| 1 |
2 |
 |
Jamie McMurray |
We don’t believe it. Benny Parsons said “Mc-Murr-ay” on Sunday. And he’s leading the Rankings for the first time. Coincidence? No way. |
| 2 |
1 |
 |
Mark Martin |
The best thing about his improvement is that he is qualifying well every single week. |
| 3 |
7 |
 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
If he was pretty mad that Michael Waltrip wouldn’t get out of the way at Loudon, then wait until the series hits Talladega. |
| 4 |
12 |
 |
Matt Kenseth |
You can bet he hopes qualifying is rained out every week. |
| 5 |
10 |
 |
Kurt Busch |
Even with the wind resistance from those ears, this guy is going to be extremely hard to slow down now. He’s only been off his game twice since June. |
| 6 |
3 |
 |
Jeff Gordon |
He’s been on Regis and Kelly so much that he knows every one of her kids by name. Which is pretty hard to do. |
| 7 |
6 |
 |
Elliott Sadler |
He scored a top 10 with the help of sticker tires, or, as Elliott would say it, “sticka ties.” |
| 8 |
8 |
 |
Kasey Kahne |
Ugh. TV is already all over this “Race for 11th.” At least have some balance and cover the intense battles for 20th, 30th and 40th place in the standings too. Did they even realize that Todd Bodine is only 10 points behind Morgan Shepherd for 40th? |
| 9 |
9 |
 |
Jimmie Johnson |
He’s got fewer points in the last six races than Robby Gordon. Although there’s a good chance that stretch won’t reach seven races, since Robby will have a hard time keeping that streak alive while sitting in front of his TV. |
| 10 |
5 |
 |
Tony Stewart |
Man, he was extremely nice about everything on Sunday. And he already said he was probably out of the title hunt. But we can see why he’s pessimistic already, because that attitude worked wonders for Mark Martin’s title hopes. |
| 11 |
4 |
 |
Jeremy Mayfield |
Poor guy already has a head nearly full of gray hair, and Sunday did not help that any. Although Michael Waltrip can show him how to get rid of that gray. |
| 12 |
15 |
 |
Ryan Newman |
He was almost downright giddy after blowing his motor on Sunday. Maybe it was because it was a lot less painful than running into a spinning Greg Biffle. |
| 13 |
14 |
 |
Greg Biffle |
We didn’t see his post-Loudon quotes on the net anywhere for fans to read, so we’ll give them to ya: "The 31 car spun us out on purpose and NASCAR penalized him for a couple laps. That's the way it goes, I guess. It's just tough that people have to do that kind of stuff. I got into him by accident early in the race and he came back and spun us out on purpose and took two of the guys in the points race out. I feel bad for those guys." |
| 14 |
16 |
 |
Michael Waltrip |
He made a lightning-quick exit from Loudon. We figured he might have been late for a commercial shoot, but then we remembered it was Sunday. |
| 15 |
17 |
 |
Jeff Burton |
So you remember that we have a bet going that Jeff won’t beat Carl Edwards head-to-head the rest of the year. So far, we are struggling, since Burton leads Edwards 627-601. |
| 16 |
11 |
 |
Carl Edwards |
So it looks like Carl is going to run the rest of the year in the No. 99. Which is good. We hate losing bets, and we’re pretty sure he won’t beat Burton head-to-head if he sits out a few races. |
| 17 |
13 |
 |
Dale Jarrett |
Well, the good news is that he can’t lose 15th in the standings, unless he cuts back to a limited schedule all of a sudden. |
| 18 |
21 |
 |
Kevin Harvick |
Now that the pressure is off, expect him to start running better. A lot better. |
| 19 |
23 |
 |
Sterling Marlin |
That was pretty funny when he got into Robby Gordon. It was kind of like Sterling was defending Greg Biffle’s honor. Maybe that is his way of apologizing for the bug-eyed comment. |
| 20 |
24 |
 |
Joe Nemechek |
Man, the irony. He runs the USG Sheet Rock car, and then has a great run where he has no excuse to punch a wall. |
| 21 |
22 |
 |
Bobby Labonte |
He needs Atlanta to happen. Right now. |
| 22 |
NR |
 |
Ward Burton |
Don’t ruh-tire, man. Please. |
| 23 |
18 |
 |
Rusty Wallace |
We figure Sam Hornish or Jamie McMurray are the candidates to replace ‘ol Rusty after 2005. Which means Penske is placing heavy emphasis on having sideburns. |
| 24 |
NR |
 |
Jeff Green |
Not too bad! Hasn’t had a finish out of the top 30 in seven races. Believe it or not, that is good enough to break into the Rankings. Times are tough, you know. |
| 25 |
19 |
 |
Robby Gordon |
We won’t believe Robby is out of the car until we hear it from Dan Rather. |
