Power Rankings: Body of work from Speedweeks factored in
Updated Feb. 15
The post-Daytona 500 Power Rankings are always somewhat tricky.
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| Dale Jr. started second and finished the same, but he was pretty quiet in between. (US Presswire) |
Four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson won the 2006 Daytona 500 en route to his first series title, but his past three championship seasons started with finishes of 39th, 27th and 31st at Daytona. Sunday, he walked away 35th because of a broken axle.
"It's a long season and we came out of here last year with a crashed race car and still came back," Johnson said. "We have a little work ahead of us."
As the 2010 Daytona 500 champion, recent history doesn't bode well for Jamie McMurray. Two of the past three Daytona 500 champions have failed win another points race after their victory (Kevin Harvick 2007 and Ryan Newman 2008), while Newman and Matt Kenseth, the 2009 winner, failed to make the Chase that year.
Even the final results don't tell the whole story of who ran well and who didn't.
Take Dale Earnhardt Jr., for instance. Though Earnhardt started on the front row alongside Hendrick Motorsports teammate and pole winner Mark Martin, he actually spent much of the race outside the top 10. A furious rally on fresh right-side tires allowed him to rally from 10th to second over the course of the final two laps.
David Reutimann snagged fifth, but like Earnhardt, he wasn't a factor most of the day, with an average running position of 15th.
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McMurray edges Dale Jr. for win Pistone: One of the better days? Pistone: Pothole problems De Los Santos: Junior's charge |
Defending champion Kenseth was missing in action throughout, spending just 15 laps running in the top 15, yet when the smoke cleared, he wound up eighth.
On the other end of the spectrum was Kevin Harvick. He led a race-high 41 laps and was the leader for the final green-white-checkered restart, but he "zigged when [he] should have zagged" and was shuffled back to seventh as he finished.
Typically in years past, I'd wait until after California to make significant changes to the Power Rankings, but this time around I'm going to let Daytona play a little bit more of a factor. The new rankings won't be based purely on the 500 final results but instead factor in all of a driver's Speedweeks performance, while also taking into account driver and team historical tendencies and results.
It'll take a few more weeks before we can really separate the haves from the have-nots.
Power Rankings after Daytona:
| 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. | ||
