NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings after 2018 Quaker State 400
By Asher Fair
How do the 30 full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers stack up against one another following Martin Truex Jr.’s fourth victory of the 2018 season?
The quest of Furniture Row Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. to defend his 2017 NASCAR Cup Series championship is in full force, and that was on full display in the 19th race of the 36-race 2018 Cup Series season, the Quaker State 400, at Kentucky Speedway.
Truex Jr. dominated the Quaker State 400 in his #78 Toyota to earn his fourth victory of the season. Of the 267 laps around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky, he led 174 of them. He won the race after starting from the pole position and winning both of the first two stages as well.
At this time last season, Truex Jr. had earned three victories and had begun to pull away in the Cup Series championship standings and playoff standings. He has done even better this season, but less attention has been focused on him because of the success of Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch, who have already earned five victories each so far this season.
How did Truex Jr.’s dominant performance and the rest of the action from the Quaker State 400 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 the action from Kentucky Speedway.
NOTE: Because of the fact that Gray Gaulding has not driven the #23 BK Racing Toyota in either of the last two races and is therefore no longer considered full-time driver, he is not included in these NASCAR Cup Series Team Power Rankings.
To see how the formulated NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings are calculated, click here.