NASCAR.COM - From Gordon to Labonte, top 10 is full of storylines

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From Gordon to Labonte, top 10 is full of storylines (cont'd)

Thumbs up

Reutimann

• David Reutimann -- His fourth-place finish at Las Vegas marked a career-best finish in 66 Cup Series starts. His previous best: ninth-place runs at Fontana and Richmond last fall.

• Bobby Labonte -- He hadn't finished in the top five since a third-place showing at Martinsville on Oct. 22, 2006. Labonte moved up 12 spots to 10th in the point standings.

• Richard Childress Racing -- A week after none of its four drivers placed in the top 15, three finished in the top 12: Clint Bowyer (second), Jeff Burton (third) and Kevin Harvick (12th).

Impressed by ...

Kyle Busch, so get over it. Congrats on winning in front of the hometown folks -- and from the back of the field, no less. Appreciate the kid for what he is: a helluva race car driver (watch video).

Thumbs down

• Joe Nemechek -- Fuel pump and transmission failures have relegated Nemechek to 43rd- and 41st-place finishes the past two weeks.

• Richard Petty Motorsports -- Kasey Kahne (11th) was again the team's front-runner. The others were also-rans: Elliott Sadler (29th), A.J. Allmendinger (33rd) and Reed Sorenson (34th).

• Jimmie Johnson -- Three-time defending champions are allowed mulligans. Let's call charging too hard for potentially a couple extra positions -- and spinning out -- a hiccup (watch video).

Disappointed by ...

I'll bet there were no less than 777 gambling references during the weekend broadcasts. We get it; it's Vegas, there's gambling. Shuffle up things and try rolling the dice with other metaphors.

Fantasy Racing

NASCAR.COM's Race for the Smithson Trophy:

Owner	Driver	Pts.	Driver	Pts.	Driver	Pts.	Total	Behind

Mark Aumann	J. Gordon	155	D. Ragan	37	D. Reutimann	160	1,166	--
Josh Pate	J. Burton	170	M. Kenseth	34	B. Labonte	155	1,095	-71
David Caraviello	Ky. Busch	190	K. Kahne	135	J. McMurray	138	1,048	-118
Duane Cross	J. Johnson	101	B. Vickers	142	Ku. Busch	99	1,029	-137
Raygan Swan	D. Earnhardt Jr.	134	C. Bowyer	175	M. Truex Jr.	67	992	-174
Dave Rodman	K. Harvick	132	D. Hamlin	97	D. Stremme	109	985	-181
Joe Menzer	C. Edwards	117	J. Montoya	70	J. Logano	129	951	-215
Bill Kimm	G. Biffle	151	M. Martin	43	C. Mears	73	912	-254
Jarrod Breeze	T. Stewart	85	R. Newman	88	S. Speed	100	799	-367

• About the teams

Up Next

• Track: Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Qualifying: 6:30 p.m. ET Friday on SPEED
• Race: 1:30 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX

Ryan Newman will attempt to make history on Friday when he looks to become the all-time leader in pole wins at AMS. He and Buddy Baker are tied with seven.

Newman's most recent AMS pole came on March 18, 2007. He also started first six consecutive races between March 2003 and October 2005.

The chase is on ...

Three down, 23 to go until the Chase field is set at Richmond:

Top 12 following Race 3 of 36

Rank	Driver	Pts.	Wins	Last Week	Driver Rating

1	Jeff Gordon	459	0	2	118.9
2	Clint Bowyer	441	0	6	80.9
3	Matt Kenseth	419	2	1	90.7
4	Greg Biffle	419	0	5	97.3
5	David Reutimann	408	0	12	78.8
6	Kyle Busch	405	1	18	110.7
7	Kurt Busch	393	0	3	94.2
8	Tony Stewart	379	0	4	98.5
9	Carl Edwards	377	0	9	99.2
10	Bobby Labonte	360	0	22	75.9
11	Kevin Harvick	351	0	16	86.5
12	Michael Waltrip	346	0	7	72.7

• Loop Data statistics

And Finally

Jeff Gordon became the seventh driver to eclipse 20,000 laps led as he paced the field for 17 laps at Las Vegas (watch video). He's now 3,125 laps behind sixth-place Darrell Waltrip (and 32,188 off Richard Petty's record pace). The top 10 all-time lap leaders as well as the top 10 active drivers and their all-time ranking:

Rank	All-Time Leaders	Laps	Rank	Active Leaders	Laps

1	Richard Petty	52,194	7	Jeff Gordon	20,006
2	Cale Yarborough	31,676	11	Mark Martin	11,562
3	Bobby Allison	27,539	13	Tony Stewart	10,254
4	Dale Earnhardt	25,707	20	Jimmie Johnson	7,609
5	David Pearson	25,419	25	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	6,384
6	Darrell Waltrip	23,131	29	Jeff Burton	5,807
7	Jeff Gordon	20,006	31	Matt Kenseth	5,525
8	Rusty Wallace	19,972	34	Kurt Busch	4,800
9	Bobby Isaac	13,229	42	Bobby Labonte	4,020
10	Junior Johnson	12,651	45	Ryan Newman	3,767