Sporting News Power Poll after Texas

Sporting News Power Poll after Texas

 

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

 

(November 8, 2011)

 

Tony Stewart might be trailing Carl Edwards by three points in the Chase standings, but he moved ahead of Edwards in this week’s Sporting News Power Poll after winning his second Chase race in a row. Kyle Busch, who was parked by NASCAR for wrecking Ron Hornaday Jr. in Friday’s truck race, dropped to 13th in voting done by editors and writers of Sporting News, SceneDaily.com, Rowdy.com and NASCAR Illustrated.

 

1. Tony Stewart (last week: 2nd) Ecuador, Hades, Kyle Busch’s seat, Selma Hayek and Tony Stewart. Things that are hot.

 

2. Carl Edwards (1st) The No. 99 Ford was the first loser Sunday at Texas, and Edwards saw more than half his points lead disappear.

 

3. Matt Kenseth (6th) Kenseth got a much-needed top-five finish, but it was a week too late.

 

4. Kevin Harvick (3rd) His driver rating for the race was 11th and he finished 13th. Yep, he pretty much got what he deserved.

 

5. Brad Keselowski (5th) Pit road was an adventure. Blocked by Ryan Newman. Backed into Denny Hamlin. As far as the Chase goes, game over.

 

6. Jimmie Johnson (4th) Five-time’s title hopes were on life support heading into Texas, and now they can be declared dead. He’s 55 points behind Edwards with two races left.

 

7. Jeff Gordon (8th) Gordon returns to Phoenix this weekend, the site of his first 2011 win, but this Phoenix is not the same Phoenix as that Phoenix. Really.

 

8. Kasey Kahne (13th) Kahne was one of the best at Texas. With four top fives in the past six races, he still might score a win before the season’s out.

 

9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (10th) Junior started the season on an upswing, and it appears as though he might finish on another.

 

10. Greg Biffle (15th) The Biff ran with his fellow “Big 3” Roush Fenway teammates at Texas and finished in the top five. Could he be a threat at Homestead?

 

11. Denny Hamlin (9th) Even though he was the last one standing after a disastrous weekend for JGR, Hamlin was officially eliminated from contention.

 

12. Clint Bowyer (14th) His ninth-place finish was his fifth top 10 of the Chase in eight races.

 

13. Kyle Busch (7th) You can’t win if you can’t play. NASCAR’s timeout officially eliminated Busch from title contention.

 

14. Ryan Newman (12th) Was Newman running interference for his team’s co-owner when he blocked Keselowski in the pits? BK certainly thought so.

 

15. Kurt Busch (11th) Was it Kyle or Kurt who got parked? Kurt is limping through the Chase as if he has been parked for weeks.

 

16. AJ Allmendinger (16th) The Dinger and his RPM teammate, Marcos Ambrose, showed nearly the speed of their fellow Fords at Texas—an encouraging sign.

 

17. Marcos Ambrose (19th) Over the past six races, Ambrose has outpointed five Chase drivers (Earnhardt, Gordon, Newman, both Busches) and is just one point worse than Keselowski.

 

18. Martin Truex Jr. (18th) Truex says the addition of Scott Miller to oversee the competition department already is paying dividends. His eighth-place finish is pretty good evidence.

 

19. Jeff Burton (17th) Burton did lead 24 laps late, but he couldn’t quite stretch his fuel mileage and finished two laps down in 27th.

 

20. David Ragan (25th) With his future uncertain, Ragan is auditioning for another ride and he impressed at Texas with a 12th-place run after qualifying on the outside of the front row.

 

21. Paul Menard (21st) Menard has been far from spectacular, but he has an average finish of 17.0 in the Chase. If he can keep up that consistency, he could easily be in the mix for the wild card next year.

 

22. Mark Martin (23rd) The highlight of Martin’s weekend came off the track when he announced he’ll drive for Michael Waltrip Racing the next two seasons. Everybody but David Reutimann appeared pleased with the news.

 

23. Juan Pablo Montoya (20th) Montoya saw a solid run spoiled when Geoffrey Bodine dive-bombed. Somehow Montoya managed to finish 18th despite the damage.

 

24. Regan Smith (22nd) An oddity: Despite one win, two top fives and five top 10s, Smith is 26th in the standings. Last year, his best finish was 12th, and he finished 28th. Explain that.

 

25. Brian Vickers (NR) Vickers was a little more out of the spotlight but not good enough to get much of a spotlight with a 21st-place finish.