Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Power Rankings: Kevin Harvick leads Kyle Busch after Texas

pAJ4Wikk6_hb
NASCAR America reviews Austin Dillon's win at Texas, details how it affects the Cup Series playoff picture, and unpacks Brad Keselowski's comments after the race aimed at Quin Houff about driving standards.

Kevin Harvick’s reign atop the NBC Sports NASCAR Cup power rankings rumbles on.

The Stewart-Haas Racing driver earned his fifth straight top-five finish Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway and his sixth consecutive top 10.

MORE: NASCAR Stock Market - Ups and downs heading to Kansas

MORE: Cup Series playoff grid

It’s resulted in Harvick being voted the unanimous No. 1 choice in the power rankings for the third consecutive week.

Fourteen drivers received votes this week. The biggest jump was Kyle Busch, who went from unranked to No. 2 on the list.

Cole Custer, the winner at Kentucky, dropped from No. 3 to outside the top 10.

Here are this week’s power rankings.

1. Kevin Harvick (30 points): Series-leading 11 top fives through 18 races. Tied with Denny Hamlin for four wins. Last week: No. 1.

2. Kyle Busch (21 points): Hasn’t won a Cup race or a stage yet this year. But he earned his eighth top five of the year at Texas and won his third Truck Series race of the year on Saturday. Also was second in the All-Star Race. Last week: Unranked

3. Aric Almirola (20 points): The best stretch of his career continued with a 10th-place finish in Texas for his seventh consecutive top 10. Has led 228 laps in the last five races. Last week: Second.

4. Brad Keselowski (17 points): The silent but efficient Keselowski finished ninth at Texas. It was his 13th top 10 of the year, which trails only Harvick (15). His only finish worst than 11th in the last 13 races was 19th at Talladega. Last week: Tied for fifth.

5. Tyler Reddick (15 points): The rookie continues to show his worth. Finished second to teammate Austin Dillon in Texas for his second top five of the year. Has six top 10s, which is one more than William Byron, Christopher Bell, Clint Bowyer, Matt DiBenedetto and Alex Bowman each has. Last week: 10th.

6. Ryan Blaney (14 points): Led 150 laps and won both stages at Texas but had to settle for seventh. Has two consecutive top 10s. Last week: Unranked.

7. Kurt Busch (12 points): Finished eighth at Texas for his second straight top 10. Has 11 top 10s, the third most in the series. Last week: Eighth.

(Tie) 8. Austin Dillon (10 points): Earned the most convincing win of his Cup career at Texas while earning his first top 10 in six races. Last week: Unranked.

(Tie) 8. Joey Logano (10 points): Surprisingly earned his first top-five finish since his Phoenix win in March. Even though he has two wins, the No. 22 has turned out to be the weak link at Team Penske so far this year. Last week: Unranked.

10. Austin Cindric (7 points): Remember when this kid couldn’t win on ovals? Thanks to Kyle Busch’s disqualification Saturday, Cindric has three straight Xfinity wins, all on ovals. Last week: Seventh.

Others receiving votes: Chase Elliott (4 points), Denny Hamlin (2 points), Cole Custer (1 point), Erik Jones (1 point).