The nearest teams in the power rankings, with a different reason on each card — six teams on one rating are rarely on it for the same reason. Rating decides who makes the list; where teams tie on it, the ones this team has actually cooked against come first, then teams at a similar point in their own career. KCBS doesn’t publish where a team is from, so nothing here is inferred from geography.
Johnny Ray's Low & Slow Barbecue has 2 rated contests — short of the five it takes to earn a power ranking — so this rating has barely moved off the 1500 every team starts on and 132 rated teams sit within a point of it. Read the list as the nearest company at a number nobody here has moved far from, not as a verdict on who this team belongs with.
2 contests in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team Johnny Ray's Low & Slow Barbecue has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-head10 contests to 2: their number has had years to settle where Johnny Ray's Low & Slow Barbecue's is still finding its level.
⚔ Head-to-headLevel with Johnny Ray's Low & Slow Barbecue on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-headThey turned up 9 years after Johnny Ray's Low & Slow Barbecue did, first appearing in 2023.
⚔ Head-to-headA longer road to the same neighbourhood — 5 contests to 2.
⚔ Head-to-headA longer road to the same neighbourhood — 5 contests to 2.
⚔ Head-to-head| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 163.4172 | 158.8344 | 161.13 | top 66% |
| Pork Ribs | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 163.4744 | 146.7772 | 155.13 | top 68% |
| Pork | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 168.5600 | 155.9656 | 162.26 | top 54% |
| Brisket | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 166.8572 | 164.5256 | 165.69 | top 38% |
“Calls” = top-10 category finishes (getting called to the stage). Scores here are the final weighted totals KCBS publishes; per-criterion appearance/taste/tenderness marks aren’t in the public results feed.
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 66% | 89.9% | 89.5% |
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-09-19 | Tilley Harley-Davidson Biker Blues BBQ Rally Salisbury, NC | 52 / 64 (641.0288) | 53 (158.8344) | 62 (146.7772) | 21 (168.5600) | 23 (166.8572) |
| 2014-05-09 | Jiggy with the Piggy BBQ Challenge Kannapolis, NC | 40 / 80 (647.3828) | 39 (163.4172) | 32 (163.4744) | 60 (155.9656) | 32 (164.5256) |