Jimmie Johnson has tumbled to ninth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings, which has made some people wonder if he's in a slump.
Ryan Newman even told the Associated Press on Wednesday that Johnson's team is the weakest it's been in the last five years or so.
So is Johnson really slumping?
We think not, and that it's more a case that Johnson is running well but has had some bad finishes. And NASCAR's season-long driver rating has backed that up (see last week's entry).
But Atlanta will help determine which side of the debate is correct, since Johnson heads to the 1.5-mile oval as the No. 1 driver in the pre-race rating.
Johnson is ahead of teammate Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart rounding out the top five.
Among the big names who aren't impressive at Atlanta: Jamie McMurray, who is 13th in points and trying to catch Clint Bowyer for the final Chase spot, is only 20th in driver rating.
Bowyer is 16th and Mark Martin is 14th.
Emory Healthcare 500 Pre-Race
For point-paying races in current and past four years, at this track.
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Driver Rating
Formula combining the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish. Maximum: 150 points per race.
Number of Races: 11
Rank Car Driver Avg Finish High AVG DRIVER RATING
1 48 Jimmie Johnson 9.1 143.2 109.5
2 24 Jeff Gordon 10.2 125.0 101.8
3 99 Carl Edwards 16.4 142.3 99.4
4 88 D Earnhardt Jr. 11.8 131.6 98.7
5 14 Tony Stewart 10.5 143.9 98.7
6 2 Kurt Busch 17.7 150.0 97.0
7 17 Matt Kenseth 8.9 130.5 96.5
8 16 Greg Biffle 14.5 135.1 95.0
9 11 Denny Hamlin 15.9 121.1 94.5
10 9 Kasey Kahne 18.2 138.1 93.3
11 18 Kyle Busch 16.1 143.9 88.7
12 56 M Truex Jr. 23.4 119.0 87.6
13 42 Juan Montoya 18.3 118.0 86.8
14 5 Mark Martin 19.2 121.1 85.7
15 31 Jeff Burton 15.1 101.6 84.9
16 33 Clint Bowyer 16.4 115.9 81.8
17 29 Kevin Harvick 17.1 116.5 81.1
18 83 Brian Vickers 14.9 108.9 80.5
19 12 Brad Keselowski 36.0 76.5 76.5
20 1 Jamie McMurray 21.0 98.6 71.6
21 39 Ryan Newman 20.3 88.7 71.0
22 43 AJ Allmendinger 14.6 99.9 69.2
23 19 Elliott Sadler 20.9 95.8 65.3
24 07 Casey Mears 19.9 86.6 65.2
25 43 Reed Sorenson 24.7 101.4 64.2
26 00 David Reutimann 27.3 95.5 61.0
27 66 Scott Riggs 26.0 101.5 61.0
28 71 Bobby Labonte 27.1 86.2 60.6
29 7 Robby Gordon 24.1 85.5 60.6
30 98 Paul Menard 20.4 88.7 60.6
31 38 David Gilliland 26.9 71.8 59.6
32 12 David Stremme 26.8 84.0 59.4
33 55 Michael Waltrip 22.9 93.6 58.0
34 47 Marcos Ambrose 25.3 84.9 57.6
35 8 Aric Almirola 21.0 57.4 57.4
36 11 Jason Leffler 25.0 57.0 57.0
37 96 J.J. Yeley 25.0 89.6 56.7
38 6 David Ragan 26.6 83.5 55.1
39 36 Mike Bliss 26.6 87.4 54.4
40 87 Joe Nemechek 29.9 87.7 52.3
41 77 Sam Hornish Jr. 29.8 62.7 51.8
42 20 Joey Logano 29.0 68.9 50.7
43 66 Dave Blaney 31.5 102.7 49.1
44 82 Scott Speed 25.8 73.2 48.9
45 66 Jeff Green 28.2 61.7 48.7
46 21 Bill Elliott 28.5 60.7 43.8
47 78 Regan Smith 27.3 54.0 41.6
48 34 Travis Kvapil 32.0 59.2 40.8
49 34 John Andretti 29.3 46.1 39.3
50 70 Tony Raines 31.8 49.2 38.9
51 4 Mike Wallace 40.0 37.0 37.0
52 70 Johnny Sauter 30.5 43.5 36.4
53 61 Kevin Lepage 37.5 40.0 33.9
54 10 P Carpentier 35.0 33.6 33.6
55 26 Boris Said 32.0 32.5 32.5
56 37 Kevin Conway 31.0 31.5 31.5
57 13 Max Papis 37.0 34.2 31.2
58 45 Chad McCumbee 36.0 29.3 29.3
59 55 Mi McDowell 42.0 26.4 26.4
60 4 Todd Bodine 42.0 23.8 23.8
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