After so many years and so many rankings of pretty much the same dudes every week, we here at ESPN.com NASCAR headquarters, located beneath the pile of papers that constitutes Bob Pockrass's racetrack workspace, have decided to try something a little different this week. What are NASCAR's best teams through five Cup races?
To determine this, I used a highly non-scientific method that combines a team's wins, top-10 finishes, championship standings, and also all of the bad stuff. You know, like when you spend the entire weekend trying to get through tech inspection. After many hours and many sleeves of Goody's headache powders, this is the top 10 teams that I came up with.
1. Stewart-Haas Racing
Wins: 3 | Top-10s: 8
The four SHR rides sit nose-to-tail in points, ranked eighth through 12th, from Kevin Harvick to Clint Bowyer to Aric Almirola to Kurt Busch. The last three have scored a pair of top-10s apiece, including Bowyer's top-5 finish at Atlanta, which was big news because he already has one-sixth of the top-5s he scored during a 2017 season that felt like it was wearing one of those Harry Potter invisibility cloak thingies. Speaking of items powered by mysterious magic, it's Harvick who is boosting this bunch to the top of our first team rankings, via his three Cup wins in five weeks ... even if one of those wins is now a cucumber, or whatever it is that NASCAR is calling a "you got busted" victory these days.
2. Team Penske
Wins: 0 | Top-10s: 10
The Captain's three wafers actually sit ahead of SHR in the championship standings, with Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski, and new teammate Ryan Blaney sitting 3-4-5 in points. Their trio has scored more top-10s than the SHR foursome, but they have yet to do what Harvick has done. It should be noted that both teams have had all of this success driving Fords, which were supposed to be too old and too far behind newer Toyotas and even newer Chevys. Um ... nope.
3. Furniture Row Racing
Wins: 1 | Top-10s: 4
You know that scene from "Game of Thrones" when the one guy is standing there and daringly draws his sword to take on an onrushing army all by his lonesome? That's Martin Truex Jr. But I'm told that that guy in GoT actually held his own, and so is the defending Cup champ. Full disclosure: I don't actually watch GoT, but I did see that gif of the dude with the sword. And, wait, have I already mentioned Harry Potter and "Game of Thrones"? Dang. I'm a nerd.
4. Joe Gibbs Racing
Wins: 0 | Top-10s: 12
Oh yeah, I can already hear the complaining. It's true, Kyle Busch has been one of the three best cars this season. But ... he hasn't won a race yet. It's true, Denny Hamlin is one of only three drivers to score three top-5s. But ... he's sixth in the standings. Don't worry, JGR fans, you won't stay here long. Both Shrub and Hambone are going to win and soon. Plus, their new teammate, Erik Jones, is moving up in a hurry thanks to a three-race top-10 hot streak. Paging Daniel Suarez!
5. Richard Childress Racing
Wins: 1 | Top-10s: 3
Ryan Newman is already in full-on Ryan Newman mode, sitting 14th in points with an average finish of 14.6 for the season through five races. Ty Dillon is nowhere to be found, but as you might have heard, his big brother won a pretty big race back in February.
6. Chip Ganassi Racing
Wins: 0 | Top-10s: 3
Jamie McMurray hasn't yet rediscovered his 2017 stride (perhaps if McDonald's finally added the Egg White Delight to the all-day breakfast menu?), but Kyle Larson hasn't missed a beat, with a trio of top-10s and two top-3 finishes over the past three weekends. Perhaps you don't think three top-10s is a lot?
7. Hendrick Motorsports
Wins: 0 | Top-10s: 3
Well, three is precisely how many top-10s that the entirety of HMS has scored this season. Jimmie Johnson has one and Chase Elliott has two, both somehow ranked behind Alex Bowman, who is 16th in points with the same number of top-10 finishes as William Byron: zero. In the drivers' defense, it is hard to finish races up front when you spend all weekend stuck in tech inspection.
8. Wood Brothers Racing
Wins: 0 | Top-10s: 2
Yep, you're reading this right. Paul Menard has only one fewer top-10 than Hendrick Motorsports as a team.
9. Roush Fenway Racing
Wins: 0 | Top-10s: 0
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has quietly posted three top-18 finishes, which has allowed him to continue hovering just below the postseason cutoff line at 17th in points. Meanwhile, Trevor Bayne hasn't come anywhere close to the top-10 since a sixth-place run nine races ago, all the way back to early October 2017. That finish did come at Martinsville, so perhaps there will finally be good news soon. If not, the clock might be ticking on his once can't-miss career.
10. Richard Petty Motorsports
Wins: 0 | Top-10s: 1
Another one-car wonder, Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr., will also be looking for some Martinsville mojo to recapture the magic of Daytona. Running The King's classic STP colors in the STP 500 at the place where he captured two of his six career Truck series wins, the chances of a turnaround weekend seem pretty good.