RACING ** HELL ON WHEEL'S

Sporting News Power Poll after Texas


By the Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

Denny Hamlin, the new leader in the Sprint Cup standings, is the unanimous No. 1 choice of voters in this week’s Sporting News Power Poll. Hamlin won his eighth race of the year Sunday at Texas and now leads Jimmie Johnson by 33 points in the Chase standings. Johnson remained second in the poll, and Kevin Harvick, third in the Chase standings, dropped from first to third in the power poll. The weekly poll is a collaboration of Sporting News and Rowdy.com.

1. Denny Hamlin (Last week: 3rd) Thanks, Denny, for making the No. 48 team look really nervous about losing.
2. Jimmie Johnson (2nd) If the 24 crew doesn’t get the job done at Phoenix, 2 Live Crew will get the call at Homestead.
3. Kevin Harvick (1st) Has four top fives and seven top 10s in eight Chase races—and he’s still third. That’s how much you have to be on to win the title.
4. Mark Martin (8th) A third-place run at Texas reminded us of last year’s Martin—just in time for his final season at Hendrick Motorsports next year.
5. Clint Bowyer (5th) Bowyer’s seventh-place finish gave him 18 top 10s for 2010, a career high.
6. Matt Kenseth (10th) Kenseth almost gets it done. Instead he finishes second for the second time in 2010.
7. Joey Logano (9th) Funny that in the past four races, Logano has finished 7th, 6th, 5th and 4th, in that order. If that pattern holds, we have our Daytona 500 winner.
8. Greg Biffle (13th) A problem in the transmission prevented him from winning, but Biffle’s 16 car was the dominant machine at Texas.
9. Tony Stewart (14th) The Chase hasn’t been kind to Stewart during his two seasons as an owner-driver.
10. Jeff Gordon (4th) Wrecked early, but he gets bonus points for the right cross thrown at Jeff Burton.
11. Carl Edwards (6th) Had speed in qualifying, but it disappeared during the race. Even with a 19th-place run, Edwards rose two spots to fourth in the standings.
12. Paul Menard (16th) Menard earned his sixth top 10 of the season and third of the Chase. Never before has Menard scored multiple top 10s in a season.
13. David Reutimann (12th) Reutimann has two more races in which to equal last season’s high-watermark of 10 top 10s. He has stalled at nine.
14. David Ragan (24th) Speed all weekend and a top-10 finish in Texas makes it doubtful that crew chief Drew Blickensderfer will return to Edwards’ Nationwide team next year.
15. Jamie McMurray (15th) Waging a furious battle against Mark Martin for 13th in the standings.
16. Kyle Busch (7th) “Boys, have at it” apparently does not extend to using one’s middle finger to salute a NASCAR official.
17. Juan Pablo Montoya (11th) Montoya reeled off five straight top 10s in the run-up to the Chase. Since then, he has managed one.
18. AJ Allmendinger (23rd) Started nine positions behind teammate and polesitter Elliott Sadler at Texas but finished nine positions ahead of him.
19. Kasey Kahne (25th) Kahne finished 13th at Texas. Reed Sorenson’s eighth at Daytona in July is the only higher finish for Red Bull’s No. 83 since Brian Vickers fell ill.
20. Jeff Burton (17th) Burton sure had a great explanation for what happened with Gordon, but it sure looked like payback.
21. Marcos Ambrose (NR) Ambrose finished 12th, his first top 15 since back-to-back top 10s in September at Atlanta and Richmond.
22. Ryan Newman (21st) Ron Hornaday Jr. will stand by for the next two races while the “Great NASCAR Baby Wave of 2010” visits the Newman household.
23. Regan Smith (22nd) Stumbled a bit at Texas (22nd), but he’s still driving well.
24. Kurt Busch (20th) Busch the Elder has an average finish of 18.9 in the Chase and has dropped to 11th in the standings.
25. Brad Keselowski (19th) His top-10 Cup streak ends at two—but Keselowski clinches the Nationwide title, the first NASCAR crown for owner Roger Penske.