Shannon Babb fell from first to third place in this week's FloRacing Late Model Power Rankings after struggling in a three-night Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series show at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, MO.

The FloRacing Power Rankings was developed as a way to compare multiple series and events that host a variety of field sizes. 

With the philosophy that a win in one of the two major late model series is great no matter how big the field is, 100 percentage points are awarded to the first-place finisher. In order to account for recent strength, only the last 60 days are included in the formula. A driver must have run at least four races in one of the two major late model sanctions: the World of Outlaws or Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series.

From there, it gets a little more complicated. When more than 60 cars show up for a crown jewel race such as last week's Show-Me 100 and its two preliminary nights, simply making the A-Main is impressive, and even the last-place driver shows a lot of speed. 

When only 24 cars are in attendance, last place is less impressive. 

The FloRacing Power Rankings therefore decrements points awarded in reference to the size of the field based on percentages. In a 60-car field, second place is worth 98 points and 24th is worth 62 because of the number of drivers one had to outrun to get to the A-Main. In a 24-car field, second is worth 96 points, but last drops all the way to four because that driver did not outrun anyone during the weekend.

Babb's 10th-place finish in the Show-Me 100 earned 85 percentage points. His 19th in the Tribute to Don and Billie Gibson earned 73. With Brandon Sheppard and Don O'Neal earning top fives over the weekend, they were able to vault up the standings. 

Sheppard was almost perfect last weekend with a third at Atomic Speedway in Chillicothe, Ohio, and a win at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio. Those strong runs gave him the top spot in this week's ranking and extended a current streak of top fives for the Outlaws' point leader to six consecutive races. In the past 60 days, he has run in 11 features in the Outlaws and Lucas Oil series combined to accumulate an average of 86.36 percentage points.

O'Neal's third-place finish in the Gibson Tribute was part of the reason he gained a position to second, but he also benefited when a 23rd-place finish at Boyd Speedway in Ringgold, GA, aged out of the formula. In his last 13 races at the top level, he has failed to crack the top 10 only three times. And, while it did not count in his average, he also showed his strength by finishing fourth in a MARS DIRTcar series race at Fairbury Speedway in Fairbury, IL, on May 13. 

Scott Bloomquist entered the week fourth in the standings and maintained his position with a sweep of the top five during the Show-Me 100 weekend. A recent victory in the Go 50 at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, NE, helps his ranking as well. Unfortunately, he also has a 17th at Luxemburg (WI) Speedway and 19th at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, Ohio, in the past 60 days to show that he is occasionally fallible.  

Shane Clanton rounds out the top five this week with consistency. He has swept the top 10 in his last seven late model starts. Only two of those were top fives, including a fifth at Wayne County last weekend, but the cumulative effect is a percentage-point average of 82.29. 

Dirt Track Power Rankings

1. Brandon Sheppard, 86.36 percentage points
2. Don O'Neal,   86.08
3. Shannon Babb, 84.29
4. Scott Bloomquist, 83.92
5. Shane Clanton, 82.29
6. Tim McCreadie, 80.92
7. Josh Richards, 80.92
8. Jonathan Davenport, 80.50
9. Billy Moyer Jr., 80.00
10. Rick Eckert, 79.00
View Full Late Model Rankings