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Power Rankings: Ryan Blaney rides blazing ’22 speed to top spot
By Pat DeCola | Published: April 5, 2022 21
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NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 NASCAR Cup Series drivers after the race at Richmond Raceway and before Saturday night's showdown at Martinsville Speedway (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1).
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
20. Kurt Busch (-3)
Season-high: 12
Season-low: 20
Comment: We keep hearing how there will be comers and goers in the Next Gen's first year, and Busch -- while he'll likely have his moments later on -- certainly is trending like a "goer" right now. The two-time Martinsville winner has five top 10s in the last seven races there, so perhaps he's hit his bottom and is about to bounce.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
19. Chris Buescher (Not ranked last week)
Season-high: 19
Season-low: Out
Comment: Buescher isn't setting the world on fire by any means, but he's arguably outrunning his championship owner/teammate and has been a top-20 driver in the early going. He has just one top 10 at Martinsville in 13 starts, but it came last fall and he's finished 13th or better in four of the last five there.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
18. Austin Dillon (+2)
Season-high: 12
Season-low: 20
Comment: Dillon sure feels like a 2022 breakout waiting to happen. Through seven races, crash damage ended two of them (Phoenix/Atlanta), one was Daytona (25th) and the other four netted an average finish of 8.25 with a runner-up tossed in. It probably won't come at Martinsville (two top 10s in 16 starts, none since 2017) but he's certainly a driver to keep a close eye on as 2022 progresses.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
17. Austin Cindric (-2)
Season-high: 10
Season-low: 17
Comment: After briefly landing back in the top 10, Cindric was back in the middle of the pack at Richmond again, landing a fourth finish of 19th or worse in the past five races. He has no Martinsville Cup starts but did land three top 10s in his trio of Xfinity Series races there, finishing runner-up last fall.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
16. Aric Almirola (-2)
Season-high: 11
Season-low: Out
Comment: After a ferocious start to the season, Almirola appears to be fading toward the back half of the top 20, with his SHR cohorts picking up steam. He has two top-seven finishes at Martinsville in the past three races, but they stand as just two of his six top 10s in 26 "Paperclip" starts.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
15. Christopher Bell (+3)
Season-high: 13
Season-low: Out
Comment: Bell has now turned in a pair of top-six finishes the past two weeks as Joe Gibbs Racing starts to find its footing, and his time may be coming soon. His lone top 10 at Martinsville came in this race last year, so keep an eye out for the No. 20 keeping things rolling this weekend.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
14. Daniel Suárez (-1)
Season-high: 13
Season-low: Out
Comment: Both Suárez and his teammate Ross Chastain have been fast for most of the year, but the No. 99 driver has been a bit unluckier. His two Martinsville top 10s came back in 2018-19, but it's fair to assume he'll have a shot at another one this weekend given what we've seen from him in '22.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
13. Tyler Reddick (-2)
Season-high: 7
Season-low: 13
Comment: Reddick has already led more laps this season than the rest of his Cup career combined, yet he's averaging a worse finish than last year thanks to some unfortunate circumstances. His only Martinsville top 10 (eighth) came in this race last year, and he's built like a driver that'll win a grandfather clock or two before his career is over.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
12. Chase Briscoe (--)
Season-high: 10
Season-low: 15
Comment: Briscoe has yet to land back in the top 10 since his win at Phoenix about a month ago, but he still appears to be very much a player in 2022 and should continue to be competitive. He was held out of the top 20 in his first Cup starts at Martinsville last year, so this could be a good test for him this weekend.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
11. Kyle Busch (-1)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 11
Comment: Busch recovered nicely from a killer late-race penalty to still net a top 10, but things could certainly be going better for the No. 18 team. Last fall's Martinsville runner-up will look to turn things around at a track that has been quite good to him the past five-plus years.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
10. Denny Hamlin (+6)
Season-high: 5
Season-low: 16
Comment: Ah, that's more like it. Hamlin notched his first top 10 of the season in style ... by showing the youngins how to close a race and picking up his first 2022 win. Where to next? Oh, just his other home track where he happens to have five wins.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
9. Joey Logano (-2)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 9
Comment: Logano continues to see the front of the field -- at least for a little while -- now having led at least a lap in every race except Vegas. He's essentially been a factor at Martinsville the entirety of his Team Penske run over the past decade, and he's likely to get back on the right track this weekend after a couple of missteps.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
8. Kevin Harvick (+1)
Season-high: 5
Season-low: 9
Comment: Experience is clearly coming into play at times these days, and Harvick continues to be just as formidable as he's always been, even in his rising years. His only Martinsville win (shocking, right?) came all the way back in 2011, but he'll be in the mix. Can you really count him out anywhere?
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
7. Alex Bowman (-1)
Season-high: 6
Season-low: 13
Comment: There's nothing hacky about being on pace to top one's career-best average finish by more than two spots, yet Bowman is doing just that and his figure (12.0) is second-best in the series. He's the most recent "Paperclip" winner and it sure would be interesting to see him battle it out with Hamlin on Saturday.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
6. William Byron (+2)
Season-high: 8
Season-low: 16
Comment: Byron is a major contender this year and he's just a lap-leading monster right now, well on-pace to top last year's career-best 425. He's been knocking on the door of a win at Martinsville the past few years, and he could be a sneaky-good pick for Saturday.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
5. Ross Chastain (-2)
Season-high: 3
Season-low: Out
Comment: Even astronauts have to come back down to Earth eventually, and Chastain wasn't much of a factor at Richmond before settling for 19th. I'll be honest: his Martinsville stats are rough historically (27.5 average finish), but who among us doesn't expect him to top that in a big way this weekend?
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
4. Martin Truex Jr. (+1)
Season-high: 4
Season-low: 8
Comment: Truex is as consistent as they come, and he continues to be a top-five presence week in and week out. He very well might be this weekend's favorite, and his three wins in the past five Martinsville races sure do back that up.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
3. Chase Elliott (-2)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 4
Comment: Elliott finished 10 spots lower than last week's fourth-place finish, but only netted four fewer points. He's shown an ability to have quite a handle on Martinsville over the years, especially recently, so perhaps this is where he first strikes in 2022.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
2. Kyle Larson (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 2
Comment: After three straight finishes of 29th or worse, Sunday's top five must have felt like a breath of fresh air for the defending champ. A prediction? He won't have another stretch like that again the rest of the season, and he could be in the mix for his first Martinsville win this weekend.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
1. Ryan Blaney (+3)
Season-high: 4
Season-low: 10
Comment: Blaney is still winless, yes, but what do your eyes tell you? The No. 12 Ford has been the fastest car this season, and Blaney is one streak of dominance away from being the championship frontrunner. As such, he's risen to the No. 1 in these rankings for the first time in his career. With two runner-ups in 2020 and nearly averaging a top five over the last six races there (5.83), a Martinsville win feels like an inevitability for him. Might as well be Saturday.