Kyle Larson has risen to the top of the power rankings following his victory Sunday at Indianapolis. He survived a pit-road issue and undoubtedly need some luck to play into their strategy, but he finished the job with a superb car for his fourth win of the season.
The NASCAR Cup Series is taking an unusual two-week hiatus (NBC requires its channel lineup to cover the Olympics). Here’s my advise for these teams for the next two weeks.
1. Kyle Larson (Last Week: 5)
Cup series title odds: +450
Larson has four wins this year, but it could be even more than that. The team had good fortune at Indianapolis. Whatever they did prerace or any change in the routine or even what they ate for breakfast, they need to write it down and make sure they do it again over the final 14 weeks.
2. Denny Hamlin (LW: 1)
Cup series title odds: +450
Hamlin’s team can’t worry about the misfortune of the last month or so. He has had fast cars and just needs to continue with that. Hamlin’s been in this sport long enough to know it is what it is.
3. Tyler Reddick (LW: 4)
Cup series title odds: +1400
Reddick is getting married during the break. The only advice is to enjoy it.
4. Ryan Blaney (LW: 3)
Cup series title odds: +800
Blaney has had similar bad luck to Hamlin at times this year, but Blaney seems to get more angry, at least in the moment. His team needs to have Bob Marley’s “Don’t Worry” on a loop to play on the team radio.
5. Chase Elliott (LW: 2)
Cup series title odds: +1000
Elliott has been one of the most consistently strong drivers as his average finish of 10.5 is tops in the series this year. But he only has won one race. He really shouldn’t sweat too much, but he does need to find a way to capitalize on his best days.
6. Christopher Bell (LW: 7)
Cup series title odds: +450
Some weeks Bell seems unbeatable and other weeks he is a top-10 car that barely makes any noise. He needs to go run some sprint cars just to go have some fun, but his Joe Gibbs Racing team doesn’t let him.
7. William Byron (LW: 6)
Cup series title odds: +600
Byron needs to find a golden horseshoe or really any horseshoe to turn around his luck. He’s having another little bit of a summer slump, so maybe just flipping the calendar to August will do the trick.
8. Alex Bowman (LW: 8)
Cup series title odds: +2500
Bowman can spend the next two weeks having good laughs with the monkey he threw off his back after snapping an 80-race winless streak at Chicago.
9. Brad Keselowski (LW: NR)
Cup series title odds: +2000
Keselowski can join Bowman with the monkey he threw off his back after snapping a 110-race winless streak earlier this year. But he’d probably be better off focusing on any business aspects of RFK Racing that need his attention because in about a month or so, his focus will need to be strictly on the playoffs.
10. Todd Gilliland (LW: NR)
Cup series title odds: +100000
Gilliland should petition NASCAR to move races to the next two weeks, he is on such a run of strong finishes. A young driver who already has experienced the ups and downs of the sport, he should be relishing the upside at the moment.
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