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Power Rankings: Indianapolis
July 28, 2003
4:21 PM EDT (1621 GMT)

Good morning. Glad you could join us.

We would have been here earlier, but we’ve been busy arranging for a streaker to run out onto the track at Indy with the words “NASCAR.com” painted on his back.

Biggest Gain this week: Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett, up four spots

Biggest Drop this week: Jeremy Mayfield, down three spots

Dropped out: Bill Elliott (20), Ricky Rudd (22), Ricky Craven (25).

New this week: Joe Nemechek (21), Dave Blaney (24), Ward Burton (25).
Week 21 of 36, Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Rank Prev Number Driver Comments
 1  1 Ryan Newman Ryan Newman We caught a lot of grief for having Ryan Newman -- and not Matt Kenseth -- No. 1 in the Rankings last week.
 2  3 Matt Kenseth Matt Kenseth He actually showed some emotion in his post-race interview. In fact, he looked downright mad. What’s next? He shows his backside on national TV at the Brickyard?
 3  2 Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon Number of the week: 308. Jeff Gordon's 308 points behind Matt Kenseth in the chase for the title. Brett Bodine has 308 points in the chase for the title.
 4  6 Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson Reports state that he’s got an apartment in New York City, where he goes to escape being recognized. The report didn’t state the fact that Larry Foyt has moved to Charlotte, where he hopes he will be recognized.
 5  4 Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick He’s been the best Chevrolet in the last six weeks. Pretty soon, he’s going to need an apartment in New York City, too.
 6  7 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Whew. Good thing he’s running better. We here at NASCAR.com figured we’d have to resort to articles saying “Earnhardt Jr. announces he will enter fall Winston Cup race at Martinsville.”
 7  5 Bobby Labonte Bobby Labonte His hair is really getting gray. He won’t go to Michael Waltrip for advice on getting around Indy, but we’re betting that Waltrip can help with hair coloring.
 8  8 Tony Stewart Tony Stewart It’s been a real weird season for Tony. His engines are exploding way more often than he is.
 9  9 Michael Waltrip Michael Waltrip His car actually ran better after he accidentally ran into Mark Martin at Pocono. Martin is already bracing for a Waltrip hit on the pace lap at Indianapolis.
10 10 Jeff Burton Jeff Burton He’s back to normal. Which means he’s back to finishing ahead of Ward every week.
11 13 Terry Labonte Terry Labonte You can never count this guy out. He’s been classified as “washed up” three times in his career, and every time, he’s bounced back.
12 14 Kurt Busch Kurt Busch A German court ruled that one of its citizens couldn’t hold a drivers license because the driver was too thin. Jimmy Spencer -- if you’re reading this -- here’s your chance to get Kurt Busch banned.
13 11 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon He loves Indianapolis. It has tons of room for passing people under the caution.
14 18 Rusty Wallace Rusty Wallace Man, was he mad after Pocono. Absolutely enraged. And that’s because he spoiled all those inevitable "Newman leads Penske 1-2 finish" headlines.
15 12 Jeremy Mayfield Jeremy Mayfield Reports last week suggested that he was about to sign an extension with Evernham Motorsports. After reading the reports, Casey Atwood put in a call to Robby Gordon. Problem solved.
16 17 Sterling Marlin Sterling Marlin The NASCAR.com store has Sterling Marlin bobbleheads available. You tap his head, and the doll goes, “Yep. Run good.”
17 15 Mark Martin Mark Martin Shocking news this week: Brazil has actually banned Viagra advertising. Which means Christian Fittipaldi is banned from running anywhere near Mark Martin.
18 16 Greg Biffle Greg Biffle Why doesn’t he go by “Biff?” That’s way more scary-sounding than “Greg.” See, it’s all about marketing. Wasted nicknames are a real tragedy.
19 23 Dale Jarrett Dale Jarrett Man, these Dale Jarrett-to-Gibbs and Robert Yates-to-sell-team-and-move-to-the-beach rumors are getting way out of hand. Next thing you know, they’ll have Jarrett running a third Gibbs car out of Yates’ beach house.
20 19 Elliott Sadler Elliott Sadler He’s a big American Pie fan. We’re actually serious about that, so he’s pretty happy that American Pie 3: American Wedding is coming out next week. But let’s go a step further. We’re officially requesting that Elliott Sadler change his name to Elliott Stifler, just so he can have “Stifler” above the window net. C’mon, Elliott, go to your local County Clerk’s office, pay your $429, and make this happen. Please.
21 NR Joe Nemechek Joe Nemechek Finding Nemo-Chek.
22 24 Jimmy Spencer Jimmy Spencer “The motor was just terrible,” Spencer said after Pocono. It wasn’t a total loss. The post-race hot dogs were good.
23 22 Jamie McMurray Jamie McMurray He drives a Dodge Durango as his personal vehicle. We’re not making this up. This makes McMurray the first Winston Cup driver ever to get better gas mileage in his stock car than his personal car.
24 NR Dave Blaney Dave Blaney His crew chief, Robert Barker, had a bad case of laryngitis at Pocono, so Michael Waltrip had to do all the talking on their TV show. Luckily, Waltrip already knew all of Blaney’s sponsors.
25 NR Ward Burton Ward Burton Rumor has it that he’s up for the No. 30 AOL Chevrolet ride next year. Great. Ward Burton surfing the Net. Then shooting it dead.
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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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