Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team power rankings after California

FONTANA, CA - MARCH 26: Kyle Larson (42) Target Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing slides into the infield grass after winning the race at the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series - Auto Club 400 on March 26, 2017 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA. Kyle Larson sweeps weekend races with a win in Xfinity race on Saturday. (Photo by Lyle Setter/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

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FONTANA, CA – MARCH 26: Race winner Kyle Larson (42) Target Chevrolet, Chip Ganassi Racing leads Martin Truex Jr (78) Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Toyota, Furniture Row Racing down pit lane after caution flag for Brad Keselowski wreck at the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series – Auto Club 400 on March 26, 2017 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA. Kyle Larson sweeps both weekend races. (Photo by Lyle Setter/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Anyone can do NASCAR driver power rankings, so let’s see how the teams stack up.

The funny thing about NASCAR is that it’s an individual sport that is very much a team sport at the same time. This is true within a single race car’s operation, as a driver can’t win without the efforts of the crew chief, pit crew and all the people at the shop, but also within the stables of cars owned by the same people (you just can’t drive like a team on the track, as the now defunct Michael Waltrip Racing found out back in 2013).

Despite this unique dynamic, it’s pretty common to see fans pulling for all the drivers from one team, and since driver power rankings are way too easy — just point people to the current standings — we thought it would be fun for FanSided to make NASCAR team power rankings a weekly feature.

First some methodology: feel free to hit the arrow up top or the big ‘Next’ button below if you feel like skipping it. We’re simply taking the points and adding them up for the top two drivers on each team while noting the number of wins where appropriate. The top two drivers in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points at any given time count toward their team power ranking spot, meaning who is contributing toward the ranking could change as the season goes on.

Does that give the four-car teams an edge? It could, but that’s sort of true in real life as well (though not so far in 2017). The only other rules are we aren’t ranking single-car teams (sorry Ryan Blaney, even though you’re awesome) and a team has to have at least one driver in the top 25 in points to make the list, which so far disqualifies the likes of Front Row Motorsports and JTG Daugherty Racing. Hope to see that change as the season wears on.

That leaves us with eight teams to rank following the Auto Club 400 in California, so let’s get to it.

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