Johnson vaults to top of Top 40 rankings | Modesto Bee

That's Racin's weekly ranking of the top 40 teams in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series as of the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. N.H. (Last week's ranking in parentheses):

1. (2) Jimmie Johnson -- car No. 48

Didn't get a third straight win at New Hampshire, but he sure came pretty darn close.

2. (3) Carl Edwards -- car No. 99

His third-place finish at Loudon was only his second-best finish better than 12th there.

3. (1) Kyle Busch -- car No. 18

Lost a season's edge at Loudon. He's had five top-five finishes in seven Dover tries.

4. (8) Greg Biffle -- car No. 16

We had a hunch somebody was going to step up in the Chase and Biffle already has.

5. (5) Tony Stewart -- car No. 20

Don't underestimate the value of this team rallying to finish eight at New Hampshire.

6. (7) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- car No. 88

There's nothing wrong with this team that one day of things going right won't fix.

7. (4) Kevin Harvick -- car No. 29

Not the best of days at Loudon, but this team has only two Dover top 10s since 2004.

8. (9) Jeff Burton -- car No. 31

Dover could be a step forward. Burton has been 12th or better in his past seven tries.

9. (6) Denny Hamlin -- car No. 11

It seemed like ninth was about the worst that this team could have finished last week.

10. (11) Jeff Gordon -- car No. 24

This team reminds us of a Bill Cosby routine. 'Jeff. How long can you tread water?'

11. (12) Clint Bowyer -- car No. 07

It seems like this team lost ground with a 12th at Loudon because it won there last fall.

12. (11) Matt Kenseth -- car No. 17

The guy whose championship begat the Chase sure seems to have poor Chase luck.

13. (14) Kasey Kahne -- car No. 9

14. (13) David Ragan -- car No. 6

15. (15) Mark Martin/Aric Almirola -- car No. 8

16. (17) Martin Truex Jr. -- car No. 1

17. (20) Kurt Busch -- car No. 2

18. (19) David Reutimann -- car No. 44

19. (16) Brian Vickers -- car No. 83

20. (18) Ryan Newman -- car No. 12

21. (24) Bobby Labonte -- car No. 43

22. (23) Juan Pablo Montoya -- car No. 42

23. (26) Travis Kvapil -- car No. 28

24. (21) Jamie McMurray -- car No. 26

25. (22) Casey Mears -- car No. 5

26. (28) Scott Riggs -- car No. 66

27. (25) David Gilliland -- car No. 38

28. (27) Elliott Sadler -- car No. 19

29. (29) Paul Menard -- car No. 15

30. (30) Reed Sorenson -- car No. 41

31. (31) Regan Smith -- car No. 01

32. (33) Robby Gordon -- car No. 7

33. (34) Dave Blaney -- car No. 22

34. (32) AJ Allmendinger -- car No. 84

35. (35) Patrick Carpentier -- car No. 10

36. (36) Michael Waltrip -- car No. 55

37. (37) Sam Hornish Jr. -- car No. 77

38. (38) Michael McDowell -- car No. 00

39. (40) Bill Elliott -- car No. 21

40. (39) Joe Nemechek -- car No. 78