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Power Rankings: Michigan
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
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June 14, 2006
11:58 AM EDT (1158 GMT)

Biggest Gain this week: Kurt Busch, up five spots

Biggest Drop this week: Jeff Gordon, down six spots

New this week: Brian Vickers (17), J.J. Yeley (19).

Dropped out: Reed Sorenson (18), Jeff Green (20).

Week 15 of 36, 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway
Rank Prev Number Driver Comments
 1  1 Matt Kenseth Matt Kenseth He is listed on his Web site as 152 pounds. Which means he pretty much wanted to make sure his official site got his weight exactly right.
 2  2 Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson I wrote last week that the Lucky Dog rule should be canned. I got a lot of e-mails about it, most of them really intelligent, but some said this: "I hate the rule only because Jimmie Johnson used it to cheat and finish sixth at Dover!" Oh yeah. Good reason to hate it.
 3  3 Jeff Burton Jeff Burton Report: Burton's car insurance rates nearly double after Pocono speeding penalty
 4  4 Greg Biffle Greg Biffle Not sure if you like my Subway stories, but he is another one. One time, about two years ago, I was in Subway and saw the worker sneeze into the sandwich bay without covering his mouth. He realizes it and says, "Boss! Better come replace all this stuff!"
 5  8 Denny Hamlin Denny Hamlin Report: Hamlin planning on making more than one payment on his new airplane this month
 6  6 Kasey Kahne Kasey Kahne Boris Said is helping him prepare for the two road-course races this season. At least that is what the team said. Personally I think they are using Boris to drive away the distraction of attractive women.
 7 11 Tony Stewart Tony Stewart Report: Injured shoulder yet another excuse for Stewart to skip shaving
 8  5 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Well, I guess Ben Roethlisberger finally achieved his dream of getting more media attention than Dale Earnhardt Jr.
 9  7 Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick Thank you, FOX, for not showing Delana Harvick on the pre-race show. Your heroic actions saved me about 1,000 e-mails, 678 of which were verbatim excerpts of military hat-wearing protocol.
Translation: I welcome racing-related e-mails, or simply e-mails from women who say they love Tony Stewart at any weight.
10  9 Mark Martin Mark Martin From his Wikipedia.com page: "Martin claims his road-racing experience came from his days driving on the windy roads of Batesville, Arkansas." Why were the roads windy? Were there no trees to stop the wind?
11 10 Jamie McMurray Jamie McMurray Brian Vickers' defection from Hendrick Motorsports is a golden opportunity for Garnier Fructis to go after McMurray to market their Super Stiff Gel, which has remarkable structure and hold.
12 17 Kurt Busch Kurt Busch I can almost hear what Greg Biffle was thinking when he passed Kurt in Turn 1 like he was standing still. "Bet ya wish you'd stayed with us, huh?"
13 13 Kyle Busch Kyle Busch Report: Busch dismayed to learn that NASCAR actually cashed the check he wrote to pay the Mears fine
14 16 Scott Riggs Scott Riggs I am telling you, he's a strong dude. He's one of those short, stocky guys that is all bowed up. He could bench press Jimmy Spencer, and he should do that someday on Trackside. It would generate a lot of press for him.
15 12 Carl Edwards Carl Edwards He had one of the few cars that could have hung with Hamlin. And it's a shame, because Edwards -- in case you haven't heard -- has a crewman that has refused to shave until Edwards wins. You should see him. He could use his beard to store lug nuts.
16 15 Ryan Newman Ryan Newman Report: $1 million offered for photograph of Ryan Newman wearing sunglasses
17 NR Brian Vickers Brian Vickers His family and friends have got to be concerned about how he will handle the tricky transition from Mountain Dew to Red Bull.
18 19 Bobby Labonte Bobby Labonte Report: Labonte still hasn't written a blog for his MySpace page
19 NR J.J. Yeley J.J. Yeley J.J., considering Denny's success since cutting his hand and seeing how Tony Stewart performed with the bum shoulder at Pocono, it might be time for you to get vested in the art of self-mutilation.
20 14 Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon Report: Oil prices skyrocket on news that Gordon falls out of the top 10 in points
21 22 Clint Bowyer Clint Bowyer I didn't see his car on the TV monitor one time on Sunday. If I owned the team, I'd shout into the radio, "Spin the car on pit road so we can get some TV time. And make it look good."
22 25 Elliott Sadler Elliott Sadler I was really hoping that he would have a voice-over cameo in Cars. I guess the movie studio didn't want to go through the trouble of providing subtitles.
23 23 Jeremy Mayfield Jeremy Mayfield Report: Mayfield already dreading the "Did the fact that you won here on fuel mileage take away from the win" questions this week from the local media
24 24 Casey Mears Casey Mears Sources have told me that Hendrick Motorsports -– in the interest of protecting their relationship with Garnier Fructis -- has the retained option of not signing Mears if Mears refuses to stop using Jeremy Mayfield's Flowbee.
25 21 Dale Jarrett Dale Jarrett Average finish before announcing that he was signing with Michael Waltrip Racing: 16th
Average finish since: 32nd

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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