Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(July 12, 2011)
Kyle Busch is the unanimous No. 1 in this week’s Sporting News Power Poll after winning the inaugural Sprint Cup race at Kentucky Speedway. Busch’s third victory of the year also moved him into the top spot in the Sprint Cup Series standings. Last week’s No. 1, Kevin Harvick, fell to No. 5 after finishing 16th Saturday night. Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson fill in the top five in the weekly collaboration of Sporting News, SceneDaily.com, Rowdy.com and NASCAR Illustrated.
1. Kyle Busch (last week: 2nd) Take a bow for the dominating performance in Kentucky Speedway’s inaugural ball.
2. Carl Edwards (4th) Edwards was back on track after a fifth-place run at Kentucky in what could be his last season with Roush.
3. Kurt Busch (6th) Kurt couldn’t beat his brother, but the No. 22 team put together another strong run.
4. Jimmie Johnson (7th) Johnson’s best move was his decision to helicopter into the track on race day—even better than his sixth top five of the season.
5. Kevin Harvick (1st) None of the RCR cars clicked at Kentucky, and Harvick was the best of those with a 16th-place finish—his worst since Darlington.
6. Matt Kenseth (3rd) Pit strategy cost the consistent Kenseth a chance to pick up his third win of the season.
7. Jeff Gordon (5th) Since his Pocono win five races ago, Gordon has led exactly one lap—but has three top 10s and an average finish of 8.8 in those four races.
8. Ryan Newman (10th) Thanks to a late-race charge, Newman finished fourth and gave himself some breathing room on the Chase bubble by improving to ninth in points.
9. Denny Hamlin (8th) Hamlin missed the top 10 for the third straight race (11th at Kentucky), but the fire’s still there for this team even though the speed has tailed off a bit.
10. Tony Stewart (12th) Shouldn’t Darian Grubb know by now that track position trumps fresh rubber on a downforce track?
11. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (9th) More bad luck for Junior, but he didn’t look very fast at Kentucky, either. Suddenly he’s 21 points from missing the Chase.
12. Clint Bowyer (11th) Consecutive finishes in the 30s will force Bowyer to dig to regain Chase position.
13. David Ragan (15th) Ragan followed up his victory at Daytona with an eighth-place run, solidifying his bid to remain with Roush Fenway Racing next year.
14. Brad Keselowski (20th) Kez handled traffic on Saturday night a lot better than Kentucky Speedway did.
15. Kasey Kahne (16th) Kahne led one lap after starting fourth—then promptly disappeared. It’s hard to figure this team out.
16. Juan Pablo Montoya (21st) A late speeding penalty proved costly for Montoya, who wound up 15th.
17. Greg Biffle (13th) After only two top 10s in his last 10 races, none in the past five, the Biff lost crew chief Greg Erwin.
18. Joey Logano (18th) A 14th would be OK at some places, but Logano had won three consecutive Nationwide races at Kentucky and was considered a favorite.
19. Mark Martin (19th) Quaker State sponsored Martin’s car as well as the first Kentucky Cup race. Martin’s 22nd-place finish is better than the track’s nightmare debut.
20. Paul Menard (17th) As a whole, RCR looked baffled by Kentucky Speedway. Menard was no exception.
21. David Reutimann (NR) It’s about time Reutimann and his team got their act together. This is the kind of performance—runner-up Saturday night—we have come to expect on 1.5-mile tracks.
22. AJ Allmendinger (14th) The promising start to the 2011 season seems like ancient history now as AJ fell to 18th in the points.
23. Marcos Ambrose (22nd) Handling issues and pit-road mistakes dropped Ambrose a position in the standings. He now sits 22nd, and even a Watkins Glen win might not be enough to get him in the Chase.
24. Martin Truex Jr. (23rd) Truex was one of several drivers who made up a lost lap, but handling issues late saddled him with an 18th-place finish.
25. Regan Smith (25th) Halfway through the season, Smith is 27th in points; he was 30th through 18 races in 2010. Smith: “We’ve come a long way but still have more to accomplish.” He’s right, even after his win at Darlington.
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