Updated June 23
While in theory every race is equally important, urgency grows as the races wind down ahead of Chase.
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| Kasey Kahne leads the pack early at Sonoma, but it doesn't last for long. (US Presswire) |
The biggest losers were Kasey Kahne (33rd) and Kevin Harvick (30th).
Kahne had been on a pretty good roll since Charlotte with three finishes of first or second in the four races prior to Sonoma, but he dropped like a rock after starting from the pole and leading the first four laps Sunday.
"It just wasn't our day," said Kahne, who slipped two spots to ninth in the standings. "The car was extremely loose. I was pretty much spinning my tires everywhere on the track. It's just unfortunate given the fact that we started on the pole. I really can't explain what happened today."
Harvick, on the other hand, had a great car, but a late mistake proved costly, not only to him, but Jamie McMurray and Tony Stewart as well. Running in the top-five with three laps left, he overdrove his car trying to overtake McMurray for position.
"I made a mistake late in the race and drove the car in too deep and wheel-hopped it," Harvick said. "I feel bad for involving the No. 26 (McMurray) and the No. 20 (Stewart). Hopefully we can turn things around next week at Loudon."
Harvick's error dropped him to 13th in the standings, two points behind Matt Kenseth, who finished eighth and rejoined the top 12 for the first time since the fifth race of the season.
"I don't know if it's ever too early to look at [the point standings]," Kenseth said. "You always look at it on the way home, especially if you're moving up to see where you're at and see what happened.
"But, the bottom line is really you do the best you can every week, and try to finish as high as you can and try to lead laps and do all that and the points take care of themselves -- the higher you finish, the more points you get. So, really, it's not a strategy, when you race hard and try to be smart and do the right things and hopefully get some good finishes and get back in it."
The revolving door at the rear of the top 12 is likely to continue over the coming weeks, which will include another road-course event (Watkins Glen). Only 173 points separate Kahne in ninth from Martin Truex Jr. in 17th.
Power Rankings after Sonoma:
| POWER RANKINGS | ||
| Current | Driver | Previous |
| 1 | Tony Stewart | 1 |
| It's only fitting that he won the race after hogging the lead most of the night. | ||
| 2 | Jeff Gordon | 2 |
| He was having issues with blistering tires before getting tangled up in the big mid-race wreck. | ||
| 3 | Jimmie Johnson | 3 |
| Earns his first top five and just his second top 10 in seven races at Daytona since winning the Daytona 500 in 2006. | ||
| 4 | Kurt Busch | 4 |
| Continues to knock on the door for a win at a restrictor-plate track. He has finished fourth or better in four of his past five trips to Daytona. | ||
| 5 | Carl Edwards | 6 |
| No doubt he was having flashbacks to Talladega. "It was a crazy, crazy finish," Edwards said. "I thought I wanted to be up there racing with those guys, then I saw that [Kyle Busch wrecking] and I was just fine with where I was at." | ||
| 6 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 7 |
| He now has eight top 10s on the season with five coming in the past seven races. | ||
| 7 | Denny Hamlin | 11 |
| He and Stewart were the class of the field. But with Stewart snagging the win, Hamlin had to settle for his third top-five finish in the past four races. | ||
| 8 | Mark Martin | 5 |
| Since picking up his third win of the year back at Michigan, Martin has followed with finishes of 35th, 14th and 38th. | ||
| 9 | Ryan Newman | 8 |
| He has hit a little bump in the road with four consecutive finishes of 17th or worse. | ||
| 10 | Kyle Busch | 10 |
| Wreck in the last lap left him with his fifth finish outside the top 10 in the past six races. | ||
| 11 | Greg Biffle | 9 |
| Never a factor at any point, spending just 14 laps in the top 15 all night. | ||
| 12 | Kasey Kahne | 12 |
| The sensational image of his collision with Kyle Busch notwithstanding, Kahne was able to leave Daytona with a 15th-place finish and move up one spot to 12th in the standings. | ||
| 13 | David Reutimann | 13 |
| After starting at the rear of the field because of an engine change, he had managed to work his way into the top 15 before being collected in the mid-race big one. | ||
| 14 | Matt Kenseth | 14 |
| Gets a much-needed top 10 after four consecutive finishes of 16th or worse had him tumbling down the standings. | ||
| 15 | Clint Bowyer | 15 |
| He had just joined the top 10 when he became a victim of the mid-race carnage. | ||
