Who's Up

Who's Down

Biggest Gain This Week:

Kurt Busch: 7th to 5th

Biggest Drop This Week:

Ryan Newman: 6th to 9th

• Juan Pablo Montoya

Rank: 1st

• Tony Stewart #14
• Last Week: 1
  Change: 0
• Driver Page | Articles

Tony Stewart- 1 Win, 13 Top Tens

For the 4th consecutive week Tony Stewart remains in the top spot. What is keeping him there? The answer is consistency. Many of his top competitors have looked good, but have been inconsistent.

Rank: 2nd

• Jimmie Johnson #48
• Last Week: 2
  Change: 0
• Driver Page | Articles

Jimmie Johnson- 2 Wins, 11 Top Tens

Over the last month and a half Jimmie Johnson has been the best car on the track. The point standings don't properly reflect this but Johnson's league best driver rating of 108.5 does.

Rank: 3rd

• Jeff Gordon #24
• Last Week: 4
  Change: +1
• Driver Page | Articles

Jeff Gordon- 1 Win, 12 Top Tens

At New Hampshire Jeff Gordon almost had the race won. If it wasn't for Joey's fuel mileage and the rain, Gordon would have been able to tack on another 10 bonus points for the Chase. More importantly the 24 is starting to get momentum going.

Rank: 4th

• Mark Martin #5
• Last Week: 3
  Change: -1
• Driver Page | Articles

Mark Martin- 3 Wins, 8 Top Tens

Mark Martin had a pretty mediocre day at New Hampshire. I thought it was pretty unusual because at similar tracks earlier in the season (Phoenix-Win, Richmond- 5th) Martin had very successful races.

Rank: 5th

• Kurt Busch #22
• Last Week: 7
  Change: +2
• Driver Page | Articles

Kurt Busch- 1 Win, 9 Top Tens

Kurt Busch was a thorn in Jeff Gordon's side all day long at New Hampshire. At Daytona Kurt will look to be ahead of Gordon with his series best 5.3 COT average finish.

Rank: 6th

• Carl Edwards #99
• Last Week: 5
  Change: -1
• Driver Page | Articles

Carl Edwards- 4 Top Fives, 8 Top Tens

The 99 has been off their game for the last 2 races but other then that Carl Edwards has positioned himself as a top contender for 2009.

Rank: 7th

• Greg Biffle #16
• Last Week: 8
  Change: +1
• Driver Page | Articles

Greg Biffle- 5 Top Fives, 8 Top Tens

As soon as I heard that the 16 was using their winning setup from last year I knew he was in trouble. Teams must always strive to do better then before, but that wasn't in the 16's game plan and they finished 18th with last years winning setup.

Rank: 8th

• Kasey Kahne #4
• Last Week: 9
  Change: +1
• Driver Page | Articles

Kasey Kahne- 1 Win, 6 Top Tens

The 9 car over the last 6 races has accumulated the 5th most points in the series with 1 win and 4 top tens. Over this time period they have averaged ~140 points a race which equates roughly to an eighth place finish.

Rank: 9th

• Ryan Newman #39
• Last Week: 6
  Change: -3
• Driver Page | Articles

Ryan Newman- 5 Top Fives, 8 Top Tens

Ryan Newman won his first career race in the rain at New Hampshire in 2002. In 2009 Newman tried to duplicate his first victory but the rain came to late and his tank was empty.

Rank: 10th

• Denny Hamlin #11
• Last Week: 10
  Change: 0
• Driver Page | Articles

Denny Hamlin- 4 Top Fives, 6 Top Tens

Hamlin's performance at New Hampshire was the big let down of the week for me. The 11 was never a factor all day long.

Rank: 11th

• Kyle Busch #18
• Last Week: 11
  Change: 0
• Driver Page | Articles

Kyle Busch- 3 Wins, 6 Top Tens

Kyle Busch likes the rain. Until Sunday the last top 10 Kyle Busch had was at the Coke 600 which was also a rain out.

Rank: 12th

• Juan Pablo Montoya #42
• Last Week: NR
  Change: N/A
• Driver Page | Articles

Juan Pablo Montoya- 1 Pole, 7 Top Tens

Remember back in 2007 when Bowyer made the Chase but didn't have a single win. Well, in 2009 seventeen races into the season Montoya is currently in the Chase and he doesn't even have a single top 5.