| 1 |
2 |
 |
Jeff Gordon |
You’ll have to forgive him. He’s a little rusty when it comes to those burnouts. |
| 2 |
3 |
 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
“It’s over,” Harvick told Bill Elliott. “Whatever,” Elliott replied. |
| 7 |
8 |
 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
He had his first bad finish since Bristol. Spring Bristol. |
| 13 |
10 |
 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
Ah, the smell of blown engine in the morning. |
| 17 |
NR |
 |
Kurt Busch |
He had his second good finish since Bristol. Fall Bristol. |
| 18 |
19 |
 |
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 |
That was his 800th career start. No driver under the age of 40 will ever reach 800 starts again. |
| 20 |
18 |
 |
Jeff Burton |
Stand back, folks. Nothing to see here. |
| 21 |
25 |
 |
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 |
He will be a dark horse to win this week. And no, we’re not kidding. |
| 23 |
21 |
 |
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 |
He finished 17th but still gained on Ricky Rudd for that 22nd spot in the standings. |
| 25 |
NR |
 |
Johnny Benson |
To quote a line from the movie Friday: How in the world can you get fired -- on your day off?! |
