Sporting News Power Poll after Infineon

Sporting News Power Poll after Infineon

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(June 28, 2011)

1. Carl Edwards (last week: 1st). Even with a balky car, Edwards found a way to finish third at Sonoma . That's the kind of thing champions do.

2. Kevin Harvick (3rd). Harvick called his run "the best ninth-place finish I can ever remember." It was great work by his crew to position the No. 29 well after being part of a wreck.

3. Kurt Busch (8th). That Busch got his first win of the season on a road course shows how strong this team suddenly has become.

4. Jimmie Johnson (6th). A quiet day for Johnson ended in seventh place. He'll take it after the 27th at Michigan .

5. Kyle Busch (2nd). Despite playing merry-go-round with Juan Pablo Montoya, Busch salvaged an 11th-place finish at Infineon.

6. Jeff Gordon (12th). The last time Gordon was in the top 10 was Week 2 after his win at Phoenix .

7. Matt Kenseth (4th). Kenseth had a strong top-10 run going until he was spun late in the race.

8. Clint Bowyer (10th). Bowyer got what he thought he could get out of his car—a top-five finish. Now it's on to Daytona, where RCR cars are very strong.

9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (7th). Sometimes you're just an innocent bystander—it's a good thing Junior had a bit of a buffer before his three-point day in California .

10. Denny Hamlin (5th). Well, that didn't last long. Hamlin's stay in the top 10 in points ended after one week with his third finish in the 30s this season.

11. Ryan Newman (9th). Newman didn't end up with his car on a stack of tires like his teammate, but his 25th-place finish was nothing to write home about, either.

12. Tony Stewart. (11th). Evidently, payback really is hell.

13. Greg Biffle (13th). His 23rd in Sonoma was about eight spots worse than his career average at the track.

14. Mark Martin (14th). Martin had a ho-hum run that ended in 19th place. The lame-duck season continues to roll along at a desultory pace.

15. AJ Allmendinger (16th). Considering his road-course background, Allmendinger had to be hoping for better than the 13th he got at Infineon.

16. Brad Keselowski (22nd). A top 10 on a road course—at Montoya's expense—had Kez in a feisty mood after the race.

17. Paul Menard (15th). Downside: Menard started in the top 10 for the seventh time in 2011 but responded with a finish outside the top 10 for the fifth time. Upside: His 17th-place run was a personal best at Infineon.

18. Marcos Ambrose (23rd). It's hard to be disappointed about a top five, but Sonoma feels like a missed opportunity for Ambrose.

19. Martin Truex Jr. (24th). Truex jumped two spots in the standings with one of those didn't-see-it-coming top-10 finishes. Now if they were all this easy.

20. Juan Pablo Montoya (17th). Run-ins with Kasey Kahne and Keselowski led to a 22nd-place finish and Montoya to surmise: "It's hard when people don't know how to race on road courses and think they do."

21. Joey Logano (21st). Logano started on the pole, finished sixth and dumped Robby Gordon. More days like that and rumors of him being out of a ride will vanish.

22. Kasey Kahne (18th). Kahne was one of a number of drivers Montoya'd on Sunday. And like the others, it cost him a quality finish.

23. Regan Smith (25th). Smith posted his best finish on a road course, 16th, and even led five laps. Nicely done.

24. David Ragan (20th). Ragan brought a brand-new car to Sonoma but left with an old familiar result in 29th place.

25. Brian Vickers (19th). Retaliation on Stewart felt good; 36th-place finish not so much.