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
AJ Allmendinger.

Dropped out
Jamie McMurray.

Biggest mover
Kurt Busch climbs four spots, from seventh to third.

Biggest loser
Carl Edwards falls four spots, from ninth to 13th.

Also considered
Marcos Ambrose, Martin Truex Jr., Casey Mears, Tex Brooks, Tex Keene, Tex McCullough.

2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Power Rankings - Week 36
	RK(LW)	DRIVER	TOP 10s	COMMENT
	1 (2)	Mark Martin	20	Wait, wait … don't laugh. His career average finish at Phoenix is ninth, and he won the last race we ran there. Maybe I'm crazy or just a sucker for old guys, but I feel a momentum shift in the desert wind.
	2 (1)	Jimmie Johnson	22	Will the cheers that went up from the Texas grandstand (not to mention NASCAR HQ) when Jimmie wrecked on Lap 3 be the bullets that bring Kong down, or the sting that makes him destroy us all?
	3 (7)	Kurt Busch	19	Greatest win ever by a crew chief who is allowed to come to his office only one day a week.
	4 (3)	Jeff Gordon	23	Let the record show that the Drive for Five sputtered to a stop when the 24 fizzled with its teammate behind the wall for more than an hour.
	5 (5)	Tony Stewart	23	Smoke fans can restart their "Tony's getting jobbed by the Chase" argument. Under the old system, he'd now be back up by nearly 100 points.
	6 (4)	Juan Pablo Montoya	17	I totally appreciate Target's "Dream In Color" program. But that was one ugly paint scheme.
	7 (6)	Ryan Newman	15	Earlier in the year, the Rocket Man had to wheel his way around bad pit stops to stay in contention for the Chase. Now that team has become so solid they repeatedly bailed him out Sunday.
	8 (11)	Greg Biffle	16	Typical Biff. By the time the season finishes, he will be in or very near the top 5 in points, once again unceremoniously finishing ahead of a long list of more recognizable names.
	9 (8)	Kyle Busch	12	It'll be interesting to see how he figures out a way to blame ousted crew chief Steve Addington for running out of gas with three laps to go.
	10 (10)	Clint Bowyer	15	Not to repeat myself, but I will. Is it just me, or does Richard Childress Racing seem to be getting its deal turned around?
	11 (12)	Denny Hamlin	18	This season DH has had a whole mess of potentially winning cars that went south. On Sunday he took a 15th-place ride and finished second on a fuel-mileage gamble.
	12 (14)	Matt Kenseth	12	Wait … he finished third? Really?
	13 (9)	Carl Edwards	13	Quote of the day, after wrecking with Montoya, Gordon, and Brad Keselowksi just past halfway: "I guess I'm going to win the race home."
	14 (15)	Kasey Kahne	14	Can anyone else remember another season when we spent so much time talking guys rolling the dice on fuel mileage?
	15 (17)	Jeff Burton	8	OK, so my prediction that Burton would end RCR's winless streak at Texas didn't exactly come true. But they did put four cars in the top 10.
	16 (19)	Kevin Harvick	8	Besides, Happy is now going to end that RCR drought at Phoenix.
	17 (15)	Brian Vickers	13	Can't … hold … on … much … longer …
	18 (18)	David Reutimann	9	Did we really think that going three-wide off Turn 2, the corner that everyone kept telling us to be careful in, was going to work?
	19 (16)	Joey Logano	7	In case you were wondering, Logano's lead in the Rookie of the Year standings is 37 points over Scott Speed with two races to go. That's like 16 touchdowns.
	20	AJ Allmendinger	5	The Dinger returns to the Power Rankings for two reasons: 1) AJ picked up yet another unexpected top-10 finish. 2) That old-school Petty Enterprises paint scheme was cooler than Fonzie.