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)
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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:
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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!
