Swift Lifestyles Power Rankings - Week 9 (Pocono)

AREA Swift Lifestyles Pro Series
Weekly Power Rankings
Date: 12/13/21
Race 9 – Pocono

Only four races to go in the regular season of the inaugural AREA Swift Lifestyles Pro Series (“SLPS”)! Those playoff pushes need to happen now, as 6 drivers (Trevor Williams, Rick Ward, Brandon Hedrick, Caleb Steimer, Kevin Haase and Dominic DiLeo) find themselves within 40 points of the 12th and final postseason spot currently held by Sean Corcoran.

Four drivers – Jordan Herrley, Matthew Robinson, Nick Halda and Rick Christensen – have punched their tickets to the playoffs by way of wins in the regular season. Last week’s winner – newcomer Justin “The Eskimo” Anasogak, is not inside the Top 20 in points, nor will he be able to meet the minimum requirement of starts (10) to be able to qualify for the postseason. Anasogak filled in for the #55 of Adam Capps and Audible Racing and was able to outlast in a three-way battle between him, Williams and Schanewolf for the win, but will unfortunately not impact the playoff points standings, besides stealing an automatic berth away from drivers who have yet to win a race.

Which brings an important caveat to these power rankings! Only drivers who are on track to meet those minimum starts – i.e., those technically still alive in the points standings – will be included on these weekly rankings. Want to get in on the power rankings? Join up early for next season!

This week, the ARCA Gang heads to the mountains of Pocono Raceway – a 2.5 mile three turn track (which gives Pocono its apt nickname of “The Tricky Triangle”) – to try and gain more points before a two-week holiday off period. As always, coverage begins at 8:40 p.m. ET with Hunter Sleppy, Jacob Bell and Harold Darner on the call.  https://www.twitch.tv/areairacing.

1 - #40, Matthew Robinson
JWRacing; Northern Capital/Trak Racer
Previous Rank: 2nd (+1)
Last Result: 4th – Darlington

Robinson jumps to number one in the power rankings! He was the car to beat last week heading out of practice at Darlington, but an early spin out on Lap 2 had him chasing all race to get back inside the Top 5. He finished 4th, and now Robinson has 8 starts and 8 Top 5’s. It’s hard to argue with those numbers for the new #1.

2 - #02, Jordan Herrley
Audible Racing
Previous Rank:1st (-1)
Last Result: 7th – Darlington

Herrley ran into a ton of issues at Darlington – not posting a qualifying lap, a pass-through penalty on a restart – but still was able to pull off a 7th place finish. It was enough of a slip to move out of the #1 spot in the rankings, but not enough to drop him lower than #2. Herrley will look to get back to his winning ways at Pocono tonight.

3 - #83, James Schanewolf
Audible Racing
Previous Rank: 3rd (-)
Last Result: 3rd – Darlington

Schanewolf dominated at Darlington. He qualified on the pole, led 74 of the 100 laps, and had the fastest lap of the race. But the #83 fell victim to a late race caution in which Williams and the eventual winner in the #55 Anasogak were able to put fresh tires on for a late lap run, and Schanewolf could not hold on. If he dominates at Pocono again and Robinson and/or Herrley have an off race, there’s an argument he could jump even higher in the power rankings.

4 - #1, Trevor Williams
JWRacing; Saloon Door Sports
Previous Rank: 5th (+1)
Last Result: 2nd – Darlington

The #1 of Williams, who just joined JWRacing, has been in back-to-back races a legitimate contender for the win. Last week at Darlington he gets his best finish of the season (2nd), and has rattled off four straight Top 10 finishes dating back to Dover in Week 5. He gets to race now at a track in Pocono that is less than a 2-hour drive from his hometown, and with Williams only a single point outside of the playoffs, he’s a good bet to either get a win to clinch a playoff spot, or at the very least move inside that Top 12 cut-off.

5 - #84, Forrest Smith
OneMind2Design Motorsports
Previous Rank: 4th (-1)
Last Result: 5th – Darlington

Forrest Smith was able to get his second straight Top 5 at Darlington, and has quietly amassed some of the best full season stats in average start (6.43) and finish (7.43) among the league’s roster. He’s now 5th in total points, and is likely only a few races away from mathematically clinching a playoff spot, even though he’d like to get into victory lane to make it official.

6 - #69 Gary Lewis
OneMind2Design Motorsports
Previous Rank: 9th (+3)
Last Result: 6th – Darlington

Gary Lewis, like his teammate for OneMind2Design Motorsports (who is 14 points behind Sampsin Motorsports in the team standings) Smith, has also come on as of late. He has finished 6th and 5th in his last two races, and has been adding to his Top 10 total (now with 5). Lewis has also climbed to a comfortable spot in the points standings – now in 7th – and has a 20-point gap to the 13th spot in the standings. If he keeps running strong like he has, Lewis will lock up a spot in the playoffs soon.

7 - #87, Nick Halda
JW Racing, Trak Racer
Previous Rank: 6th (-1)
Last Result: 11th – Darlington

Halda has had two disappointing finishes in back-to-back weeks outside of the Top 10, which slides him another spot back in the power rankings. He has that playoff spot locked up, which should give JWRacing some reprieve, but he likely wants to start to turn things around before the postseason kicks off. Hopefully Pocono, which is the first over 2 mile track the SLPS is going to since Daytona, will be a good place to start for Halda. If you remember, as the broadcast team likes to remind us every race, Halda won at Daytona.

8 - #28, Eli Greene
Swift Lifestyles
Previous Rank: 11th (+3)
Last Result: 13th – Darlington

Eli Greene jumps back up in the Top 10 due to some of the drivers in front of him either missing the race at Darlington, or having poor showings at Darlington. He’s 9th in the points standings but is trending in the wrong direction. After his first four races in which he finished in the Top 10, his last three races – 13th at Darlington, 17th at Gateway, and 22nd at Dover – are not very Greene-esque of Eli. He will look to get back on track tonight at Pocono.

9 - #22, Sean Corcoran
Sampsin Motorsports; Northern Capital
Previous Rank: 8th (-1)
Last Result: 20th – Darlington

Sampsin Motorsports is barely holding on to their lead over OneMind2Design Motorsports, and Corcoran is also barely holding on to his grip in the playoffs. Corcoran was able to lead 4 laps at Darlington, but got caught up in a wreck with DiLeo during pit cycles that ended his night early. It was the first non-Top 10 for Corcoran in 3 races, and he needs a bounce-back tonight at Pocono to stay within the playoff cut-off.

10 - #19, Rick Christensen
nFinite Gaming
Previous Rank: 7th (-3)
Last Result: 20th - Gateway

Rick Christensen slides all the way to 10th in the power rankings due to not racing at Darlington last week. He’s got his playoff berth punched with his win at Nashville, so long as he does not miss more than 1 of the next 4 races, but the slide is a little cause for concern.

On The Bubble:

11 (-3) – #33 Brian Dixon
12 (+1) – #92, Dustin Carroll, vADER Motorsports; Audible
13 (+1) – #21, Dominic DiLeo, Fazekas Motorsports; Eat Sleep Race
14 (+2) – #66, Bobby Tinch, Northern Capital
15 (+3) – #81, Jerimy Horn, vADER Motorsports; Audible
16 (-1) – #3, Kevin Haase, Valvoline
17 (-) – #00, JJ Wang, nFinite Gaming
18 (-1) – #12, Brandon Hedrick, Fried Pies
19 (+2) – #15, Nolan Neaman, Marketing Data Solutions
20 (+1) – #34, Rick Ward