There was once a time where Roush Racing was among the elite teams of NASCAR. But over the past 10 years, there have been times where it's been difficult for newer fans of the sport to grasp that idea.
After emerging as one of NASCAR's great forces in the 1990s and an outright empire in the 2000s, the 2010s saw what was Roush Fenway Racing go into a steady decline from a championship-caliber organization to seemingly stuck in also-ran purgatory. It's a large reason why Brad Keselowski was brought in as co-owner of the team, which was rebranded as RFK Racing last season. While the organization hasn't quite reached the same level it was at in the days of Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards, they've certainly gotten to a point where they can be considered a model organization once again.
RFK cars dominated the second half of Sunday's race at Richmond, with Keselowski leading a race-high 102 laps before giving way to Chris Buescher, who led 88 laps on his way to earning the company's second win under Keselowski's ownership.
Not only did that assure Buescher a playoff spot and give Keselowski an even greater cushion over the cut line (+151 points), but it's also moved both drivers into the top 10 in the CBS Sports NASCAR Power Rankings. Keselowski has gained three spots this week to move from seventh to fourth, while Buescher's win earns him a full five spots and puts him in the top 10 in seventh.
Here's a look at our updated Power Rankings:
| Rank | Driver | Change | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Martin Truex Jr. | -- | Martin Truex Jr.'s radio is a great listen when he's frustrated and doesn't have a good racecar. He was salty over the radio from the start of the race at Richmond all the way to the finish, but it couldn't have been that bad if he managed to finish seventh. | |
| 2 | Denny Hamlin | Based on years of evidence beyond the past week, it seems that Denny Hamlin has firmly embraced his new role as the "villain" in NASCAR. It would have taken on a new level had he roughed up Chris Buescher for the win, but it never did come to that once Hamlin sailed it too deep into turn one with two laps to go. | ||
| 3 | Tyler Reddick | Interesting note on the 81 laps that Tyler Reddick led at Richmond: They were the first laps that Reddick has ever led on a short track in his four years in Cup so far. | ||
| 4 | Brad Keselowski | If you were to script a place for Brad Keselowski to break his winless streak, Michigan would probably be it. Keselowski is a native of Rochester Hills, but he's never won a Cup race at his home track. | ||
| 5 | William Byron | Pretty much every Hendrick car, with maybe the exception of Chase Elliott, was completely out to lunch at Richmond. That was best reflected in a pedestrian performance for William Byron that knocked him from second back to third in points. | ||
| 6 | Joey Logano | The "Mr. Where Did He Come From" moniker is going to be up for grabs when Kevin Harvick retires at the end of the season. Maybe Joey Logano should take the mantle, because it felt like he suddenly materialized in the race for the win at Richmond after only being a back half of the top 10 car. | ||
| 7 | Chris Buescher | As Chris Buescher was coming to the checkered flag, Rick Allen made note of the small population of Prosper, Texas. in his call of the win. Weird, but maybe I should make note of what the census says about each driver's hometown moving forward. | ||
| 8 | Christopher Bell | Considering that Richmond has been one of Christopher Bell's better racetracks, it was a surprise to see him not be a factor this time around. Bell finished as the first car a lap down in 20th after a mid-race pit road penalty and a wave around strategy that didn't work out. | ||
| 9 | Kyle Busch | It was another nice overall weekend for Kyle Busch, who began with a win in his SRX debut at Motor Mile. He followed that up with a third place run in Cup, breaking a two-race stretch of poor performances interrupting three top fives. | ||
| 10 | Kevin Harvick | It had to be good for Stewart-Haas Racing as a whole that Kevin Harvick didn't have to do all the heavy lifting for once. Harvick was no slouch himself on SHR's banner day, as he was the third of four SHR cars to finish inside the top 11. | ||
| 11 | Bubba Wallace | After leading twice for 80 laps, Bubba Wallace set a new personal best for most laps led in a single Cup race. He's 13 laps led away from setting a new career high for a season, which he set last year with 150. | ||
| 12 | Kyle Larson | After what I said last week in this column, credit to Kyle Larson for using the bumper to send a message to Denny Hamlin. But it would have had much more feeling if they had been racing for position, rather than Larson simply blowing by Hamlin on much fresher tires. | ||
