With only four road-course races this year — and one of those being a street course — performance from the Watkins Glen race Sunday isn’t a great predictor of how a team is doing overall.
But momentum, arguably, in racing is real. And so it should mean something.
Here are my power rankings going into the All-Star race this weekend at Dover. I won’t update the power rankings after the All-Star race since it’s an exhibition. The next update will come after Charlotte.
Dropped out: William Byron (Last Week: 10)
On the verge: Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman, William Byron, Austin Dillon, Ryan Preece, Daniel Suarez
10. Austin Cindric (Last Week: Not Ranked)
Team Penske No. 2 Ford
Cindric started third and finished ninth at Watkins Glen for his fourth top 10 in his last seven races. After starting the year with three finishes worse than 25th, he has had eight consecutive top-20 finishes and sits 15th in the standings.
9. Carson Hocevar (Last Week: 6)
Spire Motorsports No. 77 Chevrolet
Not much was expected from Hocevar at Watkins Glen, so it was a bit of a surprise he qualified 11th. He tangled with Josh Berry on the final lap at Watkins Glen and finished 28th.
8. Kyle Larson (Last Week: 5)
Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet
Larson was the best Hendrick driver at Watkins Glen. But that didn’t mean he had a good day. He finished 23rd.
7. Chris Buescher (Last Week: 4)
RFK Racing No. 17 Ford
Buescher had a mildly disappointing 12th-place finish at Watkins Glen, a place where he out-dueled Shane van Gisbergen just two years ago. But he still has five consecutive finishes of 13th or better.
6. Ryan Blaney (Last Week: 7)
Team Penske No. 12 Ford
Blaney started seventh and finished 11th at Watkins Glen. Not a great day but a good enough day to salvage some points and move on to next week.
5. Chase Briscoe (Last Week: 9)
Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota
Briscoe said he felt like he was second in class, as he finished fourth at Watkins Glen. He didn’t necessarily have the speed of the leaders but made the most out of his day and his strategy.
4. Ty Gibbs (Last Week: 8)
Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 Toyota
Gibbs had hoped he had the winning strategy by pitting with 39 laps to go and trying to save a little bit of fuel on the way to the finish. But there was no holding off Shane van Gisbergen and Michael McDowell, who were coming on fresh tires with no need to save fuel. Gibbs settled for third with 17 laps led.
3. Chase Elliott (Last Week: 3)
Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet
Elliott, coming off the win at Texas, was not strong and then tried some strategy to earn stage points and couldn’t even do that, as some of those who flipped the first stage still were able to beat him to the line. That strategy meant poor track position the rest of the day (where he already was running) and he placed 24th.
2. Denny Hamlin (Last Week: 2)
Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota
Hamlin started 16th and finished 20th on a day when he seemed a little off on a road course where he typically also is a little bit off the pace of the leaders. He’s probably glad there’s no road course in the Chase this year.
1. Tyler Reddick (Last Week: 1)
23XI Racing No. 45 Toyota
Reddick is having a championship-type season as he started 15th but ran strong enough to finish fifth. It was his eighth top five in the 12 races so far this year. No wonder he leads the standings by 129 points over Hamlin.
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