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Power Rankings: Daytona
February 15, 2006
1:43 PM EST

Week 1 of 36, Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway
Rank Prev Number Driver Comments
 1 - Tony Stewart Tony Stewart When they announced the words “Tony,” “injured” and “chili bowl,” people must have figured he was hurt while eating.
 2 - Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon His crew chief would be very hard to physically eject from the garage.
 3 - Mark Martin Mark Martin Mark, if you miss the Chase, let Matt drive the final 10 races. Just have him leave his helmet on before and after the race and tell him be sure to finish outside the top three so he doesn’t have to go to the media center.
 4 - Greg Biffle Greg Biffle Now we know what Biffle meant when he said that Jimmie Johnson needed to be more careful at the restrictor plate races this year.
 5 - Carl Edwards Carl Edwards Dang it, I’ll be John Brown before I bring this car in for that cotton-pickin’ black flag. But to be honest with you, I don’t freakin’ feel like I was in the danged wrong here. Shucks.
 6 - Ryan Newman Ryan Newman On the heels of Greg Biffle’s very successful pet calendar, Ryan Newman has released his own book about NASCAR pets. Which means Newman’s pets went to their owner and demanded more creative control.
 7 - Kurt Busch Kurt Busch He got community service for his little run-in with the law in Phoenix. He was fined $580, or all the money he took in from souvenirs last season.
 8 - Matt Kenseth Matt Kenseth Report: Plans to add Kenseth’s face to Wisconsin quarter nixed after poor Speedweeks start
 9 - Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson You’ll still be able to see crew chief Chad Knaus on Sunday, but not if you Tivo through all the commercials.
10 - Elliott Sadler Elliott Sadler He is going to be on Trackside this year, which created two new jobs in SPEED’s closed captioning department.
11 - Jamie McMurray Jamie McMurray He is already trying to make sure all of Kurt Busch’s old cars are removed from circulation.
12 - Casey Mears Casey Mears The new black Texaco firesuits are very slimming. At least that is what they told Fatback when he wore them a few years ago.
13 - Jeff Burton Jeff Burton There are all kinds of grumbling as to how Jeff Burton won the Daytona 500 pole. A freak gust of wind. Special oil. Advice from Chad Knaus.
14 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt Jr. He was still on most of the preseason magazine covers despite the lackluster year last year. We’ve come up with the criteria for having Junior on the cover:
Miss top 35 in points: Feature article on how he can get back to the top
25th to 34th in points: Feature article how he can get back to the top and photo gallery
21st to 24th: Feature article on how he can get back to the top, photo gallery, coupon for free 1:64 diecast
20th or better: Cover, baby
15 - Kyle Busch Kyle Busch I didn’t think it was possible, but his sunglasses actually got bigger over the winter.
16 - Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick He has already had the quote of Speedweeks: “Yeah, I mean, there's a little bit of a double standard.  There's probably a reason why Chad Knaus is bald. Maybe he has been brown-nosing too much.  I don't know.  Maybe we need to brown-nose a little more.”
17 - Dale Jarrett Dale Jarrett It’s early, but the initial farewell tour is going to be called the Salute to Crew Chiefs Tour.
18 - Jeremy Mayfield Jeremy Mayfield Mayfield is very worried that teammate Scott Riggs is going to miss the Daytona 500. Riggs might not be around to return the Flowbee he borrowed.
19 - Brian Vickers Brian Vickers He needs a bumper sticker that says: “Do not bump draft. Recent hernia surgery.”
20 - Joe Nemechek Joe Nemechek I had a bet that TV would call him “Front Row Joe” in the first five seconds of his pre-qualifying interview on Sunday. I was wrong. It was eight seconds. Seriously.
21 - Bobby Labonte Bobby Labonte Definition of ironic: Bobby Labonte -- The most exciting thing to happen to Petty Enterprises in years.
22 - Denny Hamlin Denny Hamlin Hamlin: Hey, ma! I won the Shootout! Did you watch? Ma: No, but I TiVoed it. Let me check. (long pause) Oh no! It recorded Romeo Must Die on TNT!
23 - Sterling Marlin Sterling Marlin I don’t think that Sterling is going to have Brokeback Mountain in his Netflix queue anytime soon. It’s not that Sterling won’t get around to seeing the movie. It’s just that he won’t have a Netflix subscription.
23 - Kasey Kahne Kasey Kahne Ray Evernham did away with crew chief titles and is now calling them the very impressive title of “Team Director.” Which means the lead tire specialist is now called “Vice President, Nitrogen management.”
25 - Clint Bowyer Clint Bowyer Report: Bowyer already getting hassled about bringing free stuff to his 10-year high school reunion

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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• Week 1 at Daytona International Speedway
• Week 2 at California Speedway
• Week 3 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
• Week 4 at Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Week 5 at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Week 6 at Martinsville Speedway
• Week 7 at Texas Motor Speedway
• Week 8 at Phoenix International Raceway
• Week 9 at Talladega Superspeedway
• Week 10 at Richmond International Raceway
• Week 11 at Darlington Raceway
• Week 12 at Lowe's Motor Speedway
• Week 13 at Dover International Speedway
• Week 14 at Pocono Raceway
• Week 15 at Michigan International Speedway
• Week 16 at Infineon Raceway
• Week 17 at Daytona International Speedway
• Week 18 at Chicagoland Speedway
• Week 19 at New Hampshire International Speedway
• Week 20 at Pocono Raceway
• Week 21 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
• Week 22 at Watkins Glen International
• Week 23 at Michigan International Speedway
• Week 24 at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Week 25 at California Speedway
• Week 26 at Richmond International Raceway
• Week 27 at New Hampshire International Speedway
• Week 28 at Dover International Speedway
• Week 29 at Kansas Speedway
• Week 30 at Talladega Superspeedway
• Week 31 at Lowe's Motor Speedway
• Week 32 at Martinsville Speedway
• Week 33 at Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Week 34 at Texas Motor Speedway
• Week 35 at Phoenix International Raceway
• Week 36 at Homestead-Miami Speedway
• Week 37 at Daytona International Speedway
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