Indianapolis Motor Speedway was another weekend when Toyotas were strong, taking four of the first five spots. But Ford also put four cars in the top 10. The only Chevy in the top 10?
Carson Hocevar. Granted, Kyle Larson had a flat tire and Chase Elliott ended up in a wreck, but that certainly impacted these power rankings. No Hendrick driver is in the top 10.
They only have eight top 10s combined over the last eight races (Larson with four, William Byron two, Alex Bowman two and Elliott none). Here are my power rankings after the Brickyard 400 and headed into an off week before the season resumes Aug. 9 at Iowa.
Dropped out: Kyle Larson (Last Week: 10), Shane Van Gisbergen (Last Week: 9) On the verge: Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher, William Byron, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Shane van Gisbergen Hocevar won the pole and finished ninth as the top Chevrolet finisher at the Brickyard. That’s two top 10s in the last three races for the No. 77.
An eighth-place for Preece at the Brickyard gave him back-to-back top-10 finishes. He’s going to need to keep rattling off top 10s if he hopes to make The Chase. It was not a good weekend for Wallace, as he started 29th and finished 28th.
But he does have four finishes of sixth or better in the last eight races, and few drivers are posting those solid finishes over that long of a stretch. Reddick was 10th at the Brickyard as he continues to try to find the magic from earlier in the season. He’s making a little bit of progress with two top 10s in the last three races.
He is still the series leader with five victories this year. Blaney got wrecked (unintentionally) by John Hunter Nemechek and it didn’t just result in a 26th-place finish; it also resulted in Blaney finishing behind Todd Gilliland as they battled for the $1 million in-season tournament prize. But Blaney is still third in the series standings.
Logano followed up his win at North Wilkesboro with a third. The three-time Cup champion probably can’t declare being back until The Chase, and that's when the more traditional 1.5-mile tracks come into play. But at least it appears he’ll be playing in the postseason.
Gibbs started fourth and finished 12th at the Brickyard. It was the second consecutive what-could-have-been day for Gibbs, but he continues to show speed and with no real signs of slowing down. Briscoe finished fourth at the Brickyard although probably wishes he had the last restart back, as it appeared he, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin weren’t in sync.
But he’s moving up in the standings and has a realistic shot of being fifth by the time The Chase starts. Bell finished second … again. It was the sixth time this year and third time in the last four races.
But he considered the Brickyard a good second-place finish. He arguably could be No. 1 on this list but really needs a win.
A fifth-place finish last weekend gave Hamlin three top fives in the last four races and seven top fives in his last 10. He’s still the man to beat on ovals.
