase it would have been a tough start at Chicagoland (39th). Since, he has finishes of 14th and 9th. 

This week NASCAR drops from 16 Chase drivers to 12. Well at NASCAR Behind the Wall we have opened up the bottom of the standings to guys outside the top 16 (since we are now at 12). The top 12 will still all be current Chase drivers. We also dropped to the top 15, after next weeks race we will drop to 14, and so on until we get back to 12 drivers. At that point NASCAR will be ready to drop to 8 drivers and we will continue to do the top 12 the rest of the season. Why? Well, when going all the way down to the top 16 we start getting very inconsistent finishers so its all a judgement call on who is actually "hot" at the moment. Drivers have to earn it in these power rankings. 

Garry (Keselowski) and I (Harvick) were both wrong, but Thomas got it right.

William Frang (who writes for a different blog on Fantasy Football) also got it right this week.

Hannah also got it right this week! Thank's for the reminder since I missed it the first time around!

Well, that's the end to the first round of the new 2014 Chase format. NASCAR heads to Kansas this week to kick off round two with 12 drivers all back to even. It should be a fun round that concludes at Talladega in three weeks. Thanks for checking out NASCAR Behind the Wall.

Pit Road Week 13: Dover

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Week 13

By Richard Tix

Sundays race at Dover was, well, interesting. NASCAR started the FedEx 400 with Brad Keselowski on the pole and soon after Kyle Busch taking the lead. Talk immediately started (honestly it started before the race even did) about a weekend sweep. Kyle is the only driver to have ever complete a weekend sweep in Truck, Nationwide, and Cup (Bristol in 2010). 

Kyle led much of the race until he and Clint Bowyer got into each other and wrecked the #18 for the rest of the day. Was Kyle pushing too hard on the outside too early? Who knows and I don't care because that's a judgement call. I for one normally like hard racing and that's a racing thing. One thing is known though, Bowyers spotter did tell him he was clear and if it was not for that Kyle would have been fine even if he was racing "too hard."

His day ended but around the same time Jimmie Johnson's day started. JJ took the lead and never really looked back. The only thing that held him back on Sunday was red flags. The most interesting one was when part of the track got brought up out of the racing surface and Jamie McMurray smoked it. The piece of concrete that came loose hit the front of the #1 and exploded into dust a pieces of concrete shrapnel that even took some of the pedestrian bridge glass out. 

When racing got going it was still a lot of JJ up front. Eventually he came home with another Dover win, which is nothing new to him. I still thought a lot of the racing action was very good on track. Just because one team has it figured out on a certain day doesn't mean the rest of the racing isn't good. But, I guess you can please everyone, NASCAR know's this better than anyone.

If you missed it here are the full race results of the FedEx 400 at Dover International Speedway.

Pit Road: Power Rankings Week 13 (Week 12)

1. Matt Kenseth (LW-3)- A new driver hitting the #1 spot this week. Lot of talk of Jeff Gordon and being Mr Consistent this year, well if thats the case Kenseth has been 1B in that category. He is also NASCAR's new leading points man, without a win.
2. Jimmie Johnson (LW-6)- "He's back." That is all. JJ has won back to back, and most the time that would mean the #1 spot. But, JJ came from a long way down though. So Im giving the top spot to consistency, this week. Beware Kenseth, he is coming for you.
3. Jeff Gordon (LW-2)- Somewhere during Sundays race Gordon's car just fell apart. He went from running top 10 to struggling in a snap. Its a small bump in the road for Gordon.
4. Kevin Harvick (LW-1)- Harvick had a shot at keeping the top spot but his car (or his tire, or the concrete) stopped him from that. Harvick had a car to compete with JJ but when his tire went down he was fighting to get back on the lead lap. 
5. Carl Edwards (LW-5)- Carl is third in points, yes Carl Edwards. Its been a quiet year and he hasn't shown a lot of flashes of being dominant, yet he is still finding quality finishes. Take out the Talladega crash and his lowest finish is 17th.
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-7)- Dale Jr (not Sr, which may have been said during intro's...) had a quality day at Dover, but wasn't spectacular. He spent the whole day in the top 15 and ran in an average position of 8th for a 9th place finish. He is still hanging around and having a pretty good year.
7. Kyle Busch (LW-4)- If this was a weekend Power Rankings Rowdy would be a lot higher, unfortunately only Cup counts. Kyle would have dropped even farther but he did have a fast car while he was out there. In his last 4 races he only has 1 top 10 (9th at Charlotte).
8. Brad Keselowski (LW-12)- Maybe is he started front row on the last restart he would have had a shot at JJ, but no one will know. Instead he started behind him and used up his car just trying to catch JJ's back bumper. JJ had too much for BK, but BK has been putting together some decent finishes again.
9. Joey Logano (LW-8)- BK's Penske teammate, JoLo was fast as normal, but on race day just couldn't put it together. He is still having a huge 2014 and could finally become a title contender for many years to come.
10. Paul Menard (LW-11)- Menard actually had a car to finish top 5, but at the end of the race when it counted his car fell off. He did end up finishing top 10 (which is already his 7th of the year). Right now he is having an above average season (14th in points).
11. Aric Almirola (LW-NR)- In his last five races Aric hasn't finished outside the top 20 (12, 11, 8, 13, and 17). As you can tell, nothing amazing, but he also hasn't been terrible either. On Sunday he had a good run up front before finishing 12th.
12. Denny Hamlin (LW-NR)- Consistent good finishes? Don't look to Denny, but constitently quality, not points killing finishes? Look no further. DH hasn't finished higher than 22nd all season, and only 2 times he has finished outside the top 20. On Sunday, he fought back after a speeding penalty and finished 5th. He had a top 5 car and finally put that car in the top 5.

Dropped Out: Kasey Kahne and Brian Vickers (tough luck for BV this week)

Just Missed: Tony Stewart, Kyle Larson and Clint Bowyer

Honorable Mention: Martin Truex Jr (6th) and Jamie McMurray (13th after hitting Miles).

Well, after Jimmie Johnson won at Charlotte no one was looking past him at Dover. I had 7 different responses let me know JJ was going to win on Twitter. Also, for the second week in a row these guys overcame the curse of NASCAR Behind the Wall (Before JJ's Charlotte win I had not picked a winner in 2014). I am now 2 for 13, 2 for 14 if you count my ASR guess. Some of the following guys are doing much better:

Overcoming the Behind the Wall curse, Matt Made it possible twice now. Next time *Jimmie Johnson would be better...Ha

Everyone at ThisSportz got in on the action.

Well, I counted you twice, so you get double the credit this week.

How about JJ and the broom? (To clean up the mess Kyle and Bowyer left)

As always, thanks for the responses on Twitter and for checking out NASCAR Behind the Wall. Weekend schedule, driver entry list's, and Pocono Preview will be out later this week!