Tony Stewart got his first win of the season with a gamble on fuel mileage that paid off in a big way. Five of the 12 Chase drivers were not as lucky as their tanks came up empty at the end tremendously affecting the point standings.

VICTORY LANE
Kevin Harvick – Leads the Sprint Cup standings by seven.
Tony Stewart – Gets his first win of the season and sits second in the standings.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. – Finishes third at Chicago and the driver with the most pressure to perform during the Chase is now fifth in the standings only 13 points back.

THE GARAGE
Denny Hamlin – Sits 41 points back in the Chase and could have seen his chance to win the 2011 championship leave at Chicago.

Power Rankings
(Rankings will be based off of who is running the best, with an emphasis on the last several races but having respect for the duration of the 36 race schedule. Last Week’s Rankings can be found in parenthesis.)
1. (1) Jeff Gordon – Only one driver has scored more points the last five races.
2. (3) Brad Keselowski – Leading scorer with 199 over the last five weeks.
3. (4) Jimmie Johnson – Drops seven points from first to 16 back.
4. (5) Ryan Newman –  A top 10 finish is what you need to do to stay in the hunt for the title
5. (8) Kevin Harvick – Finishes second and takes over the lead in the point standings.
6. (2) Kyle Busch – Runs out of gas on the last lap and falls to 22nd.
7. (7) Carl Edwards – Finishes fourth but needs some more consistency if he want to give Jack Roush a championship
8. (9) Tony Stewart – What a great time for the first victory of the season.
9. (6) Matt Kenseth – Leads the most laps but runs out of gas on the last lap and gets a push from J.J. Yeley
10. (11) Kurt Busch – Looks like he has got rid of the slump he had as he is now sitting fourth in points.
11. (NR) Dale Earnhardt Jr. – Starts the Chase and gets fourth top five of the year to get to fifth in the points and is now 13 back. Need to see more from Kurt Busch and Junior to move them up.
12. (10) AJ Allmendinger – Only driver not in the Chase that’s in my Power Rankings because he has outscored Hamlin by 38 points the last five races.

Driver of Week: Tony Stewart – Less than a month ago he didn’t think he deserved to be in the Chase and now he sits seven points back from the lead.

Last Week’s Prediction Results: Matt Kenseth – Pole Sitter and most laps led but finishes 22nd due to running out of gas and receiving an illegal push.

This Week’s Prediction for New Hampshire: Ryan Newman

Leave your comments on facebook or email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it u can also follow me @thomaseharris on twitter.

 MORE NASCAR NEWS