NASCAR Power standings: Just ahead of Kansas

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It’s now Saturday night, and it’s only been five full days since the cup series faced Miles the Monster after surviving three days of rain. So yeah, that means I have another NASCAR power ranking to do way too late in the week before I race at Kansas tomorrow. If Mother Nature is kind enough not to make it rain on Kansas Motor Speedway this weekend.

NASCAR Power Ranking 15th-11th

  • 15. Chase Elliott
  • 14. Chasing Briscoe
  • 13. Ty Gibbs
  • 12. Brad Keselowski
  • 11. Chris Buescher

So, NASCAR’s most popular driver finally makes an appearance on the NASCAR Power Rankings list. Since I started just before the race in Atlanta and Chase was injured, he did not participate in the first edition. Now that he’s been back for three races and has finished in the top fifteen for three consecutive weeks while rehabilitating his fractured leg. Let’s see how long it takes to climb higher in this list.

Guess I hexed another driver because Briscoe hit the wall one hundred and ninety laps in the Wurth 400. Which effectively ruined his day, but up until then the SHR cars weren’t really performing anyway. Chase is averaging a nineteenth-place finish in Kansas, so we’ll see if the trip can be any different.

The rookie is making climbs he was running in the top five midway through Monday’s race. His pit team let him down a bit by not refueling at the last stop. So his good day didn’t end with a good finish. However, a jump in the NASCAR Power Rankings was deserved.

The RFK Racing duo of Brad K and Chris Buescher were in the top ten almost the entire battle against Miles. Outpaces all other Ford drivers except one Penske driver. Brad and Chris have to keep running in the top ten and finish there and the top ten on this list is going to start to get really tough.

The middle of the pack

  • 10. Joey Logan
  • 9. Denny Hamlin
  • 8. Ryan Blaney
  • 7. Martin Truex Jr.
  • 6. Kyle Busch

About 130 laps into the race on Monday, and Joey started stringing a tire. Once that happened, her day hardly ever recovered. It actually ended with fourteen laps to go when Joey finally spun. He has one victory but a final average of around seventeenth. Let’s see how far it drops before starting the ascent.

Denny Hamlin is averaging around a thirteenth place finish this season. He had good runs and very bad ones but in the end his Jackman which fell during the first pit stop hurt him the rest of the day due to the difficulty in overtaking with this new generation car.

Blaney has now finished in the top ten three weeks in a row. He had a tough stretch, but slowly and surely he worked his way up. His teammate Logano needs to see what he does differently and change it quickly.

I told you so and I told you to keep an eye on Truex. Martin proved me right last week by taking his first win of the season and leading sixty-eight laps. Now skips his teammate Hamlin as the third-best Toyota driver.

Kyle was the benefactor of the rain starting from the front row and leading the first twenty-five laps. However, once again he was his own enemy and got caught speeding on pit road. Once stuck in the peloton, he was vulnerable and caught on the sidelines when the 99 slipped away.

Top of the field

  • 5. Tyler Red Dick
  • 4.Ross Chastain
  • 3. Kyle Larson
  • 2. Christopher Bell
  • 1.William Byron

Tyler had a quiet but steady day starting seventh and finishing well seventh. He had some ups and downs throughout the race, but still in the top ten. His team won at Kansas last year with Bubba, so keep an eye out for him tomorrow.

NASCAR power rankings

As well as getting involved in more controversy. He rode a terrific race, if his riding style was so aggressive he could have caught Truex at the end if it wasn’t for the past haunting him a bit. Both Larson and Gibbs ran that one much harder than they probably should have, but you ran like you run against other people.

Larson has had some tough races lately. Being caught last week with a Ross Chastain caused a crash, then well Talladega being Dega. However, he had a FAST car last week and seemed to be the favorite before bad luck struck.

Ole Willy B, two wins and a return to the rails. After a difficult passage on short track, he again shows the speed of Hendrick on the biggest ovals. Keep an eye on Guillaume. Another couple winning doesn’t seem to be out of the question.

The choices and the conclusion

My fellow NASCAR writer, Kaleb, does a terrific job every week picking out drivers to watch and watch. However, I will take a slightly different route this weekend but quickly. From the bow tie brigade, a Trackhouse car and any Hendrick car, right?

Ross had a dominant run last weekend, in his time with Trackhouse Racing he did not finish outside the top ten at Kansas. However, if he doesn’t, don’t be surprised to see really any HMS car rolling into victory lane.

As for Toyota, Bell or Hamlin seem fine. Bell hasn’t finished outside the top ten at Kansas since joining JGR, and Hamlin is a three-time winner at Kansas. Also, don’t count the cars Denny owns in Kansas.

Now, when it comes to Fords, it’s tough, but I actually agree with Kaleb. I think Blaney is a good choice because lately he’s been wondering what else he has to do to win a race and that can’t last long. A win is coming for Blaney but don’t count on car 4 either, Harvick has won multiple times at Kansas.

Kansas is going to be more of a strategic type race. I feel like right now the aero package is great depending on track position. So don’t be surprised to see some crazy decisions on pit roads. So sit down, crack open a cold one if you do that, and enjoy NASCAR racing on FS1 tomorrow around 3 p.m. with the rest of us crazed fans.

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