Power Rankings: Austin Cindric quietly sizzling as summer heats up

By Pat DeCola | Tuesday, July 12, 2022

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NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 NASCAR Cup Series drivers after the race at Atlanta Motor Speedway and before Sunday's race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET, USA Network, NBC Sports App, PRN, Sirius XM NASCAR Radio).

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20. Michael McDowell (--)

Season-high: 20

Season-low: Out

Comment: From Bristol dirt on — 11 races, nearly a third of the season — McDowell has averaged a finish of 11.73. To put that into context, Ross Chastain's average for the season is 11.4 and is second-best in the entire series. And now, for his next trick — trying to pick up his first-ever Loudon top 10 in his 20th try.

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19. Kurt Busch (-3)

Season-high: 12

Season-low: Out

Comment: Busch clearly still has speed in his No. 45 Toyota, but he's had some rough results lately for various reasons. Loudon has been good to him over the years (three wins), though much more in the earlier part of his career. Still, could be a nice rebound spot for him.

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18. Erik Jones (+1)

Season-high: 14

Season-low: Out

Comment: Jones finally was able to net a result that showed the competitiveness of his No. 43 car, which honestly has looked good for months. He's had a few good runs at New Hampshire in multiple series and could sneak up on some people this weekend.

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17. Chase Briscoe (+1)

Season-high: 10

Season-low: 20

Comment: It's not much, but Briscoe has just put together his two best race results (14th, 16th) since Richmond/Martinsville way back in April. He won at Phoenix — which closely resembles NH in some ways — though Loudon didn't go super well for him last year (27th).

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16. Tyler Reddick (-4)

Season-high: 7

Season-low: 20

Comment: Reddick maintained his speed at Atlanta but got caught up in a mess and finished 29th, making last week's win his only finish inside the top 15 since May. His early returns at Loudon are promising (10th, 13th) and he should get a shot at shifting his momentum forward this weekend.

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15. Aric Almirola (+2)

Season-high: 11

Season-low: Out

Comment: Almirola got just the kind of boost he needed at Atlanta as he enters the New Hampshire race weekend as its defending winner. He knows Sunday is one of his last remaining opportunities to clinch a playoff spot and he'll be one to watch for sure.

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14. William Byron (--)

Season-high: 1

Season-low: 16

Comment: Byron obviously was capable of repeating at Atlanta – he led 41 laps — but alas, another race, another finish outside the top 10 for his 10th in the last 11. He has no top 10s at New Hampshire, but he's been close. Three of his four finishes there are 14th or better.

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13. Alex Bowman (-2)

Season-high: 5

Season-low: 13

Comment: Like his Hendrick counterpart, Bowman had the speed to contend but wound up wrecking, and he now hasn't seen the top 10 since May. Somewhat surprisingly, he has just one top 10 at Loudon in 10 tries though he hasn't finished outside the top 15 since 2016.

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12. Austin Cindric (+3)

Season-high: 10

Season-low: 19

Comment: You want to talk about a driver that's quietly catching fire? Here you go. Cindric has four straight top sevens and a 6.6 average finish over the last five races. Team Penske has had a strong command over Loudon at times over the years and he could break through for win No. 2 this weekend.

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11. Daniel Suárez (+2)

Season-high: 11

Season-low: Out

Comment: Suárez has been just as fast as his Trackhouse teammate, and now the results are starting to reflect that more consistently. He has three top sixes in the last four races and now heads to a track that he finished sixth and eighth at in his first two respective trips.

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10. Christopher Bell (--)

Season-high: 10

Season-low: Out

Comment: Bell doesn't appear to be any less competitive than he's been during his recent hot streak; he's just running into situations that diminish his finishes. As last year's runner-up in this race, he has a good shot to stem the tide.

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9. Denny Hamlin (--)

Season-high: 4

Season-low: 20

Comment: Hamlin's season, if anything, has been consistently inconsistent. He's obviously had help with some of those bad finishes, but it's been tough for the No. 11 to find its 2022 rhythm. He has a win and two runner-ups at Loudon from 2017-on, so maybe he finds some footing this weekend.

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8. Joey Logano (-3)

Season-high: 2

Season-low: 9

Comment: Logano is in his worst two-race stretch since Talladega/Dover, and it's probably not a coincidence that both mini-slumps included a superspeedway race. Thus, no need to worry — especially as Logano gets to return home to New England, where he always seems to run well.

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7. Kevin Harvick (+1)

Season-high: 5

Season-low: 14

Comment: It's going kind of unnoticed, but Harvick has been remarkably consistent as one of the top drivers this year. He has just two finishes outside the top 15 since the first Atlanta race, both of which were from crashes. He now goes to one of his absolute best tracks, and one at which he has two wins and four top sixes in the past four races.

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6. Kyle Busch (--)

Season-high: 1

Season-low: 11

Comment: If Busch hadn't finished top three in the three-race stretch that preceded his current four-race string of finishes outside the top 20, there'd be plenty of reason to worry. There's cause for concern, but it feels likely he snaps the skid this weekend at Loudon, where he has absolutely dominated at times over the years.

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5. Martin Truex Jr. (+2)

Season-high: 4

Season-low: 10

Comment: Truex, similarly to Busch, also hasn't seen the top 10 in four races though with a bit more success. A Loudon win has somehow eluded him over the years, as well, but he's been quite good there recently with an average finish of 5.71 over the last seven races.

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4. Kyle Larson (--)

Season-high: 1

Season-low: 6

Comment: Larson is still performing reasonably well, but he's now led laps in just one of the past five races — something that happened just two times during his dominant 2021. This could easily be his weekend, though, as he once finished runner-up in both 2017 races at Loudon and it's a track type he excels on.

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3. Ryan Blaney (--)

Season-high: 1

Season-low: 10

Comment: Blaney is starting to really stabilize as a top-tier talent this year as his No. 12 team continues to give him dialed-in race cars and he makes the most of them. He has four top-nine finishes in the past five races at Loudon and should be among the top contenders this weekend once again.

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2. Ross Chastain (--)

Season-high: 1

Season-low: Out

Comment: Look, say whatever you want about Chastain's driving style, but it works — he's having a career year from any angle you look at. It's just a matter of if this comes back to bite him in the playoffs. He notched a top 10 at Loudon last summer and it's pretty much impossible to think he won't have a shot to at least repeat that on Sunday, and probably better it.

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1. Chase Elliott (--)

Season-high: 1

Season-low: 4

Comment: There's no question right now — Elliott is the absolute man to beat in the Cup Series. Everything is clicking for the 2020 champ, and Loudon will be a bit of a heat check for him. His average finish there isn't awful — 16.3 — but he has just two top 10s in nine outings in the Granite State.

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