Horsepower Rankings
Johnson, Knaus have competition by the wheel bearings
1. Jimmie Johnson Team 48 isn’t waiting until September to beat its competitors into submission this year. By the way, what’s the ceiling for these guys … or is there one?
2. Kevin Harvick Harvick’s and Johnson’s 2010 results aren’t far apart, but the overall health of their teams is. Make no mistake, there’s a wide gap between first and second in the grand scheme of things.
3. Mark Martin And then there’s Martin, with his consecutive fourth-place showings, under everyone’s radar and happy as could be. Mark my words: This is still Jimmie’s most dangerous threat.
4. Greg Biffle Credit the consistency. Biffle, along with Harvick, Clint Bowyer and Matt Kenseth, are three-for-three in the top 10 category.
5. Matt Kenseth Speaking of consistency, Kenseth has runs of eighth, seventh and fifth so far. That’s classic Kenseth, but he, along with Biffle, must step it up to top-3 territory to play at Johnson’s level.
6. Clint Bowyer Average finish of 6.66 through three races a sign Bowyer could be a Beast this year. Actually, the devil/Bowyer tie-in sounds a little ridiculous when you consider he’s sponsored by Cheerios.
7. Jeff Burton Not a fan of Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he has zero wins in 31 starts. With that in mind, a solid top 5 would go a long way in the confidence department for this team.
8. Jeff Gordon Gordon covered for his crew chief yet again, but the truth is Letarte has to know the 48 will take four tires … Knaus does it every time he’s in that situation!
9. Tony Stewart Now he and his teammate are a clear step behind Uncle Rick’s four sons during the regular season. Uh oh.
10. Carl Edwards Really thought Carl would come out of the gate strong this year. Instead, he’s averaging about an 11th-place showing. This week’s stop may improve that.
11. Kurt Busch The forgotten man in the Montoya vs. McMurray storyline. He won the Atlanta race last year, so it will serve as a good barometer of where his team is at.
12. Joey Logano OK, Joey and the 20 team should probably be ranked higher. Give me a third straight top-10 showing (at a track you don’t care for in Atlanta) and you’ll rocket up the Horsepower Rankings.
13. Denny Hamlin Sorry about the Media Jinx, Denny. Hopefully it won’t be as bad as Carl’s last season.
14. Kyle Busch Is it unfair to judge Kyle’s first three races of 2009 with Addington vs. his first three of ’10 with Rogers? ‘Cause the ’09 performances are completely blowing this year out of the water.
15. Juan Pablo Montoya The one race where he wasn’t plagued by engine failure or a teammate’s incompetence resulted in a 10th-place showing. I’d say that’s a fair assessment of this team’s true strength.
Just off the lead pack: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard, David Reutimann
