2022 Supercross Power Rankings after Round 14: East / West Shootout shakes up 250s

By Apr 21, 2022, 8:23 PM EDT
Supercross Rankings Round 14
Feld Entertainment, Inc.
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With a points’ lead equal to more than two races, Eli Tomac continues to provide solid results and remains at the top of the Supercross Power Rankings after Round 14 in Atlanta, Georgia.

The championship could be wrapped up if Tomac finishes ahead of Jason Anderson and Justin Barcia next week. With nothing to gain by overriding his Yamaha, Tomac scored second-place finishes in both his heat and feature on the infield course of Atlanta Motor Speedway. Still, Tomac kept Anderson in sight in the feature and finished 2.3 seconds behind the leader.

Anderson knows the only thing he can do to keep the pressure on for one more week is to win or finish at least finish two points ahead of Tomac if he does not find Victory Lane, but that is a tall task since Tomac has not finished worse than fourth in a heat or feature in the past 45 days.

Anderson has been solid, but steadily behind Tomac in the past month and a half with several results worse than fourth, including a 21st-place finish in the Detroit Main that cost a ton of points. Anderson sits fifth in the Supercross Power Rankings after Round 14.

MORE: Justin Anderson snaps six-week winless streak

Marvin Musquin’s Triple Crown format win in St. Louis continues to boost his results. Last week, he was impressive in his heat and finished second, but a fall in the feature relegated him to 10th. That was the first time in the past 45 days that he failed to score a top-five in either a heat or feature.

Ranked third, Justin Barcia also had his first result outside the top five in 45 days with a sixth in the Atlanta feature. Barcia has a pair of heat wins in this timeframe and a best result of second at Indianapolis in feature competition.

Chase Sexton led laps in last week’s feature before falling back to third at the checkers, which came on the heels of a win in his heat. He also won one of the three features at St. Louis in the Triple Crown format.

450 Rankings

1. Eli Tomac (last week: 1); [7 feature wins, 6 heat wins]
2. Marvin Musquin (2); [1 feature win, 1 heat win]
3. Justin Barcia (3); [3 heat wins]
4. Chase Sexton (4); [1 feature win, 7 heat wins]
5. Jason Anderson (5); [4 feature wins; 7 heat wins]
6. Malcolm Stewart (6); [3 heat wins]
7. Justin Brayton (8)
8. Cooper Webb (7); [3 heat wins]
9. Vince Friese (9)
10. Kyle Chisholm (13)
11. Brandon Hartranft (14)
12. Justin Bogle (11)
13. Dean Wilson (15)
14. Justin Starling (16)
15. Ryan Breece (17)
16. Cade Clason (18)
17. John Short (20)
18. Benny Bloss (19)
19. Kevin Moranz (24)
20. Alex Martin (23)

Triple Crown wins included with Heat wins

The Monster Energy Supercross Series held their first East / West Shootout in Atlanta, giving the two divisions an opportunity to see who has bragging rights with three rounds remaining in the season.

The West was the clear winner with five of the top six riders coming from that division, including the feature winner Hunter Lawrence.

Because of the grouping of races, the Power Rankings looks at the entire season instead of the past 45 days and Lawrence has been almost perfect with top-fives in all but the feature in the third Anaheim race. That bobble was enough to knock him to fourth overall.

Christian Craig and Jett Lawrence held their respective spots at the top of their divisions in regard to both points and Power Ranking. Both overcame poor starts in the Atlanta feature before riding onto the podium.

Craig finished second in the feature and won his heat. In 18 combined heats and features this season, he has failed to be on the podium only once when he finished fourth in one of the Triple Crown races in Glendale, Arizona.

Craig is the overall leader in the Supercross Power Rankings.

Jett Lawrence crashed in his heat and climbed to fifth at the end of that race. He also went down in the feature, but remounted and rode to third by making a dramatic last-lap pass on Jo Shimoda.

Climbing from seventh overall, Michael Mosiman is ranked third this week after finishing third in the West heat and sixth in the combined feature.

