Biggest Drop this week: Jeff Gordon, down 12 spots
New this week: Casey Mears (24), Travis Kvapil (25).
Dropped out: Ken Schrader (22), Kasey Kahne (24).
Week 19 of 36, New England 300 at New Hampshire International SpeedwayRankPrevNumberDriverComments 1 1
Tony StewartHe had the non-Biffle/Harvick quote of the week: “I feel like I got invited to a baseball bat war and didn't get my own bat,” he said after crashing in Friday practice. 2 4
Jimmie JohnsonThey did it again. The Chicagoland track announcer claimed he was from “El-Cay-Jone” California. Dude, just tell ‘em you’re from Kannapolis. It would certainly help the merchandise sales. 3 2
Rusty WallaceThey might have to change this to Rusty’s Next-to-Last Call. 4 3
Greg BiffleIf Junior or Jeff fail to make the Chase, NBC will be forced to pad their ratings by showing weekly Biffle/Harvick mud wrestling matches. 5 8
Mark MartinSo there is a year gap between the time Mark Martin leaves and the time where Jamie McMurray can get in the car. This is good though. This will give Matt Martin time to grow his hair long, dye it blonde, comb it back and practice walking on stilts. That way Roush Racing can say it’s actually Ricky Craven in the car. They would just have to make sure Matt finished sixth every week so he could avoid the interviews. 611
Jeremy MayfieldOne of his goals in life is to be in the audience during a taping of The Jerry Springer Show. We didn’t make this up. If Biffle and Harvick keep feuding, Mayfield might eventually find the perfect excuse to go. 714
Matt KensethDale Jr. was leading. Matt Kenseth was right on his tail. We could hear Bill Weber clearly, and Allen Bestwick not at all. For a second, I thought the TV was set to ESPN Classic. 813
Kurt BuschSomeone asked Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg if Kurt Busch did well when Kurt worked out with the Cubs. “He’s a great race car driver,” Sandberg said. 9 9
Ryan NewmanA lot of people are picking him to win this weekend, and no doubt, he is going to be tough. A definite top-3. If he wins, he will actually wear something on his head other than a Bud Pole hat. 10 6
Jamie McMurrayHe signed a contract with Roush Racing for 2007. Which will give Jack Roush a full 18 months to try to sign McMurray’s hairstyling team to their own long-term deal. 1119
Ricky RuddThe Fatback nickname is getting a tad obsolete. If he keeps it up, McSwain will weigh less than Tony Stewart soon. 12 7
Elliott SadlerIt’s a good thing Jeff Burton is a relatively young man. One of these days, Elliott Sadler is going to win at Loudon, and Burton will need to be there to translate Sadler’s victory lane comments to the New England media. 1312
Dale JarrettHe’s a true grinder, but he can’t make the Chase with mere top-20 finishes. It’ll be interesting to see what he does on the flat tracks, which have been his best tracks during his career. 1425
Dale Earnhardt Jr.I can imagine how brief the post-race inspection was for the No. 8 Chevy. “Yep, those are authentic Goodyear tires all right, boys!”1517
Joe Nemechek"Seventh-row Joe" just doesn't have the same ring to it. 1620
Brian VickersHe is currently taking Spanish lessons, mainly so he and his teammates can safely curse at Mike Bliss. 17 5
Jeff GordonThis is how bad his season has gotten: You can almost imagine the conversations Gordon was having with his spotter. Gordon: “Tell Leffler to ease up on me and get out of the way!” Spotter: “Jeff, the 11 car is for position.” Gordon: “What?!” 1810
Carl EdwardsA lot of people have caught on to our Jeff Gordon-Wrigley Field/Stadium curse that we wrote about a month ago, but it looks like Carl Edwards has suffered the same fate. He sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” before the Sonoma race. Geez. Keep the guys on the Chase bubble away from baseball. 1915
Jeff BurtonBefore he retires, he needs to have the track folks at Loudon announce him as “Jeff Burton, from South Boston,” just to see if the stands erupt. 2016
Kyle BuschThree guys we want to see on "Dancing with the Stars": Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch and Jimmy Spencer. 2123
Bobby LabonteReport: Labonte to actually sport a green car this weekend 2218
Kevin HarvickHis comments about Biffle victimized Harvick’s dog more than anyone else, because it pretty much ended the dog’s dream of making it onto Biffle’s pet calendar. 2321
Michael WaltripJust in case you wondered, Waltrip named seven sponsors in his post-crash interview, or one sponsor for each of his top-10 finishes in 2005. 24NR
Casey MearsHe had a bad motor and buzzcut at Chicagoland and still finished ninth. 25NR
Travis KvapilIf he is going to get a top-five this season, it’ll be at Loudon. And he'll get numerous requests to clarify spelling of his name. 