NASCAR Power Rankings: Martin Truex Jr., Joe Gibbs Racing on a roll
By Asher Fair
Martin Truex Jr. and Joe Gibbs Racing continued rolling in the second race of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs at Richmond Raceway.
Joe Gibbs Racing have now secured a series-high 15 victories in the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season with 28 of the season’s 36 races in the books. Martin Truex Jr. has secured a series-high six of these 15 victories, including the last two, as he has opened up the playoffs with two consecutive victories.
After winning the playoff opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last Sunday, he overcame a spin to win Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway.
How did Truex’s victory in this 400-lap race around the four-turn, 0.75-mile (1.207-kilometer) Richmond Raceway oval in Richmond, Virginia affect the NASCAR Cup Series Power Rankings?
These NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings were calculated using a formula, which you can see here. But before they are revealed, take a look below at some of the highlights of this edition of these rankings.
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NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings Analysis
With two consecutive victories to open up the playoffs, it seems pretty safe to say that Martin Truex Jr. is the hottest driver in the Cup Series at this point, and with Joe Gibbs Racing having just recorded their third 1-2-3 finish of the season, it seems pretty safe to say that they are the hottest team, now with four victories in the last five races.
But in the long run, there really is no clear top/hottest driver or team.
There is not currently a driver whose average finish in the last five races is better than 10.00. The driver who leads in that category with an average finish of 10.00 in these five races has led this category following both of the last two races, yet he has dropped in these rankings after both of these races.
There are currently eight drivers with an average finish of between 10.00 and 11.00 in the last five races. Perhaps most notably given how the playoffs have begun, Truex is not one of them.
As a result, perhaps safest to say is the fact that this year’s playoffs are still wide open.