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SPRINT CUP SERIES

 2008 Power Rankings after Talladega

KYLE BUSCH

2008 POWER RANKINGS LEADER

The Sprint Cup series moved south this past weekend after having last week off to visit the Richmond International Speedway for the 10th race of the 2008 Sprint Cup Season, the Crown Royal 400. This is a track that has been known for some great hard racing in the past and we often see some very heated tempers by the end of the night. In the two races last year, it was Jimmie Johnson standing out from the field as he swept both races that were held here. This weekend was one of the few impound races that we get to see and teams had just one practice to get their cars set up for qualifying and the race. Dale Earnhardt Jr in a Chevrolet paced the only practice and then Denny Hamlin was sitting on the pole after qualifying was all was said and done in a Toyota.  

On Saturday night, Denny Hamlin would lead the field to the green flag getting the Crown Royal 400 under way. That lead was to stay that way for a majority of this race as Hamlin would lead a record 381 laps before a hole in his tire slowed him enough for Dale Earnhardt Jr and Kyle Busch to pass him. Even with his tire going down, Hamlin stayed on the track for some reason and when the tire finally went bringing out a caution, Hamlin was hit with a two lap penalty for that action. On the restart, it was Dale Jr leading the field to the green with Busch in 2nd place. Now between you and me, there is no one that I would rather not have on my rear bumper then Busch cause you have to figure that he will wreck you trying to get to the lead. That all but came true too as Busch got loose as the race was drawing to a close and ran into Dale Jr, sending Jr spinning. Under a loud chorus of boo's and middle finger salutes, Clint Bowyer was able to go by both to take the lead. From that point forward, Boyer was able to stay in front of Busch and thankfully capture his first win of the 2008 season. I am afraid of what the crowd might have done had Busch been able to eck out the win as they were very upset that it appeared that Busch had cost Dale Jr a chance at the win at Richmond.

So lets look at where we are in the Power Rankings after the Richmond race. With his 2nd place finish at Richmond, Kyle Busch is able to maintain his lead in the power rankings this week, increasing his margin over 2nd place to over 100 points. Jumping into second place this week was Dale Earnhardt Jr, who had a terrific chance at posting his first win in like forever, but because of that aforementioned incident, the best he could manage was a 15th place finish. Still that was enough to move him up as the 2nd place driver last week, Jimmie Johnson got caught up in an accident and had to settle for a 30th place finish, Johnson dropped to 3rd in the power rankings this week. Carl Edwards maintained his 4th place position this week after he worked his way thru the field enough to finish the race in 7th place. Denny Hamlin stays in 5th this week after he somehow managed to turn a pole and a dominating race performance into just a 24th place finish. Hamlin rounds out the top 5 this week.

Jeff Burton finally gave up his lead in the Sprint Cup point standings but he continues to maintain his 6th place position in the power rankings, as he finished Saturday's race in 11th. Clint Bowyer with his win at Richmond, moves up one spot this week from 8th to 7th. Despite finishing 4th in the Crown Royal 400, Tony Stewart fall one place down to 8th place. Jeff Gordon stays in the 9th spot and Kevin Harvick rejoins the Top 10 this week, in the 10th spot after he finished Saturday's race in 8th. Greg Biffle falls out of the Top 10 this week even after he managed a pretty decent finish in 14th place. So now that the Crown Royal 400 at Richmond is now history, the 2008 Power Rankings look as they are listed below.

The 2008 Power Rankings after the Crown Royal 400 at Richmond are as follows: