Yawn. Jenson Button won again in the Turkish Grand Prix, which is his sixth victory in seven races and picking a winner in that series is now officially a no brainer. Until Button stumbles—and at this point, it seems unlikely he's going to do so all season—place him on your roster and hold him there.
For the first time this year, however, his wingman Rubens Barrichello had a bad finish. A pair of spins in the Turkish GP caused him to finish outside the points for the first time this season and he plummeted seven spots in the Unified Power Rankings from second to ninth.
That allowed a pair of winners to climb the grid. Tony Stewart had to overcome rolling out a backup car and his shotgun to the field start, but after practice, he was confident he had the ponies under the hood to get the job done. Stewart used a little strategy and a lot of power to hold off Carl Edwards and earn his first victory as an owner driver. He's now second on this chart.
One of the keys to Stewart's success in the Pocono 500 was a strong pit stop, and that is also how Helio Castroneves got in front of Ryan Briscoe late in the going at Texas Motor Speedway. Once in the lead of the Bombardier Learjet 550k, he was untouched and scored his second victory in the last three races. Castroneves sits third.
Jason Leffler continues to be the strongest Nationwide Regular in NASCAR's second series. With most of the top spots typically going to Cup drivers, last week's Federated Auto Parts 300 in Nashville was an opportunity race. Only two Claim Jumpers made the long commute, so even though Kyle Busch won the race and Edwards finished third, Leffler was able to pick off a fifth-place finish and climb two spots on the Unified Power Rankings grid from eighth to sixth.
Success in any fantasy racing league is reliant on finding dark horses. In the Camping World Truck Series, check out Jason White, who has been 14th or better in his last four races. And on the strength of his eighth-place finish at Texas last week and a fourth at Dover the previous week, he jumped an amazing 28 spots last week and 10 spots the prior week to land in the top 50—50th to be exact. Matt Crafton is the highest ranked Truck driver. He sits 19th on the grid.
Unified Power Rankings
Top 50
Rank | Driver | Points | Last week | +/- |
1 | Jenson Button | 110.57 | 1 | 0 |
2 | Tony Stewart | 97.33 | 3 | 1 |
3 | Helio Castroneves | 95.80 | 4 | 1 |
4 | Jimmie Johnson | 90.82 | 6 | 2 |
5 | Ryan Briscoe | 90.67 | 7 | 2 |
6 | Jason Leffler | 87.90 | 8 | 2 |
7 | Dario Franchitti | 87.67 | 9 | 2 |
8 | Ryan Newman | 87.20 | 11 | 3 |
9 | Rubens Barrichello | 87.14 | 2 | -7 |
10 | Mark Martin | 87.00 | 10 | 0 |
11 | Mark Webber | 85.29 | 15 | 4 |
12 | Scott Dixon | 84.50 | 16 | 4 |
13 | Kurt Busch | 83.55 | 5 | -8 |
14 | Danica Patrick | 83.33 | 13 | -1 |
15 | Brad Keselowski | 83.20 | 14 | -1 |
16 | Jeff Gordon | 80.55 | 17 | 1 |
17 | Kyle Busch | 79.46 | 18 | 1 |
18 | Carl Edwards | 79.24 | 21 | 3 |
19 | Matt Crafton | 79.00 | 27 | 8 |
20 | Matt Kenseth | 78.69 | 20 | 0 |
21 | Jeff Burton | 78.63 | 22 | 1 |
22 | Timo Glock | 78.43 | 19 | -3 |
23 | Denny Hamlin | 78.18 | 12 | -11 |
24 | Dan Wheldon | 78.17 | 23 | -1 |
25 | Joey Logano | 77.15 | 24 | -1 |
26 | Greg Biffle | 76.93 | 28 | 2 |
27 | Juan Montoya | 75.64 | 31 | 4 |
28 | Fernando Alonso | 74.00 | 25 | -3 |
29 | Kasey Kahne | 73.27 | 26 | -3 |
30 | Nico Rosberg | 72.57 | 33 | 3 |
31 | Sebastian Vettel | 72.00 | 36 | 5 |
32 | David Reutimann | 70.85 | 43 | 11 |
33 | Marco Andretti | 70.00 | 44 | 11 |
34 | Tony Kanaan | 69.83 | 35 | 1 |
35 | Jason Keller | 69.30 | 30 | -5 |
36 | Steve Wallace | 69.10 | 38 | 2 |
37 | Marcos Ambrose | 68.36 | 54 | 17 |
38 | Justin Allgaier | 67.60 | 39 | 1 |
39 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | 67.07 | 32 | -7 |
40 | Jarno Trulli | 66.29 | 53 | 13 |
41 | Johnny Benson Jr | 66.00 | 47 | 6 |
42 | Ron Hornaday Jr | 65.80 | 29 | -13 |
43 | Brian Vickers | 65.40 | 34 | -9 |
44 | Clint Bowyer | 65.36 | 40 | -4 |
45 | Rick Crawford | 65.20 | 62 | 17 |
46 | Jamie McMurray | 64.91 | 45 | -1 |
47 | Sam Hornish Jr | 64.73 | 63 | 16 |
48 | Martin Truex Jr | 63.82 | 42 | -6 |
49 | Kevin Harvick | 63.00 | 37 | -12 |
50 | Jason White | 62.80 | 78 | 28 |
Previous Unified Power Rankings:
Week 23
Week 22
Week 21
Week 20