Power Rankings: Martinsville

Power

Rankings

Martinsville:

There was a surprisingly big amount of carnage at Kansas, which was very odd since the "cookie-cutter" 1.5 mile tracks usually provide long green flag runs with few cautions. All of the crashes could be attributed to the newly repaved track surface which appeared to be extremely slick. A couple of the drivers that crashed were Chase drivers and it seemed that they'd be in trouble, but they all fought back to earn good finishes for the most part. Now let's take a look at what the power rankings look like before the Series heads to the half-mile paper clip track, Martinsville Speedway.

1. Brad Keselowski (No Change, from last week)

Bad Brad keeps his lead in the standings with yet another top-10 in the Chase. That makes him 5/6 in possible top-10 chances this Chase, with the only non top-10 being an 11th at Charlotte. Remember though, Carl Edwards only had one finish out of the top-10 in last year's Chase (also an 11th) and didn't win the championship.

2. Jimmie Johnson (No Change)

That was another valiant run for Johnson and his No. 48 crew, fixing a pretty junked up car after he hit the wall and rallying to finish 9th. Of course, we've all come to expect this out of Johnson's team throughout the years and this of course means he's only 7 points out of 1st. Martinsville is great for Johnson, expect him to cut into Brad's lead here.

3. Clint Bowyer (+1)

Bowyer has been as consistent as anyone and with a 6th place finish at his hometown track, he cut into the points lead once again. If he can keep running this consistently and something happens to Johnson and Keselowski, he can actually come in a sweep up the championship, which seemed extremely improbable at the start of the year. He was a sure fire top-5 car at Martinsville in the spring before he tried his bonsai move on race leaders Jeff Gordon and Johnson and took everyone out.

4. Kasey Kahne (+1)

This is the best Kahne has ever performed in his career points-wise at least. A fourth place finish at Kansas keeps him fourth in the standings and in the power rankings. Also, he still has a viable shot at the championship, like Bowyer, but Kahne is running out of tracks that he performs strong at.

5. Denny Hamlin (-2)

What happened to that Hamlin that dominated almost every race before the Chase started? And where was the Hamlin that won at Kansas earlier in the year? He was nowhere to be found, finishing a distant and disappointing 13th this time around at Kansas. He's still in the hunt for the championship, but this guy better remember how to stay up front all race. Lucky for him, Martinsville is one of his best tracks.

6. Tony Stewart (+1)

Stewart finally had a good, solid, noteworthy run in the Chase with a 5th place finish at Kansas. He can keep up his momentum knowing that he's the defending winner of this weekend's Martinsville race, but his hopes of going back-to-back on championships is essentially done barring a small miracle.

7. Jeff Gordon (-1) 

A 10th place finish at Kansas was a good bounce-back finish for Gordon after a lackluster run the week prior at Charlotte. Gordon's championship hopes are virtually done, but he can still win a race or two before season's end. He'll try to start that this weekend at Martinsville, where he had the best car before Bowyer made everything crazy.

8. Martin Truex Jr. (No Change) 

Truex can take solace in the fact that he finished 2nd in both Kansas races this season and this is finally the run he needed in the Chase. Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is it was too little, too late for Truex in this Chase, he just never got going at the start.

9. Kevin Harvick (+1)

Harvick scored an 11th place finish at Kansas, which is pretty much the norm for him this year. He just hasn't had cars worthy of scoring top-5's. Perhaps next season he can turn things around, but don't expect much from him in the last four races.

10. Matt Kenseth (+1)

Guess what? Kenseth has as many wins as points leader Brad Keselowski does this Chase. However, aside from Kenseth's two wins at Talladega and Kansas, his Chase has been damn awful. On to 2013, Matt!

11. Greg Biffle (-2)

As soon as Biffle finally got a good run going on the day at Kansas, he crashes hard while running in the top-5. It's been that sort of Chase for the Biff, but maybe he can have one solid run or even a win before the Chase is up. My bet is Texas.

12. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No Change)

Earnhardt makes his return after a two week absence from the Series at Martinsville this weekend. How special would it be for him to score a win before season's end?

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