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Power Rankings: Pocono
June 8, 2004
12:31 PM EDT (1231 GMT)

Wow. Good thing Dover isn’t a 500-mile race anymore. Mark Martin would have gone from his media center interview straight to his car for Pocono Bud Pole qualifying.

Biggest Gain this week: Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Michael Waltrip, up three spots

Biggest Drop this week: Bobby Labonte, down four spots

New this week: Jeff Burton (25).

Dropped out: Joe Nemechek (24).
Week 14 of 36, Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway
Rank Prev Number Driver Comments
 1  3 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt Jr. He was named Daytona International Speedway’s president for a day. Dale Jr. used his new-found powers to announce that Daytona would hold 30 additional Nextel Cup events in 2005.
 2  5 Tony Stewart Tony Stewart He says his "car really liked to be up front in clean air.” Which why is Tony’s been knockin’ them out of the way this year. He just needs some of that clean air.
 3  1 Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson Jimmie, you don’t want to build up a 456-point lead anyway, because it will just disappear in September.
 4  2 Matt Kenseth Matt Kenseth He said he does not like riding around under caution for 40 straight laps. Which explains why he’s never gotten into a groove at Bristol.
 5  8 Kasey Kahne Kasey Kahne That was crazy, him spinning in the oil like that. It looked like a Super Mario Kart race, where you put down the banana peel so the leader will spin out.
 6  4 Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon was pretty mad about not having soft walls. And Ryan Newman was mad about not having soft walls in the pits.
 7  7 Ryan Newman Ryan Newman He says he’s heard “Hello Newman” about “five or six” times. And that’s just from Roger Penske.
 8 11 Mark Martin Mark Martin His win at Dover was a lot like his sponsor’s motto. You just got to be in the right place at the right time.
 9  9 Jamie McMurray Jamie McMurray He said that Dover “looked like an ARCA race.” And Jamie was pretty much right, because an unsponsored car finished fourth, and some seats were unfilled.
10  6 Bobby Labonte Bobby Labonte He should run that D-Day paint scheme every spring at Dover. That was great to see.
11 10 Elliott Sadler Elliott Sadler He got nailed at Dover by Kurt Busch. Jeff Burton probably wanted to trade paint with him too, but there was none on the No. 99 Ford to trade.
12 14 Jeremy Mayfield Jeremy Mayfield Man, did you see how fat his dogs were? Good thing he’s been running so well lately. It must cost thousands just keeping ‘em fed.
13 15 Michael Waltrip Michael Waltrip Michael, no! DEI can’t let you go! You just got all those new commercials finished!
14 12 Kurt Busch Kurt Busch He’s still got one fewer top-five finish than Robby Gordon.
15 13 Rusty Wallace Rusty Wallace Well, Mark Martin won, so he probably won't ever get to match Rusty's (since broken) triple-digit losing streak, much to the disdain of the media.
16 16 Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick “It's hard not to laugh, but it's kind of funny," he said after the race at Dover. He was either referring to the big wreck, or Jeff Hammond wearing a turtleneck in June.
17 18 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon It’s June. Which means it’s a month where he can get a win. And we don’t mean at Pocono.
18 20 Brian Vickers Brian Vickers Poor guy’s got to go to Pocono. He’ll have a lot of time to learn how to drive the tricky layout, because there is simply not much else there for a 20-year-old kid to do.
19 21 Dale Jarrett Dale Jarrett Since Michael Waltrip has been running so well, Jarrett is the new leader in the I’m-seen-more-during-commercials-than during-the-actual-race ratio.
20 17 Sterling Marlin Sterling Marlin We love Sterling. He’s just a good ‘ol boy. If everyone were like him, the media wouldn’t have to report on J-Lo’s marriages, because no one would care.
21 22 Ward Burton Ward Burton Our boss at NASCAR.COM is going to attempt to learn how to shoot clay pigeons from Ward on Thursday. We’re serious. And Ward thought Dover was frustrating.
22 19 Greg Biffle Greg Biffle That transmission problem at Fontana a month ago really killed a lot of his team’s momentum. Or it could just be that his team can’t stop laughing when they see Doug Richert being sprayed with Coca-Cola.
23 25 Terry Labonte Terry Labonte He was the only Hendrick car in the top 10 at Dover. And the only one without his own commercial.
24 23 Casey Mears Casey Mears He’s going to play himself on an episode of Days of Our Lives. We’re not making this up. In the episode, Mears helps crash John Black by dumping oil all over a Salem highway.
25 NR Jeff Burton Jeff Burton He was not too happy that Ricky Rudd helped push Ryan Newman back to the pits. But Ricky’s a smart guy. He knew that Newman would repay him by pushing him during Bud Pole Qualifying on at Pocono.

The opinions listed here are solely those of the writer.
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