NASCAR Power Rankings Week 6 – Bristol Dirt 

The race in Atlanta was fairly uneventful for 315 of the 325 laps. Kyle Larson cruised to victory in the first two stages and had all but 14 cars a lap down at the end of stage 2. He couldn’t close on the victory, however, as Ryan Blaney made a massive run late to lead the final 8 laps for his first victory of the season and his third consecutive Top 10. Impressive stretch for the #12 car after starting the season finishing 30th, 15th, 29th.

The big news this week is the Bristol dirt track. No one knows how the Cup cars will perform on the dirt so many of the big names have been racing there in the last few weeks to get a better idea. There are also about 10 Cup drivers that will drive the Trucks races Saturday to get some extra seat time. It should be a very fun weekend with heat races all day Saturday, Trucks Saturday night, and then the Cup race on Sunday. Look for the dirt track ringers to be the favorites including Larson and Bell, but the odds will be very interesting this week and I have no idea how to gamble on a track where we have zero history. Check out Ryan’s dirt track resumes for a better idea of what to expect.

1) (Last week 1, Avg Finish 5.0) Denny Hamlin – 4th place finish at Atlanta for his fifth Top 5 in six races. Denny has the best average finish by over four spots to the 2nd place driver. An incredible start to the year for the #11 team.

2) (2, 9.3) Martin Truex Jr. – Truex had a quiet day in Atlanta but finished 9th and retains his #2 spot in the rankings. That’s four consecutive Top 10s for the #19 team.

3) (4, 8.5) Kevin Harvick – Harvick continues to grind out Top 10s even though Stewart Haas appears to have inferior cars to the other top teams. Kevin has zero dirt racing experience so he will likely struggle at Bristol dirt, but another Top 10 wouldn’t shock me.

4) (6, 9.0) Kyle Larson – Larson dominated the race on Sunday and looked like he was going to run away with the victory. He had the fastest car in the first three quarters of the race, but Blaney outpaced him in the closing laps for the victory. Look for the #5 car to be dominant again at Bristol dirt.

5) (8, 14.0) William Byron – Byron has some really good momentum heading into Bristol. He secured his third consecutive 8th Place finish last week and now has four Top 10s in a row including a win at Miami. The Hendrick cars look to be the class of the field early in the season. William also had a dominant night iRacing Wednesday at Bristol dirt, winning his heat and running away with the main feature as well.

6) (9, 15.0) Ryan Blaney – Blaney’s win at Atlanta was his third consecutive Top 10 after a very rough start to the season. He has improved his average finish almost ten full spots in three races. 

7) (3, 11.3) Brad Keselowski – Kes had a disappointing 28th place finish at Atlanta after some early damage ruined his day. His average finish went from 8.0 to 11.3 after one race. Ouch.

8) (5, 15.5) Chase Elliott – The #9 car blew an engine after finishing 8th in stage 1. Chase can’t shake the bad luck at his home track and still only has one Top 5 in six races. Maybe his luck will finally turn around when they return to Atlanta in July.

9) (7, 12.3) Christopher Bell – Bell had a really off day at Atlanta. He got zero stage points, finished 21st and had a driver rating of only 60.2. He will be excited to get on the dirt this weekend, a surface where he truly thrives.

10) (NR, 10.8) Joey Logano – The #22 squad has quietly had a very good year. Logano has finished Top 15 in every race outside of Miami. If we dont include that result, he has the second best average finish on the season. He looked pretty sporty during iRacing this week so look for him to compete for another top finish in Bristol.

11) (NR, 14.0) Austin Dillon – Another driver who is having quiet success early in the season. Despite having sub-optimal equipment in an RCR car, Dillon has the ninth best average finish on the season and that includes a 34th Place at Daytona road course. He is terrible on road courses but thrives on dirt. His best chance for a win is likely this weekend. He needs to capitalize or he will remain on the playoff bubble for yet another year.

12) (NR, 14.0) Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – Wow, I am honestly shocked to be including Dillon and Stenhouse in my rankings this week. Wrecky gets a bad rap for driving recklessly but is a very talented driver in second tier equipment. Stenhouse has finished between 11th and 18th in every race this season. He needs to keep up that consistency and continue to stay out of trouble if he wants to crack the playoffs.

One Lap Down: 

(NR, 15.3) Kyle Busch – Kyle’s roller coaster season continues with a Top 5 finish at Atlanta. He now has three Top 10s and two results of 25th or worse. He’s no expert on dirt so Bristol should be interesting.

(10, 17.8) Kurt Busch – Kurt had a very disappointing day in Atlanta and was visibly upset in his post-race interview. He had a Top 5 car early, and was wrecked on a restart by Hamlin after Kyle Busch spun his tires on the front row and caused an accordion effect. I was also visibly upset after I had to tear up my tickets on Kurt to win +2200 and finish Top 10 -120.

(NR, 23.2) Matt DiBenedetto – Matty D had a ROUGH start to the year with finishes of 33rd, 37th, and 28th. If we just look at the last three races, DiBenedetto has built up some solid momentum. He still has plenty of work to do if he wants to have a shot at the playoffs, currently sitting 24th in the standings.

(NR, 16.2) Alex Bowman – Bowman had a very impressive 3rd Place finish in Atlanta and looks to continue to stack up successful finishes. If not for finishes of 35th at Daytona and 27th in Vegas, the #88 team would have the third best average finish. Unfortunately those races do count and Alex remains on the playoff bubble.

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