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Power Rankings: Matt DiBenedetto emerging from early-season slump
By Pat DeCola | Published: April 19, 2021 21
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NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 NASCAR Cup Series drivers after Richmond Raceway and before the race at Talladega Superspeedway (Sun., 2 p.m. ET, FOX).
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
20. Ryan Newman (-1)
Season-high: 18
Season-low: Out
Comment: The good news is that Newman has matched his top 10 total from a year ago, but those finishes (Miami, Bristol) seem like outliers now after Newman just posted a second single-digit points day in last past five races. He's never won at Talladega in 38 starts but does have a pair of runner-ups from 2017-on.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
19. Bubba Wallace (-1)
Season-high: 13
Season-low: Out
Comment: Wallace has yet to finish in the top 15 this year and the "new team" excuse is only going to last so long, with Trackhouse Racing's Daniel Suarez consistently racing in and around the top 10 lately. He's yet to land in the top 10 at Talladega, but did muster his best finish (14th) during last year's emotional weekend.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
18. Matt DiBenedetto (Not ranked last week)
Season-high: 18
Season-low: Out
Comment: You could see the No. 21 team starting to put the pieces together the past month-plus, and DiBenedetto earned his first top 10 of the year at Richmond. It could be tough to keep it going this weekend, however, as the Wood Brothers Racing driver has no top 10s in 12 starts there.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
17. Michael McDowell (-2)
Season-high: 10
Season-low: Out
Comment: With no top 10s since Miami, the Daytona 500 winner is in major need of a slump buster after back-to-back finishes outside the top 25. We've seen his team win at Talladega in the past, and McDowell, himself, notched a top five there just two seasons ago.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
16. Chris Buescher (-2)
Season-high: 14
Season-low: Out
Comment: Roush Fenway Racing was off in general at Richmond, and Buescher's 25th-place finish was his first outside the top 20 since the Daytona 500. A sixth-place finisher in this race a year ago, look for the No. 17 to potentially rebound.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (-3)
Season-high: 12
Season-low: Out
Comment: Stenhouse was not pleased with his day at Richmond, but still mustered a consistent-with-his-season-so-far finish in the mid-teens. A former Talladega winner and last year's runner-up, he could punch an early postseason ticket on Sunday.
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14. Kurt Busch (+2)
Season-high: 6
Season-low: 16
Comment: While he's yet to reclaim a finish in the top 10 — a slide that is now six races long — the 2004 champ did post his best result since Miami. A 2018 runner-up in this race, Busch has had solid streaks at 'Dega in the Roush/Penske days before losing his way there in the early portion of last decade. He seems to be competitive again there lately.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
13. Austin Dillon (--)
Season-high: 11
Season-low: 16
Comment: Dillon continues to make his presence known in the top quarter of the field, landing another top 10 at Richmond. The laps led (eight on the year) aren't thrilling and, despite his reputation as a superspeedway racer, he has led just two in 15 Talladega starts.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
12. Alex Bowman (+5)
Season-high: 8
Season-low: 17
Comment: As perhaps the only person on the planet that publicly chose Alex Bowman as a preseason Championship 4 pick, it's hard not to feel some vindication after he held off Denny Hamlin to win at Richmond. He's run well at Talladega when he hasn't gotten caught up in a wreck, including a runner-up in 2019.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
11. Brad Keselowski (-1)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 11
Comment: Keselowski, who just weeks ago was looking like he was a tick off from becoming the dominant driver of 2021, has now been shut out of the top 10 in four straight. Talladega, however, could be just the medicine he needs, with five wins to his credit. That said, none have come since 2017, and he hasn't earned a top 10 since then either.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
10. Kyle Busch (+1)
Season-high: 6
Season-low: 14
Comment: Busch is building momentum, step-by-step, and now has a top 10 in three of the past four races for the first time since last season. He's never much cared for the racing at Talladega and, though he does have a win there (2008), six of his last seven finishes were 13th or worse.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
9. Kevin Harvick (-1)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 9
Comment: Harvick was competitive at Richmond, but still picked up his worst finish of the season after a late-race incident, scoring fewer than 30 points for the fifth time in the last six races. He has just two top 10s at Talladega in the past eight races, though they both came in the spring.
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8. Christopher Bell (+1)
Season-high: 8
Season-low: 16
Comment: Quickly approaching the seven top 10s he had all of last season, Bell is starting to look like he could have a deep playoff run in him after a top five at Richmond. He had a pair of dreadful races at Talladega last year, though he did lead some laps in the spring.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
7. Chase Elliott (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 10
Comment: Elliott was unable to keep a brief top-10 streak going, but Sunday's 12th-place Richmond finish is still among his best of the season. Those aren't the results the champ is looking for, of course, and he'll try to repeat his 2019 spring race win this weekend.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
6. Kyle Larson (-2)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 14
Comment: There's certainly no reason to be concerned about Larson just yet after an 18th-place run at Richmond, but he could find himself trending downward after this weekend. In 12 Talladega starts, the No. 5 driver has just two top 10s and none since 2016.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
5. Ryan Blaney (+1)
Season-high: 5
Season-low: 15
Comment: Blaney has very, very narrowly missed out on five straight top 10s after a pair of 11th-places at Martinsville and Richmond. There's a strong chance he regains his stature this weekend, as the winner of two of the last three at 'Dega.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
4. William Byron (+1)
Season-high: 4
Season-low: 18
Comment: Byron hasn't finished worse than eighth since Daytona. Read that again, because it's remarkable. He's led at least a lap in five of his six Talladega starts, and finished fourth last fall.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
3. Joey Logano (--)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 4
Comment: It sure is looking like this year's "Big Three" -- if there is one -- might actually include the driver that took down the first iteration of it for his 2018 title. Logano is a factor in almost every finish so far and there's no reason to think the three-time Talladega winner from 2015-on won't be once again on Sunday.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
2. Martin Truex Jr. (--)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 7
Comment: Truex is having an exceptional season thus far, only overshadowed by his (somehow winless) teammate. As such, the season's only two-time 2021 winner can afford a rough weekend — with no finishes in the top 20 since 2015 at Talladega, he's likely to have one on Sunday.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
1. Denny Hamlin (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 4
Comment: I'm willing to go on record and say that Denny Hamlin is having the greatest winless season in the history of NASCAR after his sixth straight top-four finish. Thankfully for him, it likely won't stay a winless season for much longer. The most recent Talladega winner has finished, you guessed it, in the top four there in four of the last five.