S
stridsberry
Guest
1. (1) MATT KENSETH 150.2
People can talk about Lady Luck all they want, but I personally think it was skill that got Matt into the top-10 on Sunday, and not blind luck.
2. (2) RYAN NEWMAN 146.7
The Newman Drive to the Front seems to have stalled at 9th position in points.
3. (3) KEVIN HARVICK 142.5
He overcame a fire in the pits, an accidental brush of the kill switch, and a last-lap tango to finish 5th – and move up to 5th in points.
4. (5) DALE EARNHARDT JR. 136.6
Dale gained 37 points on Matt in the two road course races, but something tells me that won’t be a deciding factor in the championship.
5. (7) ROBBY GORDON 136.4
At last, Robby wins a race without it being controversial. Enjoy this one, Robby, you did it the hard way.
6. (6) JIMMIE JOHNSON 129.3
Mr. P.D. has already exceeded his 2nd-half top-5 total from all of last year.
7. (4) JEFF GORDON 119.9
Jeff lost 105 points to Matt in the final lap. That may be what kills his championship hopes.
8. (8) MICHAEL WALTRIP 118.2
Even when Michael doesn’t make the top-10, he finishes solidly – Kenseth is the only other driver to not have any 30th-or-worse finishes this year.
9. (13) KURT BUSCH 117.1
At least he didn’t give the body-men as much to do as he did at Sonoma.
10. (12) BOBBY LABONTE 115.6
In the last five races, he has no top-10 finishes and has dropped to 7th in points.
11. (11) TONY STEWART 112.5
He had to race up through the field, not once, but twice – and only had an 11th to show for it.
12. (9) JEFF BURTON 112.4
He led for a while, then had the transmission go bad late in the race, costing him valuable ground in the points.
13. (10) TERRY LABONTE 111.9
I’m still trying to think the best for Terry – last year at this time is when he began his freefall in the points.
14. (16) MARK MARTIN 104.2
It’s almost a shock to see Mark not contending for wins on road courses anymore.
15. (15) BILL ELLIOTT 102.8
It what has been a rare occurrence since joining Ray Evernham, Bill got beat by his teammate.
16. (14) RUSTY WALLACE 102.0
The front brakes gave out, and with it another chance at victory. If you’d gone 84 races without winning, you’d be pretty sad too.
17. (21) WARD BURTON 91.6
Things like this happen all the time – as soon as a team announces that they plan to go their separate ways, they have their best run of the season. Think Nemechek, Joe.
18. (19) GREG BIFFLE 90.7
Greg seemed to have a top-10 finish in the bag before missing the inner-loop – and thus receiving poetic just for what happened in the first corner.
19. (18) JAMIE McMURRAY 89.8
Through no fault of his own, Jamie suddenly inherited the role of being the highest finishing rookie.
20. (22) JIMMY SPENCER 88.5
He spun out at least once, maybe twice, then sliced back up to 23rd in the final laps. In other words, that’s 94 more points than he got here last year.
21. (23) JOHNNY BENSON 84.9
He just stayed out of the way for most of the race. He’s always a dark horse to win at Michigan.
22. (17) STERLING MARLIN 84.8
I think Sterling like road courses even less now than he did before lap 1.
23. (20) TODD BODINE 84.6
Todd had a solid performance going before getting grounded in the pit.
24. (24) ELLIOTT SADLER 82.6
Those M&M’s are hurting for some exposure, Elliot. You going to give them some this weekend?
25. (32) DALE JARRETT 82.5
Dale may have three top-10’s in the last six races, but he hasn’t exactly been stellar in the other three. So no, he’s not out of the wilderness yet.
26. (25) DAVE BLANEY 79.5
Dave always seems to run pretty good at California; maybe he can carry that over to Michigan.
27. (27) RICKY RUDD 78.9
That was Ricky’s first lap lead since Las Vegas? Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised; it’s not like he’s been contending for wins or anything.
28. (31) JOE NEMECHEK 77.3
Incredibly, that was only Joe’s 8th top-20 finish this year. In other words, he’s in 2001-02 Terry Labonte form (rim shot).
