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Power Rankings: Watkins Glen
By Ryan Smithson, NASCAR.COM
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August 9, 2006
11:55 AM EDT (1155 GMT)

Biggest Gain this week: Clint Bowyer, up 10 spots

Biggest Drop this week: Jeff Gordon, down four spots

New this week: Ken Schrader (23), Dale Jarrett (24).

Dropped out: Martin Truex Jr. (21), Bobby Labonte (22).

Week 22 of 36, AMD at The Glen at Watkins Glen International
Rank Prev Number Driver Comments
 1  2 Jimmie Johnson Jimmie Johnson That was a pretty big weekend for Chad Knaus. He had a birthday. And then he tied former interim crew chief Darian Grubb for the team lead for crew chief wins with two.
 2  3 Kurt Busch Kurt Busch His father Tom is the spotter for Travis Kvapil, which has got to be the hardest job in NASCAR. "Three-wide. You're in the middle. Here comes the leader."
 3  5 Kyle Busch Kyle Busch Report: Kyle finishes seventh at the Brickyard, pockets $210,000, refuses to help pay Kurt's wedding expenses
 4  7 Matt Kenseth Matt Kenseth He nearly won at Indy. We totally missed out on some hilarious pictures of Kenseth kissing the bricks with his eyes open.
 5  1 Jeff Gordon Jeff Gordon Funny, true story: Gordon was being interviewed by a local TV station, and his longtime publicist was rubbing his face during the interview with his middle finger. It looked like he was flipping the camera off.
 6  6 Kevin Harvick Kevin Harvick I got a lot of e-mails last week about the statement he made during his 10 Questions interview on NASCAR.COM last week. Happy was asked what his most embarrassing moment was.
"There have been a few of them, so I don't know," Harvick said. "But I think the most recent one was probably waking up in the morning, to Tony Stewart, as I'm taking a shower. That wasn't embarrassing, but that was probably one of the most uneasy feelings. I get done washing my hair and turn the shower off and turn around and he's standing there watching me take a shower. So that wasn't the most pleasant thing, but he thought it was pretty entertaining, I guess. That was [at New Hampshire], a year ago."
 7  4 Jeff Burton Jeff Burton Report: Burton granted lifetime exemption into Bud Shootout
 8  9 Denny Hamlin Denny Hamlin Actually there is such a thing as a left-handed screwdriver. I kidded Hamlin last week about trying to find one. But they exist. Shows how much I know.
 9  8 Greg Biffle Greg Biffle I heard that the sandwich-in-the-face commercial required 20 takes of Biffle throwing the food in Doug Richert's face. Which is pretty much Tony Stewart's dream commercial shoot.
10 10 Tony Stewart Tony Stewart Hilarious thing happened at Indy. He did a local TV interview, and it was clearly shot in a hotel room. Only they panned the room, and it showed an unmade bed as the backdrop, and Tony was wearing his firesuit. In the hotel room.
11 13 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Dale Earnhardt Jr. He wasn't happy with his team for the second straight race. His car wasn't that good. He better hope his team doesn't retaliate by bringing him a Daytona car to race this weekend.
12 11 Mark Martin Mark Martin Report: Martin to drive until he is 65 or looks 65, whichever comes sooner
13 12 Kasey Kahne Kasey Kahne Report: Kahne's new Allstate commercial to feature grandmothers dreaming of Kasey before crashing into farmers' markets
14 15 Brian Vickers Brian Vickers Not really funny, but I wish TV would quit bringing up the Hendrick plane crash. We don't need a Hendrick-winning car to serve as a reminder. The family shouldn't have to hear that every third Sunday.
15 25 Clint Bowyer Clint Bowyer Report: Bowyer refuses to meet Stewart at Dairy Queen to "clear the air"
16 16 Carl Edwards Carl Edwards He called Stewart a "moron," which was clearly premeditated. When he was thinking of the names he would call Stewart, he got it narrowed down to moron, jerk and nincompoop.
17 14 J.J. Yeley J.J. Yeley He was pretty angry (he wasn't really mad) that I joked last week that he would wreck at Indy. So he tried to stab me with a dull knife. Karma got him back though. He flew coach on a commercial flight back to Charlotte.
18 17 Ryan Newman Ryan Newman I know I have joked that he has no neck. Actually, when he wears a polo shirt, he does. It's just that NASCAR won't let you wear that when you drive the car.
19 19 Scott Riggs Scott Riggs He has got to be upset that his grotesque foot injury didn't lead to the same success that Denny Hamlin had after Hamlin nearly ripped his hand off.
20 18 Jamie McMurray Jamie McMurray True fact for the month of August: Ricky Bobby, driver of the No. 26 car, has been selling merchandise like crazy, even eclipsing drivers like Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Derrike Cope.
21 20 Casey Mears Casey Mears Not sure if you saw this last week, but there was word that Juan Montoya had a hard time getting in and out of a stock car, and that he hadn't put on his own racing gloves since 2000. Next year, he will get his first-ever initiation to using the restroom in a stock car.
22 23 Reed Sorenson Reed Sorenson He accidentally got into Boris Said there early at Indy. After the race, Boris head-butted him, opening up severe lacerations on Reed's face.
23 NR Ken Schrader Ken Schrader Every Sunday, the media has a pool where we pick three drivers and pay $20. Winner takes all. You pretty much have to pick the top three. Last weekend, someone picked Schrader, and it was the first time I had seen him played all year.
24 NR Dale Jarrett Dale Jarrett Dale Jarrett called Jeremy Mayfield a "young talent." Well, he's half right. He's talented.
25 24 Elliott Sadler Elliott Sadler The Indianapolis paper used an old picture of him in their photo spread detailing the Brickyard lineup. He had very short hair, leading many readers to believe that Robert Yates actually made a driver change for the weekend.

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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