NASCAR power rankings: No stopping Joe Gibbs Racing

Sometimes when you’re on a roll everything fortuitously works in your favor, as demonstrated by Joe Gibbs Racing. JGR registered its 13th victory of the season and 10th in the past 13 races Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

While Matt Kenseth didn’t have the fastest car -- a distinction belonging to Kevin Harvick, who led a race-high 216 laps -- what Kenseth had working in his favor was superior fuel-mileage. And when Harvick’s tank ran dry three laps short of the finish, Kenseth was in position to earn JGR’s fourth straight win.

NASCAR Power Rankings

1. Matt Kenseth (Last week: 1)

Now with five wins on the season and four in the past eight races, Kenseth is heating up at the right time. He’s assured moving on to the next round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup, and while it’s an arduous bracket, Charlotte, Kansas and Talladega are all tracks where Kenseth has won previously and should again contend.

2. Denny Hamlin (LW: 3)

After tearing the ACL in his right knee, Hamlin dismissed the notion the injury would negatively impact him making a championship run. Thus far he’s right, as he followed a playoff-opening victory by finishing second Sunday. And Hamlin played a vital role in teammate Kenseth winning by pushing Harvick hard over the final laps and not allowing him to conserve fuel.

3. Carl Edwards (LW: 4)

Had he not earned a penalty for dragging equipment out of his pit stall, Carl Edwards would’ve likely mixed it up with Kenseth and Hamlin for the win. But Edwards did fight back to finish fifth, which combined with a second the week before provides him with a 33-point cushion entering Dover. In other words, he would need a cavalcade of misfortune to not qualify for the second round.

4. Joey Logano (LW: 5)

The Gibbs drivers have deservedly garnered the bulk of the attention lately. All the while, Joey Logano just keeps quietly knocking out great finishes every week. A third Sunday gave him seven consecutive top 10s and 10 in the past 11 races, a stretch that includes a pair of victories.

5. Kyle Busch (LW: 2)

Dealing with adversity that crops up throughout the 10-race Chase has never been one of Busch’s strengths and he will again be tested after a blown tire sent him crashing into the Turn 4 wall Sunday. The resulting 37th-place finish dropped him one point below Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the final advancement spot and puts Busch in a somewhat delicate position where he needs a good run at Dover, but also cannot be overly aggressive.

6. Kevin Harvick (LW: 6)

Conceivably Harvick doesn’t have to win at Dover to skirt Chase elimination, but for that to occur, myriad longshot possibilities would need to come to fruition. The chances of everything working in the defending champ’s favor are remote if he doesn’t notch a victory, though, which only makes the abundance of points Harvick left on the table the past two weeks all the more significant.

7. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 8)

Finishing sixth isn’t always a cause for celebration, except when it involves rallying back from a flat left front tire that drops you to 30th and a lap down. That Jimmie Johnson and crew chief Chad Knaus were able to make the most out of a dire predicament is unsurprising -- it’s the exact kind of resolve that was the foundation of their six championships.

8. Brad Keselowski (LW: 7)

With all the talk about restarts and the continued need for greater enforcement by NASCAR, it was inevitable someone would eventually run afoul and get penalized. That someone was Brad Keselowski, who barely edged ahead of race-leader Greg Biffle on a Lap 242 restart. Consequently, Keselowski fell from second to 25th before charging to finish 12th, which salvaged what could have been a disastrous infraction and turned it into a mild annoyance.

9. Kurt Busch (LW: 9)

One of several whose fuel tanks hit empty in the final laps, Kurt Busch went from a certain top 10 to finishing 19th. Regardless, he’s a comfortable 17 points above the Chase cutline, and barring a catastrophic outcome at Dover he should progress to the next round. That’s something Busch couldn’t do a year ago.

10. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 11)

An example of how often playoff success is predicated on turning lemons into lemonade: Similar to Gordon, Martin Truex Jr. didn’t have a great car, but was able to take advantage when others experienced bad luck to finish eighth.

11. Jeff Gordon (LW: 12)

For much of the afternoon Jeff Gordon was displeased with how the No. 24 car handled, running majorly in the teens. But when many ahead of him ran out of fuel in the waning laps, including Harvick, Earnhardt and Kurt Busch, Gordon capitalized and grabbed a seventh-place finish.

12. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (LW: 10)

Though he’s had good cars, Earnhardt hasn’t had the corresponding finishes to match and should’ve scored far more points the past two weeks. Provisionally the last driver who would advance to Round 2, Earnhardt not only needs strong results Sunday, he has to hope Harvick doesn’t win to claim the final transfer spot.