So we saw an article entitled "Mount St. Helens lets off more steam." But it turned out to just be a story about Tony Stewart and Mike Bliss.
Biggest Gain this week: Joe Nemechek, up 14 spots
Biggest Drop this week: Jimmie Johnson, down nine spots
New this week: Bobby Labonte (21), Brendan Gaughan (22).
Dropped out: Robby Gordon (23), Casey Mears (25).
Week 31 of 36, UAW-GM 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway
Rank Prev Number Driver Comments
1 2 Kurt Busch His amazing rally from the mid-race spin is exactly how titles are won. Yeah, we know, that’s an obvious statement. But so is saying “We had a good car today” in victory lane.
2 1 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Legend has it his birthday party lasted days, not hours. Which means he might not have heard about the 25-point penalty until he arrived at the track on Friday.
3 4 Jamie McMurray He’s from nearby Joplin, Mo., so there was a lot of McMurray fans in the stands at Kansas. Instead of the stands being 80 percent Dale Jr., the McMurray fans cut that percentage all the way down to 77 percent.
4 3 Mark Martin He got caught up in Kyle Busch’s mess, which helped his brother Kurt gain a lot of ground on Martin in the title chase. Except Kyle’s job was to make sure Dale Jr.’s tire was cut, not Martin’s. So we guess he’ll try again at Charlotte.
5 10 Elliott Sadler He admitted that he was rooting for Ricky Rudd to win after his own chance slipped away. Sometimes drivers root for their old rides, which was certainly the case for Jerry Nadeau on Sunday.
6 6 Dale Jarrett He’s got three straight top-10 finishes, which would have placed him in the top 10 under the old points system. In case you forgot, he was 26th last year.
7 7 Jeff Gordon Busch has racked up 15 more bonus points in the last six races, and Busch led a lap on Sunday, while Gordon didn't.
8 22 Joe Nemechek What a weekend. He ended his losing streak of 54 races. A day earlier, Army’s football team ended its losing streak of 19 games. If Joe is inspired that much by college football, then his sponsor needs to be the Miami Hurricanes. He’d win that record-setting eighth title before he’s 50.
9 16 Jeremy Mayfield You know, if you’re going to take 25 points away from Dale Jr., at least give Mayfield, the 10th place guy, the 25 points to help tighten the Chase up.
10 5 Ryan Newman This weekend, he admitted that he got into Daytona one time by making a fake credential out of construction paper. With a 33rd-place finish at Kansas, he might need to start work on that fake Nextel Cup title trophy
11 13 Rusty Wallace The definition of someone who sees the glass half-empty is someone who says: “He hasn’t had a top-9 finish since his win at Martinsville.”
12 21 Ricky Rudd It wouldn’t have been good for Shane Hmiel had he gotten into Rudd on that restart and ruined that run. He would have been the man who shot Santa Claus, although we aren’t saying that because Rudd’s hair is turning white.
13 14 Michael Waltrip A lot of talk has centered on the length of Dale Jr. and Elliott Sadler’s hair, yet, coverage of Michael Waltrip’s hair has suffered because he didn’t make the Chase for the Nextel Cup.
14 8 Tony Stewart So NASCAR made him go to the infield care center before Sunday’s race, because he didn’t go after his Busch Series crash on Saturday. Which means it’s probably the first time Stewart was able to leave the care center without it being televised.
15 11 Kevin Harvick Not Happy.
16 9 Matt Kenseth Not even the robot could make that ill-handling car drive well at Kansas.
17 17 Kasey Kahne Top Sign NBC Has Too Much Time to Fill on the Post-Kansas broadcast: They interviewed Kasey Kahne -- who finished 12th - about his post-race travel plans. Kahne should have messed with them by telling them he had to hurry, because he had a very long drive back to North Carolina.
18 18 Greg Biffle Sign the American military had a good day: The National Guard was the lowest finishing armed forces car, and it finished third.
19 12 Jeff Burton He was 15th at Kansas. Did you know the No. 30 Chevrolet has finished 15th six times this year? Is there any way we can find the record for this?
20 20 Carl Edwards Carl, you made a nice recovery from that spin, but we’re close to conceding that Jeff Burton will beat you head-to-head for the year, so we need you to pull a Jamie McMurray at Charlotte if you can.
21 NR Bobby Labonte His former crew chief, Fatback McSwain, is taking swipes at Joe Gibbs by wearing the hats of NFL teams that happen to beat the Redskins. Which means Fatback has probably already ordered his Baltimore Ravens hat after Baltimore downed Washington on Sunday. It’s a good thing the Ravens won, because purple-and-black hats are slimming.
22 NR Brendan Gaughan He only lets one person cut his hair – it’s some woman back home in Las Vegas. Judging by his appearance, it’s been a long time since he’s been in Las Vegas.
23 24 Terry Labonte So we guess Kyle Busch is going to be the new Kellogg’s driver, which means they will have to capitalize on Kyle’s youth by switching to a Froot Loops paint scheme.
24 15 Jimmie Johnson Man, he is free-falling. We keep waiting for “clever” headlines like “Lowe(est) of Lowe’s”. Come on, media, we know you can do it.
25 24 Sterling Marlin A broken driveshaft sent him to the garage, and then he got knocked out in an accident. But hey, the Tennessee Vols knocked off Georgia, so the weekend wasn’t a total loss.
The Power Rankings are written by Ryan Smithson and the opinions listed here are solely those of the writer. To email Ryan about the Rankings, click here.
