Horsepower Rankings: Daytona

1. Kyle Busch

2. Carl Edwards  Sure would’ve liked to have seen what he had in store for the last half lap at Daytona...

3. Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Eighth at Daytona nothing to scoff at, but he seemed prime for a top-3 run until the last handful of laps.

4. Jeff Burton  The top-15 streak ends at 23 for Burton. Expect a new one to ensue at Chicagoland.

5. Matt Kenseth  Third at Daytona makes it seven runs of eighth or better in the last nine races for the Killer Bees. He’s gone from 22nd to ninth in the point standings over the course of eight races.

6. Jimmie Johnson  Late-race wreck foils another solid run for the 48. Still sitting comfortably at fifth in the point standings.

7. Kasey Kahne  On-again, off-again Kahne was on at Daytona, where he rolled home seventh.

8. Jeff Gordon  Last season he got all the breaks, this year he can’t buy one. That said, the 24 team is still sixth in points.

9. Tony Stewart  Now that you finally got that little announcement out of the way, you can start the annual summer hot streak.

10. Kevin Harvick  Stout as always at Daytona, Harvick got shuffled back to 12th in the finishing order in what appeared to be a top-5 car.

11. Kurt Busch  Fourth at Daytona follows the big win in Loudon. Can the Blue Deuce mount a charge or is it too little too late?

12. Brian Vickers  Best run you never saw at Daytona was Vickers’ 11th-place showing.

13. David Ragan  The boy has a knack for the superspeedways. He has four finishes of 12th or better in his last six starts on the big tracks.

14. Mark Martin  Not a bad weekend: Mark announces two more seasons — at Hendrick, nonetheless — and finishes 10th in the big show.

15. Denny Hamlin  We know you got it in ya fellas, but you seem to have been bounced around a lot lately.

Just off the lead pack: Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman, Bobby Labonte, David Gilliland, Greg Biffle.