07-05-2006, 10:05 PM
ESPN.com
Each week, ESPN.com motorsports editor K. Lee Davis will rank the drivers in NASCAR's Nextel Cup series. You can e-mail him at kevin.davis@espn3.com
So is this Davis guy an idiot? Fine, you do it. Rank 'Em: Nextel Cup Power Rankings
2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Power Rankings - Week 19
RK(LW) DRIVER TOP 10s COMMENT
1 (1) Jimmie Johnson 13 Should getting loose and taking himself and Bobby Labonte -- they were both contenders -- out of the action drop him down? Not this week.
2 (3) Matt Kenseth 11 Kenseth just won't quit. DeWalt has itself the right driver if consistency and durability are what it wants to advertise. Never mind, that was the R+L Carriers No. 17 finishing fifth.
3 (2) Kasey Kahne 10 Had to start at the back. Never seemed to have it together at Daytona. Still closed the gap to first place in the standings by finishing 25th.
4 (4) Dale Earnhardt Jr. 7 From the "lies, damned lies and statistics" category, Junior picked up two spots in the standings while finishing 13th! Bad days for Kahne and Mark Martin helped. If Earnhardt were a stock, we'd be selling now.
5 (7) Jeff Burton 10 Burton moves up for having as much on-track adventure as anyone Saturday and still managing to massage 15th place out of it. That's what having the good sense not to be the outside guy on a three-wide can do for you at Daytona.
6 (8) Tony Stewart 9 Yeah, he won. Yeah, he dominated. His average finish at Chicagoland? Just under ninth, so it wouldn't be a shock to see him win back-to-back.
7 (5) Mark Martin 8 He was all set to just wait around and cash in on another patented top-10 finish, then Greg Biffle got loose, J.J. Yeley got squirrelly and Martin got hosed. Well, not as hosed as Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards, but bad enough.
8 (6) Greg Biffle 9 Hard to fault Biffle for the accident that took out a slew of contenders, but if anyone deserves to catch the blame, it's him or J.J. Yeley. Yeah, you're right. Blame the rookie.
9 (10) Kevin Harvick 8 Talk about being in the right place at the right time. Driving just ahead of the Martin-Gordon-Biffle-Yeley mess meant four top-10 cars were all but done, but his wasn't one of them. Result? Finishing 10th and getting some breathing room for the Chase.
10 (9) Jeff Gordon 7 The car was good enough to win. The driver was coming off a win. We're not going to dump him out of the top 10 for being the meat in a Yeley-concrete sandwich.
11 (13) Kyle Busch 8 Finished second. Got some brotherly love to get there. Jumped right back into Chase contention. He'd been cold for weeks. He's the last guy Martin, Earnhardt, Burton and Harvick want to see get really revved up.
12 (12) Kurt Busch 6 OK, maybe this Busch brother is the one drivers in the top 10 dread. He's 103 points out of the Chase right now. Where was he two weeks ago? 187 back. Where was he a month ago? 265 back. At this rate, he'll hit the top 10 in the standings just in time for the Brickyard on Aug. 6.
13 (14) Ryan Newman 5 I was about to put Casey Mears in this spot -- he deserves it as much as Newman -- but then I started twitching worse than that time I had Elliott Sadler up to 11th. Some things you just know are wrong.
14 (11) Carl Edwards 8 Hey Carl, Office Depot sells alarm clocks. Make sure you get one and set it for about 4:15 p.m. ET Sunday. If you aren't in the top 10 by then, put the pedal down and move up at the USG Sheetrock 400. If you can't get to the top 10, buy a weekly planner for 2007 so you can write down what you need to do to make the Chase next time.
15 (16) Casey Mears 5 So this is where Mears lands, and although he isn't making the Chase, he deserves recognition for pulling off two top-10s at Daytona this season. It's most of the other 15 races that have caused problems.
16 (17) Jamie McMurray 6 The consistency just hasn't been there. Still, of all the drivers outside the top 15 in points, he's our choice to sneak into the Chase somehow.
17 (18) Elliott Sadler 4 Well, we like Sadler a heck of a lot more than we're willing to admit. What will happen when he's the top dog on a team? We get to find out in a little more than seven months.
18 (15) Denny Hamlin 6 Think we were heavy-handed with the rookie last week, dropping him five spots? He might have moved up two spots in the standings, but he still finished 16th at Daytona. Four superstars are lined up right behind him for that 10th and final spot in the Chase. See ya, Denny.
19 (19) Clint Bowyer 3 When half of your top-10s come at Daytona, you're either a heck of a rookie or one crazy dude. We'll give Bowyer both.
20 (20) Bobby Labonte 3 Please put the No. 43 in Victory Lane one more time before The King passes on to that great throne in the sky. Please let J.J. know you're there next time. Please tell us you understand what we mean by letting J.J. know you're there.
