Power Rankings: Broken part doesn't stop Keselowski from moving to No. 1
Welcome to Power Rankings. As always, Power Rankings are far from a scientific formula. In fact, it’s the perfect blend of analytics and bias against your favorite driver. Direct all your complaints to us at nickbromberg@yahoo.com and we’ll try to have some fun.
1. Brad Keselowski (LW: 1): Keselowski looked like he was heading to his second-straight win in 2017 and his second-straight win at Las Vegas. But a broken part — apparently in the right front — meant he was passed by Martin Truex Jr. for the lead with two laps to go.
Perhaps it says something about the strength of Keselowski’s car that he was able to limp his wounded car (he said he had no brakes and it wouldn’t turn) to a fifth-place finish. Granted, the incident between Joey Logano and Kyle Busch didn’t hurt matters in that instance, but Keselowski is worthy of this spot in Power Rankings.
“It’s frustrating, but you put yourself in position to win and good things will happen,” Keselowski said. “That happened to us last week and didn’t happen this week, so you just pick up the pieces and move on. Luckily, they’re really big pieces. We’ve got a lot to be proud of.”
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2. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 8): Truex became the first Cup Series driver to win the first two stages of a race and the race itself. Congratulations on your historic achievement, Martin. You will forever be the answer to obscure trivia questions at NASCAR bars in 2025.
In all seriousness, only Truex and Keselowski were deserving of winning Sunday’s race. The two combined to lead 239 of the race’s 267 laps and both ran in the top three for most of the day. The only other driver who led more than five laps was Jimmie Johnson, and his 19 laps led came because of a pit strategy move in the second half of the race.
And the benefit from Keselowski’s misfortune was a bit of a turnaround for Truex, who dominated much more than he won in 2016.
“We definitely had our share of races where we’ve dominated and gave one away and it looked like today was going to be another one of those,” Truex said. “… I hate that he had problems, he was strong and we weren’t going to do anything with him, but then he lost the brakes or something. A little bit of a gift, but we have given some away, so it feels good to come out on the good end for once.”
3. Joey Logano (LW: 4): Like we said after the race on Sunday, there’s no way you can get mad at Logano for what happened at the end of the race. Sure, he could have done a better job of keeping his car under control, but what race car driver hasn’t been aggressive while racing for a position on the final lap? Logano was trying to get to third and had an opening so he went for it.
“We were just racing hard there at the end,” Logano said. “I was underneath him on the backstretch and he tried to crash me into the corner getting underneath Brad there and at that point I was just trying get through the corner. I was sideways all the way through and get into him. Nothing intentional. I understand his frustration, he crashed. The same thing could have happened into [turn] 3 what he did to me.”
4. Kurt Busch (LW: 2): Busch had battery issues throughout Sunday’s race, making Vegas an unhappy homecoming for the Busch brothers. The Daytona 500 champion finished 30th, four laps down and behind drivers like Cole Whitt and Matt DiBenedetto. Busch is also seventh in the points standings after entering Sunday’s race in the top three.
5. Kyle Larson (LW: 5): Speaking of the points standings, Larson is a point away from being the points leader. After finishing second on Sunday, Larson has 131 points, one point fewer than Keselowski. Larson got off to an absolutely horrid start in 2016 before recovering over the summer, so this first 1/12th of the season could be our first evidence of Larson as a true title contender.
6. Chase Elliott (LW: 6): This guy is off to a great start too. Elliott slipped past Busch and Logano as they were tangling in turn 4 and finished fourth. Elliott is just two points behind Larson in the standings thanks to his excellence throughout all three races so far. If Elliott didn’t run out of gas late in the Daytona 500, he’s the points leader.
“I’m really proud of the way we have performed,” Elliott said. “Our it stops have been great, our car has been good, we have been able to run solidly in the top five the past couple of weeks, which is great for me and our team. We’ve just got to keep that going and find that next little bit.”
7. Ryan Blaney (LW: 9): And here’s another young driver off to a good start. When NASCAR brought Larson, Elliott and Blaney to Daytona 500 media day together for an upstarts press conference of sorts, it was dreaming of the way the points standings currently look like. With Larson in second and Elliott in third, Blaney is sixth, ahead of drivers like Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick.
8. Kevin Harvick (LW: 3): We’re intrigued to find out the reason for Harvick’s tire failure on Sunday. The tire simply exploded as he was exiting the tri-oval entering turn 1. It was an odd place for a tire failure given that Harvick was driving (relatively) straight and the tire wasn’t under too much load. No matter the underlying reasons, it’s not a good look for Goodyear to have high-profile tire failures in each of the first three races of the season.
9. Kasey Kahne (LW: 7): Kahne’s solid but not spectacular start continues. With a 12th-place finish on Sunday he got his first non-top 10 finish of the season but is still on a run that he really couldn’t find during the regular season in 2016. If a bad day is 12th, Kahne’s gonna be alright.
10. Matt Kenseth (LW: 10): Kenseth finished ninth and was set to be the third of four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers until Kyle Busch’s last-lap misfortune. Instead, he got past Busch and finished a spot higher in the top 10 than he otherwise would have. You can’t get this type of insight anywhere else.
11. Clint Bowyer (LW: 12): Bowyer finished 10th, his first top-10 since last summer at Daytona and his first top-10 at a 1.5-mile track since 2014 at Homestead. And it’s his first top-10 at a non-restrictor plate or short track since a run of three-straight at Indianapolis, Pocono and Watkins Glen in 2015. Celebrate responsibly, Clint.
12. Trevor Bayne (LW: 11): While misfortune has plagued Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Bayne is quietly have a good start to the season. He finished 13th on Sunday and is 11th in the standings.
Lucky Dog: Look at that scrappy Jimmie Johnson fighting for an 11th-place finish. That guy could make some waves this year.
The DNF: Kyle Busch gets it after finishing 22nd — the last car on the lead lap — because of the incident with Logano. His sponsor M&Ms released a statement to Fox’s Race Hub that didn’t exactly support Busch’s actions following the crash.
“The recent actions by Kyle Busch are not consistent with the values of Mars Chocolate North America. While we are disappointed with the situation, we hope the drivers and team members involved learn from this experience and continue to grow as professional athletes representing the sport.”
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!
