Week Two Power Rankings

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PowerRankings_wk2

In this week’s edition of the Power Rankings, we take a look back at week number two of the season. We’ll see which drivers backed up their good start from week 1,  which drivers had good runs to work their way into the rankings, and which drivers fell out of the rankings. Week 1 was impressive with a total car count of 98 cars across all four divisions, but in week 2 we eclipsed that number with 100 total cars in our races.

Let’s take a look at the Week 2 Power Rankings:

10. Clay Snider (Prev Rank: NR (+))
Clay was in our preseason rankings but dropped out last week with only 1 top 10 in all 4 divisions. This week he started things off by finishing 4th in both the Legends and Street Stocks, and then had a decent run in the Pro Late Model race with a top 10. He found trouble in the SLM race, but if he can avoid that he should continue to rack up top 10’s across the board.

9. Derek Robinson (Prev Rank: NR (+))
Derek started off the week by picking up the win in the Legends race on the Irwindale Inner track, then he backed it by running up front in the SLM race the whole night. He would run well within the top 5 all race long and ended up finishing in the 6th spot. We know Derek can run up front in any division he runs, but we’ll see if he can work his way to the front of these power rankings.

8. James Linkiewicz (Prev Rank: 6th (-2))
James came in at #6 in our rankings last week with a couple of top 10 finishes to begin the season, and he would start out this week the same way with a 7th place finish in the Pro Late Model Race. He would start near the back of the SLM race and was working his way forward before getting caught up in a wreck near half way, relegating him to a 28th place finish. We’ll see if James can recover next week.

7. Kenny Lindsley (Prev Rank: NR (+))
Kenny joined us for last week’s Pro Late Model opener and finished off the night with a strong 3rd place finish. This week he didn’t have as much luck in the PLM race as he wrecked out early. But Kenny backed that up in the SLM race with one of the strongest runs in a race that we’ve had. He started 30th on the grid after a glitch didn’t allow him to grid in his spot, and as the race went on, he worked his way all the way up to the front as he moved up 28 spots to a 2nd place finish. His strong run in the SLM race outweighed his PLM finish, which moves him into these rankings. If he can stay out of trouble, he should continue to be battling up front this season.

6. Jeff Bye Jr. (Prev Rank: NR (+))
Jeff started out the SLM season by picking himself up a top 5 finish at Richmond. This week at Irwindale he would run near the front all race long and got up as far as second place during the course of the race, before ending the race with a 3rd place finish. A former Street Stock champion with us, Jeff has quietly proven that he can run up front each week so far, and is 1 of just 3 drivers to finish top 5 in both SLM races to this point. Heading into next week’s race at Oxford, we expect Jeff to be battling for the win.

5. Matt Rolfe (Prev Rank: 7th (+2))
Matt had a solid start across the board in week 1, and he started off week 2 with some good runs as well. He finished 3rd in the Legends race, worked his way back up to a 7th place finish in the Street Stocks after being a lap down, and then worked his way up to 3rd in the Pro Late Model race. He would then pick up the heat race win for this week’s race at Irwindale, but would get caught up in a wreck dropping him to a 20th place finish. When Matt stays out of trouble, he usually finds his way near the front of the field.

4. Jacob Linkiewicz (Prev Rank: 4th)
Jacob came in at #4 last week in the rankings, and this week he remains in that spot. He didn’t have a great start to the week after wrecking out of the Pro Late Model race in the early laps. But in the Super Late Model race, he proved that he could run out front. He inherited the pole position for the race, and took full advantage by jumping out to the lead and led the field for a total of 76 laps. Although he dropped to a 8th place finish at the end, he showed some serious strength in the early laps while he was out front.

3. Justin Brooks (Prev Rank: 2nd (-1))
There’s no doubt that Justin is fast and you can normally find him near the front of the field, but he would find trouble this week. He led the Street Stock race in the early going, but wrecked out before lap 20. He ran 2nd in the Pro Late Model for a good portion of the race before finally making it up to the lead, but would get caught up in a wreck with a lapped car late in the race. Justin’s finishes this week weren’t very good, but they don’t show how well he was running in those races. He’ll look to recover next week’s races and we should see him up front again.

2. Todd Garren (Prev Rank: 3rd (+1))
Todd had impressive start to the season last week with a 5th place finish in the Pro Late Model race, and then a 2nd in the SLM race. He only ran one race this week, in the SLM series, but he again showed speed as he ran within the top 5 all night long. In the early laps he ran in the 2nd spot, and hung on for a 4th place finish at the end of it. Todd has run up front in all 3 events he’s run with us so far, and we look for him to continue that trend.

1. Trey Jarrell (Prev Rank: 1st)
Trey swept both the Pro Late Model race, and the Super Late Model race last week at Richmond, and he continued his dominance this week as he swept both races at Irwindale as well. What made it more impressive is that it wasn’t quite as easy this week as he had to do more work to earn the wins. In the SLM race, Trey started 15th on the grid after finishing 6th in his heat race. He would slowly work his way towards the front and took the lead by lap 78 and never looked back. He’ll have his work cut out for him next week though as he’ll have to start in the back of the PLM race as we begin our handicap lineups, and he’ll again have to qualify through a heat race for the SLM race. But it looks like no matter what we throw at Trey, he should be running up front and battling for the win week-in and week-out.

New this week: (Name – finishes)
Derek Robinson – 1st Leg, 6th SLM
Clay Snider – 4th Leg, 4th SS, 10th PLM, 17th SLM
Kenny Lindsley – 27th PLM, 2nd SLM
Jeff Bye Jr – 3rd SLM

Dropped out: (Name – finishes)
Travis Warling – 2nd Leg, 16th SS
Jarrett Lawrence – 9th Leg, 26th PLM
Anthony Celentano – 17th PLM, 21st SLM
Ronald Williams – 21st SS, 23rd PLM, 25th SLM