Each week, ESPN.com motorsports editor K. Lee Davis will rank the drivers in NASCAR's Nextel Cup series. You can e-mail him at kevin.davis@espn3.com
So is this Davis guy an idiot? Fine, you do it. Rank 'Em: Nextel Cup Power Rankings
2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Power Rankings - Week 19
RK(LW) DRIVER TOP 10s COMMENT
1 (1) Jimmie Johnson 13 Should getting loose and taking himself and Bobby Labonte -- they were both contenders -- out of the action drop him down? Not this week.
2 (3) Matt Kenseth 11 Kenseth just won't quit. DeWalt has itself the right driver if consistency and durability are what it wants to advertise. Never mind, that was the R+L Carriers No. 17 finishing fifth.
3 (2) Kasey Kahne 10 Had to start at the back. Never seemed to have it together at Daytona. Still closed the gap to first place in the standings by finishing 25th.
4 (4) Dale Earnhardt Jr. 7 From the "lies, damned lies and statistics" category, Junior picked up two spots in the standings while finishing 13th! Bad days for Kahne and Mark Martin helped. If Earnhardt were a stock, we'd be selling now.
5 (7) Jeff Burton 10 Burton moves up for having as much on-track adventure as anyone Saturday and still managing to massage 15th place out of it. That's what having the good sense not to be the outside guy on a three-wide can do for you at Daytona.
6 (8) Tony Stewart 9 Yeah, he won. Yeah, he dominated. His average finish at Chicagoland? Just under ninth, so it wouldn't be a shock to see him win back-to-back.
7 (5) Mark Martin 8 He was all set to just wait around and cash in on another patented top-10 finish, then Greg Biffle got loose, J.J. Yeley got squirrelly and Martin got hosed. Well, not as hosed as Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards, but bad enough.
8 (6) Greg Biffle 9 Hard to fault Biffle for the accident that took out a slew of contenders, but if anyone deserves to catch the blame, it's him or J.J. Yeley. Yeah, you're right. Blame the rookie.
9 (10) Kevin Harvick 8 Talk about being in the right place at the right time. Driving just ahead of the Martin-Gordon-Biffle-Yeley mess meant four top-10 cars were all but done, but his wasn't one of them. Result? Finishing 10th and getting some breathing room for the Chase.
10 (9) Jeff Gordon 7 The car was good enough to win. The driver was coming off a win. We're not going to dump him out of the top 10 for being the meat in a Yeley-concrete sandwich.
11 (13) Kyle Busch 8 Finished second. Got some brotherly love to get there. Jumped right back into Chase contention. He'd been cold for weeks. He's the last guy Martin, Earnhardt, Burton and Harvick want to see get really revved up.
12 (12) Kurt Busch 6 OK, maybe this Busch brother is the one drivers in the top 10 dread. He's 103 points out of the Chase right now. Where was he two weeks ago? 187 back. Where was he a month ago? 265 back. At this rate, he'll hit the top 10 in the standings just in time for the Brickyard on Aug. 6.
13 (14) Ryan Newman 5 I was about to put Casey Mears in this spot -- he deserves it as much as Newman -- but then I started twitching worse than that time I had Elliott Sadler up to 11th. Some things you just know are wrong.
14 (11) Carl Edwards 8 Hey Carl, Office Depot sells alarm clocks. Make sure you get one and set it for about 4:15 p.m. ET Sunday. If you aren't in the top 10 by then, put the pedal down and move up at the USG Sheetrock 400. If you can't get to the top 10, buy a weekly planner for 2007 so you can write down what you need to do to make the Chase next time.
15 (16) Casey Mears 5 So this is where Mears lands, and although he isn't making the Chase, he deserves recognition for pulling off two top-10s at Daytona this season. It's most of the other 15 races that have caused problems.
16 (17) Jamie McMurray 6 The consistency just hasn't been there. Still, of all the drivers outside the top 15 in points, he's our choice to sneak into the Chase somehow.
17 (18) Elliott Sadler 4 Well, we like Sadler a heck of a lot more than we're willing to admit. What will happen when he's the top dog on a team? We get to find out in a little more than seven months.
18 (15) Denny Hamlin 6 Think we were heavy-handed with the rookie last week, dropping him five spots? He might have moved up two spots in the standings, but he still finished 16th at Daytona. Four superstars are lined up right behind him for that 10th and final spot in the Chase. See ya, Denny.
19 (19) Clint Bowyer 3 When half of your top-10s come at Daytona, you're either a heck of a rookie or one crazy dude. We'll give Bowyer both.
20 (20) Bobby Labonte 3 Please put the No. 43 in Victory Lane one more time before The King passes on to that great throne in the sky. Please let J.J. know you're there next time. Please tell us you understand what we mean by letting J.J. know you're there.