1. Tony Stewart  Tony’s 8.9-place average finish through 15 races blows away his finishing averages at this point in his two championship seasons of 15.2 and 14.0.

2. Mark Martin  Every time he starts to slip on this list he notches another win (that makes three) and proves this team is among the sport’s elite.

3. Jimmie Johnson  “Blame Greg.”

4. Jeff Gordon  Capitalizing on others’ misfortunes is a key ingredient to winning a title. The Jeff vs. Tony battle this weekend should be classic.

5. Greg Biffle  “Blame Jimmie.”

6. Ryan Newman  We expect more out of you these days, Newman.

7. Carl Edwards  Edwards’ last four finishes: fourth, seventh, second, fourth. Look out, he’s coming.

8. Matt Kenseth  Katie may as well have that baby this weekend, as Matt is typically non-existent on the road courses anyway.

9. Kurt Busch  Doing just enough to keep the Blue Deuce above the fray that is sixth-13th in the point standings.

10. Kyle Busch  The results haven’t matched the hype of late.

11. David Reutimann  He needs to run well at Infineon to stay in the Chase fight, something he’s not done in the past.

12. Jeff Burton  His run of nine consecutive top 15s ended at Lowe’s and we haven’t seen much of him since.

13. Denny Hamlin  There ya go, boys ... take a big swing and hope you hit it. Hey, it worked at Michigan.

14. Juan Pablo Montoya  Is this the newest Chase sleeper to emerge? It appears it could be judging by his performance over the last month. Of course, that road course this weekend isn’t going to hurt his cause, either.

15. Clint Bowyer  Hovering on the cusp of the top 10 for the last three weeks. Are things starting to click in the 33 garage?

Just off the lead pack: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Sam Hornish Jr., Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray, Brian Vickers

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