SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Power Rankings – 2/28

A second place performance in a photo finish at Atlanta kept the defending champion out of Victory Lane for the first time this season. But it    has been a very solid start to the year for the Team Penske driver.

The Richard Childress Racing fought back from adversity to finish 12th at Daytona and followed that up with another very good outing at Atlanta Motor Speedway where he came up just short of winning in the race’s three-wide finish.

The Daytona 500 winner didn’t have the best follow-up to “The Great American Race” at Atlanta in a day that included a pit road incident with Michael McDowell and ended with a 17th place finish.

The only driver to finish in the top five in the first two races and Wallace followed his Daytona 500 performance with another impressive super speedway outing in Atlanta.

He has been one of the strongest drivers over the opening two races of the season leading laps and powering to the front. However Logano doesn’t have much to show for it after a pair of crashes and now potential a penalty for modifying one of his racing gloves.

Yes he finished 23rd in Atlanta but Hamlin continually came back from adversity including accidents to actually lead 15 laps on Sunday. But the Joe Gibbs Racing driver has to find a way to take strong cars to the finish.

A pit road speeding penalty, one of many drivers that were pegged by NASCAR, forced Chastain into catch-up mode in Atlanta. He did to the tune of a seventh place finish.

The No. 2 ride out of Team Penske has been pretty sporty in the opening two races of the season with Cindric right in the mix at Daytona and Atlanta.He’s led 45 laps this year with a top-five finish in the mix.

Maybe an unlikely winner for some in Atlanta but for Trackhouse Racing it was a result of the team having faith in Suarez after a disappointing 2023 season. His win on Sunday for now has him in the Playoffs and sets the table to build more as the regular season wears on.

He said he had fun at Atlanta despite crashing and finishing 32nd. But Larson did lead 17 laps and after leaving Daytona with an 11th place finish, the Hendrick Motorsports driver has to feel better about super speedway racing than in recent years.