If the races were anything like these power rankings, the product would actually be pretty consistently good. We’ve got an establish leader, but he’s got a pack of three running side-by-side behind him and another group of drivers taking big swings at adjusting their cars.
The Top 10
#10- Kyle Busch (ranked 8th last week)- The problem here is Busch is not duplicating his monstrous Nationwide Series success. He has a finishing average of 17.2 over his last 5 races, which ranks him 14th among the 15 drivers whose numbers I really picked apart. Still, I lend greater credence to winning and Shrub has done that.
#9- Matt Kenseth (ranked 9th last week)- Matt the Brat got caught in the fuel game last week, otherwise I thought he was looking good enough to be top 5. He has one less win than Busch, but he has one more top 10, plus his finish average of 10.4 ranks him 5th. He’s not setting the world on fire, but I’m not as concerned about his direction as I was a few weeks ago when I thought we might only have one Roush driver in the chase.
#8- Mark Martin (ranked 7th last week)- Those really bad finishes at the beginning of the year are really haunting him. His 19th at Pocono wasn’t THAT bad, but when you’re shaking off early season DNFs you’re dancing on the head of a pin. He’s 13th in the standings now behind Denny Hamlin and David Reutimann.
#7- Kurt Busch (ranked 5th last week)- Dude keeps going the wrong way. A look at his
progress over the season is a study in regression. With the peripheral guys doing better, this a bad time to be falling off. He’s peppering some really lousy races with good finishes, so the pattern suggests Michigan will go better for the 2004 champ.
#6- Greg Biffle (ranked 6th last week)- If not for being winless, Biffle’s results pretty well mirror Kurt’s output. The difference is “Biff” is heading in the RIGHT direction. As the season goes on, Biffle is getting better, and the great news for the Roush Gang is they always put on a good show at Michigan.
#5- Carl Edwards (ranked 10th last week)- Flipper deserves it. He’s notched 3 straight top 10s, 2 of them top 5s. I’ve got one of those feelings Edwards might see victory lane this week. He’s definitely back in the game, that’s for sure.
#4- Ryan Newman (ranked 4th last week)- With an average finish of 4.6, 6 straight top 10s and 5 of those being top 5’s, Newman is the hottest driver in NASCAR right now. Even if you go back 10 races, Newman has the best average finish. Could he follow his boss to victory lane this week? Rocket’s got the heat.
#3- Jimmie Johnson (ranked 2nd last week)- This may actually not be fair. “Top Jimmie” (you old Van Halen fans know what I’m talking about) gets bumped by his teammate by virtue of running out of gas at Pocono. Johnson and Gordon are side-by-side, putting the heat on Tony Stewart.
#2- Jeff Gordon (ranked 3rd last week)- I don’t know that Gordon really stood out last week, but he was there at the end for a top 5 finish. I don’t think it would be a smart thing to start shoveling dirt on his title hopes. Just 71 points behind Smoke in the season’s standings, he’s keeping the 2-time champ honest.
#1- Tony Stewart (ranked 1st last week)- Smoke has put the exclamation point on his early season success with his win at Pocono. His 10 top 10s tops NASCAR, plus Stewart is tied with Gordon with 7 top 5s. He may be know for catching fire in the summer, but right now the team of #14 is a model of consistency. His worst two outings are a 23rd at Talladega and a 26th at Las Vegas.
READY TO STRIKE
I wouldn’t give up on Jeff Burton just yet. Except for the wins, he’s running better than Busch brothers and Carl Edwards, but he just doesn’t have the horses to break the top 5…David Reutimann broke the chase picture to jump to 11th in points. Gaining consistency is going to be key, and maybe another win might get observers taking the “Double Ought” a little more seriously…Juan Pablo Montoya is coming on some, but like Burton, he really needs to start cracking the top 5. Sonoma could really boost his cause.
DISTANT THUNDER
Denny Hamlin has been as unlucky as a guy can get. He looks ready with good practice runs to run well in his wheelhouse at Pocono, and he blows right out of the gate. Some have regarded Hamlin as fragile and he’s getting put to the test…Just when you think Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are ready to turn it on, it all falls apart. There’s still some season left to make it happen, but it has to happen now!
PHOTO CREDITS- Kyle Busch by 14Patti18, Kurt Busch by plstt, Stewart by amanda480744. To see more, visit flickr.com or click on the hyperlink.
