2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Driver Rankings: Week 10 Edition
Welcome back to total relevancy, Matt Kenseth.
While Kenseth had been dancing on the edge of the top 10 in BR driver rankings all season, he hadn't actually won a race since September of 2013 until going to Victory Lane last Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway. And Kenseth did it in impressive fashion, winning from the pole.
''It feels good to be back here. Not winning for as long as we did ... it wears on you a little bit,'' Kenseth told the Associated Press (via FoxSports.com). ''We had such a good 2013, and last year there were some races we had some chances to win and just things wouldn't line up for us. We just couldn't get it to happen. (Bristol) was kind of the opposite. Everything worked out.''
It was an indication that Kenseth and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team are moving in the right direction. See where he and other drivers stack up in terms of not only how many races they've won, although that counts a whole lot, but also in terms of driver-crew chief relationships, performances of the pit crews and how much momentum they're all carrying into the next hard left turn.
10. Kasey Kahne
1 of 10
Previous ranking: 7
Why he's here
Kahne was among the favorites to compete for the win at Bristol after dominating most of the pre-race practice sessions, but his day ended in frustration when he got wrecked late in the race by Tony Stewart. That doomed him to a 37th-place finish, but he's still seventh in the points standings.
Key 2014 moments
His top finish of the season remains a fourth at Phoenix. But he also finished eighth at Texas, ninth in the season-opening Daytona 500, and until Bristol hadn't had a single race where he finished worse than 17th. The consistency over the first seven races is what vaulted him up in the standings and is something he and his teams have lacked in the past. "We're fast each week, and that's the only thing that matters," Kahne told FoxSports.com. "We'll get our fair share and we'll keep racing as hard as we can."
What's next
He still needs to win a race with new crew chief Keith Rodden and should be fast and possibly in contention at Richmond, where he owns one win in his career at Richmond. But Kahne has never fared very well on the superspeedways such as Talladega, where he owns only three top-five and five top-10 finishes and his average career finish over 22 starts is 21.1.
9. Jeff Gordon
2 of 10
Previous ranking: Not ranked
Why he's here
Gordon hasn't won yet, but he's getting close. He finished third at Bristol, which marked his best finish of the young season.
Key 2014 moments
After announcing beforehand that this will be his last full-time Sprint Cup season, it got off to a rough start for Gordon. He finished 33rd in the Daytona 500 after starting from the pole, crashed and burned at Atlanta (41st after starting 35th), and then was 18th in Las Vegas after again starting from the pole. But his third-place run at Bristol marked Gordon's fifth consecutive top-10 finish, helping him recover from 35th in points, which is where he was after the first two races, to ninth.
What's next
Sure, Gordon's been around a long time. But he's led the combined total of nearly 2,500 laps at the next two tracks (1,637 at Richmond and 847 at Talladega). That has allowed him to rack up a total of eight career wins at the two places (two at RIR and six at 'Dega).
8. Denny Hamlin
3 of 10
Previous ranking: 5
Why he's here
Hamlin won at Martinsville and finished 11th at Texas, but then took a step back at Bristol when his neck tightened up on him during a rain delay, forcing him out of his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after only 23 laps. The neck bears close watching in the future.
Key 2014 moments
Martinsville is his crowning achievement so far, and the win guarantees him a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup that will determine the season's champion. But he has been wildly inconsistent. For instance, he was fourth in the Daytona 500 and 38th the following week at Atlanta; he was fifth at Las Vegas and then finished 23rd and 28th, respectively, the next two weeks at Phoenix and Fontana before winning at Martinsville. Last-minute sub Erik Jones brought the car home in 26th at Bristol after Hamlin had started it in the fifth position.
What's next
Hamlin said on his Twitter account that he had "no clue" what caused muscle spasms in his neck and insisted he will "be ready to roll" at Richmond. Since he owns two wins there and has led nearly 1,400 laps in his career at the .75-mile short track, that's a good thing. He also won the spring Talladega race last year for his first career win at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.