| 13 | Ty Gibbs | Keep a lookout next week for Ty Gibbs. He finished 10th at Michigan a season ago, which marked his first Cup top 10 in only his third start. | ||
| 14 | Chase Elliott | The narrative the past few weeks has been that the ship has sailed on Chase Elliott making the playoffs on points, but that isn't the case anymore. Elliott is now 40 points back of the cut line and can very quickly make up the difference on stage points and good finishes the next four weeks. | ||
| 15 | Ryan Blaney | Since Sonoma in June, Ryan Blaney has had more than his fair share of issues that have led to poor finishes. His run at Richmond wasn't much to write home about, but a 14th place finish was only his second top 15 since mid-June. | ||
| 16 | Michael McDowell | Michael McDowell stood to gain a great deal of ground over the cut line, but didn't after a one stop strategy in stage two failed to work. He was still able to add a point to his cushion and remains the last driver currently in the playoffs. | ||
| 17 | Aric Almirola | Aric Almirola capped off his turnaround in the month of July with an eighth place run at Richmond, his second top 10 of the season. With Almirola's future a topic of discussion, his decision on whether or not to keep racing could be complicated by better and faster cars. | ||
| 18 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | -- | The highlight of Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s weekend was a strong effort to make the final round of qualifying, earning a ninth place run in time trials. It marked Stenhouse's best qualifying effort since he timed in third at Darlington, and he would go on to finish 17th. | |
| 19 | Ross Chastain | One wonders exactly what's going on with Ross Chastain and his team. A 24th place finish at Richmond marked Chastain's fourth finish of 22nd or worse since winning at Nashville. | ||
| 20 | Ryan Preece | Ryan Preece more than earned his way back into the Power Rankings with an outstanding fifth place run at Richmond. Considering his frustrating season so far, it's a great payoff for Preece to finally put a complete race together to that extent. | ||
| 21 | Austin Dillon | Austin Dillon has six top 10 finishes in 2023. Four of those have been ninth place finishes, including his last three in a row. Talk about consistent. | ||
| 22 | Erik Jones | Richmond marked a major step back for Erik Jones and his team after what had been a noticeable turnaround following the bye week in June. Jones finished a lap down in 23rd, his worst finish since a 32nd at Sonoma. | ||
| 23 | Chase Briscoe | Like his teammate Ryan Preece, Chase Briscoe also earns his way back into the Power Rankings thanks to an 11th place finish at Richmond. For Briscoe, it's his second finish of 11th or better in the past three races. | ||
| 24 | Alex Bowman | Alex Bowman showed some mid-race moxie when he cut his own teammate's nose off in a fight to be the free pass car at the end of stage two. Keep an eye on Bowman in August, who's had some better performances lately a few months removed from his injury. | ||
| 25 | AJ Allmendinger | A 27th place run on Sunday was AJ Allmendinger's third-straight such finish at Richmond. There's going to be a lot of Monday Morning Quarterbacking this week as to whether or not Allmendinger and his team could have done better had Allmendinger foregone the Xfinity race at Road America to practice and qualify his Cup car. | ||
| 26 | Daniel Suarez | Daniel Suarez was having an awful race at Richmond even before getting spun with 10 laps to go. He'll have to hope his team still has a good handle on Michigan, where Suarez led 33 laps last year before a late race crash. | ||
| 27 | Todd Gilliland | During the first couple of green flag pit cycles, I noticed that Todd Gilliland was among the first drivers to hit pit road for fresh tires. It didn't amount to much, as Gilliland only managed a pedestrian 25th. | ||
| 28 | Corey LaJoie | While it hasn't been all his fault, Corey LaJoie's penny stack has toppled over the past four races. A 32nd place finish at Richmond marked LaJoie's third finish worse than 30th since his last top 15 at Chicago. | ||
| 29 | Austin Cindric | This isn't a knock on Austin Cindric, but there have been times this year where I've had to remind myself that he's 22nd in points and could still theoretically get close enough to the cut line to be a factor. A 26th place run at Richmond was one of those times. | ||
| 30 | Justin Haley | Justin Haley started the month on a high at Chicago, nearly pulling off an upset that would have put him in the playoffs before finishing second. It ends with a 30th at Richmond, Haley's worst finish in any race this season where he's been running at the checkered flag. |
