NASCAR Power Rankings Week 9
Jeff Hammond is fond of saying that to be the man, first you have to beat the man.
For the last five seasons, Jimmie Johnson unquestionably has been The Man in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and with his stunning last-lap lunge to victory at Talladega Superspeedway, he makes his first appearance atop this year’s FOXSports.com Power Rankings powered by SPEED.
Here’s this week’s list:
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FOX SPORTS NASCAR POWER RANKINGS
| RK | DRIVER | WINS | CHANGE | HIGH/LOW | COMMENTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Jimmie Johnson |
2 | 2 | 1/15 |
Five-Time has more to his 2011 resume than just Sunday’s Talladega victory, including top-three finishes in half his starts this year.
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| 2 |
Carl Edwards |
1 | - | 1/11 |
A furious and bold finish for Edwards, who retained the NASCAR Sprint Cup points lead with a banzai charge to sixth place.
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| 3 |
Kevin Harvick |
2 | 1 | 1/20 |
Happy did the honorable thing, nearly pushing teammate Clint Bowyer to victory. In the process, he earned himself a fifth-place finish.
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| 4 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
0 | 2 | 2/12 |
Clearly, Junior is in a much better place this year than he’s been in the past two seasons. Fast race cars help a lot.
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| 5 |
Kyle Busch |
1 | 4 | 1/20 |
It was a tough afternoon for Busch, who had his worst finish since losing an engine at Las Vegas. Two bad races in a row have hurt him.
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| 6 |
Ryan Newman |
0 | 2 | 3/18 |
Even though he finished 25th, Newman made a pair of incredible saves when he got turned from behind, and that allows him to move up.
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| 7 |
Matt Kenseth |
1 | 2 | 2/26 |
Wrong place at the wrong time for Kenseth, who was collateral damage when Joey Logano dumped Kyle Busch on Lap 140.
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| 8 |
Kurt Busch |
0 | 1 | 2/14 |
The elder Busch hit everything but the Irish Sweepstakes on Sunday, turning three cars ahead of him in three different incidents.
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| 9 |
Clint Bowyer |
0 | 2 | 4/25 |
Last October, the thrill of victory at Talladega; this time the agony of defeat as Bowyer finished second to Johnson by .002 seconds.
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| 10 |
Juan Pablo Montoya |
0 | 1 | 5/25 |
The Colombian was running well when Denny Hamlin turned Newman into him on Lap 179, eliminating all hope of victory.
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| 11 |
Jeff Gordon |
1 | 4 | 1/17 |
He led at the white flag, but Gordon had to settle for third in a crazy eight-driver battle to the checkered flag.
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| 12 |
Paul Menard |
0 | - | 6/23 |
A quiet but effective run for Menard, who finished 12th, the seventh time in eight races he’s come home in the top 20.
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| 13 |
Tony Stewart |
0 | 3 | 1/13 |
The two-time champ was this weekend’s Where’s Waldo candidate, finishing a disappointing 17th and never leading a lap.
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| 14 |
Greg Biffle |
0 | 1 | 7/26 |
For the second week in a row, the Biff finished in the top 10. And he announced a three-year contract extension to stay at Roush Fenway Racing.
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| 15 |
Mark Martin |
0 | 1 | 8/22 |
Believe it or not, Martin’s eighth-place finish at Talladega was his season best.
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| 16 |
A J Allmendinger |
0 | 2 | 7/20 |
The ‘Dinger finished 11th at Talladega. His only better result this year was a ninth-place run at Phoenix.
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| 17 |
Martin Truex Jr. |
0 | 4 | 9/23 |
After two consecutive weeks that ended in hard crashes, Truex was happy to get out of Talladega with a 13th-place finish.
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| 18 |
Denny Hamlin |
0 | 2 | 7/20 |
In his last five races, the 2010 Sprint Cup runner-up has an average finish of 24.4. He finished 23rd at Talladega.
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| 19 |
David Ragan |
0 | 2 | 13/23 |
Even though he simultaneously lost an engine and got wrecked, Ragan is running better.
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| 20 |
Kasey Kahne |
0 | 2 | 3/24 |
After what transpired Sunday, Kahne has to be counting the days until he joins Hendrick Motorsports next year.
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NASCAR Standings
| RK | Driver |
|---|---|
| 1 | Greg Biffle |
| 2 | Matt Kenseth |
| 3 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
| 4 | Denny Hamlin |
| 5 | Jimmie Johnson |
| 6 | Martin Truex Jr. |
| 7 | Tony Stewart |
| 8 | Kevin Harvick |
| 9 | Kyle Busch |
| 10 | Carl Edwards |
| 11 | Clint Bowyer |
| 12 | Brad Keselowski |
| 13 | Paul Menard |
| 14 | Ryan Newman |
| 15 | Joey Logano |
| 16 | Kasey Kahne |
| 17 | Jeff Burton |
| 18 | Marcos Ambrose |
| 19 | Juan Pablo Montoya |
| 20 | Jamie McMurray |