29. (28) JEREMY MAYFIELD 74.0
In this week’s “Where’d HE come from?” department, Jeremy managed a 16th after spending most of the race with the back-markers.
30. (30) STEVE PARK 73.2
When your teammates both finish in the top-5…and you finish 26th without wrecking… something’s wrong.
31. (26) RICKY CRAVEN 72.3
Now that the cookie-cutters and road courses are out of the way, I’m going to go on the record: Barring an untimely accident, Ricky’s rise back to the front starts this weekend.
32. (29) GREEN/FELLOWS 67.8
Ron ran decent for the first half of the race, but then I started confusing his car with a Bouyea-Fassett’s bread truck – and that’s not good.
33. (33) CASEY MEARS 64.8
First Casey runs it into the gravel and falls from 4th to 22nd. Then he misses the inner-loop on the final lap and gives up 10 more spots. Talk about throwing away a good run.
34. (34) KENNY WALLACE 61.9
He got lapped on a road course, and still beat Rusty. That alone speaks volumes about both their days.
35. (35) TONY RAINES 59.1
I think Tony’s joined the ranks of folks who would rather not see a rood course again.
36. (36) THE ARMY OF ONE 57.7
Boris was able to slice through the field with Tony and Jeff, before he met his demise of the bumper of the eventual winner.
37. (39) THE (NET)ZERO CAR 54.6
The fenders were caved in, and John still matched that car’s best run since Daytona.
38. (37) KYLE PETTY 46.7
I believe there’s an old saying: “You can’t win a race on the first lap, but you can lose it.” Kyle lost it.
39. (41) MORGAN-McCLURE 45.1
You’d think that is P.J. could finish 4th in an A.J. Foyt car, he should come close in a Morgan-McClure car. Guess not.
40. (40) KEN SCHRADER 43.4
Two straight DNQ’s. It’s really sad to see Kenny having to load up on Friday.
41. (38) CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI 42.0
I guess even the Yankees couldn’t convince Christian to keep out of the wall – or the Styrofoam, as the case may be.
42. (42) LARRY FOYT 35.2
The numbers game didn’t work out again. Somebody in NASCAR needs to make a rule before this cheap practice becomes commonplace.
People can talk about Lady Luck all they want, but I personally think it was skill that got Matt into the top-10 on Sunday, and not blind luck.
2. (2) RYAN NEWMAN 146.7
The Newman Drive to the Front seems to have stalled at 9th position in points.
3. (3) KEVIN HARVICK 142.5
He overcame a fire in the pits, an accidental brush of the kill switch, and a last-lap tango to finish 5th – and move up to 5th in points.
4. (5) DALE EARNHARDT JR. 136.6
Dale gained 37 points on Matt in the two road course races, but something tells me that won’t be a deciding factor in the championship.
5. (7) ROBBY GORDON 136.4
At last, Robby wins a race without it being controversial. Enjoy this one, Robby, you did it the hard way.
6. (6) JIMMIE JOHNSON 129.3
Mr. P.D. has already exceeded his 2nd-half top-5 total from all of last year.
7. (4) JEFF GORDON 119.9
Jeff lost 105 points to Matt in the final lap. That may be what kills his championship hopes.
8. (8) MICHAEL WALTRIP 118.2
Even when Michael doesn’t make the top-10, he finishes solidly – Kenseth is the only other driver to not have any 30th-or-worse finishes this year.
9. (13) KURT BUSCH 117.1
At least he didn’t give the body-men as much to do as he did at Sonoma.
10. (12) BOBBY LABONTE 115.6
In the last five races, he has no top-10 finishes and has dropped to 7th in points.
11. (11) TONY STEWART 112.5
He had to race up through the field, not once, but twice – and only had an 11th to show for it.
12. (9) JEFF BURTON 112.4
He led for a while, then had the transmission go bad late in the race, costing him valuable ground in the points.
13. (10) TERRY LABONTE 111.9
I’m still trying to think the best for Terry – last year at this time is when he began his freefall in the points.
14. (16) MARK MARTIN 104.2
It’s almost a shock to see Mark not contending for wins on road courses anymore.
15. (15) BILL ELLIOTT 102.8
It what has been a rare occurrence since joining Ray Evernham, Bill got beat by his teammate.
