NASCAR Power Rankings: Kevin Harvick hurdling toward the top after two wins in a row

"The Closer" moves into the power rankings' top five after completely changing his season

On their way to another championship, a certain two linebackers on a great team of the gridiron had a memorable soundbite on their resurgence after being written off. I'll paraphrase what was said in relevant terms:

"I don't understand it. They said Kevin Harvick was dead! They said Stewart-Haas Racing was dead! ... Hey NASCAR, they're back!"

In just two weeks' time, Kevin Harvick has gone from being well below the cutoff line to make the playoffs -- and needing to break a two-year long winless streak to get in -- to now having two wins and sitting fourth in the playoff standings. With back-to-back wins at Michigan and Richmond completely changing the narrative around Harvick, it's no surprise he's quickly made his way up the CBS Sports NASCAR Power Rankings.

Harvick headlines the big gainers in this week's power rankings, moving up to fifth with four spots gained. Harvick was joined by Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski in gaining four spots, while Aric Almirola led all drivers in spots gained with five. On the flip side, Tyler Reddick (-5) lost the most spots of any driver thanks to a poor run following an early spin, with others to lose multiple spots including Daniel Suarez (-4), Kyle Larson (-3) and Erik Jones (-3).

Here's a look at our updated rankings in their entirety:

Rank	Driver	Change	Comment
1	Chase Elliott	--	With two races left in the regular season, Chase Elliott holds a 116-point lead over Ryan Blaney in the regular-season standings. He hasn't clinched the regular-season title yet but effectively will next week at Watkins Glen.
2	Denny Hamlin	--	Denny Hamlin was on the same strategy as Christopher Bell and was running ahead of him when they came onto pit road for the final time, but a slow stop by Hamlin allowed Bell to be the one giving chase to Harvick. Hamlin had to settle for fourth.
3	Christopher Bell		Christopher Bell's win at New Hampshire came in a race with 301 laps. He probably would have won at Richmond had that race been 401 laps instead of 400. Something about one extra.
4	Ross Chastain		Ross Chastain's 80 laps led are the most he's led since the Coke 600, and he finished inside the top 20 for the first time since New Hampshire. The problem is, Chastain finished 18th after being set back by a mid-race accident.
5	Kevin Harvick		Adding to Kevin Harvick's legacy is the fact that even after 23 wins in 12 years at Richard Childress Racing, he was able to take his career to the next level with Stewart-Haas. 37 of Harvick's 60 career wins have come since he joined SHR in 2014.
6	Ryan Blaney	--	If Ryan Blaney can just get through Watkins Glen without a disaster happening, he might be okay. Blaney won the regular-season finale at Daytona last year and was a block away from winning the Daytona 500 in February.
7	Kyle Larson		Ever since June, it seems like Kyle Larson either finishes in the top five or he levels out somewhere around the 12th-15th range. That happened again at Richmond, where Larson finished 14th.
8	Martin Truex Jr.		Martin Truex Jr. lost ground to the cut line at Richmond, but he could have lost much more. Truex had to survive two different scares in Turn 4, with both Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Erik Jones making contact with him in separate incidents.
9	Kyle Busch		Spin and in the top 10: Kyle Busch finally broke his top 10 dry spell, with a 10th-place run at Richmond marking his first such result since Gateway in June.
10	Joey Logano		Joey Logano's 222 laps led at Richmond did more than give him the distinction of leading over half the race. Logano is also now ranked sixth in laps led this season with 428.
11	Daniel Suarez		Daniel Suarez will take a 19th-place finish as long as his crew is in one piece. Suarez accidentally hit several of his pit crew members on a stop early in the race, but everyone avoided injury.
12	Bubba Wallace		The last time Michael Jordan showed up at the racetrack, Bubba Wallace made a mistake in qualifying that cost him a potential shot at the pole at Nashville. This time, Wallace was able to deliver a 13th-place with his car owner on-site.
13	Tyler Reddick		Tyler Reddick went for a harmless self spin on Lap 3 that set the tone for the rest of his day. Reddick was never a factor and finished six laps down in 31st.
14	Chris Buescher		In 2015, Chris Buescher delivered the last championship for Roush Fenway Racing by taking the Xfinity Series title. If he keeps up runs like the one he had on Sunday, Buescher might just lead the company back to that level.
15	William Byron	--	It happened again: William Byron can't break back into the top 10, as he now has finishes of 11th, 12th, 12th and 11th in the last four races. A streak that must be maddening.
16	Austin Cindric	--	After two finishes outside the top 30 in the last three races, Austin Cindric was able to finish 12th at Richmond. That should put him in a good spot playoffs-wise, as he now has a 71-point advantage over Kurt Busch in terms of winning drivers this season.
17	Erik Jones		Erik Jones had another top-10 qualifying effort at Richmond, but a crash not of his own making resulted in his fourth DNF of the year. It was the first time Jones has failed to finish since Darlington in May.
18	Brad Keselowski		Brad Keselowski had a top-five run going early in the race at Richmond, and he then settled in for another top-15 run as Chris Buescher challenged for the win. Keselowski's labor in building RFK Racing is beginning to bear fruit.
19	Alex Bowman	--	A fifth-place qualifying run tied Alex Bowman's second-best starting spot of the entire season, but he wasn't able to sustain that speed in race conditions. Bowman finished eighth in Stage 1, but he later faded to anonymity and a 20th-place finish.
20	Justin Haley	--	What you usually don't see on television is what the points standings look like from 20th on back. But if you did, you'd see that Justin Haley currently sits 23rd in points, ahead of some bigger names with flashier stats. Consistency has been key for Haley.
21	Michael McDowell		Sunday saw Michael McDowell and Front Row Motorsports look more like what they were when they were just starting out. McDowell ran at the back of the pack seemingly the whole race, finishing 29th.
22	Austin Dillon		Austin Dillon just missed out on another top-15 finish in 16th, but he once again carried the banner for RCR due to issues for Tyler Reddick. But compared to mechanical issues for Reddick at Michigan, this time saw Dillon simply outrun him.
23	Aric Almirola		Aric Almirola snapped a streak of two straight DNFs with an eighth-place run at Richmond that saw him surge all the way from a 30th starting spot. It was an impressive show of speed by Almirola, but one that seemed to max out around the top five.
24	Chase Briscoe		Chase Briscoe's gradual slide after a hot start to 2022 hasn't been all his fault. Some of it's been rotten luck, too, such as when he moved up into the top five on Sunday only to have an internal fire cost him a chance at a great finish.
25	Cole Custer		It feels like if something is going to go awry mechanically, it's probably going to happen in Cole Custer's car. Custer had a top 10 in Stage 1, but he had to labor his way to a 26th-place finish after losing power steering.
26	Ty Dillon		Ty Dillon continues to move up in the power rankings, as Richmond saw him run up inside the top 15 all day. An unforced error on pit road cost him a finish up there, but he still managed a 17th-place run.
27	Harrison Burton		After going from the high highs to the low lows, Harrison Burton has gotten back to somewhere in the middle. Burton had an unremarkable day and finished 25th.
28	Todd Gilliland		Todd Gilliland once again showed a good feel for qualifying, turning in a nice run in 16th. That speed didn't carry over to Sunday's race, though, and he finished 27th.
29	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has earned the "Mr. Excitement" moniker because he always seems to find his way onto the highlight reel: A mistake getting onto pit road early and leaving the leaders little room late got Stenhouse his TV time this week.
30	Corey LaJoie		Corey LaJoie's top 20 streak is over, with a reality check coming for him and Spire Motorsports. LaJoie's recent momentum was interrupted with a disappointing 28th-place finish.