In the 2024 NASCAR Power Rankings, there is some movement in the top ten this week, but the lower finishers were all the same or, should I say, equally unlucky? We were lucky to see wet tires again this season in New Hampshire. Even after some questionable decisions made by NASCAR in those final laps, it was an incredible race. I was happy to see the race finish even on the wet track.
The last five
Another top fifteen finish for Todd. Heck, we even saw him in the top five several times in New Hampshire. I love seeing a smaller team overachieve and Todd has been doing that recently. I’m not sure how he’ll do in Nashville. While that is partly due to his poor history, it is more due to his recent good performances. However, it is very likely that he will return to the top fifteen this weekend.
A top-five finish in New Hampshire is just what this team and driver needed after a not-so-stellar finish in Iowa. I like their chances this week in Nashville. Both RFK cars seemed extremely fast in qualifying.
Joey looked to have a strong car early in the race. Then, on lap 194, something happened that caused Joey’s car to crash into another competitor and, in effect, ended his day. Joey has an uphill road to get back over the cut line for the playoffs, as well as climb back up the standings in the 2024 NASCAR Power Rankings. I don’t know if Nashville will be that start, though.
Bubba Wallace IS OVER FOR THE NIGHT.
Noah Gragson slides in and picks up No. 23 and Austin Dillon.
📺: US Network image.twitter.com/U0V7IMcIdm
— NASCAR on KeynoteUSA (@NASCARonKeynoteUSA) June 23, 2024
This is a rider and a team that need their luck to change soon. They didn’t score any stage points in New Hampshire and didn’t finish very well either (34), especially after being involved in a crash at the end. They came away with a top ten finish and some stage points this week and I think that counts as a win.
New Hampshire was awful for Brad. It took him almost a hundred laps of racing before he even cracked the top twenty in the running order. That doesn’t seem to be the same case, at least so far, in Nashville. He’ll start in the 5th position tomorrow, so we’ll see if that was just a problem for Brad.
2024 NASCAR Power Rankings Top Ten Begins
He was another driver who looked strong from the start of last Sunday’s race at New Hampshire. Then, once again, luck decided to put an end to that and a right rear tire was not fully secured on an early pit stop and was never recovered. Personally, I’m not too thrilled with Martin’s chances this week.
Alex was on course to probably secure a top ten finish last weekend. Then something unexpected happened for a car powered by Hendrick Motorsports and engine failure occurred. I think we’ll see Alex bounce back this weekend and get another top ten finish. Maybe he and his team will even make some adjustments tomorrow and fight for the win.
Ross came out and made me look bad for leaving him behind in my portion of last week’s predictions by finishing in the top ten. He won this race last year, so he knows how to win here and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see him parked in victory lane again. Nashville is a slick track and anything can happen.
Ryan dropped a few spots in this week’s edition of the 2024 NASCAR Power Rankings. He had an impressive performance early on and looked like he was even going to compete for back-to-back wins. But it turned out he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up 25th. But that’s racing and he’s sure to bounce back this weekend.
He finished sixth at New Hampshire and was leading when the rains initially began to fall. I easily consider Tyler to be one of the top five drivers in the Cup Series week in and week out, as is Ryan Blaney, but these are the best of the best for a reason, so the competition is tight.
The five best
It was a strange day for Willy B after finishing second in Iowa. However, Chevrolet as a team seemed to struggle in New Hampshire, so I think we’ll see William bounce back. Especially considering he finished sixth last year.
A weekend sweep and their third win of the season. C Bell has been on fire lately, and I’m not so sure we won’t see him pick up one or two more wins before the playoffs begin.
So he led 41 laps to open the race in New Hampshire and then earned stage points in both the first and second laps. Yes, an 18th place finish wasn’t what he wanted, but he was involved in Joey Logano’s accident early in the race. However, he extended his streak of top-twenty finishes for another week, so there’s that.
The 11-car was replaced with wet tyres and its solid performance disappeared. Although it was previously one of the first contenders for victory and even won the second stage, Denny put in a fast lap today in qualifying and I hope he will be fast tomorrow.
A fourth-place finish on a day where the Chevrolets weren’t strong early on isn’t something that should come as a surprise. Kyle drives the cars as far as he can and it pays off far more than it doesn’t. Considering his worst finish in Nashville was fifth, I expect to see all five cars up front early and often.
Here we go, Nash-Vegas!
I enjoyed that NASCAR is back in Nashville. Although I would love for the Fairgrounds Speedway to be a trip back in time. Until then I’ll deal with the SuperSpeedway. What should you expect?
Well, that’s a difficult question to answer. I think you should see some solid races either way. As far as who I think is going to win or who might be competitive, you know where you can find that piece. Hopefully we can make you some money if you are a betting fanatic!
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