Horsepower Rankings: Pocono

1. Kyle Busch  Edwards continues to close the gap on Kyle. A repeat of his Sonoma performance this weekend would be very timely for this bunch.

2. Carl Edwards  He’s finished first or second in three of the last four races and is narrowing Busch’s win advantage.

3. Jimmie Johnson  Has three consecutive top-3 finishes. A new, yet very familiar, championship contender has emerged.

4. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.  Burned by the fuel mileage bug, Junior saw a top 5 go bye-bye when he ran out of gas on the last lap.

5.  Matt Kenseth  Kenseth suffered the same fate as Junior, although his dry fuel cell dropped him from top 3 to 11th.

6. Jeff Burton  Another frontrunner burned, Burton’s error came in the pits, when a penalty dropped him from top 10 to 21st. Ouch.

7. Jeff Gordon  His crew chief admitted they didn’t have the car to beat at Pocono, but they managed a 10th-place run despite running out of gas on the final lap.

8. Tony Stewart  Give Tony two top 5s in the last three weeks. He’s up to ninth in the point standings, too.

9. Kasey Kahne  Fuel mileage victim at Pocono ... and he looked to have one of the three strongest cars in the field.

10. Kevin Harvick  Lady Luck smiled on this bunch at Pocono. Of course, that what it takes to make the Chase.

11. Mark Martin  Martin deserved this race. Of course, bad luck follows Mark like a flea does a dog.

12. David Ragan  Guess who has four straight top 15s — two of those being top 5s — and sits within striking distance of a Chase spot?

13. Denny Hamlin  Yet another victim of the fuel bug at Pocono. Solid top 10 all day until he came in late to top off.

14. Greg Biffle  Three consecutive top 15s for Biffle find him eighth in the point standings.

15. Clint Bowyer  Strategy worked for him at Pocono, as he advanced from 20-something to sixth in final rundown.

Just off the lead pack: Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Elliott Sadler, Martin Truex, Jr., Brian Vickers

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