Power Rankings: Wreck jumbles standings in ultra-tight Chase race
Updated June 2
We have reached the halfway point of the Sprint Cup "regular season" and while Kyle Busch has asserted himself as the driver to beat, intrigue remains throughout much of the standings.
Dover, in fact, showed how quickly a driver (or drivers) can freefall with one bad race.
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| Stewart blames himself '100 percent' for the crash: 'It's my fault for being even anywhere close to Elliott (Sadler).' (AP) |
Despite finishing 35th, just his fourth finish outside the top 10 in 13 races, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was able to retain his third-place spot in the standings.
Most of the others in the wreck weren't as lucky.
Denny Hamlin dropped five spots to ninth after steam-rolling into the carnage and finishing 43rd.
"I came piling in there way late," Hamlin said. "I had the 43 (Bobby Labonte) right on my bumper trying not to get hit from him. When I heard wreck off Turn 2, I immediately was on the brakes. It's just these cars don't stop as well as they had in the past.
"Luckily, I wasn't the last one. It looked like guys even behind me piled in there. It's just part of the race track."
Richard Childress Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer also got dinged up. Bowyer's car escaped in relatively good shape but was later done in by a broken shock mount resulting in a 36th-place finish. He fell three spots to eighth in the standings.
Harvick's mangled car spent many laps in the garage. He eventually returned to the track but made up little ground, finishing 38th. He sank from seventh to 10th in the standings.
Stewart, too, fell three spots, from eighth to 11th. He, somewhat sarcastically, blamed himself.
"I take 100 percent responsibility," Stewart said. "It's my fault for being even anywhere close to Elliott. If I'm within a half a lap of him, I expect that to happen.
"Unfortunately, adversity is our motto here at Joe Gibbs Racing."
With 13 more races to go until the Chase field is set, 276 points separate sixth-place Jeff Gordon from 18th-ranked Travis Kvapil, which is a lot of drivers within a tiny window considering only two drivers (Earnhardt and Jeff Burton) can lay claim to being that close to first-place Kyle Busch in the standings.
Kasey Kahne finished 31st after also receiving damage in the early wreck but hung on to the 12th spot in the standings, just a mere eight points ahead of David Ragan and 154 in front of Kvapil.
Power Rankings after Dover:
| POWER RANKINGS | ||
| Current | Driver | Previous |
| 1 | Greg Biffle | 1 |
| Won the pole and led 74 laps on Saturday night but faded down the stretch to finish 12th. Still hanging on to the Sprint Cup Series points lead but by only a pair over Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth. | ||
| 2 | Matt Kenseth | 2 |
| Climbed to within a whisker of the points lead with a sixth-place finish on Saturday night. Now the world awaits the announcement regarding the potential change of Kenseth's car number. Relax Kenseth fans, the 17 isn't going anywhere. | ||
| 3 | Jimmie Johnson | 7 |
| Roared back up the rankings and the points standings with his first win since October of last season and in the process gave team owner Rick Hendrick historic Sprint Cup victory number 200. Johnson's history has been to bunch up wins once he gets to victory lane. | ||
| 4 | Kyle Busch | 3 |
| Was in the mix for a second Darlington win but wound up settling for a fourth-place finish. Like Johnson Busch has returned to form in recent weeks and delivered on the expectations most had for the No. 18 team this season. | ||
| 5 | Denny Hamlin | 5 |
| Was behind the wheel of one of the coolest looking cars in recent weeks with a Cale Yarborough-inspired retro paint scheme on the No. 11 Toyota. Looked almost Yarborough-like at Darlington for a while but didn't have enough mustard to run down Johnson for the win. | ||
| 6 | Martin Truex Jr. | 6 |
| Wasn't exactly pleased with his team for some suspect pit work at one point of the race but kept his composure and battled back for yet another finish inside the top five. | ||
| 7 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 4 |
| It was a struggle for Junior to just finish 17th. Had a decent car early in the night but handling issues plagued the No. 88 squad, and you can be sure crew chief Steve Letarte won't bring the same set-up back to Darlington next season. | ||
| 8 | Clint Bowyer | 8 |
| A rather quiet night for the Michael Waltrip Racing driver with an 11th-place finish. Still not bad when an "off night" can be within a hair of a top-10 run. | ||
| 9 | Tony Stewart | 12 |
| An interesting night for Smoke, who was very strong in spurts but had to fight through handling issues, a broken clutch and a fuel pressure problem during the 500 miles. Pretty solid performance to deal with all that and still come home third. | ||
| 10 | Carl Edwards | 11 |
| A seventh-place finish and another top 10, but now that Johnson's 17-race winless drought has ended will the questions mount for Edwards on his not visiting Victory Lane for more than a year? | ||
| 11 | Kevin Harvick | 10 |
| Was the focal point of Darlington's promotional campaign trying to capitalize on Harvick's tussle with Kyle Busch last season. But overall a very quiet night for the No. 29 Chevrolet driver who left Darlington with a rather mediocre 16th-place finish. | ||
| 12 | Brad Keselowski | 9 |
| Hasn't performed well at Darlington during his Sprint Cup career and that remained intact on Saturday with a 15th-place Southern 500 effort. A downer for the Blue Deuce after Keselowski's Talladega win last weekend. | ||
| 13 | Ryan Newman | 13 |
| Was headed for a better night than what the results show when Newman got caught up in the aftermath of Kurt Busch's spin late in the race when he got punted from behind. The frustration overflowed once the checkered flag flew with both teams getting involved in a scuffle as well as Newman and Busch exchanging harsh words. | ||
| 14 | Paul Menard | 15 |
| A decent day with a 13th-place finish for the Richard Childress Racing driver. Continues to hang around on the fringe of the top 10 in the points standings. | ||
| 15 | Kasey Kahne | NR |
| Has finally completed the turnaround from his dismal start to the season and is knocking down consistent finishes on a weekly basis. Kahne's eighth-place run was his fifth straight top-10 finish. | ||
