Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(May 9, 2011)
Carl Edwards recaptured the top spot in the weekly Sporting News Power Poll with his third second-place finish of the season. Edwards couldn’t find a way around surprise winner Regan Smith in Saturday night’s Showtime Southern 500, but the runner-up finish helped him pad his lead in the Sprint Cup Series standings to 23 points over Jimmie Johnson after 10 races. Smith, unranked last week, is 18th the poll, which is a weekly collaboration of Sporting News, SceneDaily.com, Rowdy.com and NASCAR Illustrated.
1. Carl Edwards (Last week: 2nd) Edwards’ second-place run at Darlington gave him a commanding lead in the standings—under any points system.
2. Kyle Busch (1st) Busch had perhaps the strongest car Saturday, before an unscheduled pit stop and a run-in with Kevin Harvick dropped him out of the top 10.
3. Jimmie Johnson (3rd) Considering all Johnson went through Saturday night, a 15th-place finish isn’t that bad.
4. Kevin Harvick (4th) His long-running feud with Busch was revisited after Busch turned the No. 29 at race’s end. Harvick’s team promised payback afterward.
5. Clint Bowyer (5th) Another great run was spoiled when Bowyer got collected in the Kyle/Kevin melee after he tried going three-wide past them.
6. Kasey Kahne (14th) Kahne won the pole and led the most laps. Better watch out for the No. 4 team. They’re going to win one. Soon.
7. Ryan Newman (11th) Now that his “dispute” with Juan Pablo Montoya is on the backburner, Newman can turn his attention back to racing. Fifth at Darlington is a nice start.
8. Tony Stewart (8th) Still no Darlington win for Smoke, but a seventh-place run bumps him up three big spots in the standings.
9. Denny Hamlin (9th) Hamlin didn’t exactly live up to his usual excellence at Darlington, but back-to-back top-six finishes show the team is finding its footing.
10. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (7th) Running in the top 10 late, Junior wasn’t able to seal the deal and settled for a 14th. Of course, nailing the commitment cone didn’t help.
11. Jeff Gordon (13th) Gordon is 17th in the points after dropping out of the top 10 late at Darlington. He is looking more and more like a wild-card candidate.
12. Greg Biffle (10th) The Biff closed well at Darlington and continues to close in on the Chase, too—he has moved up to 12th in the standings.
13. Matt Kenseth (6th) Kenseth’s early-season hot streak has gone cold. Two flat tires doomed him at Darlington, and suddenly he can’t buy a break.
14. AJ Allmendinger (12th) A 20th at Darlington allowed Allmendinger to hold on to 11th in the standings.
15. Mark Martin (18th) Martin scored his ninth top-20 in 10 races. That’s a comment we normally write about Allmendinger or Paul Menard. Not Martin.
16. Kurt Busch (17th) Team changes obviously are going to take awhile after another dismal run. At least he didn’t cuss much.
17. Juan Pablo Montoya (15th) Headlines for an alleged incident in the NASCAR hauler with Newman on Friday was the highlight of the weekend for Montoya, who finished 23rd and fell just outside the top 12 in points.
18. Regan Smith (NR) Congrats to Smith for getting his first official win.
19. David Ragan (16th) A pop from behind from Brian Vickers didn’t help, but Ragan salvaged the night with a 21st-place run.
20. Martin Truex Jr. (23rd) A week after blasting his pit crew for problems, Truex’s mistake—spinning out while attempting to get onto pit road—nearly buried the No. 56 team. He fought back for a solid top 10, though.
21. Paul Menard (19th) With Smith’s win, all eyes turn to Marcos Ambrose and Menard for the next first-time winner. Who’s it going to be? Judging from recent performance, it won’t be the No. 27.
22. Jamie McMurray (24th) McMurray’s solid run to finish ninth was only his second top 10 of the season and should give him some much-needed confidence.
23. Jeff Burton (20th) Overheating problems cost him his first top 10 of the season. Think he’s starting to believe this is not his year?
24. Marcos Ambrose (25th) Ambrose is sitting 22nd in points after a strong 13th at Darlington. His best Chase shot is to crack the top 20 and win at a road course.
25. Brad Keselowski (NR) Pit strategy, not speed in the car, was responsible for BK’s third-place run at Darlington—but he’ll take it.
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