May 12th - May 16th, 2008
Wednesday: Jeff Meyer hasn't told us what he's doing this week's Top Ten on yet. Frankly, we're scared to ask!
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Phoenix International Raceway lived up to its billing as the track of compromise. Drivers were able to make it through one end better than the other all race long, while the tricky corners bit some of the biggest names in the sport. Some drivers moved up and some drivers moved down this week in the rankings as a result; however, three of the top four slots stayed the same to bring some stability into NASCAR's second off week.
The people who vote in the Frontstretch poll have spoken; read the rankings below, and see if you agree with our staff’s opinions -- or if you think they are completely spun out.
How The Rankings Are Calculated: Frontstretch does their power rankings somewhat similar to how the Associated Press does them for basketball or football -- writers on our staff will vote for the Top 20 on a 20-19-18-17-16-15...3-2-1 basis, giving 20 points to their first place driver, 19 for their second, and so on. In the end, Mike Neff calculates the points, adds some funny one liners, and ... voila! You have the power rankings from our dedicated staff.
| Rank | Driver (First Place Votes) | Points | Last Week |
| 1 | Jeff Burton (6) | 175 | 1 |
| Oil, spinout ... nothing seems to stop Burton from sneaking his way to the front these days. | |||
| 2 | Carl Edwards (2) | 153 | 2 |
| The duck feathers didn’t block the view of his competitors as much as previous weeks. | |||
| 3 | Jimmie Johnson | 147 | 8 |
| The most masterful job of strategy over speed since the tortoise beat the hare. | |||
| 3 | Dale Earnhardt, Jr. | 147 | 4 |
| Handling doesn’t matter at Talladega; the streak should end next week. | |||
| 5 | Kyle Busch | 144 | 3 |
Call me crazy, but I think it's a given Busch won't be winning a race on pit strategy anytime soon. | |||
| 6 | Denny Hamlin (1) | 142 | 6 |
| March of Dimes crusade coinciding well with his march to the front of the pack. | |||
| 7 | Tony Stewart | 133 | 5 |
| Ever since Tony Stewart's aligned himself with Subway, Jared's started gaining weight again. Coincidence? You decide. | |||
| 8 | Clint Bowyer | 125 | 9 |
| His fuel gamble paid off, too; just not with a win. | |||
| 9 | Kevin Harvick | 116 | 7 |
| Would Shell out plenty of cash for just a little more Sunoco Saturday night. | |||
| 10 | Greg Biffle | 84 | 11 |
| Somewhere, Biffle lost his momentum, and it seemed like even a Top 10 finish wasn't enough to get it back. | |||
| 11 | Jeff Gordon | 77 | 13 |
| Worst finish at Phoenix in 10 years, and still moved up in points. | |||
| 12 | Matt Kenseth | 54 | 10 |
| Apparently walked under Greg Biffle at some point before the season started. | |||
| 13 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 51 | NR |
| The Big Red Colombian marches on. | |||
| 14 | Martin Truex, Jr. | 47 | NR |
| Got the parting gift from Dale Earnhardt, Jr. he never wanted to take: all those faulty engines. | |||
| 14 | Ryan Newman | 47 | 12 |
| The rise to mediocrity continues for the Daytona 500 winner. | |||
Falling out of the rankings:
David Ragan (14)
Kasey Kahne (15)
Also receiving votes:
Mark Martin (44)
Kasey Kahne (39)
David Ragan (39)
David Gilliland (27)
Casey Mears (19)
Kurt Busch (17)
Jamie McMurray (16)
Brian Vickers (15)
Bobby Labonte (15)
Travis Kvapil (5)
Paul Menard (1)
Writers voting this week: Ren Jonsin, Tom Bowles, Cami Starr, Mike Neff, Vito Pugliese, Matt Taliaferro and Bryan Keith.
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