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Power Rankings: 2004
November 23, 2004
1:29 PM EST (1329 GMT)

We bet Darrell Waltrip was disappointed he couldn't reprise his "You picked a fine time to leave me, loose wheel" during Sunday's broadcast.
Week 37 of 36, Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway
Rank Prev Number Driver Comments
 1 - Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson So he didn’t win the title. But you know, it might be good that he didn’t. Jimmie’s getting married next month and will need the time in the next few days planning the rehearsal dinner instead of giving media interviews.
 2 - Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon He would have won the title under the old points system. But then again, if seventh-place finishes were worth 300 points apiece, Jamie McMurray would have won the title. If 43rd-place finishes would have been worth more, then Kirk Shelmerdine might have won.
 3 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt Jr. So his spotter, Steve Hmiel, was suspended for the season finale. And Hmiel was also docked 25 driver points just in case he plans to start a Nextel Cup event in the future.
 4 - Kurt Busch Kurt Busch Speaking of weddings: Kurt collected over $5 million for the title. Which means if and when he gets married, the girl’s engagement ring might be a couple carats bigger just because the caution came out when the wheel fell off.
 5 - Mark Martin Mark Martin The media is almost praying he’ll finish second next year so they can continue with the whole heartbreak angle.
 6 - Tony Stewart Tony Stewart On SPEED, they interviewed a cardboard cutout of Stewart because he hadn’t been on Trackside all year. You know, this might become a trend with the media. It would be easy to play a tape of Stewart talking and just use the cutout.
 7 - Jamie McMurray Jamie McMurray NASCAR announced the singers for the Nextel Cup banquet next week. Ryan Cabrera declined to perform, but since McMurray looks like him, NASCAR’s going to do the next-best thing and let McMurray get up there and lip synch.
 8 - Ryan Newman Ryan Newman See, Bud Poles are back luck. He didn’t win at Miami and wound up leading with three to go. If he can work out a way to stop qualifying so well, he’ll be champion in 2005.
 9 - Matt Kenseth Matt Kenseth So Smirnoff Ice is headed from Kenseth’s car over to Kurt Busch next year. Their new cross-promotion campaign is that you shouldn’t drink before using Irwin Industrial Tools.
10 - Elliott Sadler Elliott Sadler He declined to be interviewed after his crash at Homestead, mainly because he was in a hurry to turn on CNN and see how long Ron Artest’s suspension would be.
11 - Kasey Kahne Kasey Kahne His success in the Craftsman Truck Series might be good for the sport. Ratings for the Truck Series were up 906 percent in the 14-21 female category.
12 - Bobby Labonte Bobby Labonte His 12th-place finish at Homestead gave him 12th place in the standings by only three points over Kasey Kahne. And the media chose to merely follow the battle for first. Typical.
13 - Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick He likes to call Kurt Busch “Rubberhead.” He’s like a rubberhead! A winning rubberhead.
14 - Jeremy Mayfield Jeremy Mayfield Hey, don’t laugh about his crash at Homestead. That 35th-place finish allowed him to finish with an even 6,000 points. It’s a lot more catchy than 6,010.
15 - Dale Jarrett Dale Jarrett He did a great job in the booth on Saturday. It’s clear that he and Rusty Wallace are going to be vying for TV jobs after they retire. Although Rusty has the advantage of already having a lot of practice saying “McMurray” correctly.
16 - Greg Biffle Greg Biffle You have got to wonder what Kurt Busch was thinking when Biffle was racing him hard in those opening laps. Maybe he was thinking he can’t buy that big diamond if he wrecks and loses the title.
17 - Rusty Wallace Rusty Wallace Did you see that commercial where Rusty complained about his car’s handling because he had a body on the roof? Is that why he ran so badly in the second half?
18 - Jeff Burton Jeff Burton The No. 30 car is pretty much over -- 56 drivers, 36 paint schemes and 0 wins later.
19 - Carl Edwards Carl Edwards It was a big year for Carl. Not sure what the best moment of the year was for him – when he was announced as the driver of the No. 99 Ford, or when he got the braces removed.
20 - Joe Nemechek Joe Nemechek Season can’t end now! He was just getting warmed up! He was about to crack the top 15!
21 - Michael Waltrip Michael Waltrip During his appearance on Trackside, Waltrip actually starting singing like William Hung. Waltrip and William Hung don’t have much in common, except they both made about $5 million this year, and neither won a Nextel Cup event this year.
22 - Sterling Marlin Sterling Marlin His beloved Tennessee Vols came thisclose to losing to Vanderbilt. If they had lost, Ganassi would have had to put Reed Sorensen in the car for Sunday.
23 - Casey Mears Casey Mears He finished last among Ganassi’s three drivers, which means he’ll have to do Sterling Marlin’s laundry for a year. Good thing Sterling only wears t-shirts.
24 - Ricky Rudd Ricky Rudd The good thing about having Fatback for your crew chief is that he’s probably easy to Christmas-shop for. Heck, he probably even likes fruitcake.
25 - Terry Labonte Terry Labonte So what’s his nickname next year? Ten-Race Terry?

The Power Rankings are written by Ryan Smithson and the opinions listed here are solely those of the writer. To email Ryan about the Rankings, click here.
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