(June 14, 2011)
Not even a blown engine could knock Sprint Cup Series points leader Carl Edwards from the No. 1 spot in this week’s Sporting News Power Poll. But it came close. Edwards barely retained the top spot from Jimmie Johnson, who moved up to second from fourth with his fourth-place finish in Sunday’s race at Pocono Raceway. Adversaries Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch along with Dale Earnhardt Jr. round out the top five. The poll is a weekly collaboration of Sporting News, SceneDaily.com, Rowdy.com and NASCAR Illustrated.
1. Carl Edwards (last week: 1st) A blown engine cost him most of his points lead, but as Edwards said, “What good is a point lead, if you can’t use it?”
2. Jimmie Johnson (4th) Don’t look now, but Johnson is six points shy of Edwards after another top-five run, his fifth of the season.
3. Kevin Harvick (2nd) Harvick played with Kyle Busch during the race and got a top five. Wonder what he’ll do with Busch now that his probation period is over.
4. Kyle Busch (5th) Even with Harvick in his head from earlier antics, Busch ran third at Pocono.
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (3rd) Quit wondering: A sixth at Pocono is proof positive that Junior has found consistency and confidence. Can a win be far behind?
6. Kurt Busch (8th) The No. 22 team appears to have righted the ship and made Busch a contender again.
7. Jeff Gordon (10th) Between Gordon’s Phoenix win and Sunday’s Pocono win his average finish was 17.4. Victories are great, but now he has to follow it up with consistent speed.
8. Matt Kenseth (6th) Kenseth keeps plugging along. He hasn’t had a bad week in a while.
9. Denny Hamlin (7th) Hamlin showed he still has it at Pocono by leading the most laps. But a bad tire undid his day. He’ll be back in August as the favorite.
10. Tony Stewart (9th) Who knew third gear was that important?
11. Ryan Newman (14th) Crew chief Tony Gibson said the team lost third gear with about 21 laps remaining in the race. Fortunately for Newman, he was able to nurse the car home to a ninth-place finish.
12. Clint Bowyer (12th) Bowyer’s Prelude win was a nice breakthrough. Too bad they don’t race on dirt in the Sprint Cup Series, though.
13. Juan Pablo Montoya (18th) Montoya led three times for 38 laps and moved to 13th in points. But the two-tire call while leading was a huge mistake.
14. Greg Biffle (11th) Biffle finished 27th at a track where he tasted victory a year ago, leaving you to wonder just whom Biffle is going to pass to get into the Chase.
15. Kasey Kahne (16th) Kahne’s team seemed to turn the corner at Darlington. But in the four races since, his best finish was this weekend’s 12th. At 17th in points, Kahne needs to turn it on.
16. Mark Martin (17th) The forgotten man at Hendrick Motorsports finished 18th while his teammates all scored top-six finishes. Must have been bittersweet to see former crew chief Alan Gustafson celebrating another victory with Gordon.
17. Martin Truex Jr. (22nd) Just when you’re ready to write off Truex, he finishes in the top 10. The crew chief change gets early rave reviews.
18. David Ragan (15th) Ragan’s ho-hum 17th-place finish actually bumped him up a spot to 16th in points. Expect a better effort at Michigan, where Roush Fenway cars are typically stout.
19. Brad Keselowski (13th) The Blue Deuce couldn’t match the speed of Kurt’s No. 22, and Kez lost a spot in the quest for a wild card.
20. Paul Menard (21st) Menard qualified second and finished 14th. Considering his average start and finish at Pocono entering the race was 27.1 and 25.6, respectively, we’d call the weekend a success.
21. AJ Allmendinger (19th) It’s looking like a long, slow fade for the Dinger—he has moved up in the standings only once in the past 5 races.
22. David Reutimann (NR) Slowly—very slowly—Reutimann is making progress.
23. Regan Smith (25th) Smith finished in the top 15 for the fifth time this season. He had four top 15s all of last year. He moved up two spots in the standings to 27th.
24. Joey Logano (NR) An 11th-place finish is a step in the right direction as Logano moves up two spots in points.
25. Marcos Ambrose (20th) For only the second time in 2011 Ambrose failed to improve upon his starting position at any point during the race.
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