NASCAR Fanhouse Power Rankings: Dover I

1. Jamie McMurray. A year ago, he missed the win by .787 seconds. This year, Crown Royal gave up millions worth of exposure to allow JMac to run a special autism paint scheme for the cause that is near and dear to his heart. The driver's firesuit and helmet will be worth more if they visit victory lane before being auctioned for The Jamie McMurray Foundation. No driver will be trying harder to get there.

2. Jeff Gordon. If Gordon's not in the delivery room, look for him to visit victory lane for the fifth time. Who is his backup driver this weekend?

3. Mark Martin. This is only Martin's third COT race and if we were talking about another driver, that might actually matter, but this one has found his way to victory lane in all three of NASCAR's premier series, so I don't guess it matters too much what he's driving.

4. Jimmie Johnson. What? You're tired of seeing Hendrick drivers dominate? Me too. But Johnson's already won two COT races, and they only account for half of his season wins to date. He's hardly finished with victory lane.

5. Matt Kenseth. The defending race champion is looking for the second win of the season for himself and Ford. If not for running out of gas in September, he'd have swept last year.

6. Jeff Burton. The defending track champion is also looking for his second win. Hopefully, he is also looking for AT&T paint scheme 2.0--the Cingular orange has got to go.

7. Denny Hamlin. Has led the most laps in the COT and has had five top 3 finishes this season, three of them in the COT. He's gonna get there one of these days.

Wildcard. Tony Stewart. He sucked here last year, but still has the best average finish among active drivers in the pre-COT era. Still, Smoke hasn't been able to close the deal yet this season despite trailing only his teammate for most laps led in the COT. If fate has even one lap in store for him in Dover I hope it's the last one. Nobody likes an unhappy Tony.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

5-30-2007 @ 5:58AM

Sasha said...

Sunday is Jamie's birthday (mine too), so it would be really cool if he won Dover... Plus he totally won me over with the bunny commercial. I'll be pulling for him.

5-30-2007 @ 5:57AM

Sunday is Jamie's birthday (mine too!) so it would be really cool if he won Dover... Plus he really won me over with that cute bunny commercial. I'll be pulling for him.

5-30-2007 @ 9:32AM

Kari said...

I'm not a McMurray fan but to bring attention and needed research dollars to autism, which they now say affects an incredible 1 in 150, I would more than welcome a McMurray win this weekend.

5-30-2007 @ 9:45AM

Kim said...

I too agree that it would be a nice win for McMurray and for the Autism foundation. There definitely needs to be more of an awareness brought to such a terrible learning disability that so many children suffer from today.

On a side note... TGOM: You and others keep saying you're tired of the "Hendrick Dominance." Well, they apparently have their S*&^ together or they wouldn't be winning. It's time for the other teams & drivers to kick it in gear then. They (Hendrick) aren't cheating or anything, just dominating because they clearly have the cars, the crews, and the drivers to do so!

5-30-2007 @ 4:25PM

KEVIN said...

MARK MARTIN IS THE MAN-- THE MOST TALENTED DRIVER EVER, THATS RIGHT EVER. PETTY- NO OFFICIALS IN THOSE DAYS HE CHEATED. EARNHART WAS GREAT BUT PEOPLE ASSUME HE IS THE GREATEST DUE TO HIS STYLE, BUMP AND RUN. MARK HAS WON IN EVERY CAR POSSIBLE NOT TO MENTION THE CHAMPIONSHIPS HE HAS WON IN EQUALLY BUILT CARS AGAINST THE BEST DRIVERS AROUND. WINNING A TITLE IS HARD BUT YOU NEED MORE LUCK THEN ANYTHING. WE CANT JUDGE GREATNESS BY CHAMPIONSHIPS.

5-30-2007 @ 4:55PM

Real Men Wear Black said...

Kim....

I wouldn't put an awful lot of effort in disputing anyones claims of the Hendricks team cheating or anything.
As you know I've always been a Dale Sr. fan and became a Dale Jr. fan by what I'll simply explain as the natural order of things.

That being said, the same nonsense went on about DEI a few short years ago pertaining to Talladega and Daytona when Jr. and Waltrip were dominating. Hendricks caught on and those few years of dominance were short lived.
When Sr. started DEI a super speed way program was initiated from the outset, one might even say that was the lions share of Dale's motivation in starting DEI.....who knows?

Thats just a fraction of the abuse in comparison to what was cast on Dale Sr. and RCR when Dale was winning championships.
I remember friend and foe saying...." anybody but Earnhardt".

It actually just tickled me, because I knew it was simply jealously....nothing more.

You have nothing to concern yourself with as far as these dolts are concerned.........until they STOP with their accusations.

I kinda learned how to enjoy their bitterness.

5-30-2007 @ 5:07PM

Kevin....

"We can't judge greatness by championships"

....fair enough.
Would you say greatness could be judged on the strength of one's adversary?

5-31-2007 @ 12:11AM

Sarah said...

All the HMS fans and their 'woe is me' when some one says some one other than Gordo or Johnson needs to have more of a chance to win. I'm sick of it. They will whine even when winning. As for the HMS and cheating, if the shoe fits. You can only get caught so many times cheating before labeled a cheater. I think Knaus and Co. have had all the Whammies they can get before the label sticks.

TGOM, unfortunately for the people that don't like the Cingular orange on the car will need to get used to it. at&t mobility (it's not capitilized for a reason, that's how it is in the merger docs) will be keeping the orange as the second color. Orange and blue are the colors of the company. I do agree it needs to be toned down. I would rather the at&t logo be orange on a blue car, unfortunately until I'm the head of marketing/advertising this won't happen.

5-31-2007 @ 10:54PM

Baisden3kids said...

RMWB:

You're right! It's a tired argument really. No one listens to me (other than you and our buddy, Mike of course) and now that you mention it, I do remember when there was a big ordeal about Dale Sr.'s team being dominant and how everyone accused them of just about everything they could think of because they couldn't stand that he was winning and had become so successful. May the best man win! I still believe in that no matter who the driver is. Like you said, we all have our favorite driver/drivers, but those of us whose favorites aren't winning sure do get ugly over the ones that are, winning that is.

I am glad I am a fan of the entire sport. I have my favorite, which you know is Jimmie Johnson, but I just cannot wait until each and every Sunday afternoon to sit down and watch my favorite sport, no matter who is dominating that day. I just love the sport, which is what it should be about anyway.

Thanks as always for your insights. I truly enjoy them. :-)

6-01-2007 @ 4:38AM

shadi said...

i think he should not be rated mcmurray sucks he is the most over rated driver in nascar, i do help they raise alot of money for autisn but there is no chance he will win because he sucks and i think he should be racing in the busch series too bad he sucks there too, the only reason he has a ride is because he is good looking lol, but anyways i think the 48 will win, i dont want the 48 to win i would rather have jeff gordon win, i have a jimmie feeling, this is his kind of track

6-01-2007 @ 9:23AM

jody rose said...

Kevin
Perhaps you meant to say that championships ALONE don't define greatness. Iwould agree with that. Moreover, I would say that the LACK of a championship doesn't necessarily make one an inferior driver. Lots of really great drivers have never won a championship.