NASCAR power rankings: No Watkins Glen shakeup

Rarely do races play out as expected, but that wasn’t the case Sunday at Watkins Glen. The events unfolded accordingly with two of NASCAR’s best road course racers, AJ Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose, fighting for the win and with it, a Chase for the Sprint Cup berth.

Allmendinger prevailed, scoring his and JTG Daugherty Racing’s first premiere series win. But as good as Allmendinger may have been, it wasn’t enough to earn him a spot in this week’s NASCAR power rankings.

1. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Last week: 1)

When Earnhardt finishes 11th on a road course and feels he should have done better, you know he’s in the midst of a magical season. But while it wasn’t the result he wanted, it was good enough to bump Earnhardt into the points lead, a position he hasn’t been in this late in the season since 2004.

2. Jeff Gordon (LW: 2)

It’s been some time since Gordon finished well at Watkins Glen, a streak he seemed intent on snapping Sunday. Starting on the pole he led the opening 29 laps and looked like he was well on his way to a fifth track victory. Then battery problems developed, the 24 car lost power and any chance Gordon had of winning went away, as did his points lead.

3. Kevin Harvick (LW: 4)

The characteristic of a championship-winning team is attention to detail. That element has been sorely missing from the No. 4 group for the entirety of the season, and again hindered it Sunday. This time it was failing to remove beanbags from the car, which became logged in the pedals and necessitated a pit stop on Lap 2. It was a mistake that proved costly, not only dropping Harvick out of contention, but crew chief Rodney Childers incurred a $25,000 fine from NASCAR for unapproved weight.

4. Joey Logano (LW: 5)

Resembling his early season form, Logano has three consecutive finishes of sixth or better. That streak should continue at Michigan, where is he the defending winner and led 29 laps in June en route to placing ninth.

5. Brad Keselowski (LW: 3)

That first road course victory, which many thought would come last weekend, will have to wait another year. Brake problems knocked Keselowski out of contention Sunday and prevented him from being a factor of any kind.

6. Matt Kenseth (LW: 8)

Another week goes by and Kenseth still doesn’t have a win, though a ninth is about the equivalent for a driver who has long struggled on road courses. Michigan will be a good litmus test for Joe Gibbs Racing and whether its intermediate track program has made significant gains in recent weeks. If the JGR cars are strong, it will bode well for the Chase. If not, it’s hard to envision a Toyota-backed team winning the championship.

7. Kyle Busch (LW: 7)

The good vibes Busch had built following three runner-up finishes in four races has vanished after back-to-back subpar weeks. Thankfully for the Toyota engine department, it wasn’t a motor issue that again proved problematic. Busch’s struggles Sunday began with a sloppy pit stop where his crew left the fuel can in the car, forcing him to make another stop, and later heavy contact with Martin Truex Jr. sent Busch to the garage early.

8. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 6)

So goes the luck of the defending series champion, who again saw a potential good run derailed by elements out of his control. This time the culprit was a late spin courtesy of Matt Kenseth’s bumper, which left Johnson a sitting duck in the middle of traffic.

9. Kyle Larson (LW: 13)

For a guy whose ability to shift was in such question his team forced him to drive around the Charlotte area in a manual transmission Camaro, Larson did quite well Sunday. His fourth jumped him up two spots in points (10th), and, barring a collapse, he has an excellent shot of being just the second rookie to ever qualify for the Chase.

10. Kurt Busch (LW: 14)

As Allmendinger and Ambrose beat on each other in the closing laps, Busch elected to lay back and let the two leaders knock each other out. A sound strategy considering it seemed inevitable that they would wreck, but it never happened. Allmendinger scooted free, Ambrose settled for second and Busch finished third, though he did have a terrific viewpoint for what was a thrilling duel for the win.

11. Kasey Kahne (LW: 12)

The last thing Kahne needed to see was Allmendinger, a newbie, celebrating in Victory Lane, as it further squeezes him into a must-win position. But Kahne is not lacking for chances as Michigan, Bristol, Atlanta and Richmond are all tracks he’s won at previously and present realistic options for him to do so again.

12. Denny Hamlin (LW: 9)

So continues what has been an up-and-down year for the No. 11 team, as a good run was negated when Hamlin got spun into the pit road barriers, dumping sand everywhere with two laps to go.

13. Ryan Newman (LW: 10)

An uneventful afternoon quickly became anything but when Newman plowed into the guardrail and then back onto the track and in the path of Michael McDowell, who couldn’t avoid the No. 31 machine. Both escaped without injury, and for Newman, it was another harrowing accident in a career filled with them when you consider his numerous flips and tumbles at Daytona and Talladega through the years.

14. Clint Bowyer (LW: 11)

Watkins Glen seemed like a good opportunity for a winless Bowyer to create a little cushion between himself and the Chase cutoff. Instead, the opposite occurred. A 27th-place finish combined with solid efforts by the guys he’s in the mix with has put Bowyer squarely on the bubble with little margin for error.

15. Carl Edwards (LW: Unranked)

A victory at Sonoma and a fifth at Watkins Glen makes Edwards the only driver with top-fives in both road course races. Too bad for Edwards it’s a return to the style of track (intermediate, aero-sensitive) that has been the bane of Roush Fenway Racing’s existence this season.