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 | Jimmie Johnson | 1 |
| Johnson started the 2006 Chase with four consecutive finishes outside the top 10. In 36 Chase races since, he has just five finishes outside the top 10 while picking up 12 victories. | ||
| 2 | Mark Martin | 2 |
| His seven poles were a career high. His second-place points finish was his best since finishing second in 2002. His five wins and 805 laps led were his most since winning seven and leading 1,730 in 1998. | ||
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | 3 |
| Finished top five in nearly half of this season's races and his 25 tops 10s were tied for third most in 17 years of full-time Cup duty. | ||
| 4 | Denny Hamlin | 4 |
| He and his 11 team struggled with consistency at the start of the season, but once they found their groove, they were as good as anyone. He earned a career-high four victories and 15 of his 20 top 10s were top fives. | ||
| 5 | Kurt Busch | 5 |
| Easily his best season since joining Penske Racing in 2006 with his 21 top 10s matching his career-high set in 2004, when he captured the championship with Roush Racing. His 10 top 10s tied for second-most of his Cup career. | ||
| 6 | Tony Stewart | 6 |
| Sure he exceeded many expectations, but after such a dominating regular season where he was knocking off top fives with ease, the late-season struggles surely left the team somewhat disappointed. | ||
| 7 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 7 |
| When he started the Chase with four consecutive top fives, it looked like he had a chance to shock the world. But then things fell apart, with wrecks leading to three finishes of 35th or worse over the final six races. Overall, though, Montoya made huge strides in his third season, earning the first two poles of his career, seven top fives, 18 top 10s and 0 DNFs. In his first two seasons, he had managed just five top fives and nine top 10s while failing to finish 13 races. | ||
| 8 | Kyle Busch | 8 |
| Though he enjoyed much success with crew chief Steve Addington -- 12 wins together over the past two seasons, including four this year -- there was also much inconsistency, which cost him a spot in the Chase this season. Will new crew chief Dave Rogers be able to keep Busch in check? | ||
| 9 | Clint Bowyer | 9 |
| Though he missed the Chase, finishing 15th in the final standings, his 2009 season wasn't all that much worse than 2007 and 2008 when he finished in the top five overall. A streak of nine consecutive finishes outside the top 10 through April and May proved too much to overcome. Started to make some waves toward the end of the season. | ||
| 10 | Greg Biffle | 11 |
| While it was a down year for Roush Fenway Racing, Biffle still managed to have a relatively successful season by his standards. Though he failed to win for the first time in six years, his 10 top fives and 16 top 10s were third most of his career. His 551 laps led were his most since 2006. | ||
| 11 | Jeff Burton | 14 |
| During the last month of the season, only Johnson and Hamlin were hotter. The problem was the other nine months of the schedule. After a crew chief change to Todd Berrier, Burton ended the season with four consecutive top 10s of which three were top fives and two were runner-up finishes. However, in the season's first 32 events, Burton had managed just two top fives and six top 10s. | ||
| 12 | Matt Kenseth | 12 |
| Two wins and a cloud of dust. Kenseth started the season with his first career Daytona 500 victory and followed up with a win the next weekend in California. It was a nightmare year after that, especially during the second half of the season. Over the final 18 races of the year, Kenseth managed just five top 10s. | ||
| 13 | Ryan Newman | 10 |
| Newman came to Stewart-Hass off of three sub-par seasons at Penske Racing. He enjoyed a slight resurgence, making the Chase for the first time since 2005, but performance dipped a bit during the Chase. He ended the season with just one top 10 over the final eight races. | ||
| 14 | Kasey Kahne | 13 |
| Amidst all the chaos at Richard Petty Motorsports, Kahne still managed to make the Chase and snag two wins, seven top fives and 14 tops 10s. With his contract expiring after the 2010 season, he's ready to start listening to offers. | ||
| 15 | Carl Edwards | 15 |
| Coming off a season in which he notched nine wins, 19 top fives and 27 top 10s, a 0-win, seven-top five and 14-top 10 performance can't be considered anything but highly disappointing. All were career lows. | ||
