Horsepower Rankings: Richmond

1. Kyle Busch  Love him or hate him, you have to love his post-race quote: “If I went out there on that final restart and just gave way to the 88 car then I would not be a true racecar driver.”

2. Denny Hamlin  We’ll call Denny 1(a). This group hasn't finished outside of the top 6 since Atlanta in early March. These two JGR teams are far and away the most dominant at the moment.

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Junior is running out of ways to lose races. We’ll chalk this one up to a good, ol' fashioned short-track Saturday night. And if you’re going to lose one, it might as well be because of that.

4. Jeff Burton  Burton’s worst finish this season? A 13th at Daytona. That’s just amazing.

5. Clint Bowyer  Take 'em any way you can get 'em, Clint.

6. Carl Edwards  Just think of the fun marketing campaigns UPS can air with this guy. He could probably pull a double back-flip into a half-gainer off the big brown truck.

7. Tony Stewart  Still a threat to win on a weekly basis, Stewart’s ride is just a tick off of teammates Busch and Hamlin.

8. Ryan Newman  Newman is a puked motor at Phoenix away from four consecutive top 10s. No, he’s not making much noise, but he’s the best Dodge has to offer.

9. Jimmie Johnson  Johnson was a far cry from his Richmond sweep in ’07, even before getting caught in the big wreck. Don’t worry JJ, you’ve got two weekends at Charlotte coming soon enough.

10. Kevin Harvick  For all the talk about Joe Gibbs Racing, it’s Richard Childress’ gang that has all three cars in the top 5 of the point standings.

11. Mark Martin  The math says that if Martin were running a full schedule, he’d be 10th in the point standings. Expect another solid outing at Darlington this week, too.

12. Jeff Gordon  For as bad as he was early, Gordon and team tweaked the car into a legit top-10 machine by night’s end.

13. Martin Truex Jr.  Big points night for Truex, who finished fifth at RIR. He’s now only 58-points out of a Chase spot and looking more attractive to potential team owners every week.

14. Greg Biffle  Despite the lackluster results of late, Biffle sits ninth in the point standings. This week’s race in Darlington should answer some questions about this bunch.

15. Brian Vickers  Remains within 100-points of a Chase spot despite a results roller coaster. This team’s performance may be the turnaround of the season.

Del.icio.us | Digg it | Athlon Sports RSS Feeds