NASCAR Power Rankings: Pocono

(Photo by Todd Warshaw/Getty Images)

Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

1. Tony Stewart: Stewart’s whirlwind weekend at Pocono began on Friday when a washout of qualifying gave him the pole position. Then, after a wreck in Saturday’s practice forced him to start at the rear in a backup car, Stewart steadily climbed to the front. He won the race out of the pits during a caution on lap 163 and kept the lead until the end, holding off Carl Edwards while nervously monitoring his fuel gauge. Stewart extended his points lead and now leads Jeff Gordon by 71 points.

“I’ve been asked on several occasions, ‘Do you Smoke after wrecks?’” Stewart said. “Well, as is evident by my victory, the answer is ‘Yes.’”

“To say this was an unexpected win is a huge understatement. No onecould have predicted this, not even 16th century prophesier ‘Pocono-stradamus.’ And he darn sure couldn’t have predicted that I’d win the race in a Hendrick engine. That would have been a bold prediction. You’ve got to have crystal balls to make a forecast like that.”

2. Jeff Gordon: With light rain falling during a caution on lap 156, Gordon eschewed a pit stop, instead choosing to stay out while the leaders pitted, hoping the rain would continue. But clear skies reappeared, and while his gamble didn’t result in a win, it left Gordon with a favorable fuel window and he finished fourth. He now trails Tony Stewart by 71 in the Sprint Cup point standings.

“The rain gauge was empty,” Gordon said, “but luckily, the fuel gauge was not. It was a precipitous call, but it was a gamble worth taking.”

“I have to say, despite my troubles on the restarts, that the double-file restart format was a big success. Not only for the fans, but the drivers as well. Well, with the exception of Denny Hamlin. At the core, drivers love the thrill of side-by-side racing. We're all adrenaline junkies. And no, NASCAR, that’s not an admission of a drug problem.”

3. Ryan Newman: Newman battled through two pit lane speeding penalties as well as a spark plug problem, to score a fifth at Pocono while Stewart-Haas teammate Tony Stewart won for the organization’s first victory. It marked the fourth time in the last five races that Stewart and Newman have both finished in the top 10, and Newman moved up one spot in the point standings to fourth.

“When Tony formed this team,” Newman said, “doubters said it would take Tony years to ascend to the top. Well, they said the same thing back when Tony was climbing catchfences. They also said ‘What the Helio are you doing?’”

4. Jimmie Johnson:

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