Top 15 Power Rankings after Kentucky

The Penske Racing duo of Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano asserted their dominance at Kentucky and put on a clinic for the rest of the field. Not only did they sweep the front row, they led a combined 236 laps. Although Logano slid back to ninth place after his engine began to flounder, Keselowski won his second race of the season. Penske has now combined for four race wins in 2014.

Six of the top 10 in Power Rankings after Sonoma recorded top 10 finishes at Kentucky including all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers. The team as a whole recorded their third consecutive top 10 finish. Although he won last week, Edwards was a non-factor and finished 17^th while Paul Menard’s top five finish streak was snapped at two as he could only muster a 15^th place finish.

The season hits its halfway mark which means drivers head back to Florida for its Fourth of July celebration at Daytona under the lights.

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	+1	Dale Earnhardt Jr. Championship form for the 88 team on Saturday. They took a car that no one was happy with, qualified poorly and turned it into a top-10 machine that finished fifth. Kelly Crandall, PopularSpeed.com First Place Votes: 2	115
2	-1	Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson and team only came in 10th at Kentucky. It’s about time for another win to lift team spirits. Dwight Drum, RaceTake.com First Place Votes: 2	113
3		Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon might as well add another win to his stats. He has the most top 10 finishes at 13, and leads the points by 24, his car number. How’s that for luck? Dwight Drum, RaceTake.com First Place Votes: 2	108
4	+1	Brad Keselowski The only thing that could defeat Brad Keselowski Saturday night was the ol’ bubbly. Phil Allaway, Frontstretch.com	102
5	-1	Kevin Harvick I think Kevin’s going to have quite the bald spot if his pit crew’s current form continues for the rest of the season. Phil Allaway, Frontstretch.com	98
6	+1	Joey Logano Had it not been for a dropped cylinder it would have been a Penske 1-2 finish. Logano finished 9th on a night where he should have finished no worse than second. Justin Tucker, Frontstretch.com	91
7	+8	Ryan Newman Looking like he is getting closer to pulling off that one obligatory win a year. Tony Lumbis, Frontstretch.com	67
8		Paul Menard Finished 15th Saturday night but was still at the front for a portion of the night. Still think this will be the only RCR team in the Chase. Michael Mehedin, Frontstretch.com	66
9	+4	Kyle Busch Nothing like a good old fashion silly season rumor to turn around performance. Tony Lumbis, Frontstretch.com	65
11	+1	Matt Kenseth Perhaps if it wasn’t for all the successes he had last year, this season wouldn’t seem so disappointing. Kelly Crandall, PopularSpeed.com	62
12	-7	Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing is still painfully slow on 1.5 mile race tracks as proven by his 17th place finish on Saturday. Justin Tucker, Frontstretch.com	61
12	+4	Kasey Kahne Three top 10 finishes in a row. On the verge of making the Chase on points. Looks like this team turned around their performance though so surely a win is on the horizon. Michael Mehedin, Frontstretch.com	48
13	-4	Clint Bowyer Two weeks of lackluster performances at tracks I thought for sure Bowyer would perform better at. Not sure we’ll be seeing him in the Chase this year. Michael Mehedin, Frontstretch.com	43
14	-4	Jamie McMurray Caught up in an accident not of his doing. Now needs a win to have any hopes of making the Chase. Justin Tucker, Frontstretch.com	39
15	+3	Tony Stewart Almost nabbed another top 10 finish. Still waiting for him to heat up and start knocking off wins to make a run at another title. Michael Mehedin, Frontstretch.com	36

Others Receiving Votes: Kyle Larson (35), Kurt Busch (34), Greg Biffle (27), Denny Hamlin (19), Austin Dillon (12), Marcos Ambrose (12), Brian Vickers (4), Martin Truex Jr. (2), AJ Allmendinger (1)

Participants: Phil Allaway, Frontstretch.com; Kelly Crandall, PopularSpeed.com; Dwight Drum, RaceTake.com; Tony Lumbis, Frontstretch.com; Michael Mehedin, Frontstretch.com; Justin Tucker, Frontstretch.com.

With Michigan in the rear-view mirror, what’s next for the No. 48 team to conquer on their checklist? Matt Taliaferro investigates in Athlon’s featured racing column of the day.

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Rank

Change

Name

Total Votes

1

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

First Place Votes: 2

115

2

Jimmie Johnson

First Place Votes: 2

113

3

First Place Votes: 2

108

4

102

5

<img decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-77080 size-medium" src="https://frontstretch.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/2014_NSCS_Head_Harvick_Kevin-262x300.jpg" alt="2014 NASCAR Media Day - Portraits" width="262" height="300" />Kevin Harvick

98

6

91

7

67

8

<img decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-77093 size-medium" src="https://frontstretch.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/2014_NSCS_Head_Mendard_Paul-199x300.jpg" alt="2014 NASCAR Media Day - Portraits" width="199" height="300" />Paul Menard

66

9

<img decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-77073 size-medium" src="https://frontstretch.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/2014_NSCS_Head_Busch_Kyle-273x300.jpg" alt="2014 NASCAR Media Day - Portraits" width="273" height="300" />Kyle Busch

65

11

62

12

61

12

<img decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-77082 size-medium" src="https://frontstretch.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/2014_NSCS_Head_Kahne_Kasey-274x300.jpg" alt="2014 NASCAR Media Day - Portraits" width="274" height="300" />Kasey Kahne

48

13

43

14

39

15

<img decoding="async" class="alignleft wp-image-68507 size-medium" src="https://frontstretch.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Stewart-225x300.jpg" alt="2014 NASCAR Cup Tony Stewart headshot Credit Getty Images 430 TALL" width="225" height="300" />Tony Stewart

36

Kevin Harvick

Paul Menard

Kyle Busch

Kasey Kahne

Tony Stewart