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Frontstretch Sprint Cup Power Rankings: Top 15 After Michigan
Frontstretch Staff · Wednesday June 17, 2009
The 2-mile oval in the Irish Hills of Michigan brought us a fuel mileage race for the second straight week on the Cup tour. In the end, it was Mark Martin who had a little extra gas in his tank … but was it enough to move all the way to the top of our chart? Meanwhile, Michigan’s reputation as a Blue Oval speedway took one heck of a hit, as none of the Roush cars finished higher than fourth. How much did our experts penalize them for their surprising slump?
Read on to find out in this week’s version of the Frontstretch Top 15.
How The Rankings Are Calculated: Frontstretch does our power rankings somewhat similar to how the Associated Press does them for basketball or football — writers on 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 one batch of power rankings to serve to our fans.
| FRONTSTRETCH TOP 15 POWER RANKINGS: JUNE 17th, 2009 | |||
| Rank | Driver (First Place Votes) | Votes | Last Week |
| 1 | Tony Stewart (9) | 199 | 1 |
| For all those who think this point lead is just a temporary thing, here’s a news flash: Summer doesn’t start until next weekend. Looks like Tony’s just warming up… | |||
| 2 | Jimmie Johnson | 182 | 2 |
| Old school Mark Martin buzzcut has brought about old school Mark Martin luck. | |||
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | 169 | 4 |
| He used to be carrying this team on his back; now, it’s a Sunoco gas can. | |||
| 4 | Mark Martin (1) | 168 | 7 |
| Last week, we sarcastically speculated Tony Eury, Jr. must have been sent to the No. 5 team after they blew several top 5 finishes in a row. The next week, they win Michigan on fuel mileage — just like Dale Earnhardt, Jr. last season. Maybe we know what we’re talking about after all… | |||
| 5 | Carl Edwards | 155 | 5 |
| First on the “best car not built by Hendrick” list right now. Here’s the problem: there’s one hell of a lot of Hendrick cars. | |||
| 6 | Ryan Newman | 149 | 3 |
| He’s better at Infineon than you might think, which is a good thing after looking like he was waving the white flag on Flag Day. | |||
| 7 | Greg Biffle | 146 | 6 |
| Never really got too mad after his car ran out of gas, because after gritting his teeth for the last 44 laps, the braces got hooked together and he couldn’t talk. | |||
| 8 | Kurt Busch | 121 | 8 |
| Apparently, when Roger Penske sold Michigan to ISC, he also forfeited any and all opportunities for his cars to win there. | |||
| 9 | Kyle Busch | 109 | 9 |
| Battling with Junior for 13th not quite as exciting as for the win at Richmond last May. | |||
| 10 | Matt Kenseth | 108 | 10 |
| The clear frontrunner to replace Mark Martin in the perpetual bad luck department. | |||
| 11 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 99 | 13 |
| After a sixth place finish at Michigan, this is the perfect week to have a road course coming up. JPM might just be Chase material, after all. | |||
| 12 | David Reutimann | 90 | 11 |
| You’d think with all those sponsor commercials aimed at saving people money, Reutimann would be just at good at saving fuel. | |||
| 13 | Denny Hamlin | 68 | 14 |
| So, you’re telling us the car made it past the first lap … and it didn’t run out of fuel? That’s just not possible… | |||
| 14 | Clint Bowyer | 58 | NR |
| Look on the bright side, Clint: number 1 at RCR is still ahead of number 4 at Hendrick. | |||
| 15 | Jeff Burton | 52 | 15 |
| Not even The Mayor is immune from a lack of speed or fuel economy at RCR. | |||
| Dropped Out: Kasey Kahne (12). | |||
| Also Receiving Votes: Kasey Kahne (47), Brian Vickers (47), Jamie McMurray (42), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (25), Joey Logano (19), Marcos Ambrose (13), Bill Elliott (11), Sam Hornish, Jr. (10), David Ragan (6), Martin Truex, Jr. (3), Elliott Sadler (2), Robby Gordon (2). | |||
| Who Voted: Thomas Bowles, Ren Jonsin, Mike Neff, Tony Lumbis, Doug Turnbull, Matt Taliaferro, Vito Pugliese, Bryan Keith, Phillip Allaway, and Kurt Smith. | |||
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.
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