Today we start with the #12 and #11 positions, Greg Biffle and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Greg Biffle - The Biff must be eating his Wheaties. Since the Brickyard, the #16 team has rolled off 3 top 5's and 4 top 10's. Looking ahead, there are several tracks where Biffle seems to excel. First, no one seems to have quite the handle on Homestead like the bug-eyed-dummy. In his career, Biffle has won the final race of the season three times, and only finished higher than 20th, twice. The day late and dollar short philosophy hasn't won him a title, yet, but add that to the fact that he runs well at Richmond, and hasn't finished outside the top 10 at Dover since 2005, and Biffle stands a good shot at continuing his upward trend. Rusty gives him a bit of a long shot to win it all, but that's more a function of the drivers at the top than a reflection of a lack of talent from the #16 team.
Position before Richmond: 11
Rusty's Power Ranking: 9
Juan Pablo Montoya - In his 3rd full season in NASCAR, JPM has finally qualified for the chase. The #42 team focused on making the Chase this year. His conservative driving paid dividends, and Montoya has rattled off 12 top 10's and 2 top 5's this year. If it weren't for an untimely pit mistake at the Brickyard, JPM would have a win this year. He completely dominated the field in Indy, leading a race high 116 of 160 laps that afternoon. Regardless, this is his first year in the Chase. Without any previous experience, and facing a few tracks where JPM hasn't fared well, I would give him about the same odds as the Detroit Lions for winning the Super Bowl.
Position before Richmond: 8
Rusty's Power Ranking: 12
Tomorrow: #10 Ryan Newman, #9 Carl Edwards
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