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Power Rankings: Austin Dillon continues string of RCR top-three finishes
By Pat DeCola | Published: April 26, 2022 21
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NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 NASCAR Cup Series drivers after the race at Talladega Superspeedway and before Sunday's race at Dover Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET, FS1).
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
20. Daniel Suárez (-2)
Season-high: 13
Season-low: Out
Comment: The speed is obviously there — and, clearly, Trackhouse is a contender this year — but Suárez has had a rough go of it in the "results" department lately, with no top 10s since Atlanta despite leading 15-plus laps three of the past five weeks. It could all come together this weekend at Dover, which historically has been his best track (13.2 average finish across nine starts).
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
19. Denny Hamlin (-3)
Season-high: 5
Season-low: 19
Comment: It says a lot about Hamlin that he's having this bad of a season (one top 10, 22.6 average finish) and could still very conceivably run away with the second half of the year en route to a championship. He broke through for his first-ever Dover win in 2020 so you'd think he could turn things around this weekend, but the No. 11 team has some work to do.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
18. Christopher Bell (-1)
Season-high: 13
Season-low: Out
Comment: From Vegas on, Bell has either finished in the top 10 or 20th or worse. It's probably not the best longterm strategy, but he has seen his points position go from 36th to 14th over that span. With three career finishes outside the top 20 at Dover in his only Cup starts at the track, it feels more likely he continues that trend rather than bucks it.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
17. Kurt Busch (-3)
Season-high: 12
Season-low: 20
Comment: In three of the past five races, Busch has netted five or fewer points as he teeters on falling out of the top 20 in the standings. He does have a Dover win on his resumé (2011) but overall it's been a real hit-or-miss track for him, with just 12 top 10s in 42 career starts.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
16. Erik Jones (Not ranked last week)
Season-high: 16
Season-low: Out
Comment: Jones, a former superspeedway winner, very nearly claimed his first win since 2019 at Talladega on Sunday, but settling for his first top 10 since COTA will have to suffice. His Dover average finish is decent (14.0), but it's only come along with two top 10s in nine career starts.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
15. Austin Cindric (-1)
Season-high: 10
Season-low: 17
Comment: Cindric still has just one top 10 since his Daytona 500 win to open the season, but overall hasn't had any catastrophic finishes since Atlanta. He has no Cup history at Dover, but did win his last Xfinity Series race there to cap off his seventh top 10 in seven starts at the track.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
14. Tyler Reddick (-3)
Season-high: 7
Season-low: 17
Comment: Reddick only got 31 laps into Talladega before an engine failure sidelined his race, but it's conceivable he could've been there at the end for the second straight week had it not. He landed in the top 10 at Dover last fall and should have an opportunity to get back on the horse this weekend.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
13. Chase Briscoe (-3)
Season-high: 10
Season-low: 15
Comment: Briscoe and Reddick's fates appear to be tied together, as a week after battling to the finish at Bristol they each made an early exit at Talladega. Dover didn't go so well for him last year (35th), but he, like Cindric, won his final NXS race there.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
12. Aric Almirola (+3)
Season-high: 11
Season-low: Out
Comment: Almirola has just one top 10 since Vegas, but is doing enough out there to still hang around in the top 10 in points, which will likely be enough to make the playoffs assuming we don't get 16 winners (not a safe assumption!). That said, Dover certainly marks a spot he's capable of winning at, and he turned in dual top-fives at the track in 2015.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
11. Kevin Harvick (+1)
Season-high: 5
Season-low: 12
Comment: Harvick picked up a top 10 at 'Dega, but it's just his second such result since Phoenix and he hasn't led any laps since Atlanta. Dover was a struggle for him in his RCR days, but a boon since joining SHR in 2014. All three of his wins there came with his current organization, and he hasn't finished outside the top six there since 2017.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
10. Austin Dillon (+3)
Season-high: 10
Season-low: 20
Comment: For the third straight week, Dillon has landed an RCR car in the top three, and he now has three such finishes himself on the season. Dover isn't a "strong" track for him (three top 10s in 16 starts), but he's definitely gotten better there over the years and led 49 laps in the 2020 fall race.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
9. Martin Truex Jr. (--)
Season-high: 4
Season-low: 9
Comment: Truex hasn't quite looked like his dominant self yet in 2022, but there's reason to believe late spring/early summer could see a huge turnaround for him. For starters, his win and three runner-ups in the past five Dover races would seem to indicate it starts this weekend.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
8. Alex Bowman (-1)
Season-high: 6
Season-low: 13
Comment: Bowman isn't leading a ton of laps yet, but overall has been remarkably consistent at hanging around the top 10 in almost every race so far. He led 98 laps en route to a Dover win the last time we raced there, so keep an eye out for him on Sunday.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
7. Joey Logano (-4)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 9
Comment: Logano was caught up in a wreck at Talladega, resulting in his worst finish of the season at one of his best tracks and stopping dead in its tracks the momentum he'd been building. He surprisingly has yet to win at Dover, despite five top 10s in the last six races there and 15 total in his 25 starts.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
6. Kyle Larson (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 6
Comment: That's now three top fives in the past four races for Larson — is he "back?" Honestly, he probably never left, and there's a good chance the defending champ reminds everyone of this on Sunday at Dover, where he has a trio of top threes and a win in his last three starts.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
5. William Byron (-1)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 16
Comment: Though he dipped outside the top 10 at the end, Byron once again showed at Talladega that he might be the sport's new superspeedway darling, winning Stage 2 and pacing the field for 38 laps. He picked up a pair of top fours the past two Dover races and very well might become the season's first three-time winner on Sunday.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
4. Kyle Busch (+1)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 11
Comment: "Contract years" are a thing in sports and as Busch negotiates his future with JGR, he's certainly putting up numbers that indicate he's worth the money, with a win and 5.0 average finish over the past four weeks. He's won at Dover a trio of times, but overall it's a track that he's struggled to build consistency at, though he did string together four straight top 10s there from 2018-20.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
3. Ryan Blaney (-1)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 10
Comment: Talladega snapped Blaney's top-10 streak at four, but he still finished 11th after leading 23 laps, so nothing to worry about. That said, Dover doesn't present a great opportunity for him to rebound with just two top 10s in 11 starts.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
2. Ross Chastain (+6)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: Out
Comment: Any doubters still out there? There shouldn't be, as Chastain and Trackhouse continue to not only hang with the big dogs, but they're more often than not outperforming them so far. Dover's been a rough, rough track for him in the past (28.4 average finish) but it's really starting to feel like his past history isn't quite relevant given how well he's performing everywhere so far in his best opportunity yet.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
1. Chase Elliott (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 4
Comment: At some point the wins will arrive, but for now the "acquire a boatload of points" strategy seems to be working well for Elliott, who hasn't scored fewer than 33 points since Fontana. Taking out an engine failure and a crash in 2019 and 2020, Elliott has compiled a ridiculous 4.33 average finish in his other nine Dover starts.