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Power Rankings: Harvick's on-track pragmatism keeps him at No. 1

Kevin Harvick trails Joey Logano in this picture, but he leads him in Power Rankings. (Getty)
Kevin Harvick trails Joey Logano in this picture, but he leads him in Power Rankings. (Getty)

Welcome to Power Rankings. As always, Power Rankings are far from a scientific formula. In fact, it’s the perfect blend of analytics and bias against your favorite driver. Direct all your complaints to us at happyhourmailbag@yahoo.com and we’ll try to have some fun.

1. Kevin Harvick (LW: 1): Harvick stays at No. 1 this week because of his incredibly smart decision to get off the gas when Denny Hamlin sliced in front of him in the tri-oval on the final lap. Harvick had every right to keep his foot on the gas pedal and potentially send Hamlin spinning off his bumper. But that decision could’ve had catastrophic consequences in the form of a massive wreck.

And it would have been the second-straight time a Talladega Chase race ended with a crash off Harvick’s bumper. Thankfully we’re not going through that again. But his apparent punch of Kurt Busch after the race is weird. And if it was really a punch, it’s the third-straight year that Harvick has been in a physical Chase altercation.

2. Joey Logano (LW: 6): Logano makes a four-spot leap in the standings because of his win on Sunday. Given where the four drivers behind him in the standings entering Talladega finished, Logano didn’t have to win the race. But he made his Chase advancement scenarios easy by doing so.

The Penske cars haven’t had the outright speed that others have had, especially at intermediate tracks. But it’s important to remember that Logano had the best car at Martinsville last year. If he has that speed again on Sunday, watch out. There’s no Matt Kenseth looking for revenge.

3. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 2): Johnson helped Chase Elliott for part of Sunday’s race and ended up finishing 23rd. Again, much like drivers we’ll get to in a bit, there was no reason for Johnson to get up to the front and potentially mess his car up.

When you have nothing to lose at Talladega, the aggressive strategy is to go for the win and see what the hell happens. And as Logano showed last year, you can do that and win a race. But it’s obviously a strategy that has a 1-in-40 shot of happening. Playing the odds is never a bad idea.

4. Kurt Busch (LW: 4): The man who might have been on a receiving end of a jab from a teammate finished fourth, just feet behind Denny Hamlin for third. Busch was, of course, racing hard for that third spot and you have to wonder just how much he wishes he could’ve had the extra few feet to finish third. Nothing against Austin Dillon, but wouldn’t you rather race Dillon in the round of eight than Hamlin?

(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

5. Denny Hamlin (LW: 11): Hamlin advanced to the third round of the Chase with an average finish of 16th in the second round. Again, this is why it pays to be conservative early in the Chase. You can make it to the round of eight simply by finishing in the top 20 every week.

Hamlin, of course, didn’t do that. He was 30th at Charlotte and had a potential top-five run derailed at Kansas with myriad issues. But thanks to that third at Talladega, he’s advancing because of a tiebreaker.

6 (TIE): Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth: There was no reason for us to break up the three Joe Gibbs Racing drivers for Power Rankings. Did you really want breakdowns of their 28th, 29th and 30th place finishes? OK, so we could have simply done a mad libs format, but that’s no fun.

There is absolutely no way to rationally and logically complain about what the three did at Talladega. They put their short-term gains (winning the race) on the backburner for the long-term gain (the championship) absolutely perfectly. The strategy could have backfired, of course, but it’s also important to note that the three would have charged forward if necessary.

9. Austin Dillon (LW: 9): Anyone else wondering if Dillon was going to make a run in the championship similar to teammate Ryan Newman did in 2014? His statistics compared to Newman’s that season are remarkably similar.

Dillon has four top-five finishes and 13 top 10s. Newman had three top fives and 14 top 10s with four races to go in 2014. And as you know, Newman finished one spot from the championship in 2014. The closest Dillon will finish to the title is fifth.

10. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 7): That damn Truex luck struck again with a blown engine ruining his title hopes. Truex had one of the best cars early in the race and looked to be in position to advance. Had he stayed near the front, anyway.

It’s hard for a car to stay near the front of the field with a broken engine.

11. Brad Keselowski (LW: 10): Keselowski is now on a run of two-straight 38th-place finishes. Not only does that mean he isn’t advancing to the third round of the Chase, he’s probably toast in a 10-race cumulative Chase format too. We rarely saw drivers recover from two horrible finishes.

Had his engine not blown up, the odds of Keselowski winning the race seemed higher than they did for anyone else. His car was incredibly good at staying up front. And when he did get passed he was able to make a move back pretty quickly.

12. Chase Elliott (LW: 12): Elliott ultimately finished 12th, but he gets credit for running up front when he could and making a statement. It’s just hard to be the only driver in a win-and-in situation. Everyone knows what you have to do. It also didn’t help that he got separated from wingman Jimmie Johnson, who was 11 spots behind.

Lucky Dog: Brian Scott’s second-place finish and first career top 10 finish means he’s a no-brainer for this spot. Will Scott get another top five in his career?

The DNF: Casey Mears was the only driver who didn’t finish the race because of a crash. He was 39th, between Keselowski and Truex.

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!