NASCAR Power Rankings: Kyle Busch crowned
By Asher Fair
With his first victory in five and a half months, Kyle Busch captured his second NASCAR Cup Series championship. How do the power rankings look to close out 2019?
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch entered the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season finale, the Ford EcoBoost 400, at Homestead-Miami Speedway on a 21-race win drought. All three of his Championship 4 rivals had won one of the round of 8 races to lock themselves into the Championship 4.
That didn’t stop him from winning the race and becoming the sport’s first two-time champion of the Championship 4 era and first since seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson was crowned for the second time back in the 2007 season.
How did Busch’s victory in this 267-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida 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
Surprisingly, Kyle Busch did not finish #1 in these formulated NASCAR Cup Series Driver Power Rankings despite the fact that he won the championship, much like Joey Logano didn’t last year despite the fact that he won last year’s title.
But that will be little consolation to the driver who did finish #1 and saw his championship hopes plummet after dominating the early stages of the Ford EcoBoost 400 when his pit crew switched his left and right side tires.
Not surprisingly, all four of the Championship 4 driver did finish in the top four in these rankings, just like the case was last year. Between the fifth and 16th spots, however, things were a bit shaken up, and they did not exactly resemble the championship standings due the fashion in which these 12 drivers finished out the year.