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Power Rankings: Atlanta
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
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March 29, 2006
12:22 PM EST (1222 GMT)

I woke up Tuesday and read this: "88-year-old Mike Wallace retires." I was like, "Man, right after Rusty." Then I realized they meant the guy on 60 Minutes.

Biggest Gain this week: Kyle Busch, up 14 spots

Biggest Drop this week: Kurt Busch, down 11 spots

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

Dropped out: Martin Truex Jr. (23), Jeremy Mayfield (25).

Week 4 of 36, Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway
Rank Prev Number Driver Comments
 1  2 Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson Report: Johnson's interim crew chief is totally going to ask for a huge raise.
 2  3 Matt Kenseth Matt Kenseth He can't wait for Chad Knaus to be back atop that No. 48 pit box.
 3  4 Casey Mears Casey Mears Casey's hot start has Jamie McMurray wondering if he can get out of his Roush Racing contract by 2009.
 4  1 Tony Stewart Tony Stewart Stewart is a two-time champion, but he's also the best at improvising great insults. After the run-in with Kyle Busch, I am surprised he didn't come up with: "If he doesn't get out of the way, I am going to pin his ears back, too."
 5 19 Kyle Busch Kyle Busch He is lucky Jimmy Spencer isn't in the series anymore. Although, come to think of it, that would almost be assault on a minor.
 6  6 Mark Martin Mark Martin With a few minor decal adjustments, his sponsor could be AARP in a matter of minutes.
 7  9 Kasey Kahne Kasey Kahne Thing you didn't see last weekend: After he won the Busch race, a fan grabbed his behind while he was walking to the media center for post-race interviews. Then the fans actually crashed the media center and followed him out. Of course, this is all because his eyes are so dreamy.
 8 11 Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon It is St. Patrick's Day on Friday, which is ironic, because Gordon looked like a little leprechaun in that green firesuit at Vegas.
 9 10 Jeff Burton Jeff Burton The IRS is going to get a lot more money from him next year if he keeps running like this.
10  7 Greg Biffle Greg Biffle Biff Tannen (Biffle) sure was mad at Marty McFly (Jeff Gordon) on Sunday for that late bodyslam.
11 15 Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick The Tony Stewart-Kyle Busch post-race quotes would have been 33 percent better had Harvick stayed in that fray at Las Vegas.
12 14 Jamie McMurray Jamie McMurray This is going to be his first time in the Irwin colors this year. If he doesn't hold up a huge sign that says "I'm not Kurt," expect massive booing.
13  5 Carl Edwards Carl Edwards Average finish before the famous ESPN The Magazine photo shoot: 13.9.
Average finish since photo shoot: 24.0.
14 21 Dale Jarrett Dale Jarrett He is going to be dominant when he finally gets to the Craftsman Truck Series in a couple of years.
15  9 Ryan Newman Ryan Newman I guess you heard that he helped put out a fire in a Lenoir, N.C., restaurant. See, that is why Kurt Busch should eat lunch with Ryan more often. Kurt could have helped and knocked out at least half of that community service he owes from that traffic ticket.
16 20 Clint Bowyer Clint Bowyer I can feel Robby Gordon's pain. He is finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel, and the rival hard liquor car has a kid (Bowyer) who gets up on the wheel.
17 22 Robby Gordon Robby Gordon He is 14th in points, which is ironic, because he was on TV for 14 seconds Sunday.
18 13 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt Jr. I can almost hear what he was saying Sunday. "Dadgum man, I told you not to give me the motors that are earmarked for Robby's team!"
19 16 Brian Vickers Brian Vickers Dang, his firesuit has some loud colors. All he needs is the little red propeller on top of the hat.
20 18 Elliott Sadler Elliott Sadler They are struggling, and will continue to do so until Tommy Baldwin finds the Virginia Accents for Dummies book that he bought when he was Ward's crew chief.
21 17 Denny Hamlin Denny Hamlin He is ahead of Smoke in the points. So let’s hope Stewart doesn’t get as angry about that as he does about actually getting passed on the track.
22 23 J.J. Yeley J.J. Yeley He has really had a great year so far. Which is bad for his fabricators, who were probably banking on getting a lot of overtime pay this year.
23 12 Kurt Busch Kurt Busch I heard he is going to race a Dodge Neon at Atlanta.
24 NR Scott Riggs Scott Riggs He had a great weekend despite that late speeding penalty. On Thursday, he got $15 and free breakfast for winning a Barney Rubble look-alike contest at Excalibur.
25 NR Joe Nemechek Joe Nemechek This guy has the worst luck of all time. Even worse than the guy who stepped in front of Dick Cheney.

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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