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2010 Power Rankings

( After Michigan - Race # 23 )

Kevin Harvick

2010 POWER RANKINGS leader

The 23rd race of the 2010 season, the Car Fax 400 that was run at Michigan International Speedway is now history and the end result left many people now believing that maybe Kevin Harvick may just be a contender for the 2010 championship. Harvick ended up winning the race edging out Denny Hamlin and a trio of Roush drivers. For Harvick, it was his 3rd win of the 2010 season and extended his points lead over 2nd place Jeff Gordon to a much greater margin then it was before this race. However, with just 3 more races to go, Harvick would need to win all three to keep that points lead once the Chase to the Championship starts. The way it looks right now, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin would assume the points lead based on the fact that they have won 5 races each. That could change drastically also considering the upcoming tracks are tracks that Johnson and Hamlin have been strong on during their careers so Harvick will have his hands full trying to catch those two in the next three races. The Top 5 at Michigan at the end of the day consisted of Harvick, the race winner, Hamlin in 2nd, Carl Edwards in 3rd, Greg Biffle in 4th and Matt Kenseth took 5th place.

With his win at Michigan, Kevin Harvick continues to pull away from the field in the power rankings this week and Kevin, the points are not reset in our power rankings once the Chase starts. Second place Jeff Gordon ran a strong race until having car problems late in the race and wound up finishing 27th at the end of the day. That was enough to hold off Jimmie Johnson, who wound up finishing 12th at Michigan, a track where he just has not had a lot of success. Still that was enough to hold onto third place in the power rankings, which is about where he has been the last four years before the Chase starts and he seems to peak. Denny Hamlin jumps a spot this week up to 4th after his runner-up finish while Kurt Busch drop one spot to 5th after he lost an engine at Michigan and finished way back in 40th.

It wasn't a good weekend for Kyle Busch as he finished the race in 18th place but he still gained a little ground on his brother Kurt. Tony Stewart jumps into the 7th spot this week after finishing 6th at Michigan while Jeff Burton falls a spot after he finished 24th. Carl Edwards stays in the 9th sot this week after his 3rd place finish Sunday while Greg Biffle has climbed back into the Top 10 after another good run, a 4th place finish in the Car Fax 400 at the Michigan.

Jamie McMurray dropped out of the Top 10 this week.

The 2010 Power Rankings after the Car Fax 400 at Michigan are as follows:

Team power ratings are based on a different rating system then is used by Nascar. Points are awarded based on a driver's performance on the track and awards points for only Top performances. A top 15, pole or leading the most laps is considered a strong performance and are awarded points based on finish. No points are awarded for anything other then a Top 15 finish and negative points are awarded for drivers that do not finish on the lead lap, fail to finish the race or fail to qualify for the race. Points for rain outs are awarded based on owner points.

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