It’s Tuesday morning and officially Chicago Street Race Week. It almost has that feeling of a storm brewing. However, there was a race that concluded on Sunday night and that means it’s time for another update. Because we definitely need to adjust some positions on the NASCAR Power Rankings list and instead of waiting all week why not now?
NASCAR Power Rankings: 15th-11th
- 15. Ty Gibbs
Ty seemed to consistently be around the top ten all race Sunday once he climbed from his qualifying. He is learning week in and week out, will he possibly be off the list again next week, well yes. He also could climb a few positions that’s the fun in this sport seeing how these rookies learn more and more.
- 14. Bubba Wallace
Bubba was able to benefit from the timing of his teammate’s pit crew letting their driver down with a loose wheel and even grabbed some stage-two points. Unfortunately for him, his crew would slip on a late pitstop taking him out of contention for another top-ten finish.
- 13. Brad Keselowski
Four positions gained by the 6 crew! ?
BK will restart P8 for stage 3 ?? pic.twitter.com/AOMSlc0IBK
— RFK Racing (@RFKracing) June 26, 2023
A “lack of go” would be best to describe the issue he had on a late restart, but he was able to rebound from that and finished eleventh. Just one more quiet race mostly anyways for Brad so he’ll stay put in these NASCAR Power Rankings.
- 12. Joey Logano
Started fourth, and quickly fell to the outside of the top twenty within the first 100 laps. It was a rough day for the Ford camp in Nashville as a whole. Right now though, unless they flip a switch between now and the playoffs I’m not too confident in Joey to defend his title.
- 11. Chris Buescher
Chased a few gremlins today and couldn’t quite get on top of em. So I guess we’ll definitely learn something from it. Pretty bummed overall…
Onto the city streets ?️ pic.twitter.com/S02pZe4qeQ
— Chris Buescher (@Chris_Buescher) June 26, 2023
As I said earlier, it was a rough day for the Fords as a whole but early on it looked like this team was going to lead the charge for them. Sadly though, the results didn’t match the performance as a whole and he finished outside the top fifteen. Still, a good showing early on though.
10th-6th: Bad Luck Bears is that You?
- 10. Tyler Reddick
.@TylerReddick spins at the entrance of pit road!
?: NBC | ?: https://t.co/r61CT6k3hq pic.twitter.com/AjPvJZ2rEm
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 26, 2023
Probably the only team as a whole in NASCAR right now that would benefit the most from a pit crew change. Tyler easily had a top-five car Sunday but a loose wheel coming off killed any chances of that at the halfway point of the race. Three straight finishes outside the top thirty now, and that really can drag you down, especially in some NASCAR Power Rankings.
- 9. Ryan Blaney
“Hardest hit I’ve ever had of my life.”
Hear from Ryan @Blaney. #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/ZgsJBop8v7
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) June 26, 2023
What a hit is all I will say. Especially with no safer barrier in that spot too, glad Ryan walked away from that one. Sadly though his bad luck continues for another week and he finished outside the top thirty as well.
- 8. Kevin Harvick
Kevin Harvick, who was running P4, suddenly sees his race go south with an apparent tire problem. Absolute shame.
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) June 26, 2023
Kevin is still the best Ford driver and has to have the best crew chief in that camp. When the rest of the camp was struggling to even pass Rick Ware Racing cars. This team battled up fourth! Sadly for him though a flat rear tire ended his chances of winning with around sixty laps left.
- 7. Christopher Bell
It was a quiet day for Bell, not horrible but not great either. I think after the way this team went through a stretch of four races finishing outside the top ten, that a top ten will be gladly taken by this team.
- 6. Denny Hamlin
Mom called it pic.twitter.com/UrmTgi1CT8
— Denny Hamlin (@dennyhamlin) June 26, 2023
The timing of the 45 spinning gave him the chance to benefit and he did it to the fullest. Honestly looked like it was going to come down to him or his teammate for a while. I think Denny’s mom gets it though based on the above tweet. He led eighty-one laps and grabbed another stage win. Is he starting to peak a bit too soon though?
The Top 5: An Old Face in a Familiar Place
- 5. Ross Chastain
The Smash™️ pic.twitter.com/aBJ8e99Wgi
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 26, 2023
It has been a rough few weeks for Ross on these NASCAR Power Rankings. He dropped from third all the way down to ninth at his lowest. He’s back though in the top five, and if this team has regained their mojo everyone else better look out!
- 4. Kyle Larson
I gave the guy some crap in my last post about not being consistent enough. What does he do, comes out and battles an ill-handling car to a top-ten finish. Still expected him to be competing for wins every week but consistency isn’t always bad I guess.
- 3. Kyle Busch
An early problem forces @KyleBusch to pit road. @tvdaveburns explains the reason why. pic.twitter.com/5MtF5fVdz8
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 25, 2023
16 whole laps into the race he has to make an unscheduled pit stop for a flat tire. Where did he finish? Ninth, Kyle is different this year, like I said earlier it’s nice to see him getting used to winning again because a confident Kyle Busch is so much fun to watch on the track.
- 2. William Byron
This crew is so, so impressive. @WilliamByron | @TeamHendrick pic.twitter.com/q0BjvjtBeT
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 26, 2023
Once again battled for the lead, ran in the top ten most of the race, and his pit crew got him the lead once again in a race. I could easily make a case for William to be numero uno, but man number one is on a roll right now!
- 1. Martin Truex Jr.
Business is picking up for the lead! @RossChastain and @MartinTruex_Jr are doing battle out front with 30 to go!
?: NBC | ?: https://t.co/r61CT6k3hq pic.twitter.com/tBi7qkUx2n
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) June 26, 2023
If I’m not mistaken I said his qualifying within striking distance of the lead wasn’t great for the field. This man looked like he was about to grab another win on the season for a while. Martin and the team are on a hot streak right now, and I hope for his sake it isn’t starting too soon.
See Whoever Is Left After Chicago
This weekend’s race is going to be well, interesting to say the less. NASCAR has never raced on a street course before in its seventy-five-year history. I know I’ve seen a fair share of very different opinions on this race. I’m for anything to grow the sport so I hope it succeeds, but it is going to have a lot of people going against it as an event. So, no picks this week because I think whoever survives the chaos and can run up front will be the winner, and that could be anyone. I’ll see you all after Chicago, let’s see what happens to each of our own favorite drivers this weekend.
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