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Power Rankings: Daytona
June 29, 2004
10:05 AM EDT (1005 GMT)

Biggest Gain this week: Michael Waltrip, up seven spots

Biggest Drop this week: Robby Gordon, down five spots

New this week: Ricky Rudd (23).

Dropped out: Scott Riggs (25).
Week 17 of 36, Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway
Rank Prev Number Driver Comments
 1  1 Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson Give Johnson some credit for that late pass of Boris Said. Just seeing around Said’s hair requires the highest level of concentration.
 2  2 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Forget him losing points to Jimmie Johnson. He’s also losing points to Michael Waltrip.
 3  6 Elliott Sadler Elliott Sadler He’s had top-10 finishes at Sonoma twice in the last three years. Which means everyone is scared Elliott will rip their head off if they spin him out in Turn 11.
 4 11 Michael Waltrip Michael Waltrip Wow. Awesome run at Sonoma. For a while, we were sure DEI had simply placed Ron Fellows in the car without telling anybody.
 5  8 Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon So he helped conserve fuel by shutting off his engine during the yellow flags. Gordon wasn’t sure exactly how to turn his engine off, so he had to ask Kirk Shelmerdine how to do it.
 6  4 Matt Kenseth Matt Kenseth His top-10 qualifying effort at Sonoma was his first top-10 qualifying effort in 2004. Which means he had qualified in the top 10 during each race of his probation.
 7  3 Bobby Labonte Bobby Labonte So it’s pretty much a done deal that he will have another teammate next year. They have not hired anyone yet, but inside sources say the candidate must be kind to dogs and children, which means they have to be nice to Jeremy Mayfield’s pets and Brian Vickers.
 8  5 Ryan Newman Ryan Newman There was no Lucky Dog rule in effect at Sonoma, which is why he wasn’t able to win after his tire went down.
 9 11 Jamie McMurray Jamie McMurray “Chip only calls you when things are bad,” said McMurray. Which means his boss called Casey Mears after Casey shaved his head.
10 10 Tony Stewart Tony Stewart So he tangled with Brian Vickers and Ward Burton during the race, but he chose to confront Vickers. Maybe he figured he could understand Vickers better.
11  7 Kasey Kahne Kasey Kahne He was listed as one of People Magazine’s 50 Hottest Bachelors. What? No Dale Jr. listed to sell more magazines? Did he get married already?
12 13 Mark Martin Mark Martin “We had an off day and still ran eighth,” he said. Which means if he has a mediocre day, he wins.
13  9 Jeremy Mayfield Jeremy Mayfield We were told that he took Craig Kilborn for a ride on the track at Sonoma before the race. It was a Dodge Viper, which has no back seat, so Mayfield had to put his dogs in the trunk.
14 14 Kurt Busch Kurt Busch His fuel tank ran dry after 10 laps at Sonoma. Which is like 11 pit stops over a 110-lap race. But it still wasn't as many pit stops as Robby Gordon.
15 15 Dale Jarrett Dale Jarrett So rumor has it Jarrett helped pay Matt Kenseth’s $25,000 fine from the Pocono incident. In return, Kenseth has agreed to give Jarrett a lap back at Richmond in September.
16 18 Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick Looks like the war of words between Harvick and Kenseth didn’t slow down much. Forget The Brickyard – the race we are looking forward to is the Busch race at Bristol.
17 17 Brian Vickers Brian Vickers As he figured out, maybe those anger management classes for Tony Stewart didn’t work. Do those things come with a refund if they wear off after a couple years?
18 24 Jeff Burton Jeff Burton It’s been four races since he’s had a sponsor, and in that span, he’s averaged a 12th-place finish. Which means if he can avoid signing a sponsor until September, he might make the Chase for the Nextel Cup.
19 21 Casey Mears Casey Mears He leads the Nextel Cup Series in seventh-place finishes (4).
20 20 Rusty Wallace Rusty Wallace “Dumb things just keep happening,” he said. Not sure whether he was talking about running out of gas, or whether he was referring to Tony Stewart.
21 16 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon What awful luck. His tire fell off before the first pit stop. Maybe a rival team loosened the lug nuts. But why in the world would they do such a thing?
22 19 Terry Labonte Terry Labonte Just in case you were wondering, it was Texas Terry who lost the coveted lead in seventh-place finishes to Casey Mears.
23 NR Ricky Rudd Ricky Rudd Looks like he got some help spinning from Klaus Graf there. Which means Rudd should have painted Achtung on the deck lid of the No. 21 Ford.
24 23 Greg Biffle Greg Biffle Those rumors that he is going to Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 11 Chevy simply won’t go away. One of Gibbs’ selling points to Biffle is: “Well, Tony Stewart explodes more often than our engines do, Greg.”
25 22 Sterling Marlin Sterling Marlin Car spun good.

The opinions listed here are solely those of the writer.
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