16. (14) RUSTY WALLACE 102.0
The front brakes gave out, and with it another chance at victory. If you’d gone 84 races without winning, you’d be pretty sad too.
17. (21) WARD BURTON 91.6
Things like this happen all the time – as soon as a team announces that they plan to go their separate ways, they have their best run of the season. Think Nemechek, Joe.
18. (19) GREG BIFFLE 90.7
Greg seemed to have a top-10 finish in the bag before missing the inner-loop – and thus receiving poetic just for what happened in the first corner.
19. (18) JAMIE McMURRAY 89.8
Through no fault of his own, Jamie suddenly inherited the role of being the highest finishing rookie.
20. (22) JIMMY SPENCER 88.5
He spun out at least once, maybe twice, then sliced back up to 23rd in the final laps. In other words, that’s 94 more points than he got here last year.
21. (23) JOHNNY BENSON 84.9
He just stayed out of the way for most of the race. He’s always a dark horse to win at Michigan.
22. (17) STERLING MARLIN 84.8
I think Sterling like road courses even less now than he did before lap 1.
23. (20) TODD BODINE 84.6
Todd had a solid performance going before getting grounded in the pit.
24. (24) ELLIOTT SADLER 82.6
Those M&M’s are hurting for some exposure, Elliot. You going to give them some this weekend?
25. (32) DALE JARRETT 82.5
Dale may have three top-10’s in the last six races, but he hasn’t exactly been stellar in the other three. So no, he’s not out of the wilderness yet.
26. (25) DAVE BLANEY 79.5
Dave always seems to run pretty good at California; maybe he can carry that over to Michigan.
27. (27) RICKY RUDD 78.9
That was Ricky’s first lap lead since Las Vegas? Well, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised; it’s not like he’s been contending for wins or anything.
28. (31) JOE NEMECHEK 77.3
Incredibly, that was only Joe’s 8th top-20 finish this year. In other words, he’s in 2001-02 Terry Labonte form (rim shot).
29. (28) JEREMY MAYFIELD 74.0
In this week’s “Where’d HE come from?” department, Jeremy managed a 16th after spending most of the race with the back-markers.
30. (30) STEVE PARK 73.2
When your teammates both finish in the top-5…and you finish 26th without wrecking… something’s wrong.
31. (26) RICKY CRAVEN 72.3
Now that the cookie-cutters and road courses are out of the way, I’m going to go on the record: Barring an untimely accident, Ricky’s rise back to the front starts this weekend.
32. (29) GREEN/FELLOWS 67.8
Ron ran decent for the first half of the race, but then I started confusing his car with a Bouyea-Fassett’s bread truck – and that’s not good.
33. (33) CASEY MEARS 64.8
First Casey runs it into the gravel and falls from 4th to 22nd. Then he misses the inner-loop on the final lap and gives up 10 more spots. Talk about throwing away a good run.
34. (34) KENNY WALLACE 61.9
He got lapped on a road course, and still beat Rusty. That alone speaks volumes about both their days.
35. (35) TONY RAINES 59.1
I think Tony’s joined the ranks of folks who would rather not see a rood course again.
36. (36) THE ARMY OF ONE 57.7
Boris was able to slice through the field with Tony and Jeff, before he met his demise of the bumper of the eventual winner.
37. (39) THE (NET)ZERO CAR 54.6
The fenders were caved in, and John still matched that car’s best run since Daytona.
38. (37) KYLE PETTY 46.7
I believe there’s an old saying: “You can’t win a race on the first lap, but you can lose it.” Kyle lost it.
39. (41) MORGAN-McCLURE 45.1
You’d think that is P.J. could finish 4th in an A.J. Foyt car, he should come close in a Morgan-McClure car. Guess not.
40. (40) KEN SCHRADER 43.4
Two straight DNQ’s. It’s really sad to see Kenny having to load up on Friday.
41. (38) CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI 42.0
I guess even the Yankees couldn’t convince Christian to keep out of the wall – or the Styrofoam, as the case may be.
42. (42) LARRY FOYT 35.2
The numbers game didn’t work out again. Somebody in NASCAR needs to make a rule before this cheap practice becomes commonplace.
