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Power Rankings: Phoenix
October 28, 2003
10:21 AM EST (1021 GMT)

So Tony Stewart might get fined for not meeting with the media after Atlanta.

If he does get fined, he will be the first driver in history to rack up career fines for both meeting and not meeting with the media.

Biggest Gain this week: Jimmy Spencer, up four spots

Biggest Drop this week: Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, down three spots

New this week: Kurt Busch (17), Elliott Sadler (24), Johnny Benson (25).

Dropped out: Joe Nemechek (20), Dave Blaney (23), John Andretti (24).
Week 34 of 36, Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway
Rank Prev Number Driver Comments
 1  2 Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon You’ll have to forgive him. He’s a little rusty when it comes to those burnouts.
 2  3 Tony Stewart Tony Stewart He didn’t go to the media center for the required interview after the race. As a result, Home Depot lost billions of dollars in exposure. Well, not really. But it did make the media angry. If Stewart buys them lunch at Phoenix, all will be forgiven.
 3  1 Ryan Newman Ryan Newman It wasn’t a good weekend for Newman. On Saturday, his alma mater (Purdue) had to punt all afternoon against Michigan. And then Newman got himself punted on Monday.
 4  5 Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson So NBC finally got around to showing all the taxicab segment that was filmed in New York. But not too many people knew who he was. So it’s a good thing Casey Mears didn’t drive.
 5  7 Bill Elliott Bill Elliott So Bill Elliott came out and announced that he was putting his name on some pork rinds. Guaranteed to hit the shelf before he does.
 6  4 Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick “It’s over,” Harvick told Bill Elliott. “Whatever,” Elliott replied.
 7  8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Did you see that he has purchased a boxing ring for his house? You think Ryan Newman will get an invitation to go 12 rounds this week?
 8  5 Jamie McMurray Jamie McMurray He did a pretty good job replacing Wally Dallenbach in the booth on Saturday during the Busch race. But with his lead-lap finish in the Winston Cup race, he didn’t do a good job emulating him on the track.
 9  9 Matt Kenseth Matt Kenseth Looks like he’s gonna clinch it in Rockingham. How fitting. It was the site of his first major NASCAR win.
10 12 Jeremy Mayfield Jeremy Mayfield So as it turns out, he nearly left Evernham Motorsports to go drive for Richard Childress, but he didn’t. Maybe Childress didn’t allow buzzcuts.
11 14 Bobby Labonte Bobby Labonte Like we’ve said before, he loves The Weather Channel. Yet another reason he does so well at Atlanta. It has more weather than any other track on the circuit.
12 11 Terry Labonte Terry Labonte He had his first bad finish since Bristol. Spring Bristol.
13 10 Rusty Wallace Rusty Wallace He’s 13th in the standings, but you have to go back to 20th (Ward Burton) to find a driver with fewer top five finishes.
14 16 Dale Jarrett Dale Jarrett His sponsor this weekend was The UPS Store, which is ironic, because his team did a really good job at taping the car up and shipping it back out.
15 16 Greg Biffle Greg Biffle He couldn’t understand why his Busch car drove so much better. Although a lot of things feel faster when you’re passing Kevin Conway instead of getting passed by Kevin Harvick.
16 13 Mark Martin Mark Martin Ah, the smell of blown engine in the morning.
17 NR Kurt Busch Kurt Busch He had his second good finish since Bristol. Fall Bristol.
18 19 Ward Burton Ward Burton He’s already given the car its best finish of the season. And we know the commercials are going to be good.
19 17 Ricky Rudd Ricky Rudd That was his 800th career start. No driver under the age of 40 will ever reach 800 starts again.
20 18 Jeff Burton Jeff Burton Stand back, folks. Nothing to see here.
21 25 Jimmy Spencer Jimmy Spencer Maybe Dale Jr. will invite him over to see his new boxing ring. And bring Busch with him. Think about how many tickets he could sell. He could make more as a boxing promoter than he could as a driver.
22 22 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon He will be a dark horse to win this week. And no, we’re not kidding.
23 21 Michael Waltrip Michael Waltrip No word on whether he’s gonna run another marathon this year, but he’s signed a new associate sponsorship deal with Dominos Pizza for 2004. There’s nothing like enjoying hot pizza after a 26-mile run.
24 NR Elliott Sadler Elliott Sadler He finished 17th but still gained on Ricky Rudd for that 22nd spot in the standings.
25 NR Johnny Benson Johnny Benson To quote a line from the movie Friday: How in the world can you get fired -- on your day off?!
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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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