Sporting News Power Poll after Kansas

Sporting News Power Poll after Kansas


By the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(October 5, 2010)

Jimmie Johnson finished second in Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway and is the unanimous No. 1 pick in this week’s Sporting News Power Poll. He has a first and a second in the first three Chase races. Sunday’s winner, Greg Biffle, climbed 13 spots to fourth. The weekly poll is a collaboration of Sporting News and Rowdy.com.

1. Jimmie Johnson (Last week: 1st) Johnson drove through the field and right into the Chase lead. He now has four top fives in the past five races. Look out.
2. Kevin Harvick (7th) Harvick is right in the thick of things after finishing third at Kansas, but he must start winning or Johnson will soon leave him behind.
3. Carl Edwards (4th) After a strong sixth-place run at Kansas, he’s the best bet to keep pace with Johnson at California.
4. Greg Biffle (17th) We wrote the Biff off last week, but he was nearly perfect in a new car at Kansas. Do the same thing at California, and we might have something to talk about.
5. Jeff Gordon (8th) Top fives aren’t bad, but it has been a long time since his last win—58 races, to be exact—and he’s not going to win the Chase he covets without a victory or two.
6. Denny Hamlin (2nd) He has to remember what happened in the California Chase race last year, when he spun leading the race and killed his title hopes. This race will be big for him.
7. Tony Stewart (14th) Despite running fourth at Kansas, he still has a long, uphill climb after slow starts at Loudon and Dover.
8. Kyle Busch (3rd) Thanks to his encounter with David Reutimann, Busch finished 21st. But consider this: Johnson still has a worse finish—25th at New Hampshire—in this year’s Chase.
9. Kurt Busch (5th) Busch has finished 13th in two of the three Chase races. That’s unlucky.
10. Matt Kenseth (16th) Kenseth picked up his first top 10 since Bristol and led 26 laps, his most in nearly a year (Charlotte).
11. Jeff Burton (6th) Burton has two finishes of 15th or worse since the Chase started. That won’t get it done.
12. Ryan Newman (9th) Newman ran as high as second, but his fuel tank ran dry as he was entering pit road on Lap 145
13. AJ Allmendinger (10th) Allmendinger set a personal best with his seventh top 10 of the season. He had six last year.
14. Paul Menard (19th) Menard scores back-to-back top 10s for the first time in his career.
15. Jamie McMurray (12th) Daytona 500 and Brickyard wins made his season, no matter what happens the rest of the way.
16. Clint Bowyer (13th) If you’d just lost a shot at the championship, you’d be devastated, too. Can’t blame him for falling.
17. Mark Martin (18th) Three Hendrick or affiliated cars finished in the top five. Another finished in the top 10. Martin finished 14th. Is that progress or is he still behind?
18. Joey Logano (11th) Logano still has not had consecutive top-10 finishes since the Martinsville and Phoenix races in the spring.
19. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (21st) Dale who?
20. Juan Pablo Montoya (15th) Kansas marked his 11th top-10 start in a row, but he has failed to finish in the top 10 for the last three of those 11 races
21. David Ragan (NR) A top 20 at Kansas marked definite improvement, but he’s still not running with his teammates.
22. David Reutimann (22nd) Reutimann could be overheard on his radio yelling, “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!”
23. Martin Truex Jr. (25th) At least he wasn’t in the middle of a major controversy at Kansas like his teammate Reutimann—but he was in the middle of the pack.
24. Brad Keselowski (24th) Building on what we said last week … Keselowski finished 22nd at Dover and 23rd at Kansas. His average finish this year? 22.2.
25. Kasey Kahne (18th) Kahne has earned three poles this season. His 2010 average finish when starting in P1 is 18.3, just slightly better than his overall average of 19.0.