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7. Martin Truex Jr.
4 of 10
Previous ranking: 4
Why he's here
Truex's string of consecutive top-10 finishes to start the season had to end sometime. It happened at Bristol, where after seven such finishes in a row he encountered all kinds of problems and finished 29th.
Key 2014 moments
Truex remains third in the points because, remarkably, his 29th-place finish was the best of the group of drivers who made up the top five in the standings coming into the Bristol race. First he had to make an unscheduled pit stop under green because of a loose wheel; then, just over halfway into the race, he got pushed into the outside wall and suffered significant damage to his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet. His best finish of the season was second at Las Vegas, and he hadn't finished worse than ninth until the Bristol debacle.
What's next
The next two races will be a true test for Truex and his team, to prove if they are for real. He's never run particularly well at either Richmond or Talladega, where in a combined 38 career starts he's never won and has the grand total of two top-five finishes, one at each venue.
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
5 of 10
Previous ranking: 9
Why he's here
Earnhardt Jr. rebounded from poor finishes at Phoenix (43rd) and Martinsville (36th) over a span of three weeks by finishing third at Texas and 16th at Bristol. He's now back up to sixth in points.
Key 2014 moments
His third at Texas made it a trio of third-place finishes in the first seven races, which means his new crew chief, Greg Ives, has been finding some speed in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. But the fact that Junior hasn't led a single lap in the last five races and has led a total of only five since the Daytona 500 indicates that there is more work to be done in that area.
What's next
Richmond and Talladega are two of his favorite tracks, although much of his success at both places came quite a while ago. He's won three times at Richmond, but not since 2006; he's won a career-high five times at 'Dega, but not since 2004.
5. Brad Keselowski
6 of 10
Previous ranking: 4
Why he's here
What the heck? Keselowski not only ruined his own day, but also that of his Team Penske running mate, Joey Logano, when BK's No. 2 Miller Lite Ford got loose early in the Bristol race and wrecked both of them. Keselowski ended up finishing 35th, his first finish outside the top nine since he lost an engine in the Daytona 500 and finished 41st.
Key 2014 moments
His win at Fontana, where he led only the final lap, guarantees him a spot in the Chase. But he will have to avoid disasters like Daytona and Bristol once he gets there, or he'll have trouble advancing through the Chase elimination format. It's not like he and crew chief Paul Wolfe are off the mark often, because they're usually right on it. In between the two horrible finishes, BK reeled off six finishes of ninth or better in a row, including the aforementioned win and a second at Martinsville. The driver deserves some benefit of doubt, as the track seemed to be slick from a long pre-race rain delay when he got sideways and collected Logano at Bristol. "I would like to blame the rain, but I honestly don't know," Keselowski told FoxSports.com. "Usually when a car gets that far sideways and it's kind of out of nowhere there's a reason behind it."
What's next
He's won once in his career at Richmond and three times at Talladega, so he should be a threat at both places. In a combined 23 career starts at the two tracks, he's also finished in the top 10 in 11 of them.
4. Matt Kenseth
7 of 10
Previous ranking: 8
Why he's here
After winning a career-high seven races in 2013, his first driving the No. 20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, Kenseth got shut out last year and actually broke a 51-race winless streak by going to Victory Lane at Bristol.
Key 2014 moments
He started from the pole at Bristol, continuing his trend of qualifying much better since he switched from Roush Fenway Racing to JGR. He's qualified in the top eight in five of the last six races, which is important because it helps right off the bat with all-important track position. He has three top-five finishes overall on the season, including fourth at Martinsville and fifth at Atlanta. "It means a lot," Kenseth told USAToday.com of his long-awaited return to Victory Lane. "Last year was tough and not winning again this year had been tough. I've been trying to put myself in a position to finally get one."
