Ryan McGee
ESPN.com

Each week of the Sprint Cup season, ESPN The Magazine's Ryan McGee ranks the top 20 drivers in the series. Don't agree with McGee's list? Let him -- and the whole world -- know in the Conversation section at the bottom of the page. But remember, make your mama proud.

New this week
Jeff Burton, Joey Logano.

Dropped out
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Bobby Labonte.

Biggest mover
Mark Martin jumps six spots from ninth to third.

Biggest loser
Tony Stewart falls four spots from second to sixth.

Also considered
Sam Hornish Jr., A.J. Allmendinger, Joey Arrington, Morgan Shepherd.

2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Power Rankings - Week 28
	RK(LW)	DRIVER	TOP 10s	COMMENT
	1 (4)	Denny Hamlin	14	Hambone won on his hometown track and enters the Chase hotter than his once-stolen Lexus. During his past six races, he's earned two wins and an average finish of 5.5. His career average Loudon finish is eighth.
	2 (1)	Jeff Gordon	18	Four-Time keeps punching out top-5s like an Oregon running back. Of all the Hendrick-affiliated guys, the Rainbow Warriors seem to be riding the smoothest waters into the postseason.
	3 (9)	Mark Martin	14	This next statement should scare all you young whippersnapper racers: Mr. Martin can now stop worrying about making it into the Chase and start concentrating on beating on you with his cane.
	4 (3)	Jimmie Johnson	15	I've gotta tell you, the story about JJ in the current issue of ESPN The Magazine is great stuff. And the guy who wrote it is a very good-looking man. No, not Ed Hinton! Me!
	5 (6)	Kurt Busch	14	Two Chase drivers have won at New Hampshire three times -- Gordon and Big Brother Busch. A side note: Do you think Kurt will bring his big Chase check to Christmas dinner and taunt Kyle with it?
	6 (2)	Tony Stewart	18	The 14 guys either have been playing possum as they've been preparing for the Chase or have completely lost the handle on their car. Oh yeah, they also had their 200-plus-points lead taken away.
	7 (8)	Juan Pablo Montoya	12	No one is more excited about ditching "points racing" and going after wins than JPM. He'll be so pumped up at Loudon, he might wreck half the field trying to get to the front on Lap 1.
	8 (5)	Kasey Kahne	10	Dear Ford Motor Co.: Not so long ago, we sued the bejeezus out of each other and had a verbal war in the media. For that I am sorry, so please do not put me in an '86 Ford Fiesta next season. Love, Kasey.
	9 (7)	Carl Edwards	11	Hey, Cousin Carl, why don't you get racer/stuntman Stanton Barrett to rig up some sort of bungee harness aerial deal so you can do a Frisbee fracture-friendly backflip after your next win?
	10 (10)	Ryan Newman	12	There are a few teams that you feel may have unloaded all the bullets out of their guns just to get into the Chase and thus are due for a letdown. This is one those teams.
	11 (12)	Brian Vickers	13	And so is this one.
	12 (13)	Greg Biffle	12	And this one.
	13 (14)	Kyle Busch	9	People are already asking, is it possible that the guy who wins the most races could finish 13th in points? The answer is yes. Because that guy also has only two more top-10s than Marcos Ambrose.
	14 (11)	Matt Kenseth	9	So you don't think there's genuine pressure involved when it comes to the Chase? Did you see the coolest customer in the garage completely miss his pit box Saturday night?
	15 (16)	Clint Bowyer	11	The only guy with double-digit top-10 finishes who isn't in the Chase dominated the fall Loudon race two years ago, leading 222 laps en route to the win.
	16 (15)	David Reutimann	8	So, The Reut didn't make the Chase. But consider this: In his 63 career Cup starts before this season, he'd earned zero top-5s and four top-10s. In '09, he's scored five top-5s, eight top-10s and a win.
	17 (19)	Kevin Harvick	5	The post-news release hot streak continues. Since RCR reclarified that Harvick won't be leaving in '10, he has finished second and ninth in Cup and first and second in Nationwide. Is Happy actually Happy?
	18	Joey Logano	5	Sliced Bread finished 14th at Richmond and now heads home to New England, where he's the defending track champion. But are we supposed to believe that he shaves enough to be in all those Gillette ads?
	19 (17)	Marcos Ambrose	7	Have you heard all these people saying that we should have a road course included in the Chase? I have a feeling the Tasmanian Devil is among them.
	20	Jeff Burton	6	Wouldn't you hate to be in the Monday morning competition meetings with Richard Childress for the rest of this Chase-less year at RCR?