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Power Rankings: Fontana
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
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February 23, 2006
11:04 AM EST (1104 GMT)

Biggest Gain this week: Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne, up seven spots

Biggest Drop this week: Jamie McMurray, down seven spots

New this week: Robby Gordon (20), Michael Waltrip (25).

Dropped out: Jeremy Mayfield (18), Sterling Marlin (23).

Week 2 of 36, Auto Club 500 at California Speedway
Rank Prev Number Driver Comments
 1  1 Tony Stewart Tony Stewart Report: Stewart in NASCAR hauler asking them to crack down on his own aggressive driving
 2  9 Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson Phone call after the race: Jimmie: “Hey man! I am in victory lane!” Chad: “I see that. I definitely like the freshly waxed eyebrows.”
 3  6 Ryan Newman Ryan Newman Poor Rusty must have been squirming when he saw Penske running 1-2 without him. So he asked his buddy Jamie McMurray to handle the Kurt Busch end of it.
 4  3 Mark Martin Mark Martin Everyone wanted Mark Martin to win on Sunday. The post-race quotes would have been great because he’s so humble. One of them undoubtedly would have been, "I must be pretty bad if it took me this long to win it."
 5  8 Matt Kenseth Matt Kenseth He was pretty mad at Daytona, and he showed rare emotion in his interview. It reminded me of Rocky IV, when the trainer screams, “You see? You see? He’s not a machine! He’s a man! You cut him! You huuuuuurt him!” If you haven’t seen Rocky IV, its probably going to be on TBS soon.
 6  2 Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon I just want to get this opinion in since I don’t have room elsewhere. It wouldn’t have done much good to take points away from Johnson. He would have gotten all those points back when the Chase started anyway.
 7 12 Casey Mears Casey Mears I could almost hear Casey Mears when he beat Ryan Newman to the line. “Yeah, baby! I am gonna be the points leader if they dock Johnson 25 points!”
 8  4 Greg Biffle Greg Biffle The winner of the Too Much Information Quote of the Year Award has already been uttered, and Biffle said it: "But anytime I’ve had anything a little leery on my car, I know about it. We’re teammates. We communicate night and day. We’re sitting in our motor home in our underwear talking about racing. We know everything that is going on."
 9  7 Kurt Busch Kurt Busch Well, he admitted that he got his ears pinned back, and they look nice. But he didn’t do it to make himself look better. He wanted to make sure he could actually use a roof hatch at Daytona.
10 10 Elliott Sadler Elliott Sadler Report: Dogs balking at high price of No. 38 Pedigree diecast
11  5 Carl Edwards Carl Edwards His actual Daytona post-wreck quote: "I saw Mr. Green get turned around there in the Best Buy car."
12 14 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt Jr. It was kind of unrealistic of Miller Lite to expect Budweiser to run a Miller paint scheme if Busch beat Earnhardt Jr. head-to-head this year. The bet should have been this: If Earnhardt Jr. gets beat, he should have had to undergo ear extension surgery.
13 13 Jeff Burton Jeff Burton Now he knows how Ryan Newman feels every week.
14 19 Brian Vickers Brian Vickers Fontana officially kicks off the start of downforce season. And the start of tanning season for Vickers and Kyle Busch.
15 16 Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick Just a thought, but if Todd Berrier would have been caught with another illegal car, NASCAR would have handcuffed him and forced him to watch while his car was set on fire in the infield.
16 23 Kasey Kahne Kasey Kahne He was pretty mad at Biffle for the wreck in the Daytona Busch Series race. I am just amazed Kahne knew it was Biffle. It really shows he kept up with the new Busch Series paint schemes.
17 17 Dale Jarrett Dale Jarrett He was smiling and having a good time listening to Bon Jovi before the race. It was all downhill from there. At least it was for Mr. Green.
18 11 Jamie McMurray Jamie McMurray By the time he pushed the hair out of his eyes, Kurt Busch was already in the wall.
19 22 Denny Hamlin Denny Hamlin He was a 200-to-1 shot to win the Budweiser Shootout. Which means Kurt Busch could have paid his Phoenix fine with a $2.98 bet on Hamlin to win.
20 NR Robby Gordon Robby Gordon I honestly think he will shock people this year. It is not a stretch to say that making the Daytona 500 saved his race team.
21 15 Kyle Busch Kyle Busch He got called a "bird without feathers" by Tony Stewart. Translation using Stewart’s language: Kyle is a boneless chicken breast on toasted rye bread.
22 21 Bobby Labonte Bobby Labonte Report: General Mills accepts challenge from Kellogg’s; Labonte would have to wear Busch’s sunglasses for a year
23 25 Clint Bowyer Clint Bowyer He had a great finish at Daytona, and it might have been even better had he not used a dark visor on his helmet.
24 20 Joe Nemechek Joe Nemechek It just goes to show that you can’t place a lot of emphasis on Daytona testing. These guys were so good in January, but yet, when it came time to race, bad luck struck every day. They’ll be back.
25 NR Michael Waltrip Michael Waltrip I wonder if it is killing him that he can’t praise a car manufacturer, or if he is glad he doesn’t have to because it gives him time to get in even more sponsors.

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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