2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Driver Rankings: Week 6 Edition
You only need to lead one lap to win a race.
Brad Keselowski proved once again that it's true in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series just as it is in any racing series when he made a last-lap pass of both Kurt Busch and Kevin Harvick to win the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. It was the only lap Keselowski led all day.
"You don't know how these things are gonna work out," Keselowski told FoxSports.com afterward.
This one obviously worked out in Keselowski's favor. But where does it leave him in the season's pecking order of drivers?
Remember, these rankings are based not only on who has won races, but also on who's piling up the points and building positive momentum going forward. Also factored in: the drivers' chemistry with their crew chiefs and pit crews, plus which teams are consistently building the fastest race cars for said drivers back at the shop.
10. Paul Menard
1 of 10
Previous ranking: Not ranked
Why he's here: After a fourth-place finish at Fontana, Menard is up to ninth in points. He appears to be following the Richard Childress Racing lead of teammate Ryan Newman, who hasn't won since coming over to RCR but is the king of consistency.
Key 2015 stats: Although he has yet to lead a lap, Menard hasn't finished any worse than 14th in the last four races since the season-opening Daytona 500. Newman proved last year that being consistent can not only get you into the Chase for the Sprint Cup, but that it can enable you to contend for a championship all the way until the end.
What's next: The problem with Menard in past seasons has been that he's hung around near the upper echelon in the early portion of the schedule and then slowly faded away. To change that this season, he'll need to start turning around his fortunes at places like the next two venues on the Sprint Cup schedule. Menard has exactly one top-five finish in a combined 32 career starts at Martinsville and Texas.
9. Matt Kenseth
2 of 10
Previous ranking: 9
Why he's here: Kenseth is 13th in points, but he has been better than that. He was forced to settle for a 31st-place finish at Fontana after breaking an axle leaving pit road late in the race, for instance, but led 43 laps before the mishap. Earlier, he finished fifth at Atlanta and ninth at Las Vegas.
Key 2015 stats: He's been fast in qualifying, starting sixth in Las Vegas, fourth at Phoenix and third at Fontana. Starting near the front consistently never hurts. When his car didn't break at Las Vegas, it translated to a ninth-place finish. His only top-five finish so far came when he finished fifth at Atlanta after starting 36th.
What's next: Kenseth is not a big fan of Martinsville, where in 30 career starts he's never won and has only four top-five finishes. But he's formidable at Texas, where he's won four times.
8. Kasey Kahne
3 of 10
Previous ranking: 8
Why he's here: He's finished as high as fourth (at Phoenix) and no worse than 17th in each of the season's first five races. That has him up to seventh in the points standings.
Key 2015 stats: Phoenix is where Kahne forged his best finish and his only top five so far. But it was important for him to get off to a good start this season with new crew chief Keith Rodden, and they've done that, starting with a respectable ninth-place run in the Daytona 500. Rodden told FoxSports.com that the team is gaining confidence week by week, saying, "I just see a little bit more pep in everyone's step. I see a little bit more focus, a little bit more fun, and I think that rubs off on me, it rubs off on the driver, the pit crew, just everybody's having a little bit more fun."
What's next: He's never won and has only three top-five finishes in 22 career starts at Martinsville, but he's usually more competitive in Texas, where he has one win and five top-five finishes in 21 career starts.
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7. Ryan Newman
4 of 10
Previous ranking: 10
Why he's here: By placing fifth in Fontana, Newman now has three consecutive top-five finishes. He's also up to sixth in points.
Key 2015 stats: He's led laps in only one race, getting out front for 14 circuits of the 1.5-mile Las Vegas track. But he finished third at both Las Vegas and Phoenix following a solid 10th-place effort at Atlanta. All of which more than made up for finishing 38th after getting caught up in a wreck in the Daytona 500. It has helped that he's qualified inside the top nine in each of the last four races.
What's next: He's won once at each of the next two tracks, and especially seems to run well at Martinsville, the short track where he also owns eight top fives and 12 top 10s in 26 career starts.
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
5 of 10
Previous ranking: 3
Why he's here: Hold on, Junior fans, before you commence with all the hateful comments—Earnhardt Jr. has dropped in these rankings from third two weeks ago to sixth now because of one bad race. But it was really, really bad, leading to Earnhardt's first last-place finish in Phoenix in nearly a year.
Key 2015 stats: Earnhardt bounced back in a pretty big way last week at Fontana, finishing sixth. "We’re just glad to be able to rebound," Earnhardt told nbcsports.com after the race. "Last week was very dismal, disappointing and frustrating." The good news is that the Phoenix debacle, horrible as it was, is the only blemish on his season so far. He earned top-five finishes in each of the season's first three races and still sits fourth in the points.
What's next: It's been a long, long time (15 years, to be exact) since Dale Jr. claimed the first Cup win of his career in the Lone Star State in 2000. But he did finish second at the 1.5-mile track in 2013 and sixth in the Texas fall race last year. At Martinsville, he's had more success of late, but it's amazing that he has only one win in 30 career starts at the short track, considering he's led more laps there (972) than at any other Sprint Cup venue.
