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Power Rankings: Daniel Suarez turning heads; another top 10 at COTA?
By Pat DeCola | Published: May 18, 2021 21
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NASCAR.com's Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 NASCAR Cup Series drivers after the race at Dover and before Sunday's race at Circuit of The Americas (2:30 p.m. ET, FS1).
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
20. Daniel Suarez (Not ranked last week)
Season-high: 20th
Season-low: Out
Comment: Suarez has always loved racing at Dover, and it showed Sunday with his second-best finish of the season. He's punching well above the expectations set for him and newcomer Trackhouse Racing. He has a good shot at his first back-to-back top 10s since 2019 this weekend at COTA — he's a very underrated road racer.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
19. Kurt Busch (Not ranked last week)
Season-high: 6th
Season-low: Out
Comment: Busch is on pace for his worst average finish (19.6) since 2012's 23.2, but I sort of think that's a number that will look a lot better by summer's end. For now, he's looking for his first top 10 since Miami, and it could come this weekend — the 2004 champ is a more than competent road-course driver.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
18. Bubba Wallace (+2)
Season-high: 13th
Season-low: Out
Comment: Wallace is still looking for his first top 10 of the season — and also the first in his team's history — but he got really close with his best finish of the season (11th) at Dover. Unfortunately, it's not likely coming in Austin, as Wallace has yet to finish in the top 10 in any of his nine career road-course starts (26.7 average finish).
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
17. Matt DiBenedetto (--)
Season-high: 14
Season-low: Out
Comment: DiBenedetto's struggles the past two weeks have seemed to line up with a couple of underwhelming weeks from Team Penske, which his No. 21 Ford shares an alliance with. He could right the ship this weekend, however, if the Fords are strong. Two years ago he turned in a P4 at Sonoma driving the No. 95.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
16. Michael McDowell (-1)
Season-high: 10
Season-low: Out
Comment: Count McDowell among the drivers most excited to get to Austin this weekend. With just one top 10 since Miami, the Daytona 500 winner is in desperate need of a strong run. He's a dark horse pick on road courses (won at Road America in the Xfinity Series in 2016) and notched a top 10 in each Daytona road course race.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
15. Chris Buescher (-2)
Season-high: 13
Season-low: Out
Comment: A 17th-place run at Dover snapped a two-race top-10 run for Buescher, but he's a good bet to battle for another strong finish on Sunday. An unheralded Cup road racer, the Roush Fenway driver's 18.5 average finish is his best on any track layout, and he notched a top-five finish last summer on the Daytona road course.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
14. Tyler Reddick (+2)
Season-high: 14
Season-low: Out
Comment: Reddick has finished exactly seventh or eighth in five of the last seven races, accounting for five of his six top 10s on the season. He's never won on a road course in NASCAR's national series, though we certainly wouldn't be surprised to see him be competitive this weekend with how well he's running.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
13. Christopher Bell (-2)
Season-high: 8
Season-low: 16
Comment: All of a sudden, Bell has finished outside the top 10 for four straight races. The season's only road-course winner is probably itching to get to Texas, where he'll aim to become the third two-time 2021 winner as well.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
12. Austin Dillon (--)
Season-high: 11
Season-low: 16
Comment: Dillon has essentially been at least a top-15 driver all season, shining in spots with only one real blip: Daytona's road course. Not known as a road-course ace, perhaps that will change this weekend at COTA. After all, they named the whole town after him.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
11. Alex Bowman (+3)
Season-high: 8
Season-low: 17
Comment: And there you have it folks: your second multi-winner in 2021, just like we all expected. Fresh off one heck of an afternoon at Dover, if the No. 48 is fast again Bowman could be in the mix for another win. Road courses are his best type of track, with five top 10s in 13 starts.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
10. Kyle Busch (-4)
Season-high: 6
Season-low: 14
Comment:A bit of a mesmerizing day for JGR as a whole didn't exclude Busch, who battled in the back of the field all day to salvage a 27th-place finish after early issues. It shouldn't take him too long to regain form, as Busch is one of the more accomplished road racers in the sport.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
9. Brad Keselowski (+1)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 11
Comment: Keselowski had a slight rebound from a rough run at Darlington with a 16th-place showing at Dover, but certainly not what he's looking for. Though he's never won on a road course, he has had several strong near-misses and could be a threat on Sunday.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
8. Chase Elliott (+1)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 10
Comment: Elliott has semi-quietly put together five top 10s in the last seven races, a sign his championship defense is headed in the right direction. Now that we're halfway through the regular season, NASCAR's best road racer will break through for his first win of 2021 this weekend, right? Perhaps?
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
7. Ryan Blaney (--)
Season-high: 5
Season-low: 15
Comment: Blaney hasn't really led meaningful laps since Martinsville, but he's still hanging in and around the top 10 after a P12 run at Dover. An solid road racer (one win, seven top 10s in 13 starts), his laps led count very well might tick up this weekend.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
6. Joey Logano (+2)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 8
Comment: Logano is putting the pieces back together, inch-by-inch, with his third straight week of a better finish after a crash at Talladega saddled him in 39th. With top 10s in more than half of his 27 road-course starts, he's a threat to win at least one of the several twisty events this year, perhaps this weekend.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
5. Kyle Larson (--)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 14
Comment: The undisputed king of finishing second in a race that he dominates, Larson added another such run to his resume at Dover despite a race-high 263 laps led. He's been quite hit or miss on road courses in the results column, but has shown his proficiency on them in qualifying, historically. Just a matter of putting a whole race together.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
4. Kevin Harvick (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 9
Comment: Another weekend with top-five speed, another weekend that ends with a different driver visiting Victory Lane. Harvick will run Saturday's Xfinity Series race to glean what he can for Sunday, and his first 2021 win could certainly come this weekend (or next ... or the one after that ... ).
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
3. William Byron (--)
Season-high: 3
Season-low: 18
Comment: It's nice to see Byron fully leaning into the whole Jeff-Gordon-driving-the-24 thing with his eye-popping top-10 streak of 11 straight races. His 9.2 average finish is second only to Denny Hamlin and with four top 10s in nine career road races, there's no reason — given how well he's running — to think that streak won't keep rolling on Sunday.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
2. Denny Hamlin (--)
Season-high: 1
Season-low: 4
Comment: Hamlin has led at least a lap in every race in 2021 except at Miami which, coincidentally, might be his best track. Point is, he's been exceptional albeit winless this year, and win No. 1 might be Sunday. Pretty much the case for any race these days, but it seems like Hamlin is always in the mix at the end of road-course races over the past few years despite just one win in 33 starts.
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Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
1. Martin Truex Jr. (--)
Season-high: 2
Season-low: 7
Comment: Truex did not have the dominant day at Dover that many — myself included — anticipated, but it should be a short stint outside the top 10. The clear No. 2 to Elliott's No. 1 atop the imaginary road rankings, Truex is nothing short of spectacular on road courses. He's got four wins on them since 2013 and is as good a bet as any to claim another on Sunday.