2013 Sprint Cup Series Power Rankings: Top 10 Championship Contenders

2013 Sprint Cup Series Power Rankings: Top 10 Championship Contenders: The summer months are officially upon us, and the increasingly warmer weather has already begun to make an impact in the Cup Series. The hot temperatures make the track surfaces slick and fast, and the way the cars handle can change quite drastically as a result. Not surprisingly, certain drivers tend to excel during this portion of the season while others start to fade, and the playoff picture really begins to take shape as drivers set themselves up for a run at a title in the fall. The halfway point of the 2013 Sprint Cup season is just a few weeks away, and here is a closer look at the drivers that have established themselves as legitimate title contenders.

2013 Sprint Cup Series Power Rankings: Top 10 Championship Contenders

1.      Jimmie Johnson: He won the Daytona 500 to open the year and hasn’t slowed down since. Johnson has amassed a massive 51-point lead in the standings thanks to a series-leading 7 top-five finishes and a series-best 8.1 average finish. Meanwhile, his three victories are tied for the most in the series. Nobody can keep up with him right now.

2.      Matt Kenseth: His three wins tie him with Jimmie Johnson for the most in the series, and Kenseth has been able to lead laps in all but three of the 14 races this season. Based on pure speed, he has been the only driver capable of going toe to toe with Johnson on a regular basis. However, recurring engine issues have to be corrected if he is going to win the championship.

3.      Kyle Busch: Busch has notched two wins already this season, and his six top-five finishes are the second most in the series. He has also led the most laps in four races in 2013. Unfortunately, he has had his share of bad luck, as well. From engine issues to a camera cable literally falling out of the sky and slicing up the side of his car while he was leading, Busch has seen some potential slip away for reasons out of his control. If he can avoid the bad luck come playoff time, he has the speed to win the Sprint Cup.

4.      Carl Edwards: While he hasn’t exactly been dominant, Edwards has been showing the type of consistency that nearly won him titles in 2008 and 2011. His 11.1 average finish is the second best in the series, and he hasn’t finished worse than 18th since the season opener at Daytona. Edwards probably doesn’t have the speed right now to beat the top drivers on a regular basis, but he might be able to outlast them with his steady finishes week in and week out.

5.      Brad Keselowski: After opening the year with four straight top-five finishes, the defending series champ has been running hot and cold. Keselowski has four finishes outside the top 20, including three outside the top 30, in his last 10 starts. He also remains winless in 2013. He still has time to recapture his championship form, but right now, something is missing.

6.      Kevin Harvick: He has been one of the more consistent drivers all seasons, and lately, Harvick has been on a roll. He has finished in the top 15 in every race with the exception of the two plate track events, and he has won two of the past six races. Harvick has shown throughout his career that his consistency will put him in position to contend for a title, but he will need to continue to win races and finish in the top five if he wants to get over the hump.

7.      Clint Bowyer: Bowyer has yet to have a statement performance in 2013, but his 11.9 average finish is the third best in the series. He has finished in the top 10 in seven of the 14 races thus far, but on the flip side, he has yet to find victory lane. Ultimately, Bowyer will have to start finishing in the top five more often if he wants to win a title this season, but for the time being, he is setting himself up nicely to make the Chase.

8.      Dale Earnhardt Jr.: The good news for Junior is that he currently owns the fourth-best average finish in the Cup Series, and his nine top-10s are tied for the most of any driver. On the flip side, he has yet to win a race, and until a third-place run at Pocono last weekend, he has gone eight starts without a top-five finish. If Junior wants to be a serious title contender, he has to find a way to at least consistently challenge for wins.

9.      Kasey Kahne: There is no denying Kahne’s ability to deliver elite finishes. He has one win and five top-five finishes in 2013, and he has led the most laps three times thus far. The problem Kahne has is that when he isn’t running at the front of the field, he is usually having a disastrous day. He has to find a way to play damage control on the days when things aren’t going his way because one terrible finish in the Chase can offset a bunch of great ones.

10.  Tony Stewart: Through the first 10 races of the season, Stewart was having the worst season of his career. In the last four races, he has scored the second-most points of any driver and gone to victory lane at Dover. It is looking more and more like the three-time series champ is about to go on one of his summer surges, and considering 37 of his 48 career wins have come after the 14th race of the year, his best is likely yet to come.

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