NASCAR Cup Series: Way-too-early 2021 power rankings

Way-too-early 2021 NASCAR Power Rankings: #14 and #13

Kurt Busch’s six-year winning streak appeared as though it was going to be coming to an end before he won at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, his home track, for the first time as a result of a late pit strategy call and several perfect restarts in the closing laps. His win couldn’t have come at a better time, either, as he had just qualified for the round of 12 and advanced to the round of 8 as a result of the win. However, don’t let that fool you too much. Chip Ganassi Racing simply didn’t have the pace of the regular contending teams such as Hendrick Motorsports, Stewart-Haas Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske, and Busch may need some more good fortune in 2021 to get to victory lane for the eighth straight year.

What a season it was for Matt DiBenedetto in 2020. While he did not win a race for the first time in his career, he managed to record three top three finishes, including two runner-up finishes at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and a third place finish at Kentucky Speedway, after entering the year with just one, and he was able to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in his career on points. He was slated to lose his ride to Team Penske Xfinity Series driver Austin Cindric due to Wood Brothers Racing’s technical alliance with the team, but he changed their mind at the last minute with a near-win at Talladega Superspeedway. He finished the year strong with three consecutive top 10 finishes. The only other three drivers who can say that? The three Team Penske teammates: Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney.