Roush Duo Leads This Week's Power Rankings

By Kevin Van Pelt

The greatest weekend in racing is now over and the NASCAR teams are off to Dover this weekend to try and tame the monster mile.

Kasey Kahne grabbed his first victory of the season and Hendrick Motorsports has continued his surge as we enter the early part of Summer. However, he is still not in position to make the chase and will need to move up in the standings or get another win to get himself into position.

Here is this week’s latest edition of power rankings.

1. Greg Biffle–  The Biff has been consistent all year and surprisingly only has one win for the season. He leads the Sprint Cup standings but needs to notch a couple more wins to get himself in good position for the playoffs. He had a great run last weekend and I bet he wishes NASCAR would stop running 600-mile races after dominating the first 500. Last week: 3

2. Matt Kenseth– This spot could belong to either Jimmie Johnson or Kenseth. Both have been pretty equal this season and both had problems on pit road that ruined their chances at a win. Kenseth rallied from 21st, after pitting under green to fix a loose wheel, to 14th before the next caution. Pretty good rally considering how spread out the field got. He wound up finishing 10th. Last week: 2

3. Jimmie Johnson– Not the run that most people were assuming Johnson would have after a dominating All-Star Race. He hanging around the back of the top five for most of the race before taking the gas can with him on his final pit stop. Has excellent success at Dover and is a major threat to give Hendrick Motorsports its fourth straight win. Last week: 1

4. Kasey Kahne– Was I the only one thinking that something was going to go wrong to Kahne during those final 10 laps. Luck was on his side for once as he easily cruised to his third Coca-Cola 600 victory. While doing his burnout, the crowd sounded like a Justin Bieber concert. It’s safe to say he is still the favorite among the ladies. Last week 10

5. Dale Earnhardt Jr.– A quiet race for Junior, as he hung around in the top 10 for most of the race. He has proven once again that he is well worthy of chase contention, but still needs a little bit more to be a threat to win the title. The winless streak continues for Junior as his beard was missing yet again. Last week: 4

6. Denny Hamlin– For a few laps it looked like it was going to be Kansas all over again. In that race, it was dominated my Martin Truex Jr. and Hamlin took the lead late to win. This weekend Hamlin caught Kahne for a few laps but was no match for him. Hamlin is probably looking past Dover and is just looking forward to Pocono. Last week: 7

7. Kyle Busch– Another consistent run for the younger Busch, as he slowly makes a case for the championship. Most Kyle Busch seasons have a bunch of wins followed by disappointing finishes. This season he is almost obsolete which is hard to believe as he continues to bring home the car in one piece and consistently finish in the top 10. He had another strong run at Charlotte but lost a spot in the power rankings. Sometimes life isn’t fair. Last week: 6

8. Brad Keselowski– An eventful night for Keselowski that was full of pit road mishaps. He was able to recover and finish in the top 10. He is now 11th in points and is Kasey Kahne’s biggest fan right now considering if he gets in the top 10 in points, Kahne will hold the second wild-card spot. Last week: 5

9. Martin Truex Jr.– Good news and bad news for Truex this past weekend. The bad news is he didn’t run like he wanted to and didn’t come close to the top 10 all night. The good news is he wasn’t seen in any NAPA commercials, those commercials are the worst. Last week: 8

10. Carl Edwards– Cousin Carl finished 9th last week and has continued to be a non-factor this season. Maybe after seeing how Tony Stewart beat him for the championship last season he’s deciding on waiting to win races. Last week: 11

11. Jeff Gordon– After all of the struggles Gordon as had, he was probably just happy to have an uneventful night. He finished 7th and is heading into a stretch of races this summer that he excels at. Gordon should have a few wins coming up in the near future, barring the rain cloud that is following him this season. Last week: NR

12. Kevin Harvick– His performance last weekend was pretty much the same as it was last year when he won the Coca-Cola 600. The only difference is that this time half of the front runners didn’t run at out gas on the last lap right in front of him. Last week: NR

 

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