NASCAR Power Rankings: Lowes 2
What you see here is a sample of what you can find of mine from Onpitrow.com. It looks better there but you can also read it here.
1- Jimmie Johnson- 5 Wins, 19 Top Tens
I know Pat Riley has the term three-peat patented, but I’m not sure if anyone owns four-peat? If you go to four-peat.com then you’ll find that the site is currently under development. So do you think Jimmie Johnson might be the owner of that?
2- Mark Martin- 5 Wins, 18 Top Tens
Martin’s put up a valiant effort so far but in order for him to win the championship he needs to start winning some of these races again or somehow find a way to deny Johnson.
3- Juan Pablo Montoya- 6 Top Fives, 16 Top Tens
Could you imagine the gripes that would happen in NASCAR nation if Montoya won the championship winless!! Montoya’s running good enough for it to happen and history could be made.
4- Jeff Gordon- 1 Win, 21 Top Tens
The 24 is getting back on track and there’s still plenty of time for Gordon to make his move. Somehow he needs to overcome his 105 point deficit on his own because you can’t count on the 48 having problems.
5- Kurt Busch- 1 Win, 17 Top Tens
Each week the 2 car has been losing ground on the leaders and they really haven’t even had any real problems yet. In order for them to win the championship they must be competitively mistake free for the remainder of the Chase.
6- Tony Stewart- 4 Wins, 21 Top Tens
I have no clue how this team is only 84 points out of the lead. They certainly haven’t really been on par with the other leaders consistently in the Chase.
7- Denny Hamlin- 2 Wins, 16 Top Tens
Hamlin did crash at California and finish very poorly but the important thing to note here is that he was leading at the time. His championship hopes are now smashed because he now sits -219 points out of the lead.
8- Greg Biffle- 9 Top Fives, 14 Top Tens
In terms of Chase competitiveness Biffle and below in my Power Rankings is the dividing line of the “Have’s and the have not’s”. Biffle and the other drivers below him are not on par performance wise with the higher ranked drivers.
9- Carl Edwards- 7 Top Fives, 13 Top Tens
Edwards was about a 20th place car until late in the race when the cautions started. The 99 team was able to take advantage of the situation and raced up to 6th place with their fresh tires.
10- Kasey Kahne- 2 Wins, 12 Top Tens
Kasey Kahne might not be making a splash in the Chase this year but he is leading the phantom caution discussion which is an important topic.
11- Ryan Newman- 5 Top Fives, 14 Top Tens
Ryan Newman’s biggest friend at California was attrition and caution flags. At Lowes Motor Speedway I’m going to put my money on Megatron because I know Optimus Prime won’t be competitive.
12- Brian Vickers- 1 Win, 13 Top Tens
Vickers is lucky that he’s locked in the top 12 otherwise he would be racing for about 20th about now. In the four Chase races this year Vickers average finish is 23.75.
October 13, 2009 @ 7:05 pm
Just looking at the points standings, isn’t it just as bad that Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon are ahead of Tony Stewart? NASCAR does not award wins. If they did, Kyle Busch would clearly have not only been in The Chase, but he would have been a front runner.
They need to give far heavier rewards to wins than they do now. It would make the sport far more exciting. It would make drivers actually try to win, rather than just hanging around the top ten all day – hoping for a crash or two to get them into the top five.
October 15, 2009 @ 1:29 pm
If I were NASCAR what I would do to change the points system is that I would give the winner of the race 200 points automatically. 200 is an exciting number that psychologically would be big for both the drivers and the fans.
I think Kyle got what he deserved by missing the Chase. I’m not a Kyle Busch basher or anything but his team is simply no good at the intermediate tracks this year (back bone of the schedule) and he’s far to inconsistent. I think his season is parallel in a way to Gordon’s season the year he missed the Chase.