What's next
He owns one win apiece at each of the next two tracks. But let's be honest: two wins in a combined 60 career starts at Richmond and Talladega isn't exactly going to scare away the competition. Kenseth also has a total of 23 top-10 and 11 top-five finishes at the two venues, so there also is hope that he will continue to build on the momentum he captured at Bristol.
3. Joey Logano
8 of 10
Previous ranking: 2
Why he's here
The collision with Keselowski early in the Bristol race killed Logano's No. 22 car and relegated him to a 40th-place finish through no fault of his own. Thus ended his own string of seven consecutive top-10 finishes to start the season, including a win in the Daytona 500.
Key 2014 moments
Logano's fourth-place finish at Texas gave him an impressive average finish over the first seven races of 5.3 that lifted him to second in the points, where he remains despite the unexpected early run-in with Keselowski at Bristol. Logano seemed at first in disbelief that his own teammate would get loose in front of him and wreck him. Not that Logano thought it was anything but an accident, of course, but it was disappointing nonetheless. "Man, it's just so early in the race, I hate to see that," Logano told FoxSports.com.
What's next
He won the fall race at Richmond last year for his only career win at the .75-mile track. But he's finished in the top six in three of the last four races there and likely will be a contender. At Talladega, he's never won in 12 career starts and hasn't had a top-10 finish there since 2011.
2. Jimmie Johnson
9 of 10
Previous ranking: 6
Why he's here
As the only other driver besides defending Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick with two wins in the first eight races, Johnson deserves to be ranked higher than all others except for Harvick. Plus his run to a second-place finish over the final laps at Bristol, when it had earlier looked like he was doomed to a poor finish, was almost as impressive as his latest victory.
Key 2014 moments
Johnson's latest triumph came at Texas, where he led 128 laps at the 1.5-mile track. Then he came to the .533-mile short track at Bristol and survived a beating, some of which he brought on himself, before surging to the runner-up finish during a series of 11 extra laps that were run because of late cautions and yet another rain delay. Johnson's other win came in the second race of the season at Atlanta, plus he finished fifth in the Daytona 500 and ninth at Fontana. So he's running well at all types of tracks, which is a nod to crew chief Chad Knaus and the cars he's preparing for the six-time Cup champion.
What's next
The recent success, as expected, has quieted all speculation that Johnson and Knaus weren't on the same page earlier this season. Now the No. 48 team heads to Richmond and Talladega, where Johnson has won a combined five times (three at Richmond, two at 'Dega). Don't count Johnson out at either place.
1. Kevin Harvick
10 of 10
Previous ranking: 1
Why he's here
At least Johnson and some others are starting to press Harvick a little bit, making this season a little more interesting. Harvick, already a winner twice and runner-up four times, has otherwise been totally dominant and even appeared to possibly have the car to beat at Bristol before Johnson's tapping of Jeb Burton set off a chain reaction that collected Harvick's No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevy and ruined the defending champ's night.
Key 2014 moments
The wreck at Bristol occurred after Harvick had led 184 of the first 311 laps. That gives Harvick a series-high 950 laps led this season, or more than three times as many as Johnson (304) and nearly three times more than Logano (324). He's led 34 laps or more in every race except for the season-opening Daytona 500, which he finished second in despite failing to lead a single lap. Harvick began the season with five consecutive top-two finishes, including back-to-back wins at Las Vegas and Phoenix, and with seven top-10 finishes in a row after placing eighth at Martinsville and second once again at Texas.
What's next
Obviously, Harvick and his team, including crew chief Rodney Childers and the pit crew, continue to be on an incredible roll. Next up is Richmond, where Harvick usually excels (three wins, eight top-five and 17 top-10 finishes in 28 career starts). He also has won once in his career at Talladega.
Joe Menzer has written six books, including two about NASCAR, and now writes about it and other sports for Bleacher Report as well as assisting in NASCAR coverage as a Digital Content Producer for FoxSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @OneMenz.
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