POWER POLL

Carl Edwards might be winless, but after his seventh finish of seventh or better in the past eight races—and fifth top five—he moved into the top spot of this week’s Sporting News Power Poll. Kyle Busch is second, and Tony Stewart jumped to third after his first win of the season. Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson also made big jumps based on their top-five finishes at Atlanta, and they round out the top five. The weekly poll is a collaboration of Sporting News and Rowdy.com.
1. Carl Edwards (last week: 3rd) It’s just a matter of time before Edwards claims a victory to go with all the top 10s he has been posting lately.
2. Kyle Busch (2nd) Cool, I didn’t blow up!
3. Tony Stewart (11th) Sunday’s win at Atlanta may give Smoke the bump he needs for the Chase.
4. Jeff Burton (12th) Fun to watch him drive his car on the very edge and come home with a fourth-place finish. He was going for it, and that’s what we all want to see.
5. Jimmie Johnson (17th) Johnson scores his first top five since his victory in June at New Hampshire.
6. Kurt Busch (8th) At one point Busch was running as low as 39th, but a pit gamble coupled with dumb luck resulted in a top 10.
7. Clint Bowyer (4th) Congrats on making the Chase. But based on a lack of laps led and wins, wouldn’t you rather see Jamie McMurray in the Chase than Bowyer?
8. Juan Pablo Montoya (10th) Montoya wore his Huggies sponsorship to his fourth top 10 in a row.
9. Kevin Harvick (1st) Picked a good time to miss pit road and blow out his left front fender as a result. He can’t afford to make any mistakes in two weeks.
10. Matt Kenseth (9th) Kenseth just missed the top 10 but did get his ninth top 20 in a row—which is great news if your name is David Ragan.
11. Jeff Gordon (6th) Ella’s new paint scheme didn’t propel her daddy to the front. Gordon was steady, not speedy.
12. Ryan Newman (16th) Newman was tagged by Greg Biffle so he took it out on Kasey Kahne.
13. Greg Biffle (5th) His mistake at Atlanta won’t hurt him—in order to miss the Chase, Biffle would have to finish last with Newman winning and leading the most laps at Richmond.
14. Marcos Ambrose (25th) Only the second top 10 on an oval for Ambrose in 2010. He had five in 2009.
15. Jamie McMurray (7th) McMurray had a fast car in Atlanta but couldn’t gain ground on Bowyer. Chase is now a pipe dream.
16. David Reutimann (13th) Reutimann couldn’t hear his team trying to tell him that his radio wasn’t working because his radio wasn’t working.
17. Martin Truex Jr. (18th) Truex was very strong for the first half of Atlanta but finished out of the top 10.
18. Denny Hamlin (15th) Hamlin’s blown engine will be long forgotten if he wins at Richmond.
19. Mark Martin (21st) It may have nothing to do with the midsummer drama, but the 5 team has lost the magic it had last year.
20. AJ Allmendinger (22nd) Allmendinger failed to lead a lap for the 22nd race this season.
21. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (19th) Junior showed promise in the middle of the race but faded at the finish. That has been the pattern for the past three months.
22. Kasey Kahne (14th) Kahne had a strong car and used it to send a strongly worded message to Newman.
23. Reed Sorenson (23rd) Sorenson has two top 15s in a row. Red Bull regular Scott Speed has two in the past 17 races.
24. Joey Logano (20th) Sound the sad trombone. Mile-and-a-half tracks were Logano’s best last year, and now he can’t seem to figure them out.
25. David Ragan (NR) Ragan’s recent improvement is not nearly as encouraging as that of his teammates.

BY Sporting News Power Poll after Atlanta

By the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service