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Power Rankings: Showing out at Sonoma? Bowman flying under the radar in ’22
By Pat DeCola | Published: June 7, 2022 21
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NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 NASCAR Cup Series drivers after the race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway and before Sunday's race at Sonoma Raceway (4 p.m. ET, FS1).
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
20. Daniel Suárez (-2)
Season-high: 13
Season-low: Out
Comment: Once again, as it seems we're saying every week, Suárez had a car capable of winning and had some bit of misfortune take away any chances of that happening — this time in the form of a broken jack on pit road. Sonoma could offer a chance for a rebound for the No. 99 driver, as a Trackhouse car won the season's only other road course so far and he's never finished worse than 17th there in his career.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
19. Austin Cindric (--)
Season-high: 10
Season-low: 19
Comment: Gateway was a solid race for Cindric, who led 26 laps and narrowly missed out on his third top 10 of 2022 — but settled for his fifth top-11 finish. He has no national series starts at Sonoma but is viewed as one of the sport's best road racers already, so he should have a shot at win No. 2 of 2022 this weekend.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
18. Austin Dillon (-1)
Season-high: 10
Season-low: 20
Comment: Dillon enjoyed a nice eary/mid-season stretch of four top 10s in the five races from COTA to Talladega, but has now been 13th or worse in four of the last five races. He's never finished better than 13th at Sonoma, but proved he's capable on road courses earlier this season so he could still be one to watch.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
17. Kurt Busch (+3)
Season-high: 12
Season-low: Out
Comment: Despite more misses (Bristol, Dover, Darlington, Charlotte) than hits (Kansas, Gateway) lately, there are clear signs Busch and his car are pointed in the right direction and should have a chance to stabilize over the summer before the playoffs. The 2011 Sonoma winner has been near-exceptional there for a decade-plus, so we could be looking at the Busch brothers once again being in the mix late this weekend, as we saw at Gateway.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
16. Chase Briscoe (-3)
Season-high: 10
Season-low: 18
Comment: It was definitely a weekend of peaks and valleys for Briscoe, who led 27 laps from the pole but also finished 20th or worse for the third time in the past four races. A noted road-course stud, it would not be surprising to see Briscoe top his 17th-place run at Sonoma in his debut there last year.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
15. Erik Jones (+1)
Season-high: 14
Season-low: Out
Comment: Though circumstances have led to some mixed finishes, week in and week out lately we've heard about the No. 43 car being a factor and running in the top 10 consistently. Jones is a better road racer than most realize, notching a top 10 at COTA earlier this year and averaging an 8.67 finish at Sonoma the last three trips out west.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
14. Kevin Harvick (-4)
Season-high: 5
Season-low: 14
Comment: A hard wreck for Harvick late at Gateway relegated him to his second-worst finish of the season, derailing a five-race run where he averaged an 8.2 finish. The Californian tends to run well at his home tracks, including Sonoma — where he won in 2017 and had five straight top-six finishes from 2015-19.
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13. Tyler Reddick (+1)
Season-high: 7
Season-low: 20
Comment: Gateway snapped a three-race streak of races in which Reddick led double-digit laps (he didn't see the front of the field at all on Sunday) but he's still approaching the top 10 in points after nearly falling out of the top 16 a handful of weeks ago. His best average finish on any track type is road courses (14.2), finishing in the top 10 in half of his 10 career starts.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
12. William Byron (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 16
Comment: Kind of amazingly, despite a series-best two 2022 wins and being one of the most competitive cars out there each week, Byron is averaging his worst finish (16.5) since his rookie year (22.1) and would have to finish in the top 10 in 16 of the remaining 21 races just to match his total from last year (20). Sonoma has been a challenge for him, results-wise, thus far, averaging a finish of 26.3 — though he did lead in each of the past two races there.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
11. Aric Almirola (+4)
Season-high: 11
Season-low: Out
Comment: You can't say Almirola isn't bringing his A (AA?) game in his final full-time season, with Gateway pushing his average finish (14.2) to well above what he turned in last year (19.9) after earning his fourth top-six finish of 2022. Sonoma hasn't been great to him over the years (20.4 average finish) but he could surprise some after landing his first two top 10s there in 2018 and '19.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
10. Christopher Bell (+1)
Season-high: 10
Season-low: Out
Comment: Though he can't seem to budge in the standings — he's been 10th in points for five straight weeks — Bell has been on fire, notching a fifth straight top-nine finish at Gateway. Sonoma didn't go well for him in his first outing there, but overall road courses have been a boon for Bell, with a win and top 10 position in half his 10 starts.
