1. Carl Edwards. Races like this are why Edwards will be in the hunt throughout the entire championship. While he didn't have the best car, he raced smart and brought home a third-place finish. And he had the line of the night when he said he'd never deliberately gone hunting for payback. (He was joking.) Last week's ranking: 1
2. Kurt Busch. You want to know how to jump upward in the rankings? Post one of the most dominant wins of the season on one of the toughest tracks on the circuit. Whatever Kurt said to his crew to get them motivated, it's obviously worked; the guy has his win now and he's creeping into that "legit-contender" category.� Last week's ranking: 8
3. Kevin Harvick. Another case of a driver wheeling a not-so-great car to a solid finish at a tricky track. Harvick stayed below the radar for much of the day, but in the end he finished with his wheels and his grille faced in the right direction, which is really all you want out of a track like Sonoma.� Last week's ranking: 4
4. Kyle Busch. It's a good day for Kyle Busch when he doesn't even make the top 5 of most hated drivers on the track. Shoot, next to Juan Pablo Montoya's antics and the spat between Joey Logano and Robby Gordon, Kyle looks positively calm, so much so that he even shook Kevin Harvick's hand after the race. (Story on that forthcoming.) Last week's ranking: 2
5. Matt Kenseth. Tough go for Kenseth, who spun and then had to stand still while he watched position after position pass him by. On the plus side of that (though not for him), there were plenty of similar instances where NASCAR could have thrown cautions but didn't on Sunday. Kind of makes those "hot dog wrapper debris" cautions seem a little silly, doesn't it? Last week's ranking: 3
6. Jimmie Johnson. Another unremarkable week for Vader that nonetheless turned into a top-10 finish. Seriously, you ever get the impression that he's the kind of guy for whom nothing ever goes wrong? Like if he was the prom queen in "Carrie," instead of pig's blood he'd get delicious chocolate syrup dumped on him. Yeah, he's one of those guys. Last week's ranking: 6
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Everybody knew going in that Junior hated road courses. However, it's hard to think of a more catastrophic result than this one, a busted engine that left him finishing 41st and plummeting down the rankings. Junior Nation puckered up just a bit. Only salvation: Daytona is on the horizon.� Last week's ranking: 5
8. Jeff Gordon. Gordon's performance was automotive poetry. He was driving the equivalent of a garbage truck early in the race, yet made the necessary strategic and engineering adjustments to bring home a second-place finish. (Wasn't nobody catching Kurt.) He's still too inconsistent to be labeled a championship contender, particularly since this is one of his better tracks, but these are the kinds of out-of-nowhere performances from Chase competitors that'll make these last few weeks some fine ones.�Last week's ranking: 11
9. Clint Bowyer. Oh, did Bowyer need this. Rumors had him nearly signed with Red Bull, but now, well, you know. He may re-sign with RCR, he may go elsewhere, but no matter what he has to keep running well to keep that stock up. The waters are too chummed with quality drivers for a merely decent one to stand out.� Last week's ranking: 10
10. Denny Hamlin. The three most terrifying words to a driver have to be "behind the wall." (Or perhaps "You're beside Hornish," but that doesn't apply so much this year.) Anyway, Hamlin's little mid-race tour of the garage didn't exactly help his finishing position. Good thing he's got that one win in his pocket.� Last week's ranking: 7
11. Tony Stewart. Oh, did Smoke NOT need this. One ill-timed retaliation against a driver running in the 20s, and all of a sudden Stewart is hanging onto his Chase spot by his fingernails. He's got time and good tracks ahead, but he's got to be smarter than he was on Sunday if he wants to stay in the hunt for a Chase space. Last week's ranking: 9
12. Ryan Newman. After Sunday's race, Stewart said he'd even wreck teammate Ryan Newman for blocking. If you're Newman, that has to make you a little suspicious about doing anything to tick off your boss. One beer in the fridge? Leave it for Smoke. Music choice in the garage? It's Smoke's. And don't use the last of the toilet paper, or you could end up in the wall.� Last week's ranking: 12
Lucky Dog: Joey Logano, who grew up in the space of one race by punting Robby Gordon into the wall. I swear his voice dropped several octaves over the course of the race. And he brought home a top-10 finish, too. Not bad, youngster.
DNF: TNT, who peppered the racing with ... hang on, we have to take a commercial break. [Three commercials.] Where were we? Oh, right, TNT, which ? oh, wait just a second. Did you hear about "Falling Skies"? Yeah? Now you're going to hear about it again. And now, back to racing, where�? oh, guess what, "Zookeeper" is coming out soon! It's gonna be a laff riot! And now, back to racing ... for a moment.
Dropping out of the rankings: Nobody.
Charging upward: Brad Keselowski. He's just 12 points out of the 20th position, and thus just 12 points out of a Chase spot thanks to his one win. A 10th-place finish at Sonoma helped his cause; there's still time to get up there and become the most unexpected Chaser ever.
Next up: Daytona! Try to remember how to�two-step�and send comments to us Twitter at @jaybusbee, email by clicking here, and via Facebook at The Marbles page.
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