NASCAR Horsepower Rankings

"Pull!" (ASP, Inc.)

by Matt Taliaferro

1. Greg Biffle  Cemented his status as the points leader with an impressive win in Texas. Biffle has yet to finish worse than 13th this season, and is looking forward to Kansas — one of his best tracks — this weekend.

2. Jimmie Johnson  Joins Biffle and the two Juniors — Dale Earnhardt and Martin Truex — as the only drivers on the circuit with five top 10s in seven races. Kansas will most likely make six.

3. Tony Stewart  How does Stewart — who won at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the 2-mile Auto Club Speedway — tank to the tune of 24th at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway?

4. Matt Kenseth  As steady as they come, Kenseth moves into a tie for second with a certain Most Popular Driver after a fifth at TMS. Of course, Kenseth’s Daytona 500 win trumps Junior’s, uh, zero wins … in 136 races.

5. Dale Earnhardt Jr.  OK, so he hasn’t won in a long, long time. But Junior is averaging an 8.1-place finish, which is second best in the series. Still, it really is time to break that winless streak and move on.

6. Martin Truex Jr.  Truex has averaged a 26.3-place finish at Kansas with zero top 10s. If he brings it home eighth or better like he has in five of seven races so far this year, we’re all on board.

7. Kevin Harvick  Harvick’s only finish outside of the top 11 in any single race was a 19th at Martinsville. He’s been awfully quiet for running so well. Maybe Baby Otis has thrown him off his typically vocal ways.

It beats those creepy '70s-era family portraits. I guess. OK, maybe not.(ASP, Inc.)

8. Carl Edwards  Edwards’ fifth- to 11th-place finishes are fine, but after seven races he still has not led a lap. Allow me to repeat that: Through seven races in 2012, Carl Edwards has not led a single, competitive lap.

9. Denny Hamlin  Hamlin’s 12th-place run at Texas is far from cringe-worthy, but he’s finished between 11th and 20th in all three big intermediate track races this year. That’s not going to work.

10. Jeff Gordon  A clean fourth-place finish in Texas. Is the rotten luck behind him?

11. Brad Keselowski  Mechanical issues beginning to plague Penske’s Dodge camp. Kes is good for a couple more wins, though.

12. Mark Martin  If he raced every week, Martin would rank in the top 5 on this list.

13. Ryan Newman  When not finishing in the top 12, Newman finishes 21st. Seriously. It’s happened three times.

14. Clint Bowyer  Still working out some kinks, but all things considered, this new bunch is holding its own.

15. Kasey Kahne  See, when there are no cautions for wrecks, Kasey can drive his Chevy to a top-10 showing.

Just off the lead pack: Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard, Juan Pablo Montoya

Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattTaliaferro