NASCAR Team Power Rankings: STP 500 Edition

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March 24, 2017; Fontana, CA, USA; NASCAR cup driver Austin Dillon (3) during qualifying for the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /

No. 5 – Richard Childress Racing

Previous Week: N/A
Auto Club Results: Austin Dillon (11th), Ryan Newman (15th) and Paul Menard (28th)

Are things finally beginning to turn around at RCR? One win by Ryan Newman isn’t going to be a game-changer for the team but more performances like Auto Club will make me more of a believer.

This past weekend Ryan Newman and Austin Dillon didn’t have the best cars and easily could have finished outside of the top-20. However neither team quit fighting and they both ended up inside of the top-15. It’s that kind of results over the course of a season that will put these drivers in a position to make the playoffs and maybe contend for wins.

Menard is by far the weakest link on this team but every now and again the No. 27 team shows us all some speed. The issue with them though is consistency, as Dillon and Newman seem to be building it, Menard is still searching for it. After finishing 5th in Daytona, Menard hasn’t posted a finish better than 19th.

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