Johnson spins out and Gordon opens some daylight

Each week SI.com has evaluated and ranked the 10 best drivers in NASCAR. For the Chase, the list expands to 12.

NASCAR Power Rankings Rank Last Week   Driver 1 1 Jeff Gordon Okay, everybody, put your hands up if you saw that coming. Sheesh. As close as the points were a few weeks ago -- heck, last week -- I never expected the Chase to turn into a rout. But that's how it's shaping up. Gordon has stayed consistent, and he even seems to have turned things up a notch. Of course, he's also been lucky, as he was (and admits) after the late restarts last Saturday night. Still, you make your own luck in NASCAR by running up front, and nobody's done that better this year than the No. 24. 2 2 Jimmie Johnson Oops. JJ's late-race spinout at Charlotte wasn't catastrophic, but it did drop him from nine points behind Gordon to 68. It's not an insurmountable lead, especially for a guy as capable of running off top-fives the way he can. I still wouldn't be surprised to see Johnson win the Cup, but he's running out of time to make a move. 3 3 Clint Bowyer Can we all agree that he's officially hit the big-time; that his rock-solid performance at New Hampshire was no fluke. Bowyer could easily have three victories in this Chase by now. Besides his win at Loudon, he was right up front at the end at both Kansas and Charlotte. Oh, and his 11th-place run at Talladega was a career best. All year I worried about his strategy of only worrying about wins until the Chase. Never again. He preserved his equipment. He played it safe. He made it. He's for real. The real task for crew chief Gil Martin in 2008 might be getting Bowyer to hold back during the regular season the way he did this year. The boy's got a taste for winning now. 4 4 Tony Stewart Charlotte left a mark that is likely to stay with Stewart for the rest of the Chase. He and his team performed like champions and eked out a seventh-place finish, but he lost an opportunity to challenge Gordon for the win. And as much as I admire the way Stewart fought back, I can't shake the feeling that many of his problems seem to be self-inflicted. From the blown tire at Kansas to his slow start at Lowe's, and right up to the pit-row accident on lap 177 last Saturday, he doesn't seem to be in synch with his team overall. Still, don't count him out. A down Tony Stewart is a dangerous Tony Stewart. 5 8 Kyle Busch That was a very strong race he ran on Saturday night. In five Chase races, he's got three top-five finishes. Unfortunately, he's also got two stinkers, so he's pretty much out of it. That said, it was impressive to see how maturely he raced. Think he/s finally coming around? Not yet, but maybe. 6 5 Carl Edwards Okay, folks, we've fallen below the Harvick Line here. His fifth-place finish was strong, but I think Edwards is still burning about the penalty he got from NASCAR after winning at Dover. Yes, 25 points was tough, but the problem is, he's 240 points out of the lead. Time to let it go, Carl. 7 g Kurt Busch I really thought he'd have a better Chase. Honestly. He's been the victim of some terrible luck, but in the end, he's just not consistent enough. Several times during the Chase, he's appeared to have a car capable of either winning or running just off of the lead, but he rarely seems to finish that way. 8 12 Jeff Burton His seventh-place finish at Charlotte was a nice run and all, but why can't he be as consistent as his teammate? What happened to the Jeff Burton from February and March of 2007? And what's the deal with Grape-Nuts? No grapes, no nuts. I don't get it. 9 9 Denny Hamlin He followed up his first good run of the Chase with another stinker finish. Oh, well. There's always next year. 10 7 Kevin Harvick Clint Bowyer took a lot of heat before the Chase for not having won any races, but really, was his regular season any less impressive than Harvick's? Outside of the win at Daytona, he?'s been very erratic, which, frankly, I find surprising in light of how good he is. He?s had an awful Chase, and five wins in a row can't save him now. 11 11 Martin Truex Jr. Like my colleague, Lars Anderson, I thought Truex was a smart pick to have a great Chase, especially with the first two races coming at his two favorite tracks. But things don't always work out the way you expect, and he's taken a back seat to Bowyer the last few weeks. 12 10 Matt Kenseth I can sum up his Chase in one word: Yuck.

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