Rounding out the top five is RJ Hampshire, who fell one position overall because of an eighth-place finish in the Atlanta feature.

Austin Forkner popped back inside the top 10 overall with a heat win and seventh-place feature on the infield course at Atlanta in his first race back since suffering an injury in the Texas Triple Crown.

250 Rankings

1. Christian Craig – W (1); [4 feature wins, 9 heat wins]
2. Jett Lawrence – E (2); [4 feature wins, 5 heat wins]
3. Michael Mosiman – W (7); [1 feature win, 3 heat wins]
4. Hunter Lawrence – W (3); [3 feature wins, 2 heat wins]
5. RJ Hampshire – W (4); [1 feature win, 3 heat wins]
6. Kyle Chisholm – E (5)
7. Vince Friese – W (8); [1 heat win]
8. Jo Shimoda – W (5)
9. Austin Forkner – E (NA); [2 heat wins]
10. Garrett Marchbanks – W (14)
11. Mitchell Oldenburg – E (9); [1 heat win]
12. Nate Thrasher – W (11)
13. Chris Blose – W (24)
14. Pierce Brown – E (15); [2 heat wins]
15 tie. Jordon Smith – E (10)
15 tie. Jace Owen – E (17)
17. Phil Nicoletti – E (18)
18 tie. Enzo Lopes – E (19)
18 tie. Jalek Swoll – W (13)
20. Ryan Surratt – W (22)

Triple Crown wins included with Heat wins

POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 1 AT ANAHEIM: Ken Roczen, Christian Craig have a perfect weekend

POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 2 AT OAKLAND: Justin Barcia climbs to the top spot

POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 3 AT SAN DIEGO: Consistency pays off for Eli Tomac

POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 4 AT ANAHEIM: Tomac remains on top as competition levels

POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 5 AT GLENDALE: Malcolm Stewart move up as Tomac stays No. 1

POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 6 AT ANAHEIM: Jason Anderson closes the gap

POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 7 AT MINNEAPOLIS: Jett Lawrence steps up to challenge Craig in 250s

POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 8 AT ARLINGTON: Consistency once more give Tomac a Triple Crown win

POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 9 AT DAYTONA: Tomac rides historic wave into the second half of 2022

POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 10 AT DETROIT: Tomac holds position as Lawrence moves up

POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 11 AT INDIANAPOLIS: Barcia surges to second

POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 12 AT SEATTLE: Stewart’s turn at second

POWER RANKINGS AFTER ROUND 13 AT ST LOUIS: Marvin Musquin’s win elevates rider

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With throaty roar, NASCAR Next Gen Camaro is taking Le Mans by storm on global stage

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 4:00 PM EDT
Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Chris Graythen/Getty Images
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LE MANS, France — The V8 engine of the NASCAR Chevrolet Camaro has a distinct growl that cannot go unnoticed even among the most elite sports cars in the world at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

When the Hendrick Motorsports crew fired up the car inside Garage 56, NASCAR chairman Jim France broke into a huge grin and gave a thumbs up.

“The only guy who didn’t cover his ears,” laughed seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson.

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France has been waiting since 1962 – the year his father, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., brought him to his first 24 Hours of Le Mans – to hear the roar of a stock car at the most prestigious endurance race in the world.

A path finally opened when NASCAR developed its Next Gen car, which debuted last year. France worked out a deal to enter a car in a specialized “Innovative Car” class designed to showcase technology and development. The effort would be part of NASCAR’s 75th celebration and it comes as Le Mans marks its 100th.

Once he had the approval, France persuaded Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear – NASCAR’s winningest team, manufacturer and tire supplier – to build a car capable of running the twice-around-the-clock race.

The race doesn’t start until Saturday, but NASCAR’s arrival has already been wildly embraced and France could not be more thrilled.

“Dad’s vision, to be able to follow it, it took awhile to follow it up, and my goal was to outdo what he accomplished,” France told The Associated Press. “I just hope we don’t fall on our ass.”

