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Power Rankings: Las Vegas
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
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March 8, 2006
4:33 PM EST (1633 GMT)

Biggest Gain this week: Kasey Kahne, up eight spots

Biggest Drop this week: Elliott Sadler, down eight spots

New this week: Martin Truex Jr. (23), J.J. Yeley (24), Jeremy Mayfield (25).

Dropped out: Bobby Labonte (22), Joe Nemechek (24), Michael Waltrip (25).
Week 3 of 36, UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400, Sunday, 4 p.m. ET (FOX) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Rank Prev Number Driver Comments
 1  1 Tony Stewart Tony Stewart Let’s start off on a serious note. Stewart’s team is still the strongest in the Nextel Cup Series, and it is ironic that he fought with Kenseth earlier this year, considering both Kenseth and Stewart lost their longtime car chiefs over the winter. Neither has missed a beat.
 2  2 Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson Report: Knaus seriously considering getting NASCAR on Demand package
 3  5 Matt Kenseth Matt Kenseth The curse of the robot commercial is over.
 4  7 Casey Mears Casey Mears E-mail we got two weeks ago: “Casey Mears will win the Auto Club 500, because I dreamt it last night.” Please don’t send e-mails like that. Especially if your name is Mark.
 5 11 Carl Edwards Carl Edwards Golly. All the girls loved his chest-baring ESPN magazine cover. The cover was direct evidence that Carl has been leasing the exercise equipment that Tony Stewart purchased at the Nextel Cup banquet.
 6  4 Mark Martin Mark Martin Quit dominating those truck races! You’re putting too much pressure on David Ragan!
 7  8 Greg Biffle Greg Biffle Note to TV announcers: Stop calling him “Biff.” Biffs are usually big, bully-type people. You know, like Biff from Back to the Future. If you haven’t seen that movie, it’ll be on TNT three nights in a row.
 8 16 Kasey Kahne Kasey Kahne "Female fans -- they loved those eyes," gushed the Biography Channel's new series on NASCAR drivers, Driven to Win. Now, come on. That didn’t incorporate racing at all. I would have written it like this: “Despite the fact that his Charger didn’t handle well on the intermediate tracks, Kahne was still loved by his fans for his gorgeous eyes.”
 9  3 Ryan Newman Ryan Newman Sign this boy has too much money: he has a fully-restored 1952 Ford truck. Same type that was on Sanford and Son. Seems like Newman is a big fan of the show. And yes, he could put the truck on the pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
10 13 Jeff Burton Jeff Burton He is off to a great start this year. Now, all we have to do is get the commentators to appear a little less shocked when he is running fifth.
11  6 Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon In other news, someone is named Chip Foose.
Hendrick Motorsports announced that Jeff Gordon will race the Chip Foose-designed DuPont Hot Hues HMS Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS again this season at Indianapolis.
12  9 Kurt Busch Kurt Busch You know, it was rumored that Kurt got his ears fixed because Miller wanted a new image. I think it was because he has his 10-year high school reunion coming up. Too bad he doesn’t have Carl Edwards around anymore to whip him into shape.
13 12 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Report: Fans overwhelmingly vote Dale Jr. to new Hall of Fame on first ballot
14 18 Jamie McMurray Jamie McMurray It wasn’t shown on TV, but when McMurray passed Busch late in the race at Fontana, he held up a flash card that read, “Thanks for this great-handling car.”
15 15 Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick Report: Harvick’s wife suspends him for not allowing Burney Lamar back on lead lap in Mexico
16 14 Brian Vickers Brian Vickers Poor guy better not ever hope they race a Nextel Cup race in Mexico. That hair would never make it through customs in under an hour. Todd Bodine would have to practice the car for him.
17 19 Denny Hamlin Denny Hamlin I watched that whole second half of the Mexico Busch race in the sheer hope that they’d put a sombrero on Denny in Victory Lane. They wasted a great photo op.
18 10 Elliott Sadler Elliott Sadler His friends won $100,000 playing slots at Vegas, which pushed them past Scott Wimmer on the 2006 money list.
19 21 Kyle Busch Kyle Busch Kyle Busch on the Mexico accident: "I'll take 100 percent of the blame, but he also should take a little bit of it as well.''
Come on, Kyle. I thought you were good at math!
“It's his home state, it's his hometown, and he had a great race going for himself,'' he said of Jourdain.
Come on, Kyle. I thought you were good at geography!
20 23 Clint Bowyer Clint Bowyer He hates being called a rookie. He hates the rookie stripe. To torture him, his team puts rookie stripes on everything, which is pretty brave, since Clint looks like a post-steroid Ivan Drago from Rocky IV. Again, if you haven’t seen Rocky IV, it’ll be on TBS before you know it.
21 17 Dale Jarrett Dale Jarrett The Hall of Fame contract requires NASCAR to keep the Hall of Fame in Charlotte until June 30, 2038, or until Dale Jarrett is 81 years old.
22 20 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon Report: IRS pleased that Gordon fixed engine problems
23 NR Martin Truex Jr. Martin Truex Jr. Random fact you didn’t know: He has a cousin named Curtis Truex Jr.
24 NR J.J. Yeley J.J. Yeley All during the Daytona 500 weekend, there was a plane pulling a banner that said “Yea, Yea, J.J.” which obviously set his parents back a few bucks.
25 NR Jeremy Mayfield Jeremy Mayfield Report: Riveting Mayfield-Sherman points battle being totally ignored by the media

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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