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Power Rankings: Stenhouse quietly one of 2021’s most consistent drivers
By Pat DeCola | Published: April 5, 2021 21
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NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 NASCAR Cup Series drivers after the Bristol Dirt Race and before the race at Martinsville Speedway (Sun., 4 p.m. ET, FS1).
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
20. Daniel Suarez (Not ranked last week)
Season-high: 20
Season-low: Out
Comment: Through seven races with his entirely new squad at Trackhouse Racing, Suarez is essentially running just a hair off his Joe Gibbs Racing/Stewart-Haas Racing days, and just showed what he was capable of at Bristol. We'll see if he can keep it up at Martinsville, where he put together two straight top 10s from 2018-19.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
19. Ryan Preece (--)
Season-high: 15
Season-low: Out
Comment: Preece notched just his second top 20 since Daytona at Bristol, but his hold on a place in these Power Rankings is tenuous with several big-name drivers behind him starting to put things together. He could hang around a bit longer with a decent finish at Martinsville, where three of his last four races netted top-20 finishes.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
18. Ryan Newman (+2)
Season-high: 18
Season-low: Out
Comment: Newman nabbed his first top five of the season at Bristol and could be looking at a period of stability coming up. He's won at three of the four next tracks, and finished runner-up in 2019 at the one he hasn't won at (Talladega).
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
17. Chris Buescher (-1)
Season-high: 16
Season-low: Out
Comment: Buescher continues to hang around in the front half of the pack and will occasionally nose his way into the top 10. He's looking like a fringe playoff candidate that could sneak through for a win, but don't expect it to come at Martinsville — he averages a finish of 21.5 there.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
16. Alex Bowman (-3)
Season-high: 8
Season-low: 16
Comment: Bowman hasn't been able to string together more than a two-race stretch of strong showings yet, but the performance is likely coming. He was sixth in each Martinsville race last year, so keep an eye on the No. 48 this weekend — we've seen that car perform pretty well there in the past with its former inhabitant.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
15. Kurt Busch (--)
Season-high: 6
Season-low: 15
Comment: After looking pretty competitive the first few weeks of the season, Busch is now mired in a four-race stretch of finishing 15th or worse. Martinsville has been hit or miss for him over the years, but he's been more of a 'hit' there lately, with four top 10s in his last five races (all top 12s).
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
14. Kyle Busch (-2)
Season-high: 6
Season-low: 14
Comment: The 17th-place finish isn't anything special, but Busch did lead his first laps of 2021 at Bristol, a promising sign that he's headed in the right direction. He hasn't been as prolific at Martinsville as Bristol, wins-wise, but prior to the last three races there (in which he still averaged a respectable 14.0 finish) he had eight straight top fives and two wins.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (+4)
Season-high: 13
Season-low: Out
Comment: Stenhouse has quietly been one of the season's most consistent (best?) drivers, with no finishes worse than 18th and five straight of 13th or better, including a runner-up at Bristol. A track he's yet to master, however, is Martinsville (26.2 average finish) so we'll know if he's for real after this weekend.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
12. Michael McDowell (+2)
Season-high: 10
Season-low: Out
Comment: Speaking of the season's most consistent drivers, McDowell's 12.3 average finish seven races deep -- ninth-best in the series -- deserves recognition. He's never finished in the top 20 in 20 Martinsville starts, however, so he's got his work cut out for him this weekend.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
11. Austin Dillon (--)
Season-high: 11
Season-low: 16
Comment: Even after a 21st-place Bristol finish, Dillon is still averaging a career-best finish of 15.0 and appears to be among the contenders this year. He's struggled at Martinsville over the years, however, with no top 10s since 2017 and just two in 14 starts.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
10. Christopher Bell (-1)
Season-high: 8
Season-low: 16
Comment: Bell has slipped a bit since his victory on Daytona's road course, and the crash at Bristol on dirt is a major missed opportunity for the mud maven. His Martinsville history is short, but JGR is typically strong there and Bell finished P15 last fall in the No. 95, so a good run could be in store.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
9. Chase Elliott (+1)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 10
Comment: Elliott picked up his second top 10 since Daytona at Bristol, which is wild to think about given he's the defending champ and he's driving for the sport's best team this year. It just means it's all going to start to come together soon, and probably this weekend -- Elliott is the most recent Martinsville winner.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
8. Kevin Harvick (-2)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 8
Comment: When do we start talking about the fact that Harvick hasn't led a lap since the Daytona 500 — nearly two months ago? He's still averaging a 9.4 finish so the results are there, but the dominance has gone missing. His only Martinsville win was exactly a decade ago and he was held out of the top 10 there last year.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
7. William Byron (+1)
Season-high: 7
Season-low: 18
Comment: William Byron, top-10 machine? The Hendrick Motorsports driver has actually strung together five straight top eights and is already more than a third of the way to his top-10 total from a year ago. Perhaps the 2019 Martinsville fall race runner-up will keep it rolling Saturday night.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
6. Brad Keselowski (+1)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 7
Comment: Keselowski has now been shut out of the top 10 for two straight races for the first time this year, but respite should come this weekend. The No. 2 driver has five straight Martinsville top fives with a win and 495 laps led during that run.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
5. Ryan Blaney (--)
Season-high: 5
Season-low: 15
Comment: Blaney is running super well at the moment, and has notched nine top 10s in his last 12 races dating back to last fall. With a runner-up finish in each Martinsville race last year and four straight top fives, he should be among the contenders once again on Saturday.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
4. Kyle Larson (-2)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 14
Comment: Like Bell, Larson's misstep at Bristol feels like a squandered chance. Also like Bell, however, the negative impact of that is minimal, given they each have already won this year. Larson has just two top 10s in 12 Martinsville starts, but one of them did come in his most recent run there in 2019.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
3. Martin Truex Jr. (--)
Season-high: 3
Season-low: 7
Comment: Though he finished 19th, Truex arguably had the strongest race at Bristol with 126 laps led (coming off a Truck Series win, too) and is positioned as this weekend's favorite. With two wins at Martinsville in the last three races — and 725 laps led — it's easy to see why.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
2. Joey Logano (+2)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 4
Comment: That's now a win and two runner-ups in seven races to start the year for Mr. Logano (with a few other narrow losses mixed in). A stalwart at Martinsville since making the move to Penske, the 2018 fall race winner should be in the mix late on Saturday night.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
1. Denny Hamlin (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 4
Comment: This has to be the weekend Hamlin breaks through for his first win of 2021, right? He's been sensational so far this season (4.7 average finish) and Martinsville has been his playground over the years, with five wins and an average finish of 9.9. None of those wins have come since 2015, so it seems like the perfect time for the Virginia native to clock back into Victory Lane.