Sporting News Power Poll after Dover

Sporting News Power Poll after Dover
By the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service


After his victory Sunday at Dover, Jimmie Johnson is back atop the Sporting News Power Poll. Johnson has three top-five finishes in his past four starts and has closed to 35 points of Chase leader Denny Hamlin, who is second in the poll. The weekly poll is a collaboration of Sporting News and Rowdy.com.


1. Jimmie Johnson (11th) His 19 wins in Chase races alone (62 races) are enough to rank him 34th all time in Cup wins.
2. Denny Hamlin (1st) His target finish was eighth, and he finished ninth. That’s three straight top 10s for the points leader.
3. Kyle Busch (4th) Looked like he might pull off a Dover sweep but faded to sixth at the end.
4. Carl Edwards (6th) Edwards stayed in touch with the Chase leaders with a fifth-place finish at Dover.
5. Kurt Busch (9th) Fourth in the race. Fourth in the points.
6. Jeff Burton (13th) Found it funny that Burton bemoaned the fact he can’t qualify well. He has never qualified well. Accept it, dude, and move on. Be proud of your runner-up finish and keep digging.
7. Kevin Harvick (3rd) Harvick has four top 15s in the past five races, but he hasn’t led any laps since winning at Michigan.
8. Jeff Gordon (5th) Gordon ran in the top six most of the afternoon, but a mistake in the pits cost him dearly. Lacking the speed of the Chase front-runners, Gordon has to be perfect in all other respects. On Sunday, that didn’t happen.
9. Ryan Newman (10th) Four top 10s in the past five races. Easily his best stretch all season.
10. AJ Allmendinger (16th) Before Sunday’s race, AJ had led 43 laps in his entire career. At Dover he led 143. Could it be mere coincidence that he drives the No. 43?
11. Joey Logano (25th) Logano has two top fives in the past three races but still no consistency.
12. Jamie McMurray (7th) McMurray is fighting hard with Newman for the consolation prize for non-Chasers. Newman has 13th place by 19 points.
13. Clint Bowyer (2nd) His appeal should raise the point that NASCAR needs an independent board of arbiters to make judgment calls, rather than NASCAR-appointed ones.
14. Tony Stewart (8th) A second straight finish in the 20s put Smoke’s title hopes in serious jeopardy.
15. Juan Pablo Montoya (14th) Montoya qualified in the top 10 for the 10th straight race. That’s the longest current top-10 starting streak in Cup.
16. Matt Kenseth (17th) A blown tire ripped into his car, and Kenseth finished 18th. That’s his fourth consecutive finish outside the top 10.
17. Greg Biffle (15th) A big, fat egg laid at one of his best tracks spells doom for Biffle in this year’s Chase.
18. Mark Martin (23rd) Martin had to start in the back because of an illegal shock in qualifying but raced his way into the top 15—which is progress for Martin these days.
19. Paul Menard (NR) Menard gets his fourth top 10 and first since Chicagoland in July. He had two entering the season.
20. Marcos Ambrose (24th) Once he fell a lap down, long green-flag runs kept him there.
21. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (19th) Step right up to the Earnhardt roller-coaster. New Hampshire gave Junior’s fans some hope. Dover dashed it again.
22. David Reutimann (12th) Reutimann finished 35th, his fourth finish 30th or worse. He had three last year.
23. Kasey Kahne (18th) For the second week in a row Kahne failed to run one lap in the top 10.
24. Brad Keselowski (21st) His 22nd at Dover equaled his average finish this year. Keselowski has 11 finishes from 18th to 22nd.
25. Martin Truex Jr. (20th) Shades of the Truex who won his only Cup race at Dover until mechanical problems spoiled his day