Swift Lifestyles Power Rankings - Week 10 (Talladega)

AREA Swift Lifestyles Pro Series
Weekly Power Rankings
Date: 1/3/22
Race 10 – Talladega

Happy New Year! It’s 2022! Only three races to go in the regular season of the inaugural AREA Swift Lifestyles Pro Series (“SLPS”)! The last time we saw the ARCA Gang, nearly three weeks ago, James Schanewolf was dominating Pocono en-route to clinching his playoff spot.

Speaking off playoffs – five drivers: Nick Halda, Matthew Robinson, Rick Christensen, and now Shanewolf – have clinched their spot in the playoffs via wins, assuming they meet the required amount of starts (10) and finish inside the Top 20 in points, which all are on track to do (Herrley and Christensen are in the most danger of not meeting these requirements – as one more missed race will push them outside the cut on starts).

JJ Wang is the last driver in the playoff standings, and he holds on by a single point over Trevor Williams. There’s a big gap between Williams and the next playoff contender, however, with Rick Ward trailing Williams by 33 points.

With three races to go – this week at Talladega Superspeedway is the arguably the most intriguing – as the 2.66 mile tri-oval is a restrictor plate, draft-dominant track usually filled with a good amount of race-wrecking cautions that can even out the playing field. It’s comparative to our first race at Daytona, which saw Halda, Eric Shugart and Wang as the top 3 finishers. From that group, only Halda has been able to score an additional Top 5 in the eight races that came after.

With all this potential parity, expect some fireworks tonight. Talladega is the race where guys that are still in playoff contention may have their best chance to get a win and lock themselves into the playoffs. 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: 3rd – Pocono

Robinson keeps his number #1 spot in the power rankings through Pocono with another podium finish, and keeps his ridiculous streak – 9 in 9 races – of Top 5’s alive.

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

It’s now two races in a row where Schanewolf has dominated, and it’s very fitting that he sits #2 in the power rankings After leading nearly ¾ of the laps two races ago at Darlington, he led 52 of 55 laps at Pocono on his way to clinching his spot in the playoffs. Look for the #83 car to keep up the hot streak at Talladega tonight.

3 - #02, Jordan Herrley
Audible Racing
Previous Rank:2nd (-1)
Last Result: 4th – Pocono

Herrley loses another spot in the power rankings, but not because he’s racing poorly, but because Robinson and Schanewolf have been so dominant.

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

Williams is one single point outside of the playoffs behind Wang, but the usually strong Williams has a bit of a tricky three-race stretch to navigate in order to get in. It’s the wide open Talladega tonight, the caution-less road course of Watkins Glen next, and then Charlotte to end the regular season. Don’t be surprised if Williams, as good as he’s been, is still fighting for a playoff spot come Week 12.

5 - #84, Forrest Smith
OneMind2Design Motorsports
Previous Rank: 5th (-)
Last Result: 8th – Pocono

6 - #69 Gary Lewis
OneMind2Design Motorsports
Previous Rank: 6th (-)
Last Result: 10th – Pocono

Forrest Smith and Gary Lewis are 5th and 6th in total points, and fittingly they find themselves 5th and 6th again in these power rankings. The duo has run well enough to put OneMind2Design in the team points standings lead, and with another Top 10 finish for the pair last race at Pocono, it’s all but official that these two are safely in the playoffs.

7 - #22, Sean Corcoran
Sampsin Motorsports; Northern Capital
Previous Rank: 9th (+2)
Last Result: 6th – Pocono

Sean Corcoran desperately needed a bounce back at Pocono to get back on track, and he finished 6th – which puts him 3 points ahead of Trevor Williams in the eleventh slot in the playoff hunt. This is a very important final stretch for Corcoran.

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

Eli Greene keeps his spot in the Top 10 with his second Top 10 finish in a row at Pocono. He’s built himself a bit of a cushion in the points standings, but like the rest of these guys battling, this is a very important stretch for Greene. Greene was arguably the most aggressive driver during Week 1 at Daytona, and it will be interesting to see how he handles Talladega with a playoff spot on the line.

9 - #87, Nick Halda
JW Racing, Trak Racer
Previous Rank: 7th (-2)
Last Result: 20th – Pocono

Halda, the winner at Daytona (if you didn’t know that fact before), is probably very happy to see Talladega on the schedule. He’s had now three straight weeks finishes outside of the Top 10, which slides him another two spots back in the power rankings. The 20th place finish at Pocono was uncharacteristic for Halda, but it was a calculated strategy mishap that made him finish that far back.

10 - #92, Dustin Carroll
vADER Motorsports; Audible
Previous Rank: 12th (+2)
Last Result: 14th – Pocono

Newcomer in our Top 10 power rankings is vADER Motorsports driver Dustin Carroll, who has had a pretty solid string of runs in his last three races: 14th at Pocono, 10th at Darlington, and 9th at Gateway. Carroll finds himself with the slimmest of playoff hopes, being 50 points behind Wang with three races to go, but he’s still technically in the hunt.

On The Bubble:

11 (-1) - #19, Rick Christensen, nFinite Gaming
12 (+3)–#81,Jerimy Horn, vADER Motorsports; Audible
13 (-2) – #33 Brian Dixon
14 (+3) – #00, JJ Wang, nFinite Gaming
15 (-2) –#21, Dominic DiLeo, Fazekas Motorsports; Eat Sleep Race
16 (+3)–#15, Nolan Neaman, Marketing Data Solutions
17 (-3) –#66, Bobby Tinch, Northern Capital
18 (+2) –#34, Rick Ward
19 (+2) – #18, Caleb Steimer, nFinite Gaming
20 (-4) –#3, Kevin Haase, Valvoline