SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s Power Rankings

In this week’s edition of SiriusXM NASCAR Radio’s ‘Power Rankings,’ Pete Pistone takes into account the impact of the Jockey Made in America 250 at Road America.

by:
Pete Pistone
July 6, 2021

(Photo by Logan Riely/Getty Images)

Pete Pistone will unveil Power Rankings each week of the NASCAR season. Check out this week’s edition of NASCAR Power Rankings below, and listen to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) on the SiriusXM app now.

Here’s how the Jockey Made in America 250 at Road America impacted this week’s Power Rankings:

1. Kyle Larson – Was at the front of the field for much of Sunday’s race until disaster struck late coming in the form of contact by Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman, who did apologize for the miscue after the race. It didn’t help Larson’s 16th place finish, by far his worst performance in what feels like forever.

Driver Rating: 109.7
Point Standings: 2nd
Previous Ranking: 1st

2. Chase Elliott – Won for the seventh time in the last 11 NASCAR Cup Series road course events. Once Elliott wrestled the lead away he pulled away to a commanding victory for his second win of 2021. Both those victories came on road courses making Elliott the driver to watch when Watkins Glen, Indianapolis, and the Charlotte Roval roll up on the schedule.

Driver Rating: 99.2
Point Standings: 6th
Previous Ranking: 6th

3. Kyle Busch – He continues to heat up in the summer. After scoring his 101st career Xfinity Series race victory on Saturday, Busch drove his back-up car from the rear of the field to a third-place Road America finish. He’s now finished top-five in five of the last six races of 2021.

Driver Rating: 100.6
Point Standings: 4th
Previous Ranking: 4th

4. Denny Hamlin – The seven-time winner of a year still remains winless in 2021. But he fought hard to put up another consistent finish at Road America with a fifth-place run. Hamlin scored his 11th top-five finish of the season.

Driver Rating: 108.2
Point Standings: 1st
Previous Ranking: 5th

5. William Byron – His day started out great when Byron won the pole for Sunday’s race. Things went sour from there as challenges added up to take him from contention and eventually end up with a 33rd-place finish.

Driver Rating: 99.9
Point Standings: 3rd
Previous Ranking: 4th

6. Alex Bowman – Made a miscalculation late in the race and punted teammate Kyle Larson off the track, an incident that hurt both Hendrick Motorsports teammates’ days. Bowman fell back to a 22nd place finish.

Driver Rating: 97.2
Point Standings: 11th
Previous Ranking: 3rd

7. Martin Truex Jr.  – The least competitive of the four-car Joe Gibbs Racing stable on Sunday. While his other three JGR teammates occupied positions in the top-five, the best Truex Jr. could do was muster a ninth-place performance.

Driver Rating: 98.5
Point Standings: 7th
Previous Ranking: 9th

8. Tyler Reddick – He was excited to come to Road America based on his previous road course efforts. It paid off for Reddick who led some of Sunday’s race and finished eighth. It was his 10th top-10 finish of 2021, his most ever in a season.

Driver Rating: 77.6
Point Standings: 13th
Previous Ranking: NR

9. Joey Logano – He fought rear grip issues early and tried all race to get a better handling race car. Nothing helped the situation and after appearing in the top-10 for a stretch, Logano faded back to finish 15th at Road America.

Driver Rating: 99.0
Point Standings: 5th
Previous Ranking: 7th

10. Christopher Bell – A runner-up performance Sunday at Road America for Bell. It was the Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s third top-five of 2021, two of the three have come on road courses including his first career Cup win earlier this at Daytona.

Driver Rating: 82.9

Point Standings: 15th
Previous Ranking: NR

Dropped Out: Ryan Blaney, Kevin Harvick



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