NASCAR Horsepower Rankings

No. 1 in our rankings, No. 1 in her heart. (ASP, Inc.)

1. Jimmie Johnson  Lost a shot at the win during the final restart in Kentucky when he picked up trash on his tires. Managed to rebound to sixth after a quick backslide, his 13th top 10 of the season.

2. Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Was never a factor for the win at Kentucky, but ran consistently in the top 10 most of the evening before climbing to fourth at race’s end.

3. Matt Kenseth  A classic Kenseth performance, he was invisible all Saturday afternoon, but popped into the top 10 after the sun went down and drove to seventh, retaining the points lead.

4. Tony Stewart  There’s a sizeable gap between the top 3 and the rest of the field. Smoke was the victim of electrical demons in his ignition system and was most likely cursing NASCAR’s EFI system and that damn KFC commerical the rest of the night.

5. Denny Hamlin  Fifth- and third-place runs bookend 34th- and 35th-place showings. When he stays out of the wrecks and the suspension holds up, he’s as good as creamy mac 'n' cheese.

6. Clint Bowyer  String of top 10s ended at Kentucky when Bowyer became the victim of Ryan Newman and Joey Logano’s dust-up on the front stretch.

7. Greg Biffle  Was a 10th- to 12th-place car until he thought his tire went down late. The pit stop resulted in a 21st-place showing and a drop in the point standings, to fourth.

That ain't beer, kids. (ASP, Inc.)

8. Brad Keselowski  Wins at Bristol, Talladega and Kansas prove that this team is capable of winning on any type of track and at any time. Confidence has to be boiling over heading back to the beach.

9. Kasey Kahne  A loose wheel cost him a lap early in the going at Kentucky. Kahne soldiered on though, and had an absolute rocketship at the end of the race, when he claimed second.

10. Martin Truex Jr.  The 1-to-2-mile intermediate tracks have been where Truex and crew have flexed their NAPA-supported muscle this season. Though not a contender for the win at Kentucky, the eighth-place run sufficed.

11. Jeff Gordon  Stop the press: Jeff Gordon did not have any fluky problems on Saturday. The result: fifth-place.

12. Kevin Harvick  How Harvick has managed to stay around sixth in the standings is a mystery.

13. Joey Logano  Note to Joey: Newman outweighs you by probably 75 pounds. Let it go, man.

14. Kyle Busch  Kyle’s game of Duck, Duck, Goose continues with “Engine, Engine, Engine, Shock!”

15. AJ Allmendinger  Back-to-back top 10s a good sign as the circuit prepares to enter the second half of the season.

Just off the lead pack: Marcos Ambrose, Carl Edwards, Mark Martin, Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard

by Matt Taliaferro
Follow Matt on Twitter: @MattTaliaferro