2018 NASCAR Pit Road Week 11: Dover

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Dover International Speedway

By Richard Tix

Yes, the rankings are late this week so let's just get to the good stuff below!

Pit Road Power Rankings: Week 11 (Week 10)

1. Kevin Harvick (LW-3)- A little flip flop at the top. Harvick now has a series best four wins and dominated at Dover.
2. Kyle Busch (LW-1)- The car issue just after half way wasn't Kyle's fault, but with Harvick being so good this week Rowdy loses the top spot, for now.
3. Joey Logano (LW-2)- Consistently good, but not always great has been JoLo's 2018 season so far. 13th at Dover will be one to forget, but it also wasn't a huge blow to this team.
4. Clint Bowyer (LW-5)- Bowyer lead 40 laps, finished second, and is having fun again at the Cup level.
5. Kurt Busch (LW-6)- Kurt quietly keeps chugging along and posting good numbers. This week he posted back to back top fives after last weeks runner up at Dega.
6. Denny Hamlin (LW-4)- Hamlin spent a lot of his day around the top ten and ended up finishing (7th)  better then his average position (12th).
7. Jimmie Johnson (LW-7)- At least JJ didn't suck at Dover, because if he did we would really have to start worrying. Instead Jimmie notched his third top ten in the last four races (12th at Dega).
8. Chase Elliott (LW-8)- JJ and Chase seem to be getting a grip around the same time. However, lately Elliott has been turning nothing's into something's. Eventually he might actually have it all come together so he doesn't have to turn a dud into a late surge for a good finish.
9. Brad Keselowski (LW-11)- BK got back on track at Dover after leading 108 laps and finishing 6th. However, they have just been too streaky to jump too many other drivers for now.
10. Kyle Larson (LW-9)- Admittedly, Larson shouldn't be this low. I'm just not sure where to put him and he has been streaky most the year. Larson fans, get mad if you would like...
11. Martin Truex Jr (LW-10)- One race down on the Truex come back tour (fourth). Now, can he carry that momentum into the next race?
12. Daniel Suarez (LW-12)- Some of the social media hate I saw was sickening after Suarez's great finish on Sunday. But, I also saw a lot of positives from the NASCAR fan base backing up diversity in our sport. Oh, and Suarez has three straight top tens.

Dropped Out: No One

Just Missed: Ryan Blaney and Aric Almirola

2017 NASCAR Pit Road Week 34: Texas

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

AAA Texas 500

By Richard Tix

The 2017 season is dwindling down and so are the Power Rankings. Once again this week the top eight are made up of entirely current playoff drivers, but after next week only the top four will be. Meaning? Fresh faces on the Power Rankings as the season ends.

Speaking of the season ending, after Texas NASCAR now has just one spot open for the Championship at Homestead. Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Martin Truex Jr. are locked into a shot at the 2017 Championship, but who is the fourth that will join them? Will it be Brad Keselowski who currently holds the spot on points? Will it be Denny Hamlin who has been knocking off top tens left and right lately? Will it be Ryan Blaney who has three straight top tens for the first time this year? Or will it be a Hendrick driver (Chase Elliott or Jimmie Johnson) who badly need a win and have fallen off (performance and/or luck) down the stretch?

The final cut line before the final race makes everything seem like a bigger stage heading to Phoenix so be sure to tune in this weekend!

Pit Road Power Rankings: Week 34 (Week 33)

1. Martin Truex Jr (LW-1)- Martin is locked into the Finale at Homestead (which has been known for about three months now...). The No. 78 is the car to beat, but during a winner take all, its anyone's game.
2. Kyle Busch (LW-2)- Rowdy didn't need to press the issue at Texas, but it still wasn't the run they were looking for. Look for a strong run at Phoenix to get momentum back.
3. Kevin Harvick (LW-5)- Harvick locked in a spot at Homestead AND has Phoenix next up on the schedule. He has been consistent all season and is getting hot at the right time.
4. Denny Hamlin (LW-6)- Hamlin has five straight top tens including three top fives. If he makes Homestead and Chase doesn't we can talk payback, until then the TV broadcast has done enough.
5. Brad Keselowski (LW-3)- BK is safe and might be the fourth driver into Homestead, but he has to run well and hope the 11, 21, 24, or 48 don't win at Phoenix. He holds almost all the power to advance, but anything can happen when a win locks you into the next round.
6. Ryan Blaney (LW-7)- This No. 21 team has really made some strides in consistency now that everything is on the line. This is the first time the No. 21 has put up back to back top tens all season, and it happens to be back to back to back...
7. Chase Elliott (LW-4)- Chase put up another quality eight place finish, but the incident at Martinsville leaves him in a must win position.
8. Jimmie Johnson (LW-8)- The No. 2 team pulled a JJ (coming back from laps down to post a good finish), meanwhile the No. 48 team couldn't. Somethings been off and all year we have been waiting for it to click, because that's what this team does.
9. Matt Kenseth (LW-9)- Back to back top tens for Kenseth. It is a shame Matt couldn't find a competitive ride and is stepping away in 2018, I will greatly miss his dry humor and personality.
10. Kasey Kahne (LW-11)- He isn't posting top tens left and right, but these top 15's are encouraging considering the season he has had.
11. Kurt Busch (LW-NR)- Kurt won his first pole of 2017 and followed it up with a nice top ten. However, he still was held without leading a lap even after breaking a track record.
12. Austin Dillon (LW-NR)- I really thought AD and RCR would continue it's momentum from 2016 into a nice 2017. I was wrong, but the team is slowly putting some ok finishes together late in the year (three straight top 15's).

Dropped Out: Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-10) and Trevor Bayne (LW-12)

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

2016 Pit Road Week 31: Kansas

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Hollywood Casino 400

Photo: Jason Hanna Getty Images

By Richard Tix

Hard racing and post race interviewing don't always go as well as you think they would in your head. Not wanting to answer a question right after a heated race and answering with "that's racing, I guess." It's a line every NASCAR Cup driver has used almost every season they have raced at least once. Sometimes a driver let's out exactly what they're thinking and gets bashed by social media couch critics. Other time's they use a generic line like above and we all move on and thinking of it as just another boring interview. But, Sunday social media didn't move on.

Why is that? Well because it was Kyle Busch that said that line after his racing run in with teammate Carl Edwards late in the race at Kansas. The one thing we know about Kyle Busch is no move goes without a social media outrage.

Sure, he may have a past where he was looked at as whinny (maybe even some of you still think that), but a whole ton of drivers have said the same things and been applauded for holding back and being a bigger man and not in the shade of "crying."

Kyle gets lambasted from social media because of his past (I guess), but 99.9% of the time if the comment "that's racing, I guess" came out of another drivers mouth we would take it with a grain of salt and move on. Would we know that driver probably didn't fully mean it? Sure, we can see past typical BS lines and know their is more, but for some reason we keep nitpicking Rowdy for every single thing he does.

I get it if you don't like him, almost every fan in the sport has a guy they dislike, but cut him some slack because if your driver said that you would be looking at this 180 degrees the other way. I would say 80% of the time (yes making up numbers here) the social media outrage on Kyle Busch is total fan hypocrisy. Hate on him when it's a valid reason, but answering the question with a generic line is what most drivers do when they don't want to talk about it, just be happy he didn't walk off (one of those times I get being upset with him).

Now, lets get to the Power Rankings since my rant backing a driver I am not even a fan of has gone long enough. 

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 31 (Week 30)

1. Jimmie Johnson (LW-4)- This is the best I have seen the No. 48 run in awhile. Sunday he wasn't going to win (and didn't need to), but he worked his way to the front and stayed clean, something he will want to do again at Dega (though he is already in the final eight). 
2. Kyle Busch (LW-5)- I'm not sure Kyle was catching Harvick even if he got around the No. 19, but he was fast to end the race. He has been good all Chase long.
3. Kevin Harvick (LW-10)- Was he too low last week? Probably. But that's how this Chase has gone so far for "Happy." It's been up and down, but this team fights through adversity by bringing speed every week. Oh, and check out last weeks quote on ole No. 4: "Heads up No. 4 fans, he can win at anytime." See, all is good for the moment with Harvick.
4. Matt Kenseth (LW-3)- Five Chase races and five top 10's, Kenseth is staying out of trouble and not mixing it up with anyone, which is a good Chase formula. 
5. Martin Truex Jr (LW-1)- After two wins in the first round, Truex now has two finishes of 11th or worse in the second round.
6. Carl Edwards (LW-7)- 12th and 2nd this round, that doesn't seem great but with Talladega on the schedule if he does it again he should be safe.
7. Joey Logano (LW-11)- He raced his way back to the top 8 (tied with Dillon), but still has to stay clean and run well at Talladega to advance. Weird spot after such a great 2015 season.
8. Kurt Busch (LW-6)- Kurt has flown under the radar all Chase. Mostly because he really hasn't been that good, but he hasn't been bad either. That's how this season may end for him too.
9. Brad Keselowski (LW-2)- "Must win." NBC analysis need to realize we're going to Dega where someone could have trouble like BK did at Kansas. BK has been top 10 fast all year and consistent, he still has a shot without a win.
10. Austin Dillon (LW-12)- What a Chase for AD. Give the man his due, he is sticking in it and is in a nice spot right now. Who would have thought, AD in the round of eight? It's only one great finish away.
11. Chase Elliott (LW-8)- Chase can't catch a break this round. He has been fast and he finished 5th after getting the pole last time out at Dega. He has to be this low in the rankings, but it's not crazy to think he could win..
12. Denny Hamlin (LW-9)- Trouble at Charlotte did DH no favors and his 15th place finish this weekend didn't help. The other guys who were in a hole helped themselves out unlike Hamlin. He needs to stay clean and have a great finish at Dega.