The car is in a class of its own and not racing anyone else in the 62-car field. But the lineup of 2010 Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller, 2009 Formula One champion Jenson Button and Johnson has been fast enough; Rockenfeller put down a qualifying lap that was faster than every car in the GTE AM class by a full three seconds.

The Hendrick Motorsports crew won its class in the pit stop competition and finished fifth overall as the only team using a manual jack against teams exclusively using air jacks. Rick Hendrick said he could not be prouder of the showing his organization has made even before race day.

“When we said we’re gonna do it, I said, ‘Look, we can’t do this half-assed. I want to be as sharp as anybody out there,” Hendrick told AP. “I don’t want to be any less than any other team here. And just to see the reaction from the crowd, people are so excited about this car. My granddaughter has been sending me all these TikTok things that fans are making about NASCAR being at Le Mans.”

This isn’t NASCAR’s first attempt to run Le Mans. The late France Sr. brokered a deal in 1976, as America celebrated its bicentennial, to bring two cars to compete in the Grand International class and NASCAR selected the teams. Herschel McGriff and his son, Doug, drove a Wedge-powered, Olympia Beer-sponsored Dodge Charger, and Junie Donlavey piloted a Ford Torino shared by Richard Brooks and Dick Hutcherson.

Neither car came close to finishing the race. McGriff, now 95 and inducted into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame in January, is in Le Mans as France’s guest, clad head-to-toe in the noticeable Garage 56 uniforms.

“I threw a lot of hints that I would like to come. And I’ve been treated as royalty,” McGriff said. “This is unbelievable to me. I recognize nothing but I’m anxious to see everything. I’ve been watching and seeing pictures and I can certainly see the fans love their NASCAR.”

The goal is to finish the full race Sunday and, just maybe, beat cars from other classes. Should they pull off the feat, the driver trio wants its own podium celebration.

“I think people will talk about this car for a long, long time,” said Rockenfeller, who along with sports car driver Jordan Taylor did much of the development alongside crew chief Chad Knaus and Greg Ives, a former crew chief who stepped into a projects role at Hendrick this year.

“When we started with the Cup car, we felt already there was so much potential,” Rockenfeller said. “And then we tweaked it. And we go faster, and faster, at Le Mans on the SIM. But you never know until you hit the real track, and to be actually faster than the SIM. Everybody in the paddock, all the drivers, they come up and they are, ‘Wow, this is so cool,’ and they were impressed by the pit stops. We’ve overachieved, almost, and now of course the goal is to run for 24 hours.”

The car completed a full 24-hour test at Sebring, Florida, earlier this year, Knaus said, and is capable of finishing the race. Button believes NASCAR will leave a lasting impression no matter what happens.

“If you haven’t seen this car live yet, it’s an absolute beast,” Button said. “When you see and hear it go by, it just puts a massive smile on your face.”

For Hendrick, the effort is the first in his newfound embrace of racing outside NASCAR, the stock car series founded long ago in the American South. Aside from the Le Mans project, he will own the Indy car that Kyle Larson drives for Arrow McLaren in next year’s Indianapolis 500 and it will be sponsored by his automotive company.

“If you’d have told me I’d be racing at Le Mans and Indianapolis within the same year, I’d never have believed you,” Hendrick told AP. “But we’re doing both and we’re going to do it right.”

Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Fans gather around the NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 that is the Garage 56 entry for the 100th 24 Hours of Le Mans at the Circuit de la Sarthe (Chris Graythen/Getty Images).

General Motors is celebrating the achievement with a 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Edition and only 56 will be available to collectors later this year.

“Even though Chevrolet has been racing since its inception in 1911, we’ve never done anything quite like Garage 56,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “A NASCAR stock car running at Le Mans is something fans doubted they would see again.”

The race hasn’t even started yet, but Hendrick has enjoyed it so much that he doesn’t want the project to end.

“It’s like a shame to go through all this and do all this, and then Sunday it’s done,” Hendrick said. “It’s just really special to be here.”