| 1 |
2 |
 |
Ryan Newman |
You know he had a good road course car when he’s able to knock Tony Stewart right out of the way. |
| 2 |
1 |
 |
Bobby Labonte |
Recovered from two spins to nip Jeremy Mayfield there at the end for ninth. Whew. That was close. |
| 3 |
4 |
 |
Matt Kenseth |
Restrictor-plate races are his biggest weakness. That and bratwurst. |
| 4 |
3 |
 |
Tony Stewart |
He’s only 547 points out of first. If he can win 11 of the next 12 races, that deficit could be down to only 400. |
| 5 |
6 |
 |
Jeff Gordon |
He’s an extremely polished speaker, but he still ends sentences with a preposition: "Anybody who races back under caution like that, I don't know where his mind is at.” What he should have said: "Anybody who races back under caution like that, I don't know where his mind is at, and he probably doesn’t either.” |
| 6 |
5 |
 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
If he had Boris Said’s hair, he wouldn’t wear that hat backwards all the time. |
| 7 |
7 |
 |
Kurt Busch |
Between you and Fittipaldi, y’all hit just about everything. And you damn near finished fifth. Scary. |
| 8 |
10 |
 |
Michael Waltrip |
Daytona! I’m at the right track! Yay! |
| 9 |
9 |
 |
Jimmie Johnson |
Did you see the rabbit he hit and killed during practice? Track personnel scooped him off the pavement with a giant spatula. What a horrible death. Last thing he saw was a big ad for a home improvement store coming at him at 100 mph. |
| 10 |
8 |
 |
Sterling Marlin |
Has just as many top fives as Tony Raines, Jack Sprague, Hideo Fukuyama and Steve Park. |
| 11 |
11 |
 |
Mark Martin |
Just wait until last year! |
| 12 |
17 |
 |
Kevin Harvick |
The funny thing is, he probably thought Robby was racing around him to get his lap back. Wonder what he said to Robby after the race. And with how many expletives. |
| 13 |
18 |
 |
Robby Gordon |
He fleeced everyone real good. And it wasn’t even cold out. |
| 14 |
13 |
 |
Rusty Wallace |
Still looking for his first official win on a restrictor plate track. And his second official win of the George W. Bush administration. |
| 15 |
12 |
 |
Terry Labonte |
Rumors are flying that he wants to extend his contract. The new one will end when he’s 60, which is cool, but that still leaves a two-year gap until Social Security kicks in. |
| 16 |
19 |
 |
Jeremy Mayfield |
Wow. Talk about motivation: Since Casey Atwood drove a third Evernham car at Pocono, Jeremy has averaged a 12.67 finish. He averaged a 27.58 finish before Atwood showed up. If Mayfield falters at Daytona, then Evernham should field a third car at Chicago |
| 17 |
14 |
 |
Jeff Burton |
He beat Steve Park for the eighth straight week. Man, those two have an intense rivalry. Well, not really. |
| 18 |
16 |
 |
Elliott Sadler |
In a photo shoot in a recent magazine, it was revealed that Elliott Sadler actually owns a tanning bed. But it ain’t for him. He uses it for keeping dead deer fresh. |
| 19 |
15 |
 |
Ricky Craven |
Wasn’t much to say about trip to Sonoma, except he beat Jimmy Spencer, and that he needed sunglasses a lot during the weekend. |
| 20 |
22 |
 |
Bill Elliott |
Both of his top fives this year have come in California. Michael Waltrip has a similar phenomenon with the state of Florida. |
| 21 |
20 |
 |
Jamie McMurray |
Hideo Fukuyama didn’t give him much of a fight for top rookie at Sonoma. |
| 22 |
21 |
 |
Ward Burton |
Reckon he took all the Dodge logos off his personal car, too? If so, how did he do that? Take it to the dealer? |
| 23 |
24 |
 |
Joe Nemechek |
Back to Daytona, which is more in his comfort zone. Wait, he is entered in the Busch race, right? |
| 24 |
NR |
 |
Johnny Benson |
His strategy of staying out while others pitting was pretty good, but not as effective as passing other cars during the caution flag. |
| 25 |
NR |
 |
Dale Jarrett |
Why is he back in the Rankings? We truly don’t know. But he was running well -- again -- before his bad luck struck again at Sonoma. But if his luck doesn’t start turning around, he may truly start driving the truck. For a living. |
