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Power Rankings: William Byron among the elite in the early going
By Pat DeCola | Published: April 12, 2021 21
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NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 NASCAR Cup Series drivers after Martinsville Speedway and before the race at Richmond Raceway (Sun., 3 p.m. ET, FOX).
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
20. Tyler Reddick (Not ranked last week)
Season-high: 17
Season-low: Out
Comment: Don't look now (or do; I never understood this expression) but Reddick has put together his first back-to-back top 10s since three straight from Indianapolis to Texas last year. He could match it this weekend at Richmond, where he narrowly missed the top 10 last year (11th).
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
19. Ryan Newman (-2)
Season-high: 18
Season-low: Out
Comment: After Newman's only top five of the year at Bristol, he was back to his top-20 ways at Martinsville with a 19th-place run. It's been quite some time since he won at Richmond (2003!), but he had a pair of top 10s there in 2019.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
18. Bubba Wallace (Not ranked last week)
Season-high: 13
Season-low: Out
Comment: Wallace hasn't had any catastrophic races yet, typically winding up with a finish in the high teens to low 20s (21.0 average finish), but he and his new team have a ways to go to put the pieces together for more in-race prominence. That's to be expected, however, and Wallace has still led more laps in these first eight races than the other 112 races of his career combined.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
17. Alex Bowman (-1)
Season-high: 8
Season-low: 17
Comment: Bowman hasn't quite been able to find the rhythm he's looking for to start the season, and he now has three finishes of 22nd or worse in the past five races, with just one top 10 in that span. He's had a rough go of it at Richmond in his career, with just one top 10 in nine tries. That lone good result came last year, however.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
16. Kurt Busch (-1)
Season-high: 6
Season-low: 16
Comment: Busch very likely has a lot of good finishes still ahead of him, but he hasn't had one since February's eighth-place run at Miami. He had some strong runs at Richmond somewhat recently in his Stewart-Haas Racing days -- including a 2015 win -- but has yet to find the top 10 there with Chip Ganassi Racing.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
15. Michael McDowell (-3)
Season-high: 10
Season-low: Out
Comment: Like Busch, McDowell hasn't notched a top 10 since Miami. He was caught up in the big wreck at Martinsville and landed his worst finish of the season (31st). He's never finished higher than 12th at Richmond, but he's been much, much better there in his Leavine Family Racing and Front Row Motorsports years (2015-current).
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
14. Chris Buescher (+3)
Season-high: 14
Season-low: Out
Comment: Buescher keeps moving along, turning in top-15 finish after top-15 finish -- a strategy that so far has him as a provisional playoff driver. One thing he's never done, however, is finish in the top 15 at Richmond, so stay tuned.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
13. Austin Dillon (-2)
Season-high: 11
Season-low: 16
Comment: Dillon seems to be settling into that second or third tier of drivers at the moment and it's tough to tell if he'll be able to take things up a notch and become a serious contender over the course of the season. It's possible we could see him start to show some competitiveness again this weekend at Richmond, where three of the past four races he's finished sixth or better.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
12. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (+1)
Season-high: 12
Season-low: Out
Comment: You might see Stenhouse has just one top 10 this season and think he's underperforming. To that, I would tell you he actually owns the seventh-best average finish (12.6) among full-time drivers this year -- a number that bests last year's champion Chase Elliott, currently at 13.1.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
11. Kyle Busch (+3)
Season-high: 6
Season-low: 14
Comment: Calling it now: Kyle Busch turns everyone's head this weekend, and we see classic 'Rowdy' at Richmond. It hasn't been a seamless process, but the pieces have started to come together with all four of his 2021 top 10s coming in the last six races. He's been exceptional Richmond historically, with six wins -- including a 2018 sweep -- and six straight top 10s.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
10. Brad Keselowski (-4)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 10
Comment: Yeesh. Just weeks after looking like a primo title contender, Keselowski has fallen on hard times, with a 24.0 average finish over the past three races. Keselowski gets a pass, however, as he's still been fast; he got wrecked at Martinsville and one of these races was on dirt. In other words, expect last year's dominant Richmond winner to be ranked much higher after this weekend's likely strong run.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
9. Christopher Bell (+1)
Season-high: 8
Season-low: 16
Comment: Bell has had a few bumps along the road this year, but he's only been a tick off from the performance of his two JGR teammates ranked ahead of him here. With a 15th-place run last year in lesser equipment and the strength of his team at Richmond, a top 10 feels like a safe bet this weekend.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
8. Kevin Harvick (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 8
Comment: Harvick continues to be a fixture in the top 10 ... but still can't seem to find his way to the front of the field, with another race of no laps led. With a sparkling Richmond resume in his portfolio (though all three of his wins came with Richard Childress Racing), perhaps this is the weekend it clicks.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
7. Chase Elliott (+2)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 10
Comment: Elliott hasn't quite rediscovered his strength from a season ago with no laps led since Vegas, but a solid runner-up at Martinsville was just what the team needed. He's almost always had an above-average run at Richmond, including last year's fifth-place result.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
6. Ryan Blaney (-1)
Season-high: 5
Season-low: 15
Comment: Blaney somewhat heartbreakingly lost out on his fifth straight top 10 -- and quite possibly a win -- but still mustered an 11th-place run with 157 laps led at Martinsville. This weekend marks an interesting challenge for him at Richmond, where he's yet to land in the top 10 in nine tries.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
5. William Byron (+2)
Season-high: 5
Season-low: 18
Comment: William Byron: elite? He's certainly showing no signs of slowing down, with six straight top-eight finishes and a win after a dreadful few weeks at Daytona. His first Richmond race in 2018 was his best -- a 12th-place finish, which he's yet to match or top since.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
4. Kyle Larson (--)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 14
Comment: It's kind of hilarious to look at how good Larson has been lately and see one blip on his post-Daytona resume: a 29th-place finish on Bristol dirt, the race most had him penciled in to win. Still, a fifth top-seven finish in the last six races has him sitting pretty before he heads to a track he won at in 2017.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
3. Joey Logano (-1)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 4
Comment: Logano continues to be a force, having led multiple laps in seven of the season's eight races so far with a 9.0 average finish. Expect him to continue to pad his numbers this weekend at Richmond, where he's been nothing short of spectacular in Penske equipment.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
2. Martin Truex Jr. (+1)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 7
Comment: First two-time winner in 2021 and he isn't No. 1? Truex has been great and there's a case to be made there, especially after he, you know, passed our No. 1 driver for the win. This weekend gives him the perfect opportunity to further bolster his case, with a ridiculous past four races at Richmond that resulted in finishes of third, first, first and second, respectively.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
1. Denny Hamlin (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 4
Comment: Top honors have to remain with Hamlin, however. The No. 11 driver has been the clear-cut driver to beat so far -- quite literally, as almost every race has come down to him and somebody duking it out at the end -- and his wins are coming. With three wins and an average finish of 9.2 over the years at Richmond for the Virginia native, the first could come this weekend.