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Power Rankings: Pocono
July 22, 2003
11:15 AM EDT (1115 GMT)

Good morning. Good to be here this fine day. We would have been here earlier, but the Power Rankings got clogged up with debris from John Andretti’s car.

Biggest Gain this week: Greg Biffle, up five spots

Biggest Drop this week: Michael Waltrip, down four spots

Dropped out: Ward Burton (22), Johnny Benson (23).

New this week: Jimmy Spencer (24), Ricky Craven (25).
Week 20 of 36, Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway
Rank Prev Number Driver Comments
 1  2 Ryan Newman Ryan Newman He came thisclose to running into the Kenny Wallace/Jeff Burton accident. If he had, it would have been his fifth Derrike Cope (a DNF) of the year.
 2  1 Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon Greg Biffle called him “two-faced.” Gordon has immediately capitalized on this comment, signing deals to place both faces to appear in a television ad for Fritos. One face will be in the kitchen, while the other will mow the lawn.
 3  4 Matt Kenseth Matt Kenseth He can coast to the title by finishing 14th every week. Which means he can go to his car owner, Mark Martin, for advice on finishing 14th every week.
 4  8 Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick He’s already on the phone, giving Jeff Gordon advice on how to manhandle Greg Biffle.
 5  3 Bobby Labonte Bobby Labonte The secret to his success this year has been an improved qualifying program. His strategy is simple: Heavy rain on Fridays.
 6 10 Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson He’s lobbying NASCAR to run the Bristol race on Sunday night so he won’t miss his high school reunion in California. Can’t blame him. He’s a freaking Winston Cup superstar, and the kid who picked on him in high school is hanging drywall.
 7  6 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt Jr. There is a new commercial where he wins a race at a track that looked a lot like Charlotte. For authenticity, the track should have looked a heck of a lot more like Daytona or Talladega.
 8  7 Tony Stewart Tony Stewart He and Rusty swapped paint a couple of times. Too bad they can’t swap wins.
 9  5 Michael Waltrip Michael Waltrip He spun out Chrisitian Fittipaldi at Loudon. It was a rough week for Fittipaldi. Fittipaldi’s still in European mode, though. The team told him they’d meet him in Loudon, and he showed up at Heathrow Airport.
10 13 Jeff Burton Jeff Burton He stopped all the Burton-to-BAM rumors with another great run at Loudon.
11 14 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon He’s 14th in the standings, but second in the standings if you only include drivers whose sponsors are based in Atlanta.
12  9 Jeremy Mayfield Jeremy Mayfield Two of his three Winston Cup wins have come at Pocono. Which means he didn’t get to celebrate at a nice restaurant after two of his three wins.
13 11 Terry Labonte Terry Labonte Do you realize he has 13 straight top-25 finishes? And you know what we’ll do next week -- if he finishes 26th at Pocono, then we’ll say that the man has reeled off an incredible streak of 14 straight top-26 finishes.
14 12 Kurt Busch Kurt Busch This guy has been nowhere to be found since his win at Michigan. Wait. The same applies to Dale Jarrett, too.
15 17 Mark Martin Mark Martin Do you think he’s the one who sends all that spam email that promises his sponsor’s product for “only pennies a day?” So do we.
16 21 Greg Biffle Greg Biffle He actually won his case when he was called to the NASCAR hauler to explain his actions. No truth to the rumor that Biffle will now enter law school and become two-faced.
17 15 Sterling Marlin Sterling Marlin Start working from home, dude. Maybe your luck will change.
18 18 Rusty Wallace Rusty Wallace At one point in the broadcast on Sunday, Bill Weber actually said that Rusty Wallace had “80 straight wins.” Rusty was so pumped up by this comment that he immediately announced his retirement.
19 16 Elliott Sadler Elliott Sadler This team can either reside in Harvickboro or Nemechekville. The next six races will be the key.
20 19 Bill Elliott Bill Elliott He failed to win at Loudon for the 17th straight time, which is a real shame, because listening to Elliott give a post-race interview to a bunch of New Englanders ranks high on the must-hear-before-you-die list.
21 22 Ricky Rudd Ricky Rudd On TV, they said that The Wood Brothers have finally started to figure out what Rudd wants in a race car. Which means they just now figured out that Rudd couldn’t reach the pedals from where Elliott Sadler sat.
22 20 Jamie McMurray Jamie McMurray He did a good job of running with a damaged car, which is better than Bristol, when he damaged a good running car.
23 25 Dale Jarrett Dale Jarrett He finally got around that pesky Kenny Wallace for 28th in the standings. Before they throw a party, hopefully they will realize that the milestone was achieved only because Wallace’s tire failed at Loudon.
24 NR Jimmy Spencer Jimmy Spencer It would have been really funny to see an Andretti-Spencer fight. It would have been like James Madison taking on William Howard Taft.
25 NR Ricky Craven Ricky Craven He’ll win at Loudon before the Boston Red Sox win a World Series, which means that Craven will probably win at Loudon for the first time when he’s 55.
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ARCHIVES
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• Week 1 at Daytona International Speedway
• Week 2 at North Carolina Speedway
• Week 3 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
• Week 4 at Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Week 5 at Darlington Raceway
• Week 6 at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Week 7 at Texas Motor Speedway
• Week 8 at Talladega Superspeedway
• Week 9 at Martinsville Speedway
• Week 10 at California Speedway
• Week 11 at Richmond International Raceway
• Week 12 at Lowe's Motor Speedway
• Week 13 at Dover International Speedway
• Week 14 at Pocono Raceway
• Week 15 at Michigan International Speedway
• Week 16 at Infineon Raceway
• Week 17 at Daytona International Speedway
• Week 18 at Chicagoland Speedway
• Week 19 at New Hampshire International Speedway
• Week 20 at Pocono Raceway
• Week 21 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
• Week 22 at Watkins Glen International
• Week 23 at Michigan International Speedway
• Week 24 at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Week 25 at Darlington Raceway
• Week 26 at Richmond International Raceway
• Week 27 at New Hampshire International Speedway
• Week 28 at Dover International Speedway
• Week 29 at Talladega Superspeedway
• Week 30 at Kansas Speedway
• Week 31 at Lowe's Motor Speedway
• Week 32 at Martinsville Speedway
• Week 33 at Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Week 34 at Phoenix International Raceway
• Week 35 at North Carolina Speedway
• Week 36 at Homestead-Miami Speedway
• Week 37 at Daytona International Speedway
The opinions listed here are solely those of the writer.
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