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Power Rankings: Daytona
June 28, 2005
11:43 AM EDT (1143 GMT)

Last week we said, "Two things are guaranteed to happen this weekend: Tony Stewart wins at Sonoma, and an announcer says that the No. 18 “ain’t got a scratch on it.”

20 laps to go at Sonoma, DW says, "Ain't got a scratch on it."

Biggest Gain this week: Jeremy Mayfield, Dale Jarrett, up seven spots

Biggest Drop this week: Michael Waltrip, down seven spots

New this week: Scott Riggs (24), Sterling Marlin (25).

Dropped out: Casey Mears (23), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (25).
Week 17 of 36, Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway
Rank Prev Number Driver Comments
 1  5 Tony Stewart Tony Stewart He is starting to joke about how fat he is getting. Tony’s been gaining weight since he moved back to his small hometown in Indiana. Which means Tony has been eating a lot of Blizzards.
 2  1 Greg Biffle Greg Biffle He’s got the points lead for the first time in his career. Which means it will be gone on Sunday.
 3  7 Kurt Busch Kurt Busch Records will still have to be analyzed, but we believe that Kurt Busch just set a record for best finish (third) by a car carrying sponsorship from a hard liquor company. And for a car the same color as Barney.
 4  8 Elliott Sadler Elliott Sadler Elliott, with that sharp trucker’s hat you have been wearing all month, they should have made you drive the hauler back from Sonoma.
 5  2 Mark Martin Mark Martin That was pretty nice of FOX to give him a rocking chair. And pretty gutsy to give him the same size chair as Rusty. It would have been embarrassing if his feet didn’t touch the floor.
 6  9 Rusty Wallace Rusty Wallace So the second season of NASCAR Drivers 360 is in the books. I will tell you, if you watched Rusty or Mark face the camera and say, ‘This is my final Nextel Cup season’ and not get a tad choked up, you shouldn’t be on this website.
 7  3 Carl Edwards Carl Edwards He was named one of People Magazine’s 50 Hottest Bachelors, and Carl handled it with his usual humble humor. His quote, somewhat paraphrased: “When I am burning up inside that racecar, I am a hot bachelor.”
 8  4 Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson We got this email about Biffle after Sunday’s race: “The unkind remarks he made about Jimmie was very distasteful to me. Guess he was raised in a weird home.”
 9 12 Ryan Newman Ryan Newman He likes to wear John Deere t-shirts. Seriously. Which means he was a huge Chad Little fan growing up. We had no idea.
10 10 Jamie McMurray Jamie McMurray If he had gotten out and fought Robby Gordon after their little tiff, NASCAR 360 would have had to air a special eighth episode. It would have gotten better ratings than a Busch race.
11  6 Kyle Busch Kyle Busch Saturday’s Southwest tour race was sponsored by Blue Lizard Suncream, which is fine advertising, but it would have been more effective if they would become an associate sponsor for Kyle Busch.
12 19 Jeremy Mayfield Jeremy Mayfield If you don’t read Mayfield’s Map, you should. Besides detailing how much of a lightweight his wife is at Sonoma, he had this gem about the towns around the town: “I get mixed up out there, because everything is Napa, Sonoma, Petaluma, Ratahuma, Hatahuma, Capalabba.”
13 11 Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick “The motor broke. I'm not sure if it is another valve spring or what. Two engines in one weekend just isn't going to cut it in this series.”
14 17 Matt Kenseth Matt Kenseth He’s got a little mini-streak going (three solid finishes in the last four races). It might be safe to bring the robot commercial back.
15 15 Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon Tony Stewart has a sign in his hauler that says, “The beatings will continue until morale improves.” Which might be directed at Jeff Gordon.
16 13 Brian Vickers Brian Vickers Kahne did him a favor by getting into him. It saved him the indignity of a blown transmission.
17 24 Dale Jarrett Dale Jarrett Herbie. Fully Loaded. With 50 gallons of gas.
18 21 Ricky Rudd Ricky Rudd Man, we were just kidding last week about Fatback doing a dive off the pit box if they won, and danged if they didn’t nearly go there and pull it off.
19 18 Jeff Burton Jeff Burton He was pretty mad at Boris Said for spinning him out. That is another fight we’d like to see. “In this corner, Jeff Burton, standing five-foot-seven, with the buzzcut, five-foot-seven. In this corner, Boris Said, six-foot-five, with the afro, seven feet even.”
20 22 Bobby Labonte Bobby Labonte It was good to see his brother as his teammate last week. Although we’re surprised Joe Gibbs Racing didn’t put a large disclaimer on the back his car saying it wasn’t Leffler driving to keep Terry from getting spun out.
21 14 Michael Waltrip Michael Waltrip Funny, his transmission was fine. Which means he drove it like a plate race and just kept it in fourth gear all day.
22 16 Joe Nemechek Joe Nemechek Now, answer this: How can MB2 Motorsports not actively seek a one-race sponsorship with the people who made the new Dukes of Hazzard Movie? Is it because it’s the No. 01 Chevy instead of Dodge? With the right amount of surgery, we can make Joe Nemechek into a reasonable Tom Wopat look-alike.
23 20 Kasey Kahne Kasey Kahne Apparently, his post-win slump is really getting bad. Even his brother finally gave up and cut his hair.
24 NR Scott Riggs Scott Riggs The fact that he kept the car on the track for 110 laps at Sonoma shows how much he has improved. Except he ran out of gas on the final lap.
25 NR Sterling Marlin Sterling Marlin Larry the Cable guy says that Sterling is his favorite driver. Shocker!

The Power Rankings are written by Ryan Smithson and the opinions listed here are solely those of the writer. To email Ryan about the Rankings, click here.
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