5.Martin Truex Jr.
6 of 10
Previous ranking: 5
Why he's here: Truex Jr. finished a solid eighth at Fontana, and that matched his worst finish of the young season (he also was eighth in the Daytona 500). In between the two eighth-place runs he's finished sixth at Atlanta, second at Las Vegas and seventh at Phoenix to move all the way up to third in the points.
Key 2015 stats: With one top-five and five top-10 finishes after the first five races, Truex Jr. already has matched his total for the entire 2014 season, his first in the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet. His average start so far has been 11.8 and his average finish 6.2. Everything that went wrong last season seems to be going his way this year, even if Tony Stewart did get mad at Truex and swear at him following last week's race at Auto Club Speedway (per FoxSports.com).
What's next: This will be a challenging stretch for Truex to continue his hot start and prove that this year really is going to be different for him. In a combined 37 career starts at Martinsville and Texas, he's never won and has a total only four top-five and eight top-10 finishes. Plus, as we've already noted, Stewart is mad at him, and you never know when that might spill over into something bad happening on the track.
4. Jimmie Johnson
7 of 10
Previous ranking: 4
Why he's here: Yes, Johnson is only seventh in the latest points standings. But come on. We all know Six Time (as in six-time Sprint Cup champion) is way better than that, with one win already this season (at Atlanta), as well as a pair of top-fives and three top-10s.
Key 2015 stats: Blame a 41st-place finish at Las Vegas for dragging him down in the standings. That dismal day was brought on by tire problems that kept dogging Johnson and forcing his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet into the outside wall. The fact is that he's still led a total of 176 laps already this season. Only Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano have led more.
What's next: Look out, folks. Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus are absolutely dynamite at both Martinsville and Texas, with a combined 12 wins (eight at M-Ville, four at TMS) and 39 top-10 finishes in 49 career starts (22 of 26 at M-ville, 17 of 23 at TMS).
3. Brad Keselowski
8 of 10
Previous ranking: Not ranked
Why he's here: The latest 2015 race winner pulled off his dramatic win at Fontana because crew chief Paul Wolfe made the right call for four tires on a stop late in the race, when most other race contenders, including Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch, took only two. It was, as it turned out, a brilliant move.
Key 2015 stats: Two plus two equals four and equals an unlikely race win. Wolfe explained his decision afterward to FoxSports.com, saying, "We were a sixth, seventh-place car it seemed like there. We had runs where we were maybe a little better and runs where we weren't, but when I heard guys were going for two tires I told Brad over the radio. I said, 'Well, if we're gonna win this thing I think we're gonna need to do four.' I didn't feel like we were gonna be able to pass those guys on equal tires, so at that point it was like, 'Let's go for the win,' and we did four tires." The Wolfe call gave BK his fourth finish in a row of ninth or better, even though he led more laps in each of the previous three.
What's next: Wolfe looked like a genius with the pit call that paid off big in California, but the No. 2 Team Penske Ford team still needs to find a little more speed in the car for the long haul. It could be a struggle for them at Martinsville and Texas, where in 23 combined career starts Keselowski has never won and has only three top-five finishes.
2. Joey Logano
9 of 10
Previous ranking: 2
Why he's here: Logano opened the season by winning the Daytona 500 and has been by far the most consistent and clear-cut challenger to the obvious supremacy of the only two-time winner in 2015, Kevin Harvick. Logano has finished in the top 10 in all five races this season and sits second in points.
Key 2015 stats: His 197 laps led are second only behind Harvick. He finished seventh at Fontana. His worst finish of the season was still a respectable 10th at Las Vegas.
What's next: He's won once in 13 career starts at Texas, but is 0-for-12 at Martinsville. Still, Logano seems to continue to build on the great chemistry and communication he had for most of last year with crew chief Todd Gordon. They're now a threat to run up front and possibly win everywhere they go.
1. Kevin Harvick
10 of 10
Previous ranking: 1
Why he's here: All hail Harvick. That's about all you can say about the only driver to win two races this season. Oh, and he happens to be the defending Sprint Cup champion as well.
Key 2015 stats: In placing second behind Keselowski at Fontana, Harvick finished in the top two for the eighth consecutive race. That streak is exceeded only by Richard Petty, who had 11 top-two finishes in a row in 1975. Harvick also has led a series-high total of 516 laps this season. No one else has led more than 197. "I'm just really proud of my team," Harvick told FoxSports.com.
What's next: Much of Harvick's success must be credited to crew chief Rodney Childers, who will have his work cut out for him the next two races. Harvick has one career win at Martinsville but has struggled badly at times in Texas. Despite finishing in the top 10 in half of his 24 career starts at that 1.5-mile track, Harvick has never won and actually has led a total of just eight laps out of 7,714 he's completed.
Unless otherwise noted, all information was obtained firsthand.
Joe Menzer has written six books, including two about NASCAR, and now writes about it and other sports for Bleacher Report while also working as a writer and editor for FoxSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @OneMenz.
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