1. Kyle Busch, 1,495 points. Somewhere Saturday night, Johnny Benson was grimacing. He has played bumper
cars with Busch before late in a race. (See Martinsville CTS race, March 29.)
2. Jeff Burton, 1,477. No speed bumps for Burton so far: 10 starts, 10 top-15 finishes.
3. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 1,391. I don't think we'll see Junior and Busch chest-bumping in victory lane
anytime soon. But here's a bold statement: Junior will make a visit to victory lane before Busch does.
4. Clint Bowyer, 1,372. Forty other drivers wanted to be exactly where Bowyer was with Earnhardt and Busch
running one-two. But only one Cup driver was on a streak of six consecutive top-10 finishes. Bowyer was in
familiar territory and no doubt singing, "Ow, we need the bump. We gotta have that bump." (Note to readers:
Yes, I know the correct word is "funk." But for those of us around in the '70s, a lot of people said
"bump.")
5. Kevin Harvick, 1,350. The last time Harvick won a race, the Bump game was still on "The Price is Right."
Just kidding, although among drivers in the top 12, only Junior's winless streak of 72 and Kasey Kahne's 51
are longer than Harvick's 45-race drought.
6. Denny Hamlin, 1,349. We haven't seen anyone use a wall that incorrectly since Bump Bailey in "The
Natural."
7. Jimmie Johnson, 1,318. A year ago, Johnson had four wins and was second in points after winning at
Richmond. Saturday night Johnson finished 30th. Life isn't all bad for JJ: At least he never has to worry
about getting bumped from a flight.
8. Tony Stewart, 1,297. Last year Smoke caught some flak for saying he was going to drink a case of beer
after winning at Chicagoland. C'mon. Do people really think he was going to do that? I'm glad Stewart isn't
a bump on a log. Seeing how he hasn't won in a while -- a 24-race drought -- I'm eager to see how he plans
on celebrating his next win. It might not be Saturday at Darlington, though, where he is winless in 15
races.
9. Greg Biffle, 1,269. You know those bumps that made the racing surface at Darlington Raceway famous? The
track that is "too tough to tame" has been repaved and is smoother, which might be bad news for Biffle, who
has won two of the past three races there.
10. Carl Edwards, 1,230. Edwards is no country bumpkin -- all those Cousin Carl references notwithstanding.
Edwards is savvy -- as a driver, businessman and salesman (quick, when was the last time Carl didn't tell
us how good his Ford Fusion ran?) -- and he proved it again by re-signing with Roush Fenway Racing before
going out and getting his sixth to 10 of the year.
11. Ryan Newman, 1,212. The goose bumps Newman experienced after winning Daytona seem a distant memory, but
the Rocket appears to have found his mojo again. His sixth-place finish was his third top 10 in the past
four races.
12. Kasey Kahne, 1,162. You know how they have Bump Day at Indy. Guess who's the most vulnerable in NASCAR
right now? That said, Kahne is in much better shape this year than he was after 10 races in 2007 when he
was 32nd in points. Only Brian Vickers (plus-24) and Michael Waltrip (plus-23) have made bigger jumps up
the points standings.
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