When Sam Hafertepe Jr. rolled out his 410 sprinter and challenged the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series during their two-night show in Missouri and Kansas, he set in motion wholesale movement in the FloRacing Sprint Car Series Power Rankings.

Hafertepe finished only 21st in the Sedalia Show-Me Showdown on the Missouri State Fairgrounds Speedway in Sedalia, MO on May 5, which caused him to fall to fifth in the rankings. He improved to 15th at 81 Speedway the next night in Park City, KS. Ultimately, running the more powerful machines will increase his overall performance. For now, the biggest impact was to allow the remaining drivers in the top five a chance to advance.

Johnny Herrera gained the greatest benefit. While the national tour of the American Sprint Car Series remained on the sidelines, he was able to reap the benefits of his four top-five finishes from early in the season.  For one week at least, he gets a chance to top the rankings before the ASCS gets back on track. 

As one would expect with their 93-race schedule, the Outlaws have been much busier. After several races were canceled or postponed by rain, the two-night show at the Fairgrounds and 81 Speedway was a welcome relief. David Gravel ascended to second in the Power Rankings not only because of Hafertepe's tumble, but on the strength of a ninth in Missouri and third in Kansas. In fact, he dramatically closed the gap on Herrera and trails by only .06 percentage points. Unless he is involved in an accident or suffers mechanical failure at Eldora this week, Gravel will almost certainly gain the top spot next week.

Donny Schatz swept both nights of Outlaw competition, but that actually did not improve his points in the slightest. The FloRacing Power Rankings average the past 60 days in order to account for recent momentum, and Schatz had a pair of wins at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track age out of the formula. He currently sits third in the standings.

ASCS competitor Justin Henderson has not garnered a lot of press this season and that has been an oversight. Back-to-back second-place finishes to Hafertepe at Devil's Bowl in Mesquite, TX are largely responsible for his Power Ranking of 86.00, but he maintained his advantage with a pair of top-10s in his next two features. He is fourth in the rankings.

Kasey Kahne Racing's Daryn Pittman was the big advancer this week, but a spate of bad finishes in Arizona and Texas earlier this season keep him from joining the top 10. He finished second to Schatz in both Outlaw races to jump from 20th to 11th. 

Sprint Car Power Rankings

1. Johnny Herrera, 89.20 percentage points
2. David Gravel, 89.14
3. Donny Schatz, 86.07
4. Justin Henderson, 86.00
5. Sam Hafertepe Jr., 84.14
6. Brad Sweet, 83.64
7. Matt Covington, 77.40
8. Jason Sides, 75.23
9. Seth Bergman, 74.60
10. Kyle Bellm, 73.00
View Full Sprint Car Rankings 

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