NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings after 2018 AAA Texas 500

Formulated rankings predictions for after next race

The calculation used to calculate the formulated NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings predicts that after this Sunday’s race at ISM Raceway, the Can-Am 500, the formulated NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings will look like the following list.

Rank – Driver (Trend)
1st – Joey Logano (-)
2nd – Aric Almirola (+5)
3rd – Martin Truex Jr. (+1)
4th – Kyle Busch (-2)
5th – Kevin Harvick (-2)
6th – Kurt Busch (-)
7th – Chase Elliott (-2)
8th – Clint Bowyer (+2)
9th – Erik Jones (-1)
10th – Denny Hamlin (-1)
11th – Brad Keselowski (-)
12th – Kyle Larson (-)
13th – Ryan Blaney (-)
14th – Jimmie Johnson (+1)
15th – Alex Bowman (+1)
16th – Austin Dillon (-2)
17th – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (-)
18th – Ryan Newman (-)
19th – Daniel Suarez (-)
20th – Paul Menard (-)
21st – A.J. Allmendinger (+1)
22nd – Chris Buescher (+1)
23rd – Jamie McMurray (-2)
24th – Ty Dillon (+1)
25th – David Ragan (+1)
26th – William Byron (-2)
27th – Darrell Wallace Jr. (+1)
28th – Michael McDowell (-1)
29th – Matt DiBenedetto (-)

Biggest Movers
Up: Aric Almirola (+5)
Down: Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, Jamie McMurray, William Byron (-2)

Conclusion

Joey Logano ended up on top of the formulated NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings for the fourth consecutive race.

Despite the fact that Logano has earned just two victories so far this season, of which only one has come since April, and Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, the two drivers who sit in second and third place in these rankings, respectively, have combined to earn 15 victories so far this season, the fact that he stayed on top of these rankings for the fourth consecutive race is really not all that surprising.

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Logano was already arguably the hottest driver in the field coming into the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Coming into this race, he had racked up five consecutive top 10 finishes, including a victory in the most recent race, the First Data 500, at Martinsville Speedway, and he had finished outside of the top 10 in just two of the previous 11 races.

Logano’s third place finish in the AAA Texas 500 replaced his 10th place finish in the Bank of America Roval 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway roval in the calculation for his average finish in the last five races. As a result, his average finish in the last five races, which was already the lowest among all drivers at 5.40, dropped even lower to 4.00.

The 2016 Cup Series runner-up, who secured a Championship 4 berth with his win in the First Data 500 and is now set to try to win his first career Cup Series championship in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway as a result of it, has racked up five top eight finishes, four top five finishes, three top three finishes and one win over the course of the last five races.

The driver with the next best average finish in the last five races is Aric Almirola, whose average finish in the last five races is 8.60, which is more than twice than that of Logano.

The four-turn, 1.022-mile (1.645-kilometer) ISM Raceway oval in Avondale, Arizona is set to host the third and final 2018 NASCAR Cup Series round of 8 race and the final race before the Championship 4. This race, the Can-Am 500, is set to be broadcast live on NBC beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 11.