NASCAR Cup Series: 2019 Playoff Driver Power Rankings

By Asher Fair | Sep 10, 2019

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - SEPTEMBER 08: Ryan Newman, driver of the #6 Acorns Ford, Kyle Larson, driver of the #42 McDonald's Chevrolet, Erik Jones, driver of the #20 STANLEY Wish For Our Heros Toyota, William Byron, driver of the #24 Liberty University Chevrolet, Martin Truex Jr, driver of the #19 AOI Toyota, Clint Bowyer, driver of the #14 Rush/Cummins Ford, Ryan Blaney, driver of the #12 Wabash National Ford, Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet, Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Express Toyota, Alex Bowman, driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, Kurt Busch, driver of the #1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Toyota, Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Discount Tire Ford, Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Mobil 1 Ford, Aric Almirola, driver of the #10 Smithfield/Meijer Ford, pose for a photo with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series trophy to start the playoffs following the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on September 08, 2019 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images) /

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DARLINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINA – AUGUST 30: Ryan Newman, driver of the #6 Oscar Mayer/Velveeta Ford (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /

The 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs have arrived and 16 drivers have a chance to win the championship. Which drivers are in the best position to do so?

The 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs are scheduled to get underway this Sunday, September 15 with the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada.

A total of 16 drivers qualified for the four-round, 10-race playoffs, with 10 doing so with at least one regular season victory and the other six doing so as a result of their regular season point totals.

Playoff links

Before this 267-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval gets the playoffs underway, let’s have a look at how each of the 16 playoff drivers stack up against one another.

NOTE: These power rankings are not associated with the weekly formulated NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings. For this week’s edition, click here.

#16

. No. 6. Roush Fenway Racing, Ford. RYAN NEWMAN. #16

Ryan Newman’s only finish higher than seventh place this season came in the July race at Daytona International Speedway, where the finishing order might as well have been determined by a random name picker. He has done the best to get the most out of his equipment in his first season driving for Roush Fenway Racing, but the fact that he had to squeeze his way into the playoffs even doing that could spell a very early exit.

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