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Biggest Gain this week: Joe Nemechek, up 14 spots
Biggest Drop this week: Jimmie Johnson, down nine spots
New this week: Bobby Labonte (21), Brendan Gaughan (22).
Dropped out: Robby Gordon (23), Casey Mears (25).
Week 31 of 36, UAW-GM 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway
Rank Prev Number Driver Comments
1 2 Kurt Busch His amazing rally from the mid-race spin is exactly how titles are won. Yeah, we know, that’s an obvious statement. But so is saying “We had a good car today” in victory lane.
2 1 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Legend has it his birthday party lasted days, not hours. Which means he might not have heard about the 25-point penalty until he arrived at the track on Friday.
3 4 Jamie McMurray He’s from nearby Joplin, Mo., so there was a lot of McMurray fans in the stands at Kansas. Instead of the stands being 80 percent Dale Jr., the McMurray fans cut that percentage all the way down to 77 percent.
4 3 Mark Martin He got caught up in Kyle Busch’s mess, which helped his brother Kurt gain a lot of ground on Martin in the title chase. Except Kyle’s job was to make sure Dale Jr.’s tire was cut, not Martin’s. So we guess he’ll try again at Charlotte.
5 10 Elliott Sadler He admitted that he was rooting for Ricky Rudd to win after his own chance slipped away. Sometimes drivers root for their old rides, which was certainly the case for Jerry Nadeau on Sunday.
6 6 Dale Jarrett He’s got three straight top-10 finishes, which would have placed him in the top 10 under the old points system. In case you forgot, he was 26th last year.
7 7 Jeff Gordon Busch has racked up 15 more bonus points in the last six races, and Busch led a lap on Sunday, while Gordon didn't.
8 22 Joe Nemechek What a weekend. He ended his losing streak of 54 races. A day earlier, Army’s football team ended its losing streak of 19 games. If Joe is inspired that much by college football, then his sponsor needs to be the Miami Hurricanes. He’d win that record-setting eighth title before he’s 50.
9 16 Jeremy Mayfield You know, if you’re going to take 25 points away from Dale Jr., at least give Mayfield, the 10th place guy, the 25 points to help tighten the Chase up.
10 5 Ryan Newman This weekend, he admitted that he got into Daytona one time by making a fake credential out of construction paper. With a 33rd-place finish at Kansas, he might need to start work on that fake Nextel Cup title trophy
11 13 Rusty Wallace The definition of someone who sees the glass half-empty is someone who says: “He hasn’t had a top-9 finish since his win at Martinsville.”
12 21 Ricky Rudd It wouldn’t have been good for Shane Hmiel had he gotten into Rudd on that restart and ruined that run. He would have been the man who shot Santa Claus, although we aren’t saying that because Rudd’s hair is turning white.
13 14 Michael Waltrip A lot of talk has centered on the length of Dale Jr. and Elliott Sadler’s hair, yet, coverage of Michael Waltrip’s hair has suffered because he didn’t make the Chase for the Nextel Cup.
14 8 Tony Stewart So NASCAR made him go to the infield care center before Sunday’s race, because he didn’t go after his Busch Series crash on Saturday. Which means it’s probably the first time Stewart was able to leave the care center without it being televised.
15 11 Kevin Harvick Not Happy.
16 9 Matt Kenseth Not even the robot could make that ill-handling car drive well at Kansas.
17 17 Kasey Kahne Top Sign NBC Has Too Much Time to Fill on the Post-Kansas broadcast: They interviewed Kasey Kahne -- who finished 12th - about his post-race travel plans. Kahne should have messed with them by telling them he had to hurry, because he had a very long drive back to North Carolina.
18 18 Greg Biffle Sign the American military had a good day: The National Guard was the lowest finishing armed forces car, and it finished third.
19 12 Jeff Burton He was 15th at Kansas. Did you know the No. 30 Chevrolet has finished 15th six times this year? Is there any way we can find the record for this?
20 20 Carl Edwards Carl, you made a nice recovery from that spin, but we’re close to conceding that Jeff Burton will beat you head-to-head for the year, so we need you to pull a Jamie McMurray at Charlotte if you can.
21 NR Bobby Labonte His former crew chief, Fatback McSwain, is taking swipes at Joe Gibbs by wearing the hats of NFL teams that happen to beat the Redskins. Which means Fatback has probably already ordered his Baltimore Ravens hat after Baltimore downed Washington on Sunday. It’s a good thing the Ravens won, because purple-and-black hats are slimming.
22 NR Brendan Gaughan He only lets one person cut his hair – it’s some woman back home in Las Vegas. Judging by his appearance, it’s been a long time since he’s been in Las Vegas.
23 24 Terry Labonte So we guess Kyle Busch is going to be the new Kellogg’s driver, which means they will have to capitalize on Kyle’s youth by switching to a Froot Loops paint scheme.
24 15 Jimmie Johnson Man, he is free-falling. We keep waiting for “clever” headlines like “Lowe(est) of Lowe’s”. Come on, media, we know you can do it.
25 24 Sterling Marlin A broken driveshaft sent him to the garage, and then he got knocked out in an accident. But hey, the Tennessee Vols knocked off Georgia, so the weekend wasn’t a total loss.
The Power Rankings are written by Ryan Smithson and the opinions listed here are solely those of the writer. To email Ryan about the Rankings, click here.
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some pretty funny stuff.