Power Rankings: Should This Be Mulligan Week?

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Tonight at 9 pm Eastern, former NASCAR team mechanic Patrick Reynolds will post an article on restrictor plate racing, a timely discussion in light of last weekend’s race at Talladega.

Don’t miss it!

Have you looked at the race results and seen where the top points drivers ended up? I mean Brad Keselowski, Dale Jr., Ryan Newman, Marcos Ambrose and Scott Speed for a top 5? Aside from Junior and Newman, we aren’t accustomed to seeing these other guys this close to the front. Otherwise, you have Jimmie Johnson in 30th, Tony Stewart in 23rd, Jeff Gordon in 37th, Mark Martin went from the penthouse to the outhouse- from Phoenix winner to dead last in ‘Dega. Suffice it to say, it was a surreal Sunday.

It’s almost tempting to treat this week like it didn’t happen, but…..

What would that be saying about the guys running near the top of the standings that survived the mayhem? Certainly the efforts of Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman, Dale Jr., and Kurt Busch are worthy of props, and at least for a week attaining a higher standing.

It’ll be a mess to sort through, but here goes:

 

#10- Kyle Busch- (last week 10th)- Were it not for a pair of wins and the fact he’s got some company in the pack of recent strugglers, it might be tempting to drop Kyle Busch off the top 10. Fact is, he’s 6th in the points, and the fact is, he’s better than this.

#9- Mark Martin- (last week 6th)- Here’s another guy who’s ridden the wheel of fortune to some rather interesting places. Ol’ Double-M gets a pass due to bad luck. And things were just getting good for him too. I guess we know now why he avoided this place like the plague while racing part-time.

#8- Jeff Burton- (7th last week)- Another tough call. Credit has to be given to J.B. for overcoming the mechanical problems for for being his usual smart self to make 10th in the race, in spite of not being the fastest horse out there.

#7- Ryan Newman- (unranked last week)- Was he even on the radar a month ago? Newman has an average finish of 9.4 over his last year, only Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin and Kurt Busch have been better. Looks like some of Tony’s mojo is rubbing off.

#6- Greg Biffle- (unranked last week)- Remember, this is subjective. With 3 top 5s and 5 top 10s, Biff gets the nod over Newman. Since Martinsville, Biffle has finishes of 3rd, 5th and 7th.

#5- Denny Hamlin- (5th last week)- Would you believe Hamlin’s average finish over his last five races is 8.8? Strong performances at Bristol, Martinsville and Phoenix have been offset by a just “o.k.” showing at Texas, and his 22nd place finish at Talladega.

#4- Tony Stewart- (2nd last week)- The odds on favorite to win at Talladega got waylayed not by a crash, but by a mechanical issue on the last re-start. That aside, Smoke has had no problem running with the big dogs and could get off the victory shnide soon.

#3- Jeff Gordon- (3rd last week)- “Gee, Mr. France, can we just throw out the last two weeks’ results?” Gordon was on an amazing run, topped by the win at Texas- but since then, he’s hit a patch of bad luck.

#2- Jimmie Johnson- (1st last week)- Hmm, you think he hates Talladega? The thing that helps Johnson is he has plenty of company in the “I’d just as soon forget I ever came to Talladega” department.

#1- Kurt Busch- (4th last week)- Since Gordon has dropped off, Busch has become the new “Mr. Consistent.” He’s got three straight top 10s, and the best average finish for the season thus far at 9.4. His resurgence is no mirage.

FALLING OFF THE PACE

Clint Bowyer….the man has been in a funk over his last 4 races, doing nothing to assuage concerns that this is an off-year for RCR…David Reutimann…I really like a lot of what he’s done and “Beak” looked like a potential winner, but he’ hasn’t closed the deal on taking the next step up.

READY TO STRIKE

Dale Earnhardt Jr.…..who? Yeah, that guy. His 2nd place finish has to be encouraging, and you know all this other hoo-ha about being finished for the year is just that. The guy can drive. Leave him alone.

There are others that will be intriguing to watch. Juan Pablo Montoya, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards all seem to be battling bouts of inconsistency but are just a good race or two away from being bone fide contenders. We even have Marcos Ambrose around to provide a little foreign intrigue.