Power Rankings: Bristol

Power

Rankings

Bristol:

Greg Biffle continues his hot streak while Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson put on some good showings this week. Let's see where everybody falls in this week's Power Rankings.

New In This Week: Tony Stewart

Dropped Out: Joey Logano

Close, But No Cigar: Paul Menard, Martin Truex Jr.

1. Greg Biffle (+1 spot)

Greg is 3 for 3 on 3rd place finishes this year. That's good enough for the points lead and good enough for first in this week's rankings. Biffle can run well at Bristol this week too.

2. Kevin Harvick (+2)

Harvick only finished 11th at Vegas, but that is also just his first finish outside of the top 10 this season. Harvick found success at Bristol early in his career, but hasn't run so well there as of late.

3. Jimmie Johnson (+3)

Who's worrying about the failed appeal for the penalties levied against him at Daytona? Probably not this guy. He's run great after the Daytona struggles and even without Chad Knaus for the next 6 races, he should be fine. This team is on fire right now.

4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+3)

That's the kind of performance that should pump Junior Nation up for good things this year. Earnhardt led the first 70 laps of the race, more than he led all of last year and he finally put together a full race, meaning he was strong at the beginning, middle, and end. Like Harvick, was good at Bristol awhile ago, but needs to find the magic there again.

5. Tony Stewart (+5, was unranked)

Dominant. Flat out dominant. Not even Jimmie could take the lead away from Stewart late in the race and he proved that he deserved his first Vegas win. Oh yeah, and by the way, he's won 6 out of the last 13 races dating back to last year.

6. Matt Kenseth (-3)

Ran pretty well most of the race, but then couldn't keep his car down enough to avoid Kasey Kahne who had a monster run coming up the outside with 5 laps to go. The two both hit the wall, ending their days. Kenseth runs well at Bristol though, so a quick turn around could be in order.

7. Denny Hamlin (-6)

Was Denny even at the track in Vegas? He wasn't a factor all day and he was hardly even mentioned by the announcers, not what you'd expect after last weekend's result. He'll have to find some magic at Bristol too.

8. Kyle Busch (-3)

Crashed in practice, went to a backup car. Crashed in the race, no more backup cars. Seemed to be a pretty frustrating day for the hometown boy, but no matter, his best track is coming up this weekend.

9. Carl Edwards (No change)

A solid but quiet 5th place finish. He hasn't made much noise this year, but can do so at Bristol where it always seems to be a duel between Kyle and himself.

10. Jeff Gordon (-1)

Pretty mediocre day until a rally at the end to finish 12th, which was actually rather impressive. Dominated the last race at Bristol before Keselowski ran away with the win late. It might be his first chance to break out this year.

Bristol starts at 1 on Sunday, can't wait! Oh yeah, and since March Madness is upon us, I gotta give a shout out to my school, Go Hoosiers!