NASCAR Cup Series: Power rankings entering the 2021 season
By Asher Fair
2021 NASCAR Cup Series Power Rankings: #28 and #27
JTG Daugherty Racing, Chevrolet. RICKY STENHOUSE JR.. #28. . No. 47
Finishes of third place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and fourth place at Charlotte Motor Speedway by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in his first season with JTG Daugherty Racing in 2020 illustrated that the team have more pace than their results tend to indicate when inconsistency isn’t preventing them from capitalizing on their pace. Unfortunately for Stenhouse, inconsistency has plagued him throughout his career, and while he came close to finding victory lane in 2020 with a photo finish second place finish at Talladega Superspeedway, he has still not won a race since 2017.
#27. . No. 37. JTG Daugherty Racing, Chevrolet. RYAN PREECE
Overall, the 2020 season was a disappointing second season for Ryan Preece with JTG Daugherty Racing, but he made drastic improvements down the stretch to save his ride for 2021. After recording only seven top 20 finishes in the 26-race regular season with no finished of higher than 12th place, he recorded eight in the first nine races of the 10-race playoffs, including two top 10 finishes in a three-race span. He also beat teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in six of the 10 playoff races after beating him just eight times in the regular season. If he can keep his momentum going into his third season with the team, he will be poised to have his best year yet. However, the #37 Chevrolet’s lack of a charter and thus a lack of a guaranteed starting position in any race with more than 40 cars on the entry list could be of some concern.