Dale Earnhardt Jr reveals 'odd' NASCAR power ranking

NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr has issued a definitive ranking of who is currently running the championship in the Cup Series after the opening stages of the season.

Earnhardt Jr remains a popular figure in the sport and certainly keeps on top of all the drama via his podcast and during a recent episode of The Dale Jr. Download, he admitted that Chevrolet’s Hendrick Motorsports, Ford’s Team Penske and Toyota’s Joe Gibbs Racing are running the Cup Series as things stand, although he admitted he would struggle to put them in an exact order after an uncharacteristically positive start for Penske.

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Speaking on the recent episode, Earnhardt Jr said: "I think Hendrick up until this race [Kansas], this is my opinion before the race, Penske was the fastest, which is odd because usually that’s them at the end of the year. I don’t know what that means for them at the end of this year because they’re rarely this quick early in the season. Hendrick is the most consistent and very boring."

"Now, Larson‘s kicking ass, having a great year, running good, got great statistics... His mile-and-a-half average finish is like 4.5. The next best driver is 10th."

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Last time out, Larson drove the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to victory, having led 221 laps, claiming the record for the most of anyone at the track in a single race by doing so.

Reflecting on the team's star driver, Earnhardt Jr continued: "Excluding Larson, HMS has been monotonous, just prodding... So, I would say they’re kind of the No. 2 team to me and Gibbs to me, I know Christopher Bell has been awesome but they’re up and down. Here, lately, they’ve kind of been more down than up. They’re all very close, I’m not saying there’s a massive advantage for one or the other, they’re the three teams that I look at. You’ll have a Trackhouse pop off and get a top-five or maybe win a race. 23XI is the same thing but they’re the B-teams. They’re second-tier teams to me."

"After this race though, I got to say it’s about even now,” he admitted following the action in Kansas.

"I know it’s one damn race and this sport sort of ebbs and flows week-to-week, we've got a new championship favorite every f****** two weeks, but that’s a fun conversation to me to rank the teams, grade the teams, judge the organizations because this Next Gen car and how it’s such a kit car, has made that conversation relevant.

"I guess after the end of that race, I guess even during the middle of that race, when Chase Elliott drove to the front of the field, I’m like, ‘This is f****** impressive.’ I haven’t seen the speed out of his car, haven’t seen this kind of speed out of many of the HMS cars outside of Larson.

"But Bowman drove up to the front of the field earlier in the race, Byron was probably going to be a contender had the tire not blown. They were strong. And I think that looks good for them [Hendrick] going into Charlotte. I really do. I think we’ll see somewhat similar speeds and performance from these organizations at the next race."

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