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Power Rankings: Bristol
August 23, 2005
10:42 AM EDT (1042 GMT)

Biggest Gain this week: Casey Mears, up six spots

Biggest Drop this week: Kyle Busch, down six spots

New this week: Scott Riggs (24), Scott Wimmer (25).

Dropped out: Sterling Marlin (22), Michael Waltrip (25).

Week 24 of 36, Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway
Rank Prev Number Driver Comments
 1  1 Tony Stewart Tony Stewart He became the first driver in Nextel Cup history to have a hot dog wrapper on his grill that came from inside of his own car.
 2  4 Brian Vickers Brian Vickers So he's one of the new regulars on Inside Nextel Cup, but he doesn't start for a month -- mainly because construction of his on-site salon is behind schedule.
 3  6 Kurt Busch Kurt Busch Did you see on TV they showed Kurt's merchandise was already 50 percent off? If you're willing to wait, it'll be 99 percent off at Miami in 2006.
 4  5 Jeremy Mayfield Jeremy Mayfield All that winning stuff -- the interviews, photos, etc. -- really cuts into his cherished Olive Garden time, especially since they close at 10 p.m. on Sundays.
 5  7 Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson Man, why did y'all take four tires that late in the race? That race wasn't 500 miles!
 6  8 Matt Kenseth Matt Kenseth He will be Comeback Driver of the Year in 2006.
 7  3 Mark Martin Mark Martin After the race Sunday, he should have said, "Man, this is not the finish I wanted in my third-to-last trip here."
 8  2 Rusty Wallace Rusty Wallace The awesome sound system! Speaking of which, we hope that commercial retires with Rusty.
 9 10 Carl Edwards Carl Edwards I am not sure which is tougher to believe -- that Edwards already has been in the series for a year, or that Bill Weber's hair was moving during Sunday's pre-race show.
10  9 Ryan Newman Ryan Newman In 2007, he'll be the wittiest driver at Penske.
11 12 Greg Biffle Greg Biffle Note to TV: Quit calling him "Biff." Although with TNT, you never know if it is simply a lead-in to Back to the Future, which is coming on again in five minutes.
12 16 Joe Nemechek Joe Nemechek His 8-year-old kid has been at the track in full uniform in recent weeks and is rumored already to have signed a deal to replace Kurt Busch in the No. 2 Dodge.
13 15 Jamie McMurray Jamie McMurray His situation reminds us of Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption. You know, when they throw him in the hole for a month, and the warden comes in and says, "You will drive my car next year, or you will do the hardest time there is!"
14 19 Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon He is on the cover of the new EA Sports NASCAR game. Testers at EA brag that the No. 24 Chevy drives better in the game than in real life, but that's not saying much.
15 11 Kasey Kahne Kasey Kahne Teen-age girls at Michigan kept throwing their phone numbers at Kasey’s car, hoping they would stick to the grill.
16 13 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt Jr. So the news broke during the weekend that Tony Eury Jr. probably was going to return to his pit box next year. We kept clicking on CNN.com to monitor the rioting in the streets of Kannapolis, but it never happened.
17 20 Bobby Labonte Bobby Labonte I hope TNT catches LeBron's reaction when his likeness -- on the hood of the No. 18 Chevrolet -- is crumpled in a Lap 15 accident.
18 24 Casey Mears Casey Mears Reed Sorenson, this team's driver in 2006, looks kind of like Fatback -- if Fatback ever opted for stomach-stapling surgery.
19 13 Kyle Busch Kyle Busch Fans love to write on the pit walls before the race, and we saw the funniest one at Michigan. A fan wrote: "Good luck, Kyle! Sorry about your brother!"
20 21 Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick His Busch Series driver, Tony Raines, came close to matching Harvick's win total for the year.
21 17 Elliott Sadler Elliott Sadler So last week I said in this space that my favorite Tennessee town was Red Boiling Springs, but so many of you wrote in and suggested Bucksnort, but I didn’t mention it because I happen to be from the same county where its located. And no, it's not near Bristol. In case you care, it's I-40, exit 148.
22 18 Dale Jarrett Dale Jarrett He's lost his hold on the Chase, but not his sense of humor. On Sunday in the drivers' meeting, he joked that he would help NASCAR check everyone's air pressures before the race.
23 23 Ricky Rudd Ricky Rudd After watching Rudd slip in someone else's oil and ruin a top-10 car, yes, his luck is the worst in the series.
24 NR Scott Riggs Scott Riggs You could almost see the headlines at Michigan: Future Evernham teammates finish 1-2
25 NR Scott Wimmer Scott Wimmer Remember that Racing Commercials Hall of Fame we want Michael Waltrip to run? The first one inducted needs to be the one where Wimmer runs up the stairs in his driver's suit.

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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