Power Rankings: The top 4 gets reshuffled after Joey Logano's win
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 happyhourmailbag@yahoo.com and we’ll try to have some fun.
1. Joey Logano (LW: 3): Logano said two days before Sunday’s race that he pretty much had to win the race. Well, thanks to Matt Kenseth’s crash, he got the win.
Logano was in position to tie Kyle Busch in the points standings with a fourth-place finish before the next-to-last restart. And quite frankly, that tiebreaker position is probably what got him the win. Had Logano been in Busch’s spot (third), he could have been the one bumping Bowman and being forced to slow down more for the accident between Bowman and Kenseth.
Instead, since Logano had the high line, he was the driver scored highest at the last scoring loop before the caution — the protocol NASCAR uses to determine the caution order.
2. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 1): We can’t penalize Johnson too much for a penalty that NASCAR has admitted was called in the name of being consistent after deciding to penalize Martin Truex Jr. earlier in the day.
“We told the competitors it was something we continue to watch,” NASCAR vice president Steve O’Donnell said on SiriusXM (via NBC) about the pulling up to pit penalty that was given to Johnson. “Once the [Truex’s penalty] was made, which in our mind was just blatant, very clear in terms of how far in front of the pace car, we made a point over the radio again. We obviously penalized [Truex] and said again that is something we’re going to enforce. Right after that [Johnson] was ahead of the pace car as well, and again that was clear on video and so we made the call and wanted to be consistent in the race.’’
O’Donnell prefaced those comments by noting that NASCAR has been reminding drivers that it was a no-no to pass the pace car on pit road. While we’re all for consistent enforcement of the rules, is the best way to approach a change in enforcement to crack down in 2017?
If you rewind to recent races on the NASCAR YouTube page, it doesn’t take much effort to find where drivers are passing the pace car on cautions. With two races to go in the 2016 season — and the significance of those races — maybe this is an issue that needed to wait.
3. Kyle Busch (LW: 4): Busch was ahead of Logano when the caution lights came on during that Kenseth accident, but since NASCAR doesn’t use the caution light unless the race is over, he didn’t get the advantage over Logano.
O’Donnell said on Twitter after the race that NASCAR is working on trackable GPS technology for the cars, and we certainly hope that it’ll be in place in 2017. NASCAR has the money and the ability to make a stellar scoring system and the events of the last few races show that it needs it.
It would be extremely efficient if each car had a real-time GPS attached to the transponder and NASCAR could rewind and freeze the tracking to figure out scoring discrepancies when cautions come out without taking 29 caution laps at Martinsville.
4. Carl Edwards (LW: 2): Did you know Edwards participated in Sunday’s race? It was hard to remember his existence at times.
OK, that’s an exaggeration. But Edwards started 11th and finished 19th. He wasn’t a factor at all on Sunday. But Phoenix has nothing to do with Sunday at Homestead, so we’re not going to get too worked up at a poor showing at a one-mile track regarding Edwards’ title hopes.
5. Matt Kenseth (LW: 5): Kenseth probably deserves to be up in the top four. The race was his to lose on Sunday. But, well … he lost it. While it briefly looked like he got punted heading into turn 1 after the restart, it was soon evident that Kenseth dove in front of Alex Bowman and effectively punted himself.
We can chalk it up to a lag in communication from spotter to driver but that doesn’t soften the trauma of being two laps from a shot at the championship.
6. Denny Hamlin (LW: 6): We can’t help but wonder how different things would be for Hamlin if a caution didn’t come out for debris five laps after he stayed out on older tires while every other driver in the field pitted.
After losing the lead to Kenseth, Hamlin had stabilized in second ahead of Kurt Busch, who had taken two tires. Busch’s car wasn’t too strong all day, so Hamlin probably would’ve been able to hold serve over Busch.
But that caution ruined everything for Hamlin. With another heat cycle on his tires he was toast on the restart with cars with fresher tires behind him.
7. Kevin Harvick (LW: 7): Let’s take this moment to appreciate the greatness that is Kevin Harvick and the No. 4 team over the past three seasons. They’ve been absolutely incredible.
Are you one of the people who was surprised Harvick didn’t win Sunday at Phoenix? Even if you aren’t, you can’t blame people for thinking that. The mere thought that it’s surprising that Harvick didn’t come through speaks to just how good he’s been at Phoenix and everywhere else.
While Harvick will only have one championship over these three seasons, we’re going to look back and see that it’s been one of the best multiple-season stretches in modern NASCAR.
8. Kurt Busch (LW: 8): Busch simply didn’t have the speed in the third round to advance. The No. 41 team tried a lot of different things to sneak out a win on Sunday and the lack of speed prevented any of the tactics from coming through and providing a legitimate chance at a win.
Busch isn’t done being a title contender in the Cup Series. His run at the beginning of the season proves it. If we ran the 2016 season in reverse, Busch may be the favorite for the championship.
9. Kyle Larson (LW: NR): Larson finished third on Sunday, a finish that’s even more impressive when you consider Ryan Newman knocked him out of the way as the two were entering pit road on lap 83.
OK, Newman didn’t knock him out of the way like he did a Phoenix two years ago. This was more of a case of Newman (unintentionally) not slowing down enough and paying the price.
10. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 9): Can you imagine the craziness if Truex was still part of the Chase? NASCAR calling an extremely rare pitting penalty on a driver racing for a shot in the championship would be something oh-so-very NASCAR. Thankfully we don’t have to worry about that scenario. The chaos is much more fun to think about in a hypothetical scenario.
11. Brad Keselowski (LW: 10): Keselowski started 14th and finished 14th. And he didn’t venture too far from that spot throughout the entirety of the race. He didn’t have the speed of his teammate Logano and ended up third of the three Penske cars. Assuming that you consider Ryan Blaney (8th) and the Wood Brothers a third Penske car (and they are).
12. Alex Bowman (LW: NR): Bowman can afford to be picky in 2017 when it comes to his job prospects. Yeah, it helps to be in the car that won last year’s race at Phoenix, but it’s a lot easier to screw up and not lead 194 laps than it is to lead more than half the race.
Bowman is younger than all full-time drivers not named Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott and has just 40 races less Cup Series experience than Austin Dillon, who is three years older. He’s got a long future in the sport if the circumstances align.
Lucky Dog: There really wasn’t an abnormally good performance at Phoenix on Sunday, though Ryan Newman somehow finished 12th despite being involved in two cautions.
The DNF: Austin Dillon’s car just abruptly quit after a restart and stacked up the field behind him.
Dropped Out: Chase Elliott, Kasey Kahne
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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!
