Sporting News Power Poll after Atlanta

Sporting News Power Poll after Atlanta

(September 7, 2011)

Jimmie Johnson may have trailed Jeff Gordon to the finish line in Tuesday's rain-delayed AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but as the clear-cut Sprint Cup points leader after that race, Johnson gets the nod as the No. 1 driver in this week's power poll, narrowly edging his Hendrick Motorsports teammate for the top spot.

The five-time defending Cup champion opened a 21-point lead over second-place Kyle Busch, who scraped the wall early in the Atlanta race and fought his car the rest of the way to a 23rd-place finish, However, as soon as Saturday night's Wonderful Pistachios 400 at Richmond is over, Johnson's lead will disappear.

Busch, with a series-best four victories through 25 races, is guaranteed at least a tie for top seeding in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, with each victory worth three bonus points to start the 10-race playoff. Three other drivers—Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski—could tie Busch with a win at Richmond. Gordon and Harvick are locked into the top 10 in points, while Keselowski, ranked fourth in this week's poll, must supplant either Dale Earnhardt Jr. or Tony Stewart in the top 10 in order to collect bonus points for his wins.

Keselowski trails Earnhardt by 25 points and Stewart by 23 entering the Richmond race.

The power poll is a weekly collaboration of Sporting News, SceneDaily.com, Rowdy.com and NASCAR Illustrated.

1. Jimmie Johnson (Last week: 2nd). Duel with teammate, friend and team co-owner Jeff Gordon didn't end in Johnson's favor. First time in a long time that's been the case for Five-Time.

2. Jeff Gordon (3rd). Scores his 85th victory at the site of his first Cup start and first NASCAR win (in the Nationwide Series). More importantly, he sent a message to Five-Time.

3. Kyle Busch (1st). Led 19 laps early, but that was the only highlight of a 23rd-place finish.

4. Brad Keselowski (4th). Didn't have anything for the Hendrick boys, but his sixth-place finish is his worst in the last five races. Who wouldn't want that?

5. Carl Edwards (6th). His fifth-place finish was his first top five since another fifth-place effort at Kentucky.

6. Matt Kenseth (5th).  Kenseth was dominant early but lost the handle on his car and faded to ninth. The story of his season and not a good sign for the Chase.

7. Kevin Harvick (8th). Steadied the canoe with a seventh-place run after looking awfully tipsy in recent weeks. He needs a good run at Richmond to become relevant again in the title chase.

8. Kurt Busch (10th). Busch got back on track with his first top 10 in four races. Now he must back it up at Richmond, where he was terrible in the spring.

9. Ryan Newman (7th). Clinched a spot in the Chase despite a lackluster 20th-place finish.

10. Tony Stewart (12th). Bounced back from a dismal Bristol performance with a top three at Atlanta—just his third podium finish of a relatively disappointing season.

11. Denny Hamlin (11th). Hamlin's eighth-place run was good enough to keep him in 12th. Now, he heads home to Richmond where he has two wins and a second in his last four starts.

12. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (9th). Some rumblings from Driver 88 after Atlanta that his "stuff" isn't together should have Junior fans a little nervous.

13. AJ Allmendinger (13th). Solid day for the Dinger in Atlanta, but he needs to win in Richmond and beat Hamlin by 12 points to make the Chase—tall order.  

14. Martin Truex Jr. (16th). Pit strategy put him up front but didn't pan out for the Michael Waltrip Racing driver.

15. Clint Bowyer (14th). Add Bowyer's name to Jimmie Johnson's and Ryan Newman's as those who despise Juan Montoya.

16. Greg Biffle (17th). Strong start and then a long stall for the Biff in the ATL—kind of like his season.

17. Mark Martin (20th). Tony Stewart favors putting Martin in a third car with Danica Patrick next year if sponsorship can be found. It'd be nice way to end a career that seemingly has no end.

18. Kasey Kahne (15th). Won the pole at Atlanta but was terrible in race trim. Damage on a restart required a radiator change and the No. 4 limped to 34th. He's now the longest of the long shots for the last Chase spot. Needs to win at RIR and have Hamlin out early.       

19. Marcos Ambrose (19th). Remains ranked outside of the top twenty for the 12th week in a row despite two top 10s in the last four races.

20. Jeff Burton (24th). His season has long been a lost campaign, but his average finish of 14.2 in the last five races is a start toward building momentum for 2012.   

21. Paul Menard (21st). Technically speaking, he's not out of the Chase yet. But he'll need a strong run and a lot of help. I hope Menard didn't use up all his good luck in Indy because he'll need it all at Richmond.

22. Joey Logano (18th). Probably wished the race was on the Legend car track at Atlanta. He was much better there in his "younger" days as he struggled all weekend and finished 24th.   

23. Jamie McMurray (25th). Cracked the top 10 for a while but the way this season has gone, knew it probably wouldn't last. Wound up 16th.

24. Juan Pablo Montoya (NR). Another ho-hum outing from JP at Atlanta, who raised the ire of Clint Bowyer with contact on Lap 242.

25. David Ragan (22nd). Ragan's engine expired at Atlanta. Insult to injury: UPS could jump ship to teammate Carl Edwards in 2012.