Nascar Power rankings: Kansas gives Ryan Blaney a push, Christopher Bell

Kyle Larson remains on top of the Nascar Cup series Power rankings, thanks to its dominant performance at the Kansas Speedway.

Once again, those behind him continue to jockey for the location. Those drivers landed in their points in part according to the speed and partly based on the ability to achieve the finish line and earn a good result.

The rankings take a week off as the All-Star Race Nascar is this weekend to North Wilkesboro (NC) Speedway and then returns after Coca-Cola 600 on the weekend of the Memorial Day.

Abandon: Ross Chastain (Last week: 6)

On the Verge: Chris Buescher, Kyle BuschRoss Chastain, Austin Condic, Ryan Preece, Bubba Wallace

10. Chase Briscoe (Last week: not classified)

A fourth place gives him three finishes of the fourth in the last seven races (and four top 10s in the last seven races). Certainly, Joe Gibbs Racing’s pilot needs to earn multiple twists and turns (he earned points in just three phases) and is more coherent, but he had his moments.

9. Tyler Reddick (LW: 9)

A place 17th place in Kansas was disappointing for Reddick. It is still sixth in the cup ranking, but four consecutive purposes outside the top 10 show that this team is going in the wrong direction.

8. Chase Elliott (LW: 7)

A slow pit ruined a potentially solid day for Elliott, who led 29 laps in Kansas and arrived second in both phases. 15th place had to hurt Handrick’s driver.

7. Joey Logano (LW: 10)

Logano followed his victory in Texas and closed in ninth place in Kansas. Now he heads towards the All-Star race, where the Penke pilot is the winner in office.

6. Denny Hamlin (LW: 4)

An acid clutch closed the day of Hamlin soon in Kansas, a week after a failure of the engine ended his race soon in Texas. He must hope that the mechanical wrecks are made for a while.

5. Alex Bowman (LW: 8)

Bowman was sixth in the first phase and seventh in the second phase and then fifth in the Kansas race. He still had his part of frustrations, but he overcome them for a solid ending.

4. William Byron (LW: 2)

A tire on the ground put a ride in Byron in Kansas and concluded 24th. The Kansas race was one thing to forget, since he lost his points lead to his teammate of Hedrick Larson.

3. Christopher Bell (LW: 5)

Bell ran in the foreground for most of the day in Kansas. He concluded third in the first phase, fifth in the second phase and then came second in the race. This was his sixth top five of the season and the eighth top 10. The Jgr driver was never a threat to win, but it was there if Larson had had problems.

2. Ryan Blaney (LW: 3)

Blaney also performed the top five in most of the race and took off in third place at Kansas for his fifth five five of the season and the sixth Top 10. For a driver with four DNFs who is seventh in the standings is a testimony of how well the Penske driver worked this year.

1. Kyle Larson (LW: 1)

Larson led 221 of the 267 laps in Kansas, while he swept both phases and gained the point for the fastest lap for a perfect day of 61 points. It was the third victory of the Handrick driver’s driver.

Bob Pockrass covers Nascar and Indycar for Fox Sports. He spent decades to cover motor sports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with Espn periods, Sporting News, Nascar Scene Magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow it on Twitter @Bobpockrass.

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