NASCAR
Ryan McGee, ESPN Senior Writer 6y

Power Rankings: Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick are Nos. 1 and 2

NASCAR

We're eight races into the 2018 NASCAR Cup series season, and what better time than the present to stack up the drivers. ESPN's Ryan McGee ranked the top 10 teams last month, and now he's back to rank the top 16 drivers in the Cup series just in time for Saturday's race at Richmond International Raceway (6:30 p.m. ET, Fox).

Biggest mover: Clint Bowyer jumps 10 spots, from 13th to third. | Biggest loser: Jimmie Johnson falls nine spots, from sixth to 15th. | New this month: Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon, Aric Almirola, Ryan Newman. | Dropped out: Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez, Jamie McMurray, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Also considered: Paul Menard, William Byron, Darrell Wallace Jr., Jim Cantore

1. Kyle Busch

Preseason: 1 | Top-10s: 7

He's won two in a row, has seven top-10s in eight races and is the active career leader in Richmond wins (four) and average finish (7.4). So yeah, he's No. 1. Then again, Kyle could tell you he's No. 1 because of all the fans who raise a single-finger salute at him on race weekends.

2. Kevin Harvick

Preseason: 5 | Top-10s: 6

I'm sure that KH and his blue oval stablemates are plenty "Happy" about Ford's decision to bring the Mustang to the Cup series in 2019. Then again, his old Fusion has already won three races and Ford drivers hold down seven of the top 11 spots in points.

3. Clint Bowyer

Preseason: 13 | Top-10s: 5

As great as Bowyer's Martinsville win was, it's only part of a larger streak of five straight top-11 finishes, the most remarkable being his efforts at Texas and Bristol. Why? Because he was still hung over from celebrating Martinsville.

4. Martin Truex Jr.

Preseason: 2 | Top-10s: 5

The Clam Prince of New Jersey has had back-to-back awful weekends, but before that he'd posted five straight top-5s and is still one of only five drivers to win a race this season. He's never been great at Richmond but did lead 198 laps at RIR last fall.

5. Joey Logano

Preseason: 9 | Top-10s: 7

It was one year ago this weekend that JoLo won at Richmond, only to be thrown by NASCAR into the "encumbered win" ditch that he has just now managed to dig his way out of.

6. Ryan Blaney

Preseason: 10 | Top-10s: 5

Don't sweat his 35th-place finish at Bristol. Prior to that he'd racked up three straight top-8 runs. Plus, he probably found it hard to concentrate on Bristol after meeting that freaky doppelganger fan. That and he hadn't slept all week re-watching the new Solo trailer.

7. Denny Hamlin

Preseason: 8 | Top-10s: 4

Hambone always enters short-track season with a big ol' smile on his face. So far that smile has a fat lip and is missing teeth, finishing 12th and 14th at Martinsville and Bristol. Now he arrives at Richmond, his hometown track, where he has a streak of five top-6 finishes.

8. Brad Keselowski

Preseason: 4 | Top-10s: 4

One year ago, BK led 110 laps at Richmond and finished second. But wait, if Logano's win was encumbered, does that mean BK was the actual winner? Or because they're teammates was he encumbered, too? Can second be encumbered? Man, aren't you glad NASCAR no longer uses the term encumbered?

9. Kyle Larson

Preseason: 3 | Top-10s: 4

Young Money has three finishes of third or better and three finishes of 18th or worse. After finishing second at Bristol he returns to Richmond, where he won last September.

10. Kurt Busch

Preseason: NR | Top-10s: 3

Kurt Busch fans were very angry with me when I didn't include him in our preseason top 16. Now perhaps they will no longer be angry with me. Oh, who am I kidding? Kurt Busch fans will always be angry with me.

11. Austin Dillon

Preseason: NR | Top-10s: 2

Dillon has struggled to find his groove thus far in 2018, thanks to ... ugh ... wait ... sorry, I was about to share some statistics with you, but I can't see them because of the glare coming off his Daytona 500 ring.

12. Alex Bowman

Preseason: 16 | Top-10s: 2

Don't look now, but the guy who replaced Junior has two top-10 finishes over the past three races and is inching his way toward the top 10 in points. Oh, and he's easily the highest-ranked Hendrick Motorsports driver.

13. Aric Almirola

Preseason: NR | Top-10s: 3

The Bacon King earned his third top-10 of the season at Bristol, meaning he's already halfway to matching his top-10 total for the entirety of 2017...and has already matched Danica Patrick's best-ever season total in that car.

14. Erik Jones

Preseason: 11 | Top-10s: 4

Jones is the third Joe Gibbs Racing driver to make our rankings, with teammate Daniel Suarez barely missing the cut. This is particularly impressive because it is my understanding via Coach Gibbs that the air guns given to JGR from NASCAR are powered by rubber bands and a recycled AAA battery.

15. Jimmie Johnson

Preseason: 6 | Top-10s: 2

After the standard they've set for themselves, no one on the No. 48 team is celebrating a third-place run at Bristol. OK, you know what? Yeah, actually, at this point they probably are.

16. Ryan Newman

Preseason: NR | Top-10s: 2

I looked at the final box score from Bristol, saw Newman had finished 10th, and was reminded of the great scene in "Tombstone" when Doc Holliday looks over at Johnny Tyler and says, "Oh, I apologize, I forgot you were there."

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