Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had not scored multiple victories in a single season since 2004. And to top it off, Junior had never visited Victory Lane at The Tricky Triangle of Pocono Raceway. Both of those statistics were deleted Sunday afternoon when he parked it in Victory Lane for the second time this season. Junior is now one of four drivers (Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano) to have multiple victories.
It was an up-and-down day for the top Power Ranking drivers. Only half of the top 10 in rankings after Dover recorded top 10 finishes including three (Earnhardt Jr., Keselowski and Larson) in the top 5. Others were not so lucky. Matt Kenseth ran into the back of Jamie McMurray on a restart resulting in a significant amount of nose damage, taking away another opportunity for his first win of the season. Kevin Harvick ran strong but a cut tire dropped him to a 14th place finish. Carl Edwards was involved in a late wreck with Kasey Kahne and Joey Logano lost an engine.
The Summer Series continues next week in the Irish Hills at Michigan International Speedway. As the drivers continue to look for the fourth turn before heading to Michigan, see how your driver ranks after Pocono.
How The Rankings Are Calculated: Frontstretch does our power rankings similar to how the Associated Press does them for basketball or football. Our expert stable of NASCAR writers, both on staff and from other major publications will vote for the Top 20 on a 20-19-18-17… 3-2-1 basis, giving 20 points to their first-place driver, 19 for second, and so on. In the end, Mike Mehedin calculates the points, adds some funny one-liners, and… here you go!
Rank |
Change |
Name |
Total Votes |
1 |
Jimmie JohnsonThinking there are some unhappy people in Vegas after the No. 48 came up short in what was a sure victory to some. Tony Lumbis, Frontstretch.com First Place Votes: 7 |
196 |
|
2 |
+5 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr.Daytona was sentimental. Pocono was validation. Kelly Crandall, PopularSpeed.com First Place Votes: 3 |
183 |
3 |
Jeff GordonBy now, Jeff has to be seeing restart zones and flags in his dreams at night, doesn’t he? Phil Allaway, Frontstretch.com |
177 |
|
4 |
+1 |
Brad KeselowskiBrad Keselowski and team might be catching some summer wind that could help them navigate through the Chase. Dwight Drum, RaceTake.com |
170 |
5 |
-1 |
Kevin HarvickThe fastest car with the most creative ways to fail each week. Note to Kevin: You can only tweet so many angry faces and have so many pouty moments before your crew simply sends back the middle finger and stops caring. Tom Bowles, Frontstretch.com |
157 |
6 |
-4 |
Matt KensethI’m very confident that Kenseth will be in Victory Lane soon. I keep telling myself that. Not sure I truly believe it though. Jim Noble, ESPN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio/PRN |
156 |
7 |
-1 |
Joey LoganoThe bad luck bug is starting to bite Logano a bit as engine issues at Pocono relegated him to a 40th place finish on Sunday, his worst finish of the season. Justin Tucker, Frontstretch.com |
127 |
8 |
+2 |
Kyle LarsonStarting to distance himself from fellow rookie Austin Dillon, just a little bit more each week. Jim Noble, ESPN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio/PRN |
119 |
9 |
Kyle BuschHe really has a thing about the car that he used to drive for. It’s like they’re magnets. But one can only think that it won’t be that much longer until that car is going to strike back. Kelly Crandall, PopularSpeed.com |
112 |
|
T-10 |
-2 |
Carl EdwardsNot exactly thankful for his teammate re-signing. Why? Because now the focus every week will be squarely on when Carl’s going to sign on the dotted line, somewhere, for 2015. Tom Bowles, Frontstretch.com |
109 |
T-10 |
Denny HamlinAfter the word “uneventful” describing Pocono in Hamlin’s post-race comments you could feel some NASCAR criticism coming. But alas, poor Denny wound up weighing that against having an extra zero in his bank account. The bank won. Tom Bowles, Frontstretch.com |
109 |
|
12 |
+2 |
Tony StewartHe can only hope that pit road speeding penalty only cost him a win, and not a spot in the Chase. Jeff Wolfe, Frontstretch.com |
84 |
13 |
Clint BowyerAnytime this team wants to wake up and join the party, we’d be happy to have them. It’s like Bowyer has been non-existent this year. Kelly Crandall, PopularSpeed.com |
72 |
|
14 |
Ryan NewmanTied his best finish of the season. Maybe he felt at home up in the country-fied air in the mountains. Jeff Wolfe, Frontstretch.com |
65 |
|
15 |
Brian VickersVickers is starting to fall in the danger zone as far as making the Chase after two disappointing finishes in consecutive weeks. Vickers struggled to a 19th-place finish with an ill-handling car at Pocono. Justin Tucker, Frontstretch.com |
51 |
Others Receiving Votes: Jamie McMurray (43), Kurt Busch (36), Martin Truex Jr. (34), Paul Menard (30), Greg Biffle (29), Austin Dillon (17), Aric Almirola (11), Kasey Kahne (5), AJ Allmendinger (3), David Ragan (2), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2), Michael Annett (1)
About the author
Mike starts his second year with the Frontstretch in 2014 working on a combination of promotional and marketing assignments. Managing the NASCAR Power Rankings (Wednesdays), he works with broadcast and writing experts from throughout the world of racing to produce the biggest national weekly poll on Sprint Cup competition. Also our resident Marketing Assistant, Mike handles day-to-day client responsibilities while settling into his new digs outside of Charlotte.
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