The regular season came to an end Saturday night (Sept. 10) with Kevin Harvick shaking off his summer slump to score his fourth win of the season. He was one of the few cars to make it through the night without significant damage in a race slowed by 15 caution flags. Jimmie Johnson and Kurt Busch played bumper cars twice during the event while Dale Earnhardt Jr. hit just about everything but the pace car during the 400 laps.
Fortunately for Earnhardt, he was able to bring his ride home in 16th, which allowed him to secure the final spot in the top 10 and a position in the Chase. Tony Stewart’s night was a little less eventful as he soldiered home to a quiet seventh-place finish.
Did Harvick’s win give him a push up the standings to the top spot? Jeff Gordon came home in the third spot, was that good enough to keep him in the number one position in the rankings? Has Earnhardt’s slow and methodical approach been enough to keep him in the top 15? Check out this week’s Power Rankings to see if your favorite driver was avoided the carnage that befell 25 cars Saturday night or if he ended up in the garage waiting for NASCAR’s permission to get back on the track.
| FRONTSTRETCH TOP-15 POWER RANKINGS: SEPT. 14, 2011 | |||
| Rank | Driver (First-Place Votes) | Votes | Last Week |
| 1 | Jeff Gordon (4) | 117 | 1 |
| Seen slipping Kurt Busch a handful of Benjamins on the way out of Richmond this weekend. | |||
| 2 | Kyle Busch | 107 | 4 |
| Made the best of a bad situation at Richmond. Now, the key is to keep those pressure points from boiling over when it really counts. | |||
| 3 | Carl Edwards | 105 | 5 |
| The contract is signed, 2012 sponsors are in place and the best equipment is suddenly leaning Cousin Carl’s way once again. Nail a few backflips over the next 10 weeks, and this guy’s back to being the best title contender not affiliated with Hendrick Motorsports. | |||
| 4 | Jimmie Johnson (1) | 97 | 2 |
| Kurt thinks he’s in Jimmie’s head. Jimmie thinks he’s in Kurt’s head. And the rest of the field is ready to run off and leave them butting heads if the two don’t cut it out and focus on the Chase. | |||
| 5 | Kevin Harvick | 95 | 7 |
| Amazing that there was a huge blow up between drivers and another blow up between a driver and media and Harvick wasn’t part of either of them. | |||
| 6 | Brad Keselowski (1) | 92 | 3 |
| Momentum looks to have cooled just a little, but he still looks stronger than half the Chase field. | |||
| 7 | Kurt Busch | 83 | T-8 |
| The I Need a Hug Tour rolls on through Richmond. | |||
| 8 | Matt Kenseth | 80 | 6 |
| You know NASCAR economics are a problem when one of the 12 Chasers doesn’t even have a sponsor lined up for 2012. | |||
| 9 | Ryan Newman | 72 | T-8 |
| While everyone is looking at his boss, Newman just might sneak in and snatch this title from under everyone’s noses. | |||
| 10 | Denny Hamlin | 61 | 10 |
| Now that he’s in the Chase, will he make a charge or fold up his tent? | |||
| 11 | Tony Stewart | 56 | 11 |
| Won’t it be interesting if Stewart can win a championship without winning a single race? | |||
| 12 | AJ Allmendinger | 45 | 12 |
| Leading this year’s Mr. Mediocrity sweepstakes as the best driver not to make the Chase. But considering this time last year, when his team wasn’t even sure if they’d have paychecks to cash every Friday we’d consider 2011 a mild improvement. | |||
| 13 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 44 | T-13 |
| He limped into the Chase, but he made it. Now we’ll find out if Steve Letarte really can make the most popular driver in the sport a winner again. | |||
| 14 | David Ragan | 27 | NR |
| Second is the first loser. Fourth? That sends you packing with a pink slip, heading towards the unemployment line instead of pulling the biggest upset in Chase history to date. | |||
| 15 | Jamie McMurray | 25 | NR |
| Led the fourth most laps Saturday night, although you wouldn’t know it from the television coverage. | |||
| Dropped Out: Martin Truex Jr. (T-13), Marcos Ambrose (15) | |||
| Others Receiving Votes: Mark Martin (23), Greg Biffle (22), Marcos Ambrose (22), Martin Truex Jr. (19), Juan Pablo Montoya (12), Joey Logano (12), Kasey Kahne (11), Clint Bowyer (9), Regan Smith (7), Casey Mears (6), Dave Blaney (4), Jeff Burton (3), Stephen Leicht (2), Paul Menard (2) | |||
| Writer Voters Include: Phil Allaway, Tom Bowles, Bryan Davis Keith, Tony Lumbis, Vito Pugliese, Mike Neff and Garrett Horton | |||
About the author
What is it that Mike Neff doesn’t do? The writer, radio contributor and racetrack announcer coordinates the site’s local short track coverage, hitting up Saturday Night Specials across the country while tracking the sport’s future racing stars. The writer for our signature Cup post-race column, Thinkin’ Out Loud (Mondays) also sits down with Cup crew chiefs to talk shop every Friday with Tech Talk. Mike announces several shows each year for the Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. He also pops up everywhere from PRN Pit Reporters and the Press Box with Alan Smothers to SIRIUS XM Radio. He has announced at tracks all over the Southeast, starting at Millbridge Speedway. He's also announced at East Lincoln Speedway, Concord Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, Caraway Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
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