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9. Alex Bowman (-2)
Season-high: 5
Season-low: 13
Comment: Bowman probably isn't the name that comes to mind when wondering who owns the second-best average finish of 2022, but remarkably it's him (11.8) — further proving how under the radar his exceptional season has been. He tends to find the spotlight at road courses, however, and it seems likely he will be a significant factor at Sonoma. Whether it's because he winds up in Victory Lane or because he pushes it too hard trying to get there, either way he'll be fun to watch.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
8. Martin Truex Jr. (--)
Season-high: 4
Season-low: 10
Comment: It still feels like Truex is lurking in the background with fast-but-not-quite-fast-enough cars, set to strike soon when the circumstances line up just right and all the while collecting a ton of points (36.1 average over last six races). The circumstances could be in order on Sunday at Sonoma, where he's been the unquestioned best the last three times out there (all top threes, two wins).
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
7. Ryan Blaney (+1)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 10
Comment: Blaney continues to be fast and have a shot at the end, but he finally stuck the landing at Gateway with his first top 10 since Bristol. He's never led a lap at Sonoma, but he could be a good sleeper pick this weekend with how good his car has been and how overdue for a win he is. He also finished P3 there in 2019.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
6. Denny Hamlin (-2)
Season-high: 4
Season-low: 20
Comment: In some ways, Hamlin is working through one of the most challenging seasons of his career, averaging a finish outside the top 20 and having issue after issue, week after week. On the other hand, he's already matched his two wins from one of his best-ever seasons just a year ago and it's hard to picture this year's Championship 4 without him in it. Oh, and he has five straight top 10 positions at Sonoma and could pull ahead as the season's first three-time winner this weekend.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
5. Kyle Larson (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 6
Comment: Larson saw a six-race stint of leading 19 or more laps end at Gateway, but he still collected a decent 32 points to move up to seventh in the standings. The California native is the defending winner at Sonoma, where he's also started from the pole for four straight races. He's quite likely the favorite this weekend.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
4. Chase Elliott (-1)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 4
Comment: It's a good thing Elliott built up a nice points cushion earlier in the season, because he hasn't scored more than 22 of them in any of the past three races with finishes outside the top 20 in all of them. A road course could be just the remedy for the best road racer of the past half-decade, and he could be the one sipping wine on Sunday afternoon.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
3. Ross Chastain (-1)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: Out
Comment: Not sure if Gateway was a notable race for Chastain for, uh, any other reason, but he did land his ninth top 10 of 2022, matching his career total from previous seasons — across 115 races. He's been nothing short of must-watch all season long and the season's first road course winner could walk away with a trophy on Sunday ... along with perhaps a few less Christmas cards to send out this year.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
2. Joey Logano (+4)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 9
Comment: When the spotlight is on, it's officially the "Joe Show" as Logano continues to demonstrate why he's one of the sport's elite in some of the biggest moments. The No. 22 feels like it's hurtling toward yet another Championship 4 appearance — but first, perhaps a second win in a row this weekend.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
1. Kyle Busch (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 11
Comment: Busch has now topped his laps led total from all of 2021, and very nearly matched his win total from last year as well before taking runner-up to Logano in their entertaining battle at Gateway. Given how exceptional he's been at Sonoma lately, we could be looking at another 18/22 battle this weekend — and probably many more times the rest of the season.