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Power Rankings: Daytona
June 24, 2003
10:15 AM EDT (1015 GMT)

We got several emails last week deploring how Ryan Newman could be ranked so high. And how -- they asked -- was Matt Kenseth not No. 1?

If you want a chart that has Kenseth leading, click here. He'll be there all year, so be sure to bookmark it for easy reference.

Biggest Gain this week: Teammates! Kevin Harvick and Robby Gordon, each up five spots

Biggest Drop this week: Ricky Craven, down four spots

Dropped out: Greg Biffle (23), Todd Bodine (25).

New this week: Johnny Benson (24).

Week 17 of 36, Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway
Rank Prev Number Driver Comments
 1  2 Ryan Newman 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 Bobby Labonte Recovered from two spins to nip Jeremy Mayfield there at the end for ninth. Whew. That was close.
 3  4 Matt Kenseth Matt Kenseth Restrictor-plate races are his biggest weakness. That and bratwurst.
 4  3 Tony Stewart 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 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. Dale Earnhardt Jr. If he had Boris Said’s hair, he wouldn’t wear that hat backwards all the time.
 7  7 Kurt Busch Kurt Busch Between you and Fittipaldi, y’all hit just about everything. And you damn near finished fifth. Scary.
 8 10 Michael Waltrip Michael Waltrip Daytona! I’m at the right track! Yay!
 9  9 Jimmie Johnson 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 Sterling Marlin Has just as many top fives as Tony Raines, Jack Sprague, Hideo Fukuyama and Steve Park.
11 11 Mark Martin Mark Martin Just wait until last year!
12 17 Kevin Harvick 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 Robby Gordon He fleeced everyone real good. And it wasn’t even cold out.
14 13 Rusty Wallace 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Jamie McMurray Hideo Fukuyama didn’t give him much of a fight for top rookie at Sonoma.
22 21 Ward Burton 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 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 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 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.
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ARCHIVES
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• Week 1 at Daytona International Speedway
• Week 2 at North Carolina Speedway
• Week 3 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
• Week 4 at Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Week 5 at Darlington Raceway
• Week 6 at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Week 7 at Texas Motor Speedway
• Week 8 at Talladega Superspeedway
• Week 9 at Martinsville Speedway
• Week 10 at California Speedway
• Week 11 at Richmond International Raceway
• Week 12 at Lowe's Motor Speedway
• Week 13 at Dover International Speedway
• Week 14 at Pocono Raceway
• Week 15 at Michigan International Speedway
• Week 16 at Infineon Raceway
• Week 17 at Daytona International Speedway
• Week 18 at Chicagoland Speedway
• Week 19 at New Hampshire International Speedway
• Week 20 at Pocono Raceway
• Week 21 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
• Week 22 at Watkins Glen International
• Week 23 at Michigan International Speedway
• Week 24 at Bristol Motor Speedway
• Week 25 at Darlington Raceway
• Week 26 at Richmond International Raceway
• Week 27 at New Hampshire International Speedway
• Week 28 at Dover International Speedway
• Week 29 at Talladega Superspeedway
• Week 30 at Kansas Speedway
• Week 31 at Lowe's Motor Speedway
• Week 32 at Martinsville Speedway
• Week 33 at Atlanta Motor Speedway
• Week 34 at Phoenix International Raceway
• Week 35 at North Carolina Speedway
• Week 36 at Homestead-Miami Speedway
• Week 37 at Daytona International Speedway
The opinions listed here are solely those of the writer.
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