NASCAR power rankings: Kevin Harvick ascends, Dale Earnhardt Jr. drops

Forgotten amid the brouhaha involving Brad Keselowski, Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin was that Kevin Harvick won Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The victory was Harvick’s third of the season and snapped a significant stretch of races in which he would dominate but fail to close. However, while he may be more than worthy, Harvick’s Bank of America 500 win wasn’t enough to unseat Joey Logano, who continues to sit atop the rankings for the second straight week on the strength of another strong finish.

1. Joey Logano (Last week: 1)

As hard luck and underperformance have inflicted most of the others in the Chase, all Logano does each week is find a way to finish fifth or better, something he again did at Charlotte and has throughout the playoffs, becoming the first driver to record a top-five in the first five Chase races.

2. Kevin Harvick (LW: 4)

Before Charlotte, the last time Harvick won was back in April at Darlington. Since then he’s been routinely handicapped by flat tires, speeding penalties, mistakes on pit road and other assorted problems. The lesson: If bad things don’t happen to him, Harvick wins.

3. Jeff Gordon (LW: 3)

The green-white-checkered restart gave Gordon a shot, but Harvick was just too good and quickly pulled away. Not that finishing second is anything to complain about considering the issues Gordon had at Kansas, which had him flirting with elimination. Now, barring something catastrophic at Talladega -- always a possibility -- he should move on to Round 3 easily.

4. Kyle Busch (LW: 6)

Without much fanfare Busch is quietly off to the best Chase start of his career, having posted five consecutive top 10s. Although his advancement to Round 3 is mostly assured, Busch went on the record saying he plans to be conservative at Talladega, letting things play out until the waning laps. Meaning, he’s going to wait for the “Big One” to decimate the field, then pick his way to the front.

5. Brad Keselowski (LW: 2)

Five wins, continued dominance throughout the year and yet, consecutive bad, miserable, no good races have Keselowski on the cusp of elimination. Fair or not, that’s how it goes. The upshot is he still has a chance to make something happen at Talladega. Considering his history there (he’s a two-time track winner), that should provide some confidence. Then again, Keselowski has made few friends as of late and was also the catalyst for a wreck in the May Talladega race that knocked out several, and drew the ire of Gordon, Kenseth and others.

6. Kyle Larson (LW: 5)

Is No. 6 too high for Larson considering he’s winless? The answer is an emphatic “no,” because in the past eight races the rookie has a pair of runner-ups, a third, a sixth and a low finish of 12th. Winless or not, that’s deserving of a spot in the top portion of the rankings.

7. Denny Hamlin (LW: 8)

Hamlin’s goal coming into the Chase was just to survive and make it to the Eliminator Round, which sets up favorably for him. That objective is close to coming to fruition and turning Hamlin into a quasi-championship contender going forward.

8. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 7)

Johnson was fifth when Chad Knaus called him to pit road for tires under the caution, which setup the green-white-checkered finish. And even though he restarted 10th, Johnson couldn’t gain any ground, and actually lost several positions sliding back to 17th. Though he was likely going to need a win anyway, the points lost Saturday night could come back to haunt the defending series champion -- especially if Talladega is anywhere close to the mayhem most everyone expects.

9. Matt Kenseth (LW: 9)

By day he is a driver known for his consistency and low-key demeanor. But don’t be fooled, because at night Kenseth -- if provoked -- can quickly transform into a fiery rageaholic prone to jumping fellow drivers from behind when they least expect it.

10. Ryan Newman (LW: 10)

He may have only two top-fives all season, but Newman is an example that consistency can propel a driver far in the Chase, even in a format that emphasizes winning. Would he trade his points position (fourth) for the wins collected by Keselowski, Earnhardt and Johnson, all of whom face elimination Sunday? More than likely, but Newman still has an opportunity to win the championship, whereas those other guys probably don’t.

11. Jamie McMurray (LW: 12)

A strong run manifested itself into a worthy finish, something which McMurray hasn’t experienced too often this season. As is always the case in plate races, he should be among the challengers Sunday. McMurray won this race a year ago, and four of his seven career wins came at Daytona or Talladega.

12. Carl Edwards (LW: 13)

Be it smoke and mirrors or parlor tricks, Edwards continues to remain well above the Chase cutline and is likely to make it to the Eliminator Round.

13. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (LW: 11)

Earnhardt and departing crew chief Steve Letarte have enjoyed an almost storybook final campaign together. But those three wins are endangered of being overshadowed to some degree if Earnhardt can’t find a way to win Talladega to skirt elimination.

14. Kurt Busch (LW: 15)

The up-and-down season continues, and Busch followed a crash-induced 42nd at Kansas with an 11th this past weekend. In a year featuring little steadiness, it would somehow seem fitting if Busch were the driver who emerged victorious at Talladega, which is supposed to be a helter-skelter race as any in recent memory.

15. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 14)

Continuing to do just enough to warrant a spot in the rankings, Truex placed 14th at Charlotte and owns an average finish of 10.2 in the past five races.