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Power Rankings: Dover
May 31, 2005
9:03 AM EDT (0903 GMT)

Biggest Gain this week: Ryan Newman, up seven spots

Biggest Drop this week: Elliott Sadler, down seven spots

New this week: Joe Nemechek (25).

Dropped out: Sterling Marlin (23).

Week 13 of 36, MBNA RacePoints 400 at Dover International Speedway
Rank Prev Number Driver Comments
 1  2 Greg Biffle Greg Biffle He signed a new long-term contract extension with Roush. Mainly because he aspires to be Matt Martin’s teammate.
 2  1 Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon He called it “Wrigley Stadium” while visiting Chicago to sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Then he went out and competed at Lowe’s Raceway Park in the No. 24 Dupont Dodge, which was crew chiefed by Bobby Loomis.
 3 10 Ryan Newman Ryan Newman He has qualified in the top 10 for every race this season. And for the first time this season, we avoided saying something with Rusty Wallace in it. Dang. We did it again.
 4  7 Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson He didn’t try to knock that big Coke bottle off the car. That thing looked like it weighed more than Danica Patrick.
 5  4 Tony Stewart Tony Stewart He is coming up on a year without a victory. And a shave.
 6  9 Jamie McMurray Jamie McMurray He was chewing gum during his exhibition tennis match with Anna Kournikova. You know, in case she wanted a kiss.
 7 11 Carl Edwards Carl Edwards “I'm glad to see that he (Dale Jarrett) finished eighth,” said Edwards. If he hadn’t, Edwards was planning of backflipping off the car to escape Jarrett, who would have been sprinting full-blast towards him.
 8  5 Mark Martin Mark Martin In case you missed it last week, this is Mark Martin describing his first Cup start:

"I was freaked out that they were going to turn us green while the track was still wet, so I never turned on the rear-end cooler. And so when they did go green, my rear-end burned up in about 40 laps."

 9 12 Kyle Busch Kyle Busch A fan wrote us and said Kyle looked like Bugs Bunny with the teeth and ears. Fans can be cruel. But funny. ‘Ol Bugs is about to get that first win real soon.
10  3 Elliott Sadler Elliott Sadler His Chewbacca impression was dead-on. He sounded just like him. If he hadn’t cut his hair a few weeks back, he would have looked like him too.
11  6 Kasey Kahne Kasey Kahne Everhnam Motorsports is doing a nice thing to benefit the The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by auctioning off Kahne’s Victory lane hat from Richmond on eBay. The team says the hat “is in excellent condition,” with “adjustable sizing.” Which means it’s not beer-strained. And a 12-year-old girl can wear it.
12  8 Kurt Busch Kurt Busch He is really mired in a slump. Kind of like our jokes.
13 14 Jeremy Mayfield Jeremy Mayfield He thinks The Olive Garden is fine Italian dining. Seriously. We didn’t make that up. If you’re going to Dover, there is one on that main highway in front of the track. He’ll be there this weekend. His head is shaved and he’ll have on a red shirt. And he’ll take a take-home bag for his dogs.
14 12 Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick You have got to wonder how hard he laughed when he saw Nemechek’s tire explode. Or sighed with relief, since he called Nemechek all but washed up.
15 16 Jeff Burton Jeff Burton He has some cool videos on his website, but he really needs some Ward updates on there.
16 20 Brian Vickers Brian Vickers Brian Wreckers.
17 18 Michael Waltrip Michael Waltrip Tony Eury Sr. vowed that he would settle any problems on Monday between Earnhardt Jr. and Waltrip. The shop was closed for the holiday, but fortunately, they had something called a family get-together.
18 21 Bobby Labonte Bobby Labonte His six-word in-car interview “Yeah. I am gonna try. Yeah,” was probably the second most uncomfortable on-air moment of the year, followed closely by the time Jeff Hammond wore a tux.
19 19 Dale Jarrett Dale Jarrett Report: Jarrett to retire after 2008 season, last season to be called the "Last Crew Chief Tour."
20 17 Rusty Wallace Rusty Wallace Come on, Rusty, split the car in 2006 with Mark Martin. You can even be your own crew chief.
21 15 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt Jr. So it’s clear he needs to talk to Michael Waltrip and get everything sorted out. When’s their next commercial shoot? Can they get it done then?
22 25 Ken Schrader Ken Schrader Funny thing you didn’t see at the racetrack this weekend – Schrader was actually presented with a wheelchair for his 50th birthday.
23 22 Ricky Rudd Ricky Rudd That blue-and-white car was pretty sharp, but when the engine blew, it put Rudd back into a position where he has to keep an eye on that top 35 in points again.
24 24 Matt Kenseth Matt Kenseth This is starting to get ridiculous. It is going to be hard for him to make the Chase now. His luck is officially the worst on tour. If it wasn’t for the hot wife, he’d be going crazy.
25 NR Joe Nemechek Joe Nemechek Man, that sucked. That was straight out of Super Mario Kart. Except the red shell was fired by Kevin Harvick.

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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