Top 40 rankings

Monday, Aug. 11, 2008

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By David Poole

dpoole@charlotteobserver.com

That's Racin's weekly ranking of the top 40 teams in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series as of the Centurion Boats at The Glen at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International (last week's ranking in parentheses):

1. (1) Kyle Busch -- car No. 18 So much for all of the talk about this team's "fall to Earth" after a pair of so-so finishes.

2. (2) Carl Edwards -- car No. 99 Michigan has historically been a Roush Fenway Racing kind of track, so watch out.

3. (3) Jimmie Johnson -- car No. 48 Without a cut tire at Watkins Glen this team and the No. 18 might have battled for the win.

4. (4) Kasey Kahne -- car No. 9 Cooled off since the May hot streak, but even the so-so days now wind up as top-10 finishes.

5. (7) Tony Stewart -- car No. 20 Perhaps confirming his plans for 2009 helped Stewart and his team refocus for what's left here.

6. (5) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- car No. 88 There's enough blame to go around as to why this team isn't performing at a championship level.

7. (6) Jeff Burton -- car No. 31 Sort of like a lot of teams above and below it -- these guys are getting by but not impressing.

8. (9) Matt Kenseth -- car No. 17 Hanging out on the dangerous fringe of the Chase zone. A couple of wins would help end that.

9. tie (8) Jeff Gordon -- car No. 24, (10) Greg Biffle -- car No. 16, (11) Kevin Harvick -- car No. 29 and (12) Denny Hamlin Gordon has dropped back into this group in recent weeks. The rest of these guys have just been swapping positions from week to week. This week, we decided they all belong in one big knot.

13. (13) Clint Bowyer -- car No. 07
14. (14) David Ragan -- car No. 6
15. (18) Martin Truex Jr. -- car No. 1
16. (16) Brian Vickers -- car No. 83
17. (15) Ryan Newman -- car No. 12
18. (17) Aric Almirola/Mark Martin -- car No. 8
19. (21) Kurt Busch -- car No. 2
20. (20) Elliott Sadler -- car No. 19
21. (19) Jamie McMurray -- car No. 26
22. (23) Juan Pablo Montoya -- car No. 42
23. (24) Casey Mears -- car No. 5
24. (22) Bobby Labonte -- car No. 43
25. (25) David Reutimann -- car No. 44
26. (27) David Gilliland -- car No. 38
27. (28) Robby Gordon -- car No. 7
28. (26) Travis Kvapil -- car No. 28
29. (32) AJ Allmendinger -- car No. 84
30. (33) Patrick Carpentier -- car No. 10
31. (28) Reed Sorenson -- car No. 41
32. (30) Sam Hornish Jr. -- car No. 77
33. (31) Scott Riggs -- car No. 66
34. (35) Ron Fellows/Regan Smith -- car No. 01
35. (34) Dave Blaney -- car No. 22
36. (36) Paul Menard -- car No. 15
37. (NR) Marcos Ambrose -- car No. 21
38. (38) Joe Nemechek -- car No. 78
39. (39) Michael Waltrip -- car No. 55
40. (40) Michael McDowell -- car No. 00

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