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NASCAR NEXTEL CUP AND BUSCH SERIES NEWS, VIEWS AND COMMENTARY

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NEXTEL CUP SERIES

 2007 Power Rankings after Homestead

JEFF GORDON

2007 POWER RANKINGS CHAMPION

The Nextel Cup Series visited the Homestead-Miami Speedway this past weekend for the final race of the 2007 Nextel Cup season, the Ford 500. The race marked the final use of the older non-COT cars as they will be replaced totally by the COT cars next season. Jimmie Johnson snared the pole on Friday and led the field to the green flag on Sunday. His lead held up all but one lap before Ryan Newman and Matt Kenseth would move into the lead, with Kenseth leading the majority of not only the early portion of the race but also most of the race. Most of the focus of this race was on Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson as they fought for positions which ultimately could be the difference between winning or losing the championship. Both of them ran in the Top 10 for a majority of the race. In the end, Kenseth would end up winning the race in convincing fashion, his 2nd win of the 2007 season. Jeff Gordon would end up finishing 4th and Jimmie Johnson would wind up with a 7th place finish despite admitting that he did not race for the win but rather the points. Those points that he did collect was enough for him to win his 2nd straight Nextel Cup Championship. That is no small feat as he joins a list of very prominent drivers who have accomplished that same feat, namely Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt. I do need to mention as I did last week, if we were still using the old points system, Gordon would have clinched the points championship after the race at Texas. He would have also won the Championship using that old format back in 2004, when Kurt Busch won the 10 race Chase Championship. So the Chase format has cost Gordon two Championship seasons using the old points system. Anyway, I would like to congratulate Jimmie Johnson for his 2007 Nextel Cup Championship and would also like to thank Jeff Gordon for having one of the best seasons that we have seen for a long time. So now that the final race of the 2007 season, the Ford 500, is history, lets examine the final 2007 Nextel Cup Power Rankings after this race.

Jeff Gordon had the type of day he has had all season, he finished in the Top 10 but really never came close to contending for the win at Homestead. He managed to finish 4th and that was his 30th Top 10 finish of the year. With that finish he was able to clinch the top spot in the power rankings for this year. In the Nextel Cup championship battle, Gordon found out that winning was everything in this years Championship battle. By winning ten races this season and four during the Chase, Jimmie Johnson was able to nail down the Nextel Cup Championship despite having six less Top 10 finishes then Gordon. Johnson had four more wins and the points awarded for those wins were enough to carry Johnson to comfortable lead in the Nextel Cup standings. In our power rankings however, Johnson scored just enough points to finish in 2nd in our final 2007 Power Rankings. Coming home in 3rd place this year was Tony Stewart despite not finishing the season out as strongly as he has in past years. He struggled throughout the season to crack the Top 5, managing just to get there just 11 times after finishing there 15 times last year and 17 times in 2005. Stewart finished the Chase to the Championship in 6th place after all was said and done. Matt Kenseth was a guy that suddenly found some luck as he won the final race of the season and notched Top 5 finishes in the last 5 races. Those types of finishes to close out the 2007 season propelled Kenseth to finish 4th in the final 2007 Power Rankings. Kenseth also was able to finish 4th in the final Nextel Cup points. Rounding out out Top 5 in the final 2007 Power Rankings this year is Denny Hamlin. Like many drivers who made the Chase this year, Hamlin struggled and he found himself dead last in the Chase Standings when the points were calculated after the Homestead race. On the good side, he did enough over the course of the season to take the 5th spot in the final 2007 Power Rankings. 

Kyle Busch dropped a spot after the last race at Homestead and finished the year in the 6th spot in the final power rankings. In the Chase, Busch was able to crack the Top 5, finishing 5th. Carl Edwards had a great race at Homestead, winding up his day in 5th place and ending what had been a very up and down year for him. With the 5th place finish, Carl was able to maintain the 7th spot in the final 2007 Power Rankings. Edwards finished 9th overall in the Chase to the Championship. Kurt Busch was a winner this week as his pit crew managed to keep him in the race and he wound up his day in 2nd place at Homestead. Busch finished 7th in the Chase. Jeff Burton had a string of six good races in a row to close out the 2007 season, including a 9th place at Homestead. That finish however, dropped him one spot to 9th in the final power rankings and he managed to finish 8th in the final Nextel Cup points standings. Clint Bowyer made a good run early in the Chase but couldn't keep pace with the Hendrick teams and he slid all the way down to 10th in our final power rankings. He did however wind up his Nextel Cup season in 3rd place when the final points were counted.

No one joined or dropped out of the Top 10 in the power rankings this week following the Homestead race.

The final Power Rankings for the 2007 season after thirty six ( 36 ) races are listed below.

The final 2007 Power Rankings after the Ford 500 at Homestead are as follows: