Couch Racer reached out to a handful of industry experts to gauge who had the momentum going into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. The panel consisted of several team members, journalists, a former driver and a race director. We tallied the points of each individual ranking to compile the Couch Racer Power Ranking.
The top two remain but plenty of shakeup underneath. With eliminations looming we see just as much shakeup at the chopping block positions as we do right behind our leaders. Christopher Bell makes a huge jump to the #3 rank from #8 last week after his performance at Kansas. One panel member even had the JGR driver as his #2 behind teammate Denny Hamlin.
Kevin Harvick has done nothing but drop in the rankings since the playoffs began starting at #9 and now finding himself on the chopping block going into the final event in the round of 16. Harvick being as far back as he is in points, leaves him in a win or go home position for this season and it's a testament to his ability that he's actually not a unanimous #16 pick.
Another driver who's done nothing but tumble is Ross Chastain. The Trackhouse driver is in good position to advance to the round of 12 but is going to need to find his first-half speed if he wants to make noise in these playoffs. It feels like a lifetime ago when Chastain rattled off seven top-5's in a nine-race span.
