1. Carl Edwards. Any questions? Seriously, any questions? What more do you need to know? Edwards was as dominant as you can be without actually scaring some of the other drivers into not starting, which may in fact happen this week. We've got a ways to go in the season, but the fact that Edwards hasn't begun his customary slide is a good sign for the 99 team and its fans. Probably not a good sign for the guy who'll have to pay for his next contract, though. Last week's ranking: 1.
2. Kyle Busch. I'm not quite sure if we're supposed to feel bad for Kyle Busch because he hasn't won the $1 million All-Star race, but that certainly seemed to be the gist of some of the commentary we heard. Would've loved to see how Edwards and Kyle raced each other side-by-side in the final laps, but alas, it wasn't to be.� Last week's ranking: 2.
3. Jimmie Johnson. Maybe it was the confusion of driving a car with the number 5 on it. I'm pretty sure a couple crew members screamed for Mark Martin to get out of Johnson's pit until Knaus told them to shut up and do their jobs. Johnson was all over the map, place-wise, and ended up in 11th. Hmm ... not what we would have expected out of an All-Star, sir. Last week's ranking: 2.
4. Kevin Harvick. Harvick is either right in the middle of things, or so checked out that you forget he's even there. This was one of those latter weeks. Next week, we'll have the season's longest race; expect Harvick to get involved in a storyline, or create one himself, somewhere along the line. Last week's ranking: 4.
5. Matt Kenseth. We give Kenseth a lot of grief for being rather, shall we say, restrained in his public commentary and behavior, but let's make a list of other things that are boring and yet still acceptable: August baseball games. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Princess Leia, Frodo Baggins, Jack Shephard and Green Lantern. Any Jimmy Buffett album since 1980. See? That's not such bad company. Last week's ranking: 8.
6. Clint Bowyer. He didn't have the greatest of All-Star races, but I get the feeling that Clint Bowyer is going to make the last few weeks of the regular season very interesting. He somehow has a knack for getting into the middle of many of NASCAR's big rivalries, sometimes accidentally, sometimes as the third man in. Plus, he knows how to wheel, so he could be a dark, and I mean like pitch-black, horse in the championship hunt. Last week's ranking: 7.
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr. This will make the Junior fans scream, but hey, don't blame me; this was one of the more disappointing weekends of the season for He Who Always Wins Most Popular Driver. See below for more details, but seriously, we need to put some term limits on this most-popular-driver thing. Or just call it the "Dale Earnhardt Jr. Most Popular Driver Award" and let Junior himself give it to someone else. Share the wealth, man! Last week's ranking: 6.
8. Tony Stewart. Belated happy birthday wishes for Smoke, who just turned 40. This is usually the time when a man has a midlife crisis, buys a fast car and dates beautiful women to make himself feel young again. Smoke's midlife crisis is going to have him working in a cubicle and waiting in line at Starbucks, just to see what everyone else went through.�Last week's ranking: 9.
9. Ryan Newman. I really have nothing to say about Newman in this position. Dude got a 10th-place finish. Bravo. So let's talk about something else. Have you ever had one of those Tornados burritos that Newman sometimes runs on his car? I haven't. Any good? Where would you rank them on the high-end restaurant-Chipotle-Moe's-cheapo taco stand-Taco Bell-Patio frozen burrito scale?� Last week's ranking: 8.
10. Denny Hamlin. One of the many storylines that Speed hyped beyond all recognition was last year's battle between Hamlin and Kyle Busch that ended with Busch blocked and Hamlin skirting away laughing. It was another in a line of golden moments in 2010 for Hamlin. You wonder if every driver gets one of those years, but then they have to capitalize on it and win the championship, or their chances are lost. (This year is the 99's, of course.) Last week's ranking: 11.
11. Kasey Kahne. Another race, another early departure ending a good run. I 
wonder what NASCAR drivers do once that hauler door closes. There's a lot of important yet throwable equipment right there as you walk into that hauler; if I were in charge of setting that up, I'd put a� whole bunch of breakable plates and stuffed driver dolls right there at the entrance, let 'em get some aggression out without trashing expensive stuff.� Last week's ranking: 10.
12. Greg Biffle. The Biff recently re-upped with Roush and 3M for a few more years, which is probably a good thing, because if he'd waited until after Edwards signed, he might have gotten paid in tape, Crown Royal and Subway sandwiches (which might not be all that bad, now that I think about it). Still, he had one of the better cars in the field this week, and if he can continue his upward trend, he'll get right back in the Chase mix. Last week's ranking: N/A.
Lucky Dog: David Ragan. That last restart at the Daytona 500, which Ragan misplayed, will probably haunt Ragan for the rest of his days. But he held on to win the Showdown in effective fashion, turning down the temperature on his hot seat just a couple degrees.
DNF: Even though we usually save this space for someone who didn't make the top 12, you could make a pretty good case for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in this space ... so we will. Junior was the highest-ranked driver in the Showdown, and still never came within sight of a true lead; once the All-Star race started, he was all but irrelevant. Not the way to keep suddenly-flagging momentum going.
Dropping out of the rankings: Mark Martin. He and Biffle continue to pass that 12th spot back and forth. Odds are Martin will be a lot more comfortable once he's back in his 5 this week.
Charging upward: David Reutimann, Jeff Gordon. Reutimann brought home a third-place finish, while Gordon ran strong most of the race before fading late.
Next up: The Charlotte marathon! Send comments to us Twitter at @jaybusbee, email by clicking here, and via Facebook at The Marbles page.
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