Final Power Rankings: J.J. three-peat notwithstanding, Edwards No. 1
Updated Nov. 17
Sorry Jimmie, you'll have to settle for your third consecutive Sprint Cup trophy, because the title of 2008 CBSSports.com NASCAR Power Ranking's champion belongs to -- drum roll please -- Carl Edwards.
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| Carl Edwards has more wins, more top fives and more top 10s than J.J. (Getty Images) |
Jimmie Johnson fans will raise hell, but if you take a good look at the standings, it is pretty cut and dried that Edwards had the better season.
Edwards had more wins: 9-7
Edwards had more top fives: 19-15
Edwards had more top 10s: 27-22
Edwards had a better average finish: 9.5-10.5
Even within the confines of the Chase, while Johnson and Edwards each won three races, Edwards picked up eight top fives to six for Johnson. Edwards won three of the season's final four races.
But NASCAR's points system is such that a poor finish is punished far more than success is rewarded. And a bad finish hurts doubly during the 10-race Chase.
Therefore, a back-to-back stretch in which he finished 29th (Talladega) and 33rd (Lowe's) proved too much for Edwards to overcome. He'll have to shoulder the load for the Talladega debacle, but a parts failure proved his undoing at Lowe's and all but put the nail in his coffin.
Before the advent of the Chase, it could be argued that NASCAR had the fairest system to crown a champion in any sport. He was on the same track week in and week out with every other driver and delivered over the entire course of the season. What other sport could say that?
The only complaint was perhaps rewarding a driver a larger amount of points for winning. Other than that, it was near perfect.
But what did NASCAR officials do? They invented the convoluted Chase, artificially tightening the points in hopes of creating buzz for the stretch run. Does anyone else find it strange that NASCAR has a "playoff" system and college football does not?
More than anything, the Chase has alienated longtime fans of the sport.
For his part, Edwards made no complaints while recognizing the strong performance of his team.
"I'm glad that we won the race so that we can go into the offseason knowing we won more races than anyone else in this series," Edwards said after his victory Sunday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
"I think that's a big accomplishment, especially considering how well Jimmie and Kyle (Busch) both ran all season. Second in both series is not first, but it's definitely not something to be ashamed of. I'm proud of what we did this year."
Final Power Rankings:
| POWER RANKINGS | ||
| Current | Driver | Previous |
| 1 | Greg Biffle | 1 |
| Won the pole and led 74 laps on Saturday night but faded down the stretch to finish 12th. Still hanging on to the Sprint Cup Series points lead but by only a pair over Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth. | ||
| 2 | Matt Kenseth | 2 |
| Climbed to within a whisker of the points lead with a sixth-place finish on Saturday night. Now the world awaits the announcement regarding the potential change of Kenseth's car number. Relax Kenseth fans, the 17 isn't going anywhere. | ||
| 3 | Jimmie Johnson | 7 |
| Roared back up the rankings and the points standings with his first win since October of last season and in the process gave team owner Rick Hendrick historic Sprint Cup victory number 200. Johnson's history has been to bunch up wins once he gets to victory lane. | ||
| 4 | Kyle Busch | 3 |
| Was in the mix for a second Darlington win but wound up settling for a fourth-place finish. Like Johnson Busch has returned to form in recent weeks and delivered on the expectations most had for the No. 18 team this season. | ||
| 5 | Denny Hamlin | 5 |
| Was behind the wheel of one of the coolest looking cars in recent weeks with a Cale Yarborough-inspired retro paint scheme on the No. 11 Toyota. Looked almost Yarborough-like at Darlington for a while but didn't have enough mustard to run down Johnson for the win. | ||
| 6 | Martin Truex Jr. | 6 |
| Wasn't exactly pleased with his team for some suspect pit work at one point of the race but kept his composure and battled back for yet another finish inside the top five. | ||
| 7 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 4 |
| It was a struggle for Junior to just finish 17th. Had a decent car early in the night but handling issues plagued the No. 88 squad, and you can be sure crew chief Steve Letarte won't bring the same set-up back to Darlington next season. | ||
| 8 | Clint Bowyer | 8 |
| A rather quiet night for the Michael Waltrip Racing driver with an 11th-place finish. Still not bad when an "off night" can be within a hair of a top-10 run. | ||
| 9 | Tony Stewart | 12 |
| An interesting night for Smoke, who was very strong in spurts but had to fight through handling issues, a broken clutch and a fuel pressure problem during the 500 miles. Pretty solid performance to deal with all that and still come home third. | ||
| 10 | Carl Edwards | 11 |
| A seventh-place finish and another top 10, but now that Johnson's 17-race winless drought has ended will the questions mount for Edwards on his not visiting Victory Lane for more than a year? | ||
| 11 | Kevin Harvick | 10 |
| Was the focal point of Darlington's promotional campaign trying to capitalize on Harvick's tussle with Kyle Busch last season. But overall a very quiet night for the No. 29 Chevrolet driver who left Darlington with a rather mediocre 16th-place finish. | ||
| 12 | Brad Keselowski | 9 |
| Hasn't performed well at Darlington during his Sprint Cup career and that remained intact on Saturday with a 15th-place Southern 500 effort. A downer for the Blue Deuce after Keselowski's Talladega win last weekend. | ||
| 13 | Ryan Newman | 13 |
| Was headed for a better night than what the results show when Newman got caught up in the aftermath of Kurt Busch's spin late in the race when he got punted from behind. The frustration overflowed once the checkered flag flew with both teams getting involved in a scuffle as well as Newman and Busch exchanging harsh words. | ||
| 14 | Paul Menard | 15 |
| A decent day with a 13th-place finish for the Richard Childress Racing driver. Continues to hang around on the fringe of the top 10 in the points standings. | ||
| 15 | Kasey Kahne | NR |
| Has finally completed the turnaround from his dismal start to the season and is knocking down consistent finishes on a weekly basis. Kahne's eighth-place run was his fifth straight top-10 finish. | ||
