NASCAR Power Rankings: Austin Cindric starts out tops

The Daytona 500 always has the ability to deliver a surprise.

It delivered again Sunday, giving us 23-year-old Austin Cindric as the next driver to hoist the Harley J. Earl Trophy.

For winning the biggest race of the year, Cindric starts the year as No. 1 in the NBC Sports NASCAR Power Rankings.

1.  Austin Cindric: He continues Team Penske’s run of dominance on the superspeedways. The organization has won three of the past four races on the big tracks. And that streak could easily be five in a row: Brad Keselowski (now at RFK Racing) and Joey Logano wrecked each other out of a win in last year’s Daytona 500, and they finished second and third behind Bubba Wallace last fall at Talladega.

2. Brad Keselowski: His first Daytona 500 as a driver/owner had its ups and downs. On two occasions, his pushes ended in crashes; one driver he pushed, rookie Harrison Burton, ended up on his roof. But Keselowski also led a race-high 67 laps and had a shot to win on the final lap. It wasn’t to be. Between Sunday’s performance and a Duel victory Thursday, Keselowski has much to feel good about his Speedweek, incidents notwithstanding. But a “500” victory remains elusive.

3. Martin Truex Jr.: Damage from a crash with 50 laps to go kept Truex from contending for a win. Before then, he swept both stages, which helped put him third in Cup points behind Cindric and Keselowski leaving Daytona. His move to win Stage 2 was particularly good: As Logano pushed Chase Briscoe, Truex got a big run off Turn 4. He tacked inside of Logano and beat him through the tri-oval to the line.

4. Ryan Blaney: After Penske teammate Cindric blocked him off Turn 4 on the final lap, Blaney said he wasn’t sure if that was fair or foul but noted that you have to block