Well, those two short-track races didn’t go as I had hoped for all of our race fans. Now we have to go back to Texas Motorspeedway, and we all know what kind of product we have seen there in recent history. I will say even though the racing wasn’t “amazing” last week. Some major shake-ups are coming for a few of your favorite drivers. Now, let’s not wait any longer. Here is the updated 2024 NASCAR Power rankings before the green flag flies again this Sunday.
2024 NASCAR Power Rankings: 15-11
- 15. Chase Briscoe
Tough driving by the No. 14. @ChaseBriscoe_14 is rolling off P5. pic.twitter.com/1o34o8dLeH
— Stewart-Haas Racing (@StewartHaasRcng) April 7, 2024
The first Stewart-Haas car appearance on this season’s 2024 NASCAR Power Rankings. Since Phoenix Chase has been relatively consistent. Richmond wasn’t as kind. That was two weeks ago though, this past week he grabbed a tenth-place finish and heads into Texas averaging a tenth-place finish in the last three races.
- 14. Chris Buescher
My colleague Kaleb worded it pretty much perfectly in his most recent edition of Three Up and Three Down. I think Sunday just wasn’t this team’s day. Will he be able to turn the wheel back in the right direction? We will wait and see. Texas hasn’t been super nice to Chris in recent history.
- 13. Ty Gibbs
Ty had an “average” stretch of two races. Especially compared to his five-race top-ten streak that ended at Richmond. As for Texas and Ty. Numbers in the cup series are very minimal. He qualified well last year but was caught up in an accident and finished 33rd. JGR has been fast this season can Ty show out this weekend instead of one of the veteran drivers on his team?
- 12. Bubba Wallace
This man qualified second and then went on to finish the first and second stages in that same position. Bubba had an awesome showing at Martinsville. He’s heading to Texas where he finished third last September. Could Bubba be the one to watch this weekend? Someone sure does think so.
- 11. Joey Logano
TOP-10 Finish in Martinsville
Stage 1 = P6 | Stage 2 = P5 | Finish = P6
Keep the momentum rolling to Texas @shellracingus @Pennzoil @FordPerformance @Team_Penske @CocaColaRacing #CokePartner pic.twitter.com/FHZqUxUe81
— Joey Logano (@joeylogano) April 7, 2024
One solid race and two pretty good races in a row for the driver of the 22 Penzoil Mustang. Which he needed majorly, especially after the way Phoenix and Bristol went for him. Texas could go either way for Joey too is the thing.
Mid-Pack Drivers
- 10. Ross Chastain
I thought Ross could’ve performed better at Martinsville. However he did finish where he started, so I guess my prediction about him needing to qualify well to finish well was somewhat right. Heading into Texas where Ross finished second in the fall, could be a really good thing.
- 9. Martin Truex Jr.
Super surprised with how this team performed at Martinsville. I really for some reason expected Martin to finish top ten at least. Texas hasn’t been the best to Martin either, since the fall of 2020 he hasn’t finished inside the top ten at Texas.
- 8. Alex Bowman
.@Alex_Bowman and the #Ally48 team finish the day at @MartinsvilleSwy 8th. pic.twitter.com/l6UQakw3dE
— Ally Racing (@allyracing) April 7, 2024
Nothing great about an eight-place finish, especially when your teammates finish 1-3. However in the grand scheme of the season, If Alex can secure a win somewhere else to lock into the playoffs the points gained will help. I like Alex, to grind out another top-ten finish most likely this weekend, especially with the unknown points day lying ahead in Talladega.
- 7. Chase Elliott
I’m sure a lot of Elliott nation breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Chase finish back-to-back weeks in the top five. He finished eleventh in the fall at Texas but did grab stage points in both of the two stages. Riding a high right now, expect more of the same from Chase this weekend.
- 6. Christopher Bell
Guys, I don't think the tire is supposed to be at that angle. pic.twitter.com/aWENAxM6Wk
— Xfinity Racing (@XfinityRacing) April 7, 2024
It’s just not your day sometimes. I believe that’s the case for his day at Martinsville. Will he be able to contend for the win this week? Well, since joining Joe Gibbs Racing in the Twenty Car. His worst finish besides 34th in Sept. of 2022 due to DVP (damaged vehicle policy) is eleventh.
This Week’s Top Five
- 5. Tyler Reddick
Hard fought 👊 top-10’s at @MartinsvilleSwy 📎#teamtoyota pic.twitter.com/W0ALuxqNQS
— 23XI Racing (@23XIRacing) April 7, 2024
A seventh-place finish in Martinsville is a complete win for this driver and his team. Now head to Texas with some confidence building, and contend for a win possibly?
- 4. Denny Hamlin
The decision to pit late and give up a solid top-five finish is questionable to me. Heading into Texas though, you should go ahead and expect Denny to be in the top five or at least top ten especially looking at his history.
- 3. Kyle Larson
Once Joey Logano took two tires and the lead to begin stage two, Kyle looked average at best never reclaiming the lead. He’s going to contend though this weekend. Especially, looking at his recent history at Texas is either top ten finish with two of those being wins, or finishes the race due to a damaged vehicle.
- 2. Ryan Blaney
Our 12-Team showed resilience and we fought back for another Top-5 finish @martinsvilleswy Thank you to all of our partners and supporters. Texas is up next. pic.twitter.com/l4F7EvDYbG
— Ryan Blaney (@Blaney) April 8, 2024
What a “working man” type of day for the current champion. He had fallen outside the top ten by the end of stage one due to an ill-handling race car. So, to add a little insult to injury his team had an uncontrolled tire penalty. Then he battled back to finish fifth. Now heading into Texas, as long as he doesn’t crash in his eleven career Texas starts with Team Penske he finishes inside the top ten.
- 1. William Byron
Early on William looked strong passing a bunch of cars. However, even his car evened out like everyone else and couldn’t pass. Then with under one hundred to go his crew chief made a pit decision that ultimately won them the race. This is the hottest team and driver right now winning two of the last three races. If you want my thoughts on how Texas is going to go for him then you know where to go.
Final Lap On Martinsville
I think it is pretty obvious after Martinsville. There is a solid problem with the short-track product these next-gen cars are providing. Multiple drivers have said something now about just the absolute inability to pass once the tires all wore out evenly. Which wasn’t much.
So, is it a tire problem? Maybe a horsepower issue? Heck or is it due to the way we’ve got the car’s slammed down low on the ground for aero advantages? I’m not an expert so for me to speculate on something like that wouldn’t do any good. I will say this though. I’m here for what we saw at Bristol tire-wise. It was refreshing because the drivers had a lot more to do with the results of that race.
Heading to Texas, well I think the title explains how I feel about Texas. If you want who I think is going to be a contender this week well, for one final link here are mine and Kaleb’s choices for this week’s race. Now the race is scheduled to go green around 3:30 PM EST on FS1. I hope we all are proven wrong and Texas somehow puts on a good show.
Featured Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images
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