Hendrick Motorsports
Johnson led the most laps at Sonoma (45) but faded after the final restart for a sixth-place finish. Where he isn’t fading, however, is these Power Rankings, where he holds strong on top.
After Sunday, Harvick now has 2015 top-five finishes at 0.75, 1.0, 1.5, 2.5-mile tracks and a road course. The man does not seem to have a weakness in his arsenal.
If there was ever a time Kurt Busch would be happy with a second-place finish, it’s seeing his brother finish just ahead of him in a monumental comeback from injury. A bump here doesn’t hurt, either.
Hendrick Motorsports
Logano comes off a solid road course finish (not typically his strong suit) in third place overall in points and as the reigning Daytona 500 winner as the series heads south for the Coke Zero 400. Things are going just swell for Mr. 22.
Team Penske
While his run-in with David Ragan that left him with a next-to-last-place finish may not have been his fault, the other 2015 heavyweights performed well and finished high in the running order and Truex suffers because of it.
Don’t look now but after Sonoma, Junior has finished in the top 10 at a road course two years in a row for the first time in over a decade (Watkins Glen, 2003-04).
At Sonoma, Keselowski couldn’t build off the Michigan momentum he created with a sixth-place finish and has now finished outside the top 10 in six of his last nine overall starts.
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Joe Gibbs Racing
Looking ahead to Daytona, McMurray’s DIS stats are, to put it bluntly, weird. In 25 races, he’s started in the top 10 just three times, the last of which was 2006 – yet he has two wins that came in two starts outside the top 10.
Kenseth didn’t disappoint at Sonoma – but mainly because he wasn’t expected to perform well, given his history. His Daytona history is much more favorable, so look for the talented plate racer to rebound this weekend.
5
Joe Gibbs Racing
With another solid finish, all that’s missing from Kasey Kahne’s 2015 resume is that all-elusive win. Perhaps he can find that missing piece this weekend and break his 23-race dry streak at Daytona.
Hamlin has finished higher than 10th just once over the past six races and finds himself mired in 13th-place. If it weren’t for the Martinsville win, we’d have serious questions about Hamlin’s season.
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Perhaps the only story that could’ve topped Kyle Busch’s victory at Sonoma would’ve been a win by Gordon in his final start at his home track, but it didn’t happen.
Stewart-Haas Racing
Any questions? As long as he finds his way into the top 30 in points, Kyle Busch will be racing for his first Sprint Cup Series title yet again this fall.
Menard couldn’t match a career-best fifth-place Sonoma finish earned in 2014, but the improvement from a starting position of 32nd to a finish of 13th ain’t too shabby, either.
Stewart-Haas Racing
Carl, we hardly knew ye. After it appeared he’d righted the ship with a Charlotte win, he’s yet to finish in the top 10 since despite an average start of 7.0 in four races.