Denny Hamlin leads this week’s NASCAR Cup Series Top-10 Power Rankings after the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
1. Denny Hamlin:
Hamlin finished at Bristol, unable to match the dominant speed of race winner Kyle Larson.
“I was going for my third straight win,” Hamlin said. “Larson, however, was going for the jugular.”
2. William Byron:
Byron finished sixth at Bristol.
“There was only one competition for cause in the entire race,” Byron said. “I think there should have been at the beginning of the race, thrown towards the fans, saying ‘Caution. This race is going to be boring as hell.'”
3. Kyle Larson:
Larson won Stages 1 and 2 at Bristol and cruised to a dominant win in the Food City 500 at Bristol.
“My car was unbeatable today,” Larson said. “That’s in stark contrast to the television rating for the Bristol race. This race was as boring as the tired old Hendrick Cars paint scheme on the No. 5 Chevy.”
4. Christopher Bell:
Bell finished eighth at Bristol.
“Nothing says ‘NASCAR’ like a car at Bristol sponsored by Grizzly Nicotine Patches,” Bell said. “That was on the No. 16 car of AJ Allmendinger. The cool thing is, you can insert them anywhere in your body, not just your mouth.”
5. Ryan Blaney:
Blaney finished fifth in the Food City 500, posting his third top 5 of the season.
“The Bristol race was nothing more than a glorified game of follow the leader,” Blaney said. “And I think it was also the longest game of follow the leader.”
6. Chase Elliott:
Elliott finished 15th at Bristol as his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Kyle Larson, scored an impressive win.
“Kyle was head and shoulders better than everyone else,” Elliott said. “I’m really happy for him, but really sad for myself, because I was driving practically the same car he was.”
7. Ross Chastain:
Chastain came home seventh in the Food City 500 at Bristol.
“I have a reputation of causing a lot of accidents,” Chastain said. “Considering the lack of action in the race, there were probably a lot of people wanting me to live up to that reputation.”
8. Bubba Wallace:
Wallace finished 19th at Bristol.
“There were only nine cars on the lead lap,” Wallace said. “That’s nine more than it seemed were on the lead lap.”
9. Chase Briscoe:
Briscoe finished fourth at Bristol, recording his third top 5 of the season.
“You didn’t see a lot of passing on Sunday,” Briscoe said. “I think a lot of that is due to Bristol’s surface. And that’s ‘concrete’ evidence that the surface should be asphalt.”
10. Alex Bowman:
Bowman experienced engine issues and finally had to retire on lap 343. He finished 37th, 157 laps down, and completes the Top-10 Power Rankings.
“My engine just quit,” Bowman said. “I think it realized how much better Kyle Larson’s engine was, and said to itself, ‘I’ll just quit while I’m behind.”
Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.
