Power Ranking After: Phoenix

Ten drivers spent 25 or more weeks in the Fantasy Power Rankings Top 10 this year. All but Clint Bowyer are still counted in that group as the series rolls into the final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

It pays to peak at the right time.

Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr. hope that is true. Mired a little deeper in this list, Kyle Busch won last week at ISM Raceway in the Can Am 500k and believes he has an equally good shot at winning the championship.

Fantasy owners can look to the Championship 4 as the most likely contenders to earn maximum points this week, but inevitably one of them is going to make a mistake or be stricken by bad luck in the Ford 400.

1. Joey Logano (Last week: 1)
Weeks in the top 10: 26
FPR#: 5.80
Last week, Logano raised eyebrows when he proclaimed himself the favorite to win the championship. With one of the best pit crews in the business, we are actually inclined to believe him because his Driver Rating and Average Running Positions have been among the best in the past 60 days.

2. Kevin Harvick (Last week: 2)
Weeks in the top 10: 35
FPR#: 6.41
Harvick sustained damage at the end of Stage 1 at Phoenix when his right front tire went flat and he was forced to drag the splitter back to the pits. It hurt the handling of his car, but not enough to keep him from scoring a top-five and advancing to the Championship 4.

3. Martin Truex Jr. (Last week: 7)
Weeks in the top 10: 30
FPR #: 6.79
Truex’s 14th-place finish last week at Phoenix was a product of him not wanting to press his luck in the closing laps. He played it safe, but not before ensuring he would be among the Championship 4 – pitting after Kurt Busch and Chase Elliott crashed in the final stage.

4. Brad Keselowski (Last week: 4)
Weeks in the top 10: 31
FPR#: 7.58
Team Penske does not have a very good record at ISM Raceway so no one expected Keselowski to challenge for a top-five. In fact, he had a legitimate shot at being the first non-playoff driver to win in 2018 before finishing second. That was his second top-five in the past three races.

5. Kurt Busch (Last week: 3)
Weeks in the top 10: 36
FPR#: 7.63
Busch will end the season as the only driver to be part of the Fantasy Power Rankings Top 10 all year. He’s accomplished the feat with consistency, but rarely was dominant enough to place him front-of-mind for a majority of fantasy owners. That in turn made him a good value in salary cap games when he was rightly-priced.

6. Kyle Busch (Last week: 6)
Weeks in the top 10: 34
FPR#: 7.70
Busch did not have the best car for most of last week’s race at Phoenix, but he got track position late in the going and won. He now has momentum entering the season finale at Homestead and is considered a co-favorite alongside Harvick by Vegas odds makers to win the championship.

7. Chase Elliott (Last week: 5)
Weeks in the top 10: 20
FPR#: 7.82
Elliott was in great shape to win last week at Phoenix after Harvick damaged his car. The No. 9 was caught speeding on pit road in the final stage and that put him back in the eye of the storm. Denny Hamlin triggered a multi-car accident and eliminated Elliott from championship contention in the Round of 8 for the second consecutive year.

8. Aric Almirola (Last week: 9)
Weeks in the top 10: 11
FPR#: 8.93
With a fourth-place finish last week at Phoenix, Almirola has one top-five in each round of the playoffs. His consistency was good enough to get him to the Round of 8, but he needed to win at ISM Raceway in order to advance to the Championship 4 and that did not happen.

9. Ryan Blaney (Last week: 8)
Weeks in the top 10: 29
FPR#: 9.33
Since the start of the playoffs, Blaney has earned one victory, two more top-fives, a seventh, and an 11th. He has also finished 20th or worse on three occasions in nine events and that has made him a difficult proposition to place-and-hold in most fantasy games.

10. Kyle Larson (Last week: 10)
Weeks in the top 10: 33
FPR#: 9.81
Larson has one more opportunity to win in 2018. The consensus throughout his career is that Homestead is one of his better tracks and this week he enters with three consecutive top-fives there including a career-best second to Jimmie Johnson in 2016.

Big Movers outside the Top 10

24. Chris Buescher (Last week: 26)
Weeks in the top 10: 0
FPR#: 23.19
Fantasy games are often won by utility picks. Buescher has finished in the front half of the pack in three of his last four attempts with a best of 13th at Martinsville three weeks ago.

15. Erik Jones (Last week: 13)
Weeks in the top 10: 9
FPR#: 14.19
Jones was one of the best values in the middle of the season, but inconsistency has cost players points in two of the three races in the Round of 8.