Swift Lifestyles Power Rankings - Week 11 (Watkins Glen)

AREA Swift Lifestyles Pro Series
Weekly Power Rankings
Date: 1/10/22
Race 11 – Watkins Glen

Two races to go! The regular season of the AREA Swift Lifestyles Pro Series (“SLPS”) is almost completed, and race for the playoffs is as intriguing as ever. Last week, we had one driver – the #18 of Caleb Steimer – clinch his spot in the playoffs in an upset win in the Chop Shop 200 at Talladega. However, we had two formerly clinched drivers lose their chance at the playoffs, as three-time winner this season Jordan Herrley served a one-race suspension for an incident at Pocono and Rick Christensen missed his third race, both knocking them under the required minimum starts to be in the final 12.

The Herrley and Christensen shakeup in the playoff hunt is real – there are now only eighteen drivers who are still on track to meet the minimum start requirement for the twelve driver playoffs.

A look at the projected playoffs as they stand now:

1. Matthew Robinson (x – Homestead, Iowa)
2. James Schanewolf (x – Pocono)
3. Nick Halda (x – Daytona)
4. Caleb Steimer (x – Talladega)
5. Forrest Smith - 342
6. Brian Dixon - 319
7. Gary Lewis Jr. - 312
8. Bobby Tinch - 306
9. Sean Corcoran - 300
10. JJ Wang - 300
11. Eli Greene - 281
12. Trevor Williams - 270

There are four drivers in striking distance for the final spot now held by Williams: Rick Ward (-8), Dominic DiLeo (-11), Jerimy Horn (-13) and Dustin Carroll (-22).

This week the ARCA Gang heads to Watkins Glen. The first road course of the schedule for the Swift Lifestyles Pro Series is an eight-turn track, and the different style of track could lead to some interesting results. There will be no cautions in the race, except for a competition caution scheduled halfway through.

Of the playoff eligible drivers, three have a road iRating over 1500 – Wang (2074), Horn (1582) and Schanewolf (1514). Wang and Horn would really appreciate a win at this point in the season, and the race should be an exciting shakeup right before Charlotte! As always, coverage begins at 8:40 p.m. ET courtesy of One2Go Studios with Hunter Sleppy, Jacob Bell and Harold Darner on the call at https://www.twitch.tv/areairacing.

1 - #40, Matthew Robinson
JWRacing; Northern Capital/Trak Racer
Previous Rank: 1st (-)
Last Result: 4th – Talladega

In a race in which Talladega punished a lot of drivers in last week’s Top 10 in the rankings, Robinson was able to earn a Top 5 seemingly out of nowhere, and keep one of the most impressive streaks in AREA history alive: 10 straight Top 5 finishes. Robinson has a road iRating over 1100, so the streak is still very much in play tonight.

2 - #83, James Schanewolf
Audible Racing
Previous Rank: 3rd (+1)
Last Result: 24th – Talladega

Some hardware trouble plagued the #83 of Schanewolf at Talladega, but a low finish at a restrictor plate track is not enough to drop him in the rankings. He will look to rebound heading into the playoffs with his spot already clinched tonight at Watkins Glen.

3 - #84, Forrest Smith
OneMind2Design Motorsports
Previous Rank: 5th (+2)
Last Result: 5th – Talladega

Smith was able to finish Top 5 at Talladega after a late race strategy call almost paid off for the win, and with that, he’s had a streak of 4 straight top 10 finishes, and is arguably the hottest driver heading into the playoffs behind Robinson.

4 - #69 Gary Lewis
OneMind2Design Motorsports
Previous Rank: 6th (+2)
Last Result: 19th – Talladega

Lewis moves up two spots in the power rankings by way of Herrley’s suspension and Williams missing the Talladega race. Lewis had a tough time at Talladega from the start, but was able to salvage a Top 20 finish. He’s safely in the playoffs, and it looks like the OneMind2Design Motorsports team also has the team point standings championship in their sights.

5 - #1, Trevor Williams
JWRacing; Saloon Door Sports
Previous Rank: 4th (-1)
Last Result: 7th – Pocono

Williams’ big story is that he missed the Talladega race, which means he’s one missed start away from missing the playoffs. He has an eight point lead on Rick Ward at the moment, but DiLeo and Horn are arguably the bigger threats to Williams’ hold on the playoffs. With a tricky Watkins Glen to navigate, Williams has a chance to really solidify his hold on the final spot.

6 - #22, Sean Corcoran
Sampsin Motorsports; Northern Capital
Previous Rank: 7th (+1)
Last Result: 17th – Talladega

Corcoran has a 38 point lead over Ward, and unless things go really wrong, he’s very likely to be safe in the playoffs. He’s had 4 Top 10’s in his last 6 races despite finishing 17th at Talladega last week.

7 - #33, Brian Dixon
Previous Rank: 13th (+6)
Last Result: 3rd – Talladega

Dixon launches back into the Top 10 of the power rankings with a Top 3 finish at Talladega. He had a rough stretch with a 16th at Pocono and a missed race at Darlington the two weeks prior, but an average finish of 9.44 this season is nothing to ignore, and there’s a reason why he’s 6th in the points standings – he’s remarkably consistent. That 16th place finish at Pocono was his worst finish of the season.

8 - #81, Jerimy Horn
vADER Motorsports; Audible
Previous Rank: 12th (+4)
Last Result: 9th – Talladega

Horn has rocketed up the point standings and finds himself 13 points outside of the final spot. He’s done it with 7 straight Top 15 finishes, and 3 Top 10’s in the last 4 races. He’s become one of the more consistent drivers as the season has gone on, but needs a very strong two finishes to end the season to complete the comeback.

9 - #28, Eli Greene
Swift Lifestyles
Previous Rank: 8th (-1)
Last Result: 9th – Pocono

Greene missed the Talladega race, and is the second to last driver inside the playoffs, albeit with a little bigger cushion over Williams (11 points). Like Williams, he can’t miss any more races, but if he has a bad string of races over Watkins Glen and Charlotte, he is in danger of missing the playoffs on points if Ward, DiLeo, Horn or Carrol get very hot.

10 - #18, Caleb Steimer
nFinite Gaming, Irontrax
Previous Rank: 19th (+9)
Last Result: 1st – Talladega

Steimer! The Cinderella story of the season so far, as Steimer’s first Top 10 this season was a win and in at Talladega. He started on the pole, led the most laps, and a last turn move sprung him to victory and to the playoffs. What a story. He earns the final spot in the power rankings this week.

On The Bubble:

11 (-2) - #87 Nick Halda, JW Racing; Trak Racer
12 (+3)–#21Dominic DiLeo, Fazekas Motorsports; Eat Sleep Race
13 (-3) - #92 Dustin Carroll, vADER Motorsports; Audible
14 (-) – #00 JJ Wang, nFinite Gaming
15 (+2) - #66 Bobby Tinch, Sampsin Motorsports; Northern Capital
16(+2) - #34 Rick Ward,Summit Point
17 (+3) –#3, Kevin Haase, Valvoline
18 (-2)–#15, Nolan Neaman, Marketing Data Solutions