Power Rankings: Harvick and Logano 1-2
Our Power Rankings are far from a scientific formula. In fact, it's the perfect blend of analytics and bias against your favorite driver. And you think we dislike your favorite driver, so it makes sense, right? Direct all your complaints to us at happyhourmailbag@yahoo.com and we'll try to have some fun.
1. Kevin Harvick (LW: 1): We're not going to knock Harvick off the perch he obtained last week. His car seemed just as fast as Joey Logano's. But the damn clean air didn't let us have an opportunity to really find out. Both Harvick and Logano won the first two races of the second round in 2014, so this means Harvick is going to win Sunday at Kansas, right? He's got to be one of the favorites.
2. Joey Logano (LW: 7): This was a nice back-it-up win from Logano. He's been (rightfully) saying that his Penske cars can stay up with the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas and Harvick. He just didn't have the recent wins to show for it. And not only did he win Sunday afternoon, he led 227 laps. That's a way to make a statement, albeit "statements" aren't very loud when they come the week after a guy wins in a win-or-go-home scenario.
3. Carl Edwards (LW: 4): Edwards finished sixth on Sunday. Given how much of a fan he is of the low-downforce rules, this quote about the end of the race is not surprising (and also true). “Just really tough to pass at the end," Edwards said. "We did the best we could and I think if I would have got a better restart then there at the end I think we could have been top-three. It was an okay day for us, decent points day. We really wanted to win, but I feel like there at the end I tried everything I could and I could not catch Kurt (Busch) there in front of me.
4. Denny Hamlin (LW: 6): Hamlin finished two spots ahead of Edwards in fourth. If he can get a fourth-place finish at Kansas, simply surviving Talladega should be enough to move on. Hamlin also finished fourth despite running the wrong battery for most of the race. "I ran on the wrong battery all day so we have one battery I guess to run everything and then one to run the motor so I was draining both of them," Hamlin said. "My mistake, I usually start on one and run on the other and I just got switched.” Good thing the batteries didn't fail.
5. Kyle Busch (LW: 3): Busch had one of the race's best cars until he had that crazy pit road crash with Kyle Larson. It was a simple circumstance of both drivers changing their minds at the last minute, but we're not sure Larson was going to be able to make it to pit road had he not collided with Busch. And then Busch was one of the unfortunate drivers to hit the oil that was on the track. Well, accordng to the drivers, anyway. NASCAR said it wasn't there.
6. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 11): Truex finished third, a nice boost after not running near the front for the first three races of the Chase. He's optimistic about his chances Sunday because Talladega is looming. And especially so because of the way his team recovered from a tough Thursday and Friday to finish third. "Honestly, I think going to Kansas, a win is huge. It would be so huge. It’s so critical to try to get that win out of the way. Logano is the only one that’s going to sleep for the next two weeks. You know what I mean? Kansas has been one of my best racetracks, and certainly one of my best since I went to Furniture Row. Honestly, we’re going there as hard as we can go with everything we have to try to win just because we know Talladega is that wild card."
7. Kurt Busch (LW: 8): Busch finished fifth. And apparently fifth was all he had. “It was an impressive day because we had to work on strategy and manage our car that was not quite performing well on restarts to gain the sports early in the run," Busch said. "Our State Water Heaters Chevy was good. It just didn’t do anything perfect. It didn’t do anything terrible so I’m real happy with this effort." He also said this after thanking his sponsors, which made us giggle. "It’s great to have them on board for a weekend and have them all come down and have a good time at the track and sell more water heaters. That’s what it’s all about.”
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (LW: 5): It's not Junior's fault that he slid into the ... oh that's right, NASCAR said there was no oil on the track. Junior's car just simply took off and hit the wall while riding along in the top lane. And that stuff that appeared on the camera on his car came from nowhere. Got it. Gotta give credit to Junior for the recovery after he and Carl Edwards made contact too. It just got washed away with that second run-in with the wall.
9. Matt Kenseth (LW: 3): Oh man, Kenseth is in quite a hole after Charlotte. He started first and then everything went horribly wrong after he slid outside his pit stall. He was back in the pack and hit Ryan Newman and the wall. The car was banged up after that and Kenseth hit the wall again, pancaking it for good this time. He finished 42nd. He's potentially in a win-and-in scenario for the next two weeks.
10. Brad Keselowski (LW: 9): Dropping Keselowski a spot after a ninth-place finish is tough. But given the ridiculousness of the circumstances that led to the demises of Junior and Kyle Busch, we're stuck with doing this to Brad. He had a top-10 car and is being plenty competitive enough to keep moving on even if it's not his preferred strategy. And Keselowski is like everyone else; he doesn't want to have to rely on winning (again) at Talladega to move on.
11. Jeff Gordon (LW: 10): Maybe Gordon could have won the race if he started up front? Gordon started 22nd and finished eighth. That was the second-biggest positional improvement of anyone who finished in the top 20 (Jamie McMurray finished 12th after starting 30th). With the inability of anyone to pass, those are some impressive accomplishments.
12. Ryan Newman (LW: 12): Hey Newman, we see what you're doing here. Oh, wait, we said that last week, didn't we? Still applies this week after Newman finished 15th. He was ninth of the 12 Chase drivers at Charlotte, but with the troubles of Kenseth and Earnhardt Jr., he has a cushion on those two, plus he's ahead of Kyle Busch. The Newman master plan is continuing...
The DNF: Damn, Jimmie Johnson.
The Lucky Dog: Austin Dillon was the highest-finishing non-Chase driver.
Dropped Out: No one.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
