Horsepower Rankings: Pocono

1. Kyle Busch  He might want to rethink the triple duty stunt next time. That’s just a lot of miles. Still the man around here, though.

2. Carl Edwards  Keeping pace. Carl and the boys rolled to their eighth top-10 showing in the last nine races with a run-through-the-field ninth at Pocono.

3. Jeff Burton  He’s averaging a 7.7-place finish through 14 races this season. And no one is talking about him.

4. Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Three top 5s in the last four races not too shabby for Junior and crew. The wins should start coming around Daytona in July.

5. Kasey Kahne  He’s a rocket. Kahne wins his second points-paying event in the last three, not to mention that All-Star victory thrown in for good measure.

6. Matt Kenseth  The chemistry is taking hold. Kenseth and Bolin are averaging a sixth-place finish over the last month and they like them some Michigan.

7. Greg Biffle  Consecutive runs of second, third and 15th show Biffle seventh in the point standings.

8. Denny Hamlin  Found the brake pedal at Pocono en route to a third-place showing after the Dover disaster.

9. Jeff Gordon  Deceptively strong, Gordon has five consecutive runs of 14th or better. Still, are the cars fast enough for him to stay in the hunt for the duration?

10. Jimmie Johnson  Is the two-time defending champ finding his groove? Runs of seventh and sixth after a rotten May could be the first clue that he is.

11. Mark Martin  Throw out the Dover stinker and Martin is averaging a 9.5-place finish in his last six starts. He’s Chase material in a DEI machine if he were running a full schedule.

12. Tony Stewart  You have to wonder if Tony’s impending decision to leave JGR is starting to affect this bunch. Not a top-10 finish to be found since early May.

13. David Ragan  24th-place showing at Pocono his first outside of the top 20 since early April.

14. Martin Truex Jr.  Expected more out of Truex at Pocono. Take the 17th and move on to Michigan and we’ll chalk it up to some bad racing luck.

15. Ryan Newman  Not setting the circuit ablaze by any means, but Newman is still just 10 points out of a Chase spot.

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