NASCAR power rankings: No stopping Kyle Busch

Even taking Kyle Busch’s injuries out of the equation, winning three consecutive races is a remarkable achievement; a rarefied feat in an era of unprecedented parity.

Since the inception of the Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2004, Jimmie Johnson had been the only driver to post three consecutive wins. The six-time series champion recorded four straight wins during the 2007 playoffs en route to that season’s title.

Adding further to Busch’s run is that he is the first non-Hendrick Motorsports driver since Team Penske’s Rusty Wallace in 1994 to do it. And of course, Wallace’s streak didn’t involve having to come back from a broken right leg and left foot.

“Someone showed me the other day, I guess the three wins in a row hasn’t happened since Jimmie Johnson in 2007,” Busch said in a national teleconference Tuesday. “I think Jeff Gordon was before that, Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace maybe even before that in the early ‘90s. Three or four times since 1992 it’s happened, so that’s pretty special. It feels good to be in that group of names, and obviously those guys are all champions in their own right and have built the sport to what it is today.”

NASCAR Power Rankings

1. Kyle Busch (Last week: 2)

There was debate a week ago whether Busch deserved the No. 1 spot, having missed 11 races recuperating. Three straight wins and four in five races soundly answers any questions regarding where he should be ranked.

2. Kevin Harvick (LW: 1)

In a race where strategies were ever changing, it shouldn’t be a surprise Harvick and crew chief Rodney Childers figured how to best put themselves in position to win. But when given two opportunities to seize the lead on late two restarts, Harvick failed to capitalize and finished third. A dour way to end what had been an otherwise exceptional afternoon that included leading a race-high 75 laps.

3. Joey Logano (LW: 5)

Deservedly, Busch is garnering the headlines, but Joey Logano has quietly recorded six top-five finishes in the past seven races. That includes runner-ups to Busch at Indianapolis and Kentucky Speedway.

4. Kurt Busch (LW: 4)

It’s quite a dramatic turnaround for the Busch brothers following a tumultuous beginning of the season where one was seriously injured and the other suspended indefinitely. Now, Kyle cannot stop winning, while Kurt has a series-best seven straight top-10s.

5. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 3)

Are the widely varying rules packages the reason why Jimmie Johnson has virtually disappeared the past three races? That argument doesn’t seem to holdup when you consider Harvick and Kurt Busch have the same engines and chassis as Johnson and they aren’t lacking competitiveness. There’s a deeper issue within the Hendrick camp, as all four cars are slogging as of late.

6. Brad Keselowski (LW: 7)

As they are wont to do, Brad Keselowski and crew chief Paul Wolfe employed a contrasting pit strategy Sunday. Except the plan never materialized, as Keselowski had to pit out of the lead 19 laps from the scheduled finish, leaving not enough time to get back to the front.

7. Matt Kenseth (LW: 8)

A Brickyard win would’ve given Matt Kenseth victories in all four of NASCAR’s majors. It wasn’t to be. His car didn’t have the same speed as teammates Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards and he finished a nondescript seventh. Then again, considering how much Kenseth despised the high-drag aerodynamic package, maybe a seventh wasn’t too bad.

8. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (LW: 6)

Any chance Dale Earnhardt Jr. had of a good finish went by the wayside when he cut down the track across the nose of Kasey Kahne’s car. The contact sent Earnhardt through the grass and back onto the track where he clipped the outside Turn 1 wall.

9. Denny Hamlin (LW: 10)

Similar to Kenseth, Denny Hamlin’s Toyota was a smidge slower than his Joe Gibbs Racing stablemates. Nonetheless, he knocked his third top-five (fifth) finish in the previous four races.

10. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 11)

There was a much-needed fourth-place run by Martin Truex Jr. Sunday. That snapped a four-race skid of not finishing in the top 10, hedging talk Furniture Row Racing couldn’t recapture it early season success. And gives the team a boost heading into Pocono Raceway, where it won eight weeks ago.

11. Carl Edwards (LW: 12)

After starting on the pole, Edwards maintained a spot near the front almost the entirety of the race and was second on a restart with 14 laps remaining. But as the field barreled into Turn 1, his car jumped sideways and quickly mired him in traffic. He never recovered, finishing 13th.

12. Jeff Gordon (LW: 9)

Overcorrecting, then crashing into a wall wasn’t how Jeff Gordon wanted to say goodbye to his favorite track. Alas, that’s how Sunday’s race unfolded when a spinning Clint Bowyer caused Gordon to swerve and lose control. From there, his day was spent mostly in the garage watching the No. 24 crew make repairs.