2016 Pit Road Week 28: Loudon

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

NHMS

By Richard Tix

As you may know from this weekends race preview (Week 29 race preview here), I have been a busy guy. In that time I have missed a bunch of content that I normally like to have out weekly. In that spirit, I want to make sure I get to the Power Rankings. However, they will be striped down this weekend to save a bit of time so I can catch up on everything else!

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. 

Pit Road Power Rankings Week 28 (Week 26)

1. Martin Truex Jr (LW-4)
2. Brad Keselowski (LW-3)
3. Kevin Harvick (LW-1)
4. Kyle Busch (LW-7)
5. Joey Logano (LW-5)
6. Matt Kenseth (LW-11)
7. Denny Hamlin (LW-2)
8. Jimmie Johnson (LW-9)
9. Chase Elliott (LW-10)
10. Kurt Busch (LW-12)-
11. Carl Edwards (LW-8)
12. Kyle Larson (LW-6)
13. Austin Dillon (LW-15)
14. Jamie McMurray (LW-13)
15. Tony Stewart (LW-14)
16. Chris Buescher (LW-16)

2016 Week 23 Pit Road: Bristol

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Bristol Motor Speedway

By Richard Tix

This week the review and power rankings are going to be short and sweet. It's a busy time at Behind the Wall. All weekend I had Fantasy Football drafts, Tuesday I have a Twins game, and then Thursday I leave for Michigan International Speedway. So, I do not have much to say about Bristol except rain once again ruined our plans and we had to put it off until Sunday. That really sucks for fans that showed up and couldn't make Sunday. Now, I am already crossing my fingers we stay dry this weekend!

Pit Road Power Rankings Week 23 (Week 22)

1. Kevin Harvick (LW-4)- Big win for a team coming off a rough finish last week. Finish: 1st
2. Joey Logano (LW-3)- Stayed out of major trouble late in the race to still lock in another top 10. Finish: 10th
3. Kyle Busch (LW-1)- Kyle was dominate early until a late wreck ruined his whole day. Not much you can do when it piles up at Bristol. Finish: 39th
4. Denny Hamlin (LW-6)- Hamlin has really been making a move lately. He now has five straight top 10's. Finish: 3rd
5. Brad Keselowski (LW-2)- A trend that will follow below, BK was in a wreck late at Bristol. Finish: 33rd
6. Carl Edwards (LW-11)- Edwards is starting to turn it around and step one was staying out of most of the trouble Sunday. Finish: 6th
7. Tony Stewart (LW-6)- It was a cool celebration to see Smoke as an owner out there with race winner Kevin Harvick. Finish: 30th
8. Matt Kenseth (LW-7)- Every week at least one JGR car has to have some rough luck, this time it was Kyle and Matt. Finish: 37th
9. Chase Elliott (LW-12)- It was only a top 15, but it was much needed for Chase on his Chase hopes. He led a few laps on Sunday as well. Finish: 15th
10. Kyle Larson (LW-9)- Back to back tough finishes for the No. 42. He went from Chase outsider to "man he needs a win to make the Chase" fast. Finish: 24th
11. Jimmie Johnson (LW-NR)- JJ gets back on track, finally. It's been awhile since he has graced the top 12. Finsih: 7th
12. Kurt Busch (LW-8)- Somehow Kurt is 3rd in overall points, but it doesn't feel like it. It's been a rollercoaster season and Bristol was a low. Finish: 38th

Dropped Out: Martin Truex Jr

Just Missed: Austin Dillon and Jamie McMurray

2016 NASCAR Pit Road Week 4: Phoenix

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Good Sam 500

Sean Gardner/Getty Images

By Richard Tix

Sunday was one of those days you couldn't ask for a ton more. Some fans would say the race as a whole was boring, and they have every right to believe that. However, I saw a ton of on track action that the TV's didn't always catch from front to back. The lead lacked some passing this race, but we don't always get the perfect race when it comes to entertainment factor every single week.

