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 Johnson
Thinking 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 Gordon
By 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 Keselowski
Brad 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 Harvick
The 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 Kenseth
I’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 Logano
The 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 Larson
Starting 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 Busch
He 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 Edwards
Not 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 Hamlin
After 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 Stewart
He 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 Bowyer
Anytime 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 Newman
Tied 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 Vickers
Vickers 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)
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