Sporting News Power Poll after Charlotte

Sporting News Power Poll after Charlotte

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(May 31, 2011)

Kevin Harvick wasn’t the biggest gainer in this week’s Sporting News Power Poll, but his win in the Coca-Cola 600 Sunday was his third of the season—best in the Cup Series—and vaulted him to the top spot, an improvement of four positions. Harvick took the victory when Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran out of fuel on the final lap and has led a total of nine laps in his three wins. This week’s biggest gainer was David Ragan, who jumped from 25th to 15th after his career-best second-place finish at Charlotte. The biggest losers? Mark Martin and Martin Truex Jr. each lost 10 positions. The Sporting News Power Poll is a weekly collaboration of Sporting News, SceneDaily.com, Rowdy.com and NASCAR Illustrated.

1. Kevin Harvick (last week: 5th). If Harvick gets this kind of luck during the Chase, he just might win his first championship.

2. Carl Edwards (1st). Edwards got stuck in the muck with wave-around cars and finished 16th—but added 12 points to his championship lead.

3. Matt Kenseth (6th). Kenseth was dominant at Charlotte but was robbed by fuel mileage, pit strategy and wave-arounds

4. Kyle Busch (2nd). Busch did a better job of keeping his car on the asphalt on Perth Road last Tuesday than he did at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday.

5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (7th). Junior had a legitimate shot at a legitimate win in a legitimately fast car. Even running out of fuel didn’t stop Earnhardt from a Charlotte top 10.

6. Jimmie Johnson (3rd). The 48 suffered a rare engine failure late in the Coke 600. Oh %$&@*#.

7. Clint Bowyer (4th). Bowyer started 10th and finished 15th, the first time in four races he hasn’t improved on his starting position at Charlotte.

8. Greg Biffle (11th). Cooler heads didn’t prevail in the end at Charlotte, but after the Biff got his cooling system fixed, he was fast, with a chance to win until fuel mileage intervened.

9. Denny Hamlin (10th). Hamlin is back in the top 12 and back out front. Think he's looking forward to Pocono (June 12)?

10. Kurt Busch (14th). Busch held his tongue and kept his composure, and it paid off with top five finish.

11. Tony Stewart (13th). You know it had to be a wild race when a finish of 17th actually improves your position in the points standings.

12. AJ Allmendinger (18th). After starting on the front row, Allmendinger's Ford was one of the few that wasn’t fast for most of the night—but he ended up with a top five anyway.

13. Ryan Newman (9th). Newman found himself at the wrong place at the wrong time when he was collected in the David Gilliland/Mark Martin crash at Lap 302.

14. Jeff Gordon (12th). Although he wasn’t the strongest Hendrick car Sunday, Gordon can take a little solace in the fact that neither was Johnson.

15. David Ragan (25th). Witness the resurgence of Ragan, who won the Sprint Showdown the previous weekend before finishing a career-best second Sunday. He now must sustain the momentum during NASCAR's long, hot summer stretch.

16. Marcos Ambrose (17th). Ambrose's 18 laps led Sunday is 17 more than he has led in any other race this season.

17. Kasey Kahne (16th). Boy, that one smarts. Kahne had a win within reach. He’ll get one this year.

18. Mark Martin (8th). Martin’s No. 5 Chevrolet looked like the proverbial pinball in the second half of the 600 marathon. His "tilt" moment came on Lap 302 in a three-car wreck. Game over in 34th place.

19. Brad Keselowski (21st). Keselowski is making progress, as the pole he won on Thursday indicated.

20. Juan Pablo Montoya (20th). It was a quiet night for Montoya, who kept his nose clean and came home with a 12th-place finish.

21. Jeff Burton (19th). What do Burton, Dave Blaney, Joe Nemechek and Lady Gaga have in common? Pat yourself on the back if you said none has a top 10 finish in the Cup Series a third of the way into the season.

22. Joey Logano (NR). Logano's miraculous third-place finish allowed him to jump five spots in the points standings to 23rd. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

23. Regan Smith (23rd). Smith finished eighth despite an average running position of 23.8—which was 26th-best in the race. Hooray for those late cautions.

24. Paul Menard (NR). Menard had an OK race, but he was most valuable when he pushed the 29 and 31 during the final caution so they could save fuel.

25. Martin Truex Jr. (15th). Truex was just trying to keep up with the leaders when he was rear-ended by Brian Vickers not long after the halfway point Sunday. That cost him two spots in the points standings.