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Frontstretch Sprint Cup Power Rankings : Top 15 After New Hampshire
Mike Neff · Wednesday July 2, 2008
The LENOX Industrial Tools 301 was billed as a race that went “the extra mile,” but it’s actually all the miles that didn’t happen which led to a major jumble in both the race — and our power rankings.
With rain wreaking havoc on the final running order, you had Kurt Busch, Michael Waltrip, and J.J. Yeley as the Top 3 finishers with just 284 laps completed — a wild conclusion to a wacky finish at the Magic Mile of the Northeast. But could any of the weekend’s big surprises gain enough momentum to enter the Top 15 in our exclusive list? And what about perennial Power Rankings leader Kyle Busch; contact with Juan Pablo Montoya left him spinning under the race’s final caution and spiraling down to a 25th place finish. Did the open-wheel convert accomplish his goal of knocking Busch out of the top spot?
Read on to find the answers you seek, and see if you agree with how the Frontstretch writers voted this week.
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.
| FRONTSTRETCH TOP 15 POWER RANKINGS: JULY 1ST, 2008 | |||
| Rank | Driver (First Place Votes) | Votes | Last Week |
| 1 | Kyle Busch (7) | 190 | 1 |
| Has decided to boycott Colombian coffee after Sunday’s race. Thank God; we think a decaffeinated Busch can be nothing but a good thing for the competition. | |||
| 2 | Carl Edwards (1) | 177 | 2 |
| Looks like the Bill Buckner Boston Red Sox Scheme makes all the Roush Fenway cars unlucky. | |||
| 3 | Jeff Burton | 172 | 4 |
| The king of Loudon was quite mortal this Sunday. | |||
| 4 | Dale Earnhardt, Jr. | 171 | 3 |
| Seen throwing all of the purple Crown Royal bags out of his motorhome in the rain Sunday evening. | |||
| 5 | Jeff Gordon | 150 | 6 |
| See Gordon. See Gordon knock on door. See pile of victories about to answer the call. | |||
| 6 | Matt Kenseth (1) | 149 | 5 |
| The drive to the Chase hit a minor speed bump. It won’t be off track for very long, though. | |||
| 7 | Jimmie Johnson (1) | 145 | 8 |
| Who’d have ever thunk it that Johnson would be better off if he just stopped listening to Chad Knaus? | |||
| 8 | Tony Stewart | 111 | 10 |
| Conspiracy theorists believed that everything about the No. 8 team was sabotaged after Junior announced his departure. Oh, well; looks like they’ll have a whole new subject to run wild on this year. | |||
| 9 | Greg Biffle | 105 | 9 |
| Finally doesn’t have a pit road penalty — so he gets caught by a freak caution instead. | |||
| 10 | Kasey Kahne | 103 | 7 |
| How do you retaliate against someone that’s got the whole U.S. Army backing him up? | |||
| 11 | Denny Hamlin | 99 | 11 |
| Fortunately for Hamlin, his picture can be taken off of the milk cartons. | |||
| 12 | Brian Vickers | 84 | 12 |
| A Top 16 at Loudon is like a Top 10 for Vickers, especially considering his history at that track. | |||
| 13 | Martin Truex, Jr. | 62 | 15 |
| Let’s see if the fish mobile can make it two Top 5s in a row; then, maybe we’ll talk DEI extension, right? | |||
| 14 | Kevin Harvick | 54 | NR |
| The bleeding has stopped for now, but let’s see what Daytona holds. | |||
| 15 | David Ragan | 47 | 13 |
| In the Race To The Chase, Ragan’s been racing toward’s the wrong side of the tracks these last two weeks. | |||
| 16 | Clint Bowyer | 47 | 14 |
| The early season magic is gone from this team; and if Bowyer doesn’t watch it, the Chase may be gone soon, too. | |||
| Dropped Out : None. | |||
| Also Receiving Votes: Ryan Newman (40), Kurt Busch (33), Elliott Sadler (30), Casey Mears (22), Travis Kvapil (22), Bobby Labonte (16), Mark Martin (14), Dave Blaney (13), Jamie McMurray (12), David Gilliland (12), Michael Waltrip (7), J.J. Yeley (3), David Reutimann (2), Reed Sorenson (1). | |||
| Who Voted: Ren Jonsin, Tom Bowles, Cami Starr, Mike Neff, Kim DeHaven, Tony Lumbis, Matt Taliaferro, Vito Pugliese, Bryan Keith, and Doug Turnbull. | |||
Do you want the chance to win a free Frontstretch T-Shirt, and are you really good at talking about NASCAR? Well, we have the perfect opportunity for you. Our staff will be giving away a free T-Shirt to the reader who makes the best post in our Frontstretch Forum between now and the end of the season. So, what makes a good post? It’s pretty hard to impress us, but here are some things we are looking for:
Does your post spark passionate reactions from other readers? Are you commenting on meaningful NASCAR-related events? Do your posts have substance? In other words, “Dale Jr. is the best driver ever” or “Danica Patrick is hot” will not cut it.
So go to the Frontstretch Forums, post early, post often, and post well! We’ll announce the winner following the final race of the season at Homestead.
©2000 - 2008 Mike Neff and Frontstetch.com. Thanks for visiting the Frontstretch!