Some days guys just have such good runs that no matter how great the aero package they will just run away from the field. This particular Sunday we had some fun, fast paced racing, and the finish was solid gold.

At the end of the day fans will come back in 5, 10 years, and remember the finish. If you ask ten of those fans in ten years how the rest of the race was they wont be able to tell you, but the will 100% remember the finish.

That finish between Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards will go down in history along with the one earlier this year (Daytona). Not many season's do we as fans, media, and drivers get two amazingly close finishes in a whole season, let alone two in the first four races.

AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin

A late caution cause by Kasey Kahne's tire going down (yes, no phantom caution this time) gave fans another glimpse at the overtime line. On that late restart it pitted Kevin Harvick who was strong all day and stayed out against a fresh Carl Edwards who also had a great call on day long as well but took two new right side tires. Harvick got a jump on the restart and they made it back to the "overtime line" which meant the race would be final even if a yellow came out.

Going into turn three Edwards drove in deep and under Harvick with a good run. Harvick bumped him to try and slow Carl's momentum down. The two drivers were beating and banging down the front stretch until Carl tried one last bump but it wasn't enough as Harvick edged out Edwards to the line by 0.01 sec. 

This time it was a JGR driver coming up just short (Denny Hamlin edged out Martin Truex Jr at Daytona to start 2016). The finish gives NASCAR even more momentum heading to Fontana in its last stop on its NASCAR goes West trip.

*2016 Good Sam 500 Results

Pit Road Power Rankings Week 4 (Week 3)

1. Kevin Harvick (LW-3)- Last year Harvick dominated the West coast swing. After winning Sunday he has a shot to still take two of three this time around. Finish: 1st
2. Kyle Busch (LW-1)- Kyle started out front and could have run up there most of the day if it was not for a poor pit stop's. Once putting on just two tires and another where he completely screwed it up. Still a great run despite those struggles. 
3. Jimmie Johnson (LW-2)- JJ seemed to have a car to beat, but starting in back to start the day put him in a big disadvantage. He did make that ground up quick, but just couldn't get back to Harvick. Finish: 11th
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-8)- Solid day for Junior at Phoenix. He was there in the end, but it was really only between the front row on that last restart. At least he looked like he could contend for a win Sunday, hadn't had that feeling much yet in 2016. Finish: 5th
5. Carl Edwards (LW-9)- Carl really was solid all day long. He seemed to be in second almost all day and when it came down to it, he was second again by 0.01 seconds. He was very gracious in defeat and made the smart move to not wreck Harvick for the win. Clean, hard, fun racing. Finish: 2nd
6. Kurt Busch (LW-5)- A quiet day for a guy who was in the top 10 most the day. Kurt has't really been winning fast, but if he keeps being top 10 fast the speed will follow like it did for Harvick. Finish: 6th
7. Martin Truex Jr (LW-7)- After starting out the year with two top 10 finishes Truex has followed that up with two finishes outside the top 10. He did run 100% of the race in the top 15, but that wasn't good enough on Sunday. Finish: 14th
8. Austin Dillon (LW-10)- What a start for Austin Dillon. Considering the rest of RCR hasn't been that great it makes it even more impressive. So far Dillon has been the 2014 Newman of 2016. He looks like he has turned a corner and spent all day in the top 10. Finish: 9th
9. Brad Keselowski (LW-4)- Tough, tough day for BK. Early on he had nothing going. They worked on it and he looked like he would have a top 10 car until he had a right rear go down and it put him 5 laps down. Finish: 29th
10. Denny Hamlin (LW-11)- After dropping each week down this list with sub par runs, it was nice to see Denny have a good race. Finish: 3rd
11. Joey Logano (LW-6)- JoLo was much better all day than this drop shows. However, his finish was very disappointing after the team was short on fuel (and knew it). They were fast all day and this #22 will get a win or two when it is all said and done. Finish: 18th
12. Ryan Blaney (LW-NR)- The rookie duo of Blaney and Chase continue to impress. While Chase just missed out, Blaney got the last spot this week with another quality run all day long at a track that the Wood Brothers had been skipping lately. Finish: 10th

Dropped Out: Ricky Stenhouse Jr (12th)

Just Missed: Matt Kenseth, Chase Elliott, and Aric Almirola