NASCAR Cup Series: Driver Power Rankings after 2018 FireKeepers Casino 400
By Asher Fair
How do the 31 full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers stack up against one another after the 15th of 36 races on the 2018 schedule?
The FireKeepers Casino 400, the 15th race of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season, was scheduled to last for 200 laps around the four-turn, 2.0-mile Michigan International Speedway oval in Brooklyn, Michigan.
However, shortly after stage two ended to make the race official, the rains came down and ended the race after just 133 laps. Thanks to a bold strategy call to take just two tires on his pit stop by crew chief Mike Bugarewicz Stewart-Haas Racing’s Clint Bowyer took the lead over teammate Kevin Harvick in the pits and did not look back before rain washed out what would have been the final 67 laps of the race.
Entering the race, Bowyer was one of only six drivers who had won at least one of the first 14 races of the season, as he won the race at Martinsville Speedway back in late March. By winning at Michigan International Speedway, he became the fourth different driver to win more than one of the first 15 races of the season.
How did what went down in the the 15th race of the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series season affect the NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings? Here are the formulated NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings and the non-formulated NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings following Bowyer’s second victory of the season and the rest of the action that took place in the FireKeepers Casino 400.
To see how the formulated NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings are calculated, click here.