Jimmie Johnson not only retains the top spot in the updated Chase driver rankings, but he tightens his hold on the spot after winning his fourth straight race.

With a comfortable lead going into Sunday’s season finale in sunny South Florida, the #48 is on the verge of wrapping up his second straight NEXTEL Cup championship.

It’s all down to he and Jeff Gordon, as everyone else is mathematically eliminated.

I’ll have my final Chase driver rankings early next week, along with some driver awards.

Now, on to this week’s terrific twelve!

1. Jimmie Johnson (1): Johnson kept his amazing run going on Sunday, winning the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International for his fourth win in a row and 10^th of the season. He’s taken control of the Chase by winning the last two races at tracks he’d never previously won at, and with the season finale at Homestead coming up, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him wrap up the title with a fifth straight win.

2. Jeff Gordon (2): After seeing his good buddy win a fourth straight race and take an 86-point lead with one race to go, Gordon all but conceded the championship, even though it’s not over by any means.

But, he needs a lot of good fortune on Sunday at Homestead, and he’ll also need his car to drive better than it has in the last few races. While he’s kept up his run of top-ten finishes (3^rd, 7^th, 7^th, 10^th), he’s seen his championship hopes dwindle because the car hasn’t been up to par with Johnson’s.

Still, no matter what happens on Sunday, it’s been a great season for the #24.

3. Clint Bowyer (3): Bowyer has hung steady here for quite a while, and unless he finishes at the bottom on Sunday, this is where he’ll finish in the final standings. His finish of 11^th at Phoenix officially ended his championship hopes, but it’s been a breakout season for Bowyer, who will be a name to watch for seasons to come.

4. Kyle Busch (4): Busch scored his sixth top-ten in nine Chase races with a finish of 8^th on Sunday, and remains 4^th in the standings entering the season finale, which will be his last race as a member of Hendrick Motorsports. As he gets ready to hop in a Gibbs car in 2008, he can look back on his time in the #5 pretty fondly, as he’s developed into one of the series’ top drivers in a few short seasons. At only 22, he has a bright, bright future ahead of him, and will have many more chances at a title.

5. Tony Stewart (6): Stewart finished 4^th on Sunday, his first top-ten since Charlotte in October, and his first top-five finish since the first race of the Chase, at Loudon.

6. Matt Kenseth (8): Kenseth has really had it going lately, finishing 5^th, 4^th, 2^nd, and 3^rd to move from 12^th to 6^th in the Chase standings. He’s no doubt ruing that bad streak that cost him any shot at the title, but he will be able to go into next season with positive momentum.

7. Jeff Burton (7): Burton’s solid run continued on Sunday, as he finished 9^th. That’s his fourth top-10 in the last five races, during which he’s finished no worse than 12^th. He’s out of the championship hunt, but he’s shown that he’s still got plenty left, and you can expect to see him contending for a spot in the Chase again next season.

8. Kevin Harvick (9): Harvick finished 6^th on Sunday, his fourth top-ten of the Chase, and second in a row.

I keep getting his number of top-10s wrong, as he said first that he had none (when he had one - 6^th at the LifeLock 400 at Kansas), then two (when he had three), and now, I finally have it right. My apologies to the Harvick fans out there.

9. Carl Edwards (5): Edwards led the first 84 laps before surrendering the lead to Martin Truex, Jr., and then, his chances for a great day were ended only 25 laps later when his engine blew up, and his day was over. It was a disastrous result for Edwards, who dropped from 5^th to 9^th in the standings, and has to avoid trouble on Sunday to finish inside the top ten, which would earn him a trip to the awards celebration in New York.

10. Kurt Busch (10): Busch finished 12^th on Sunday, just missing out on his third straight top-10. He’s holding on to that 10^th spot, 47 points ahead of Martin Truex, Jr.

11. Martin Truex, Jr. (11): Truex has raced well lately, and he led 72 laps on Sunday before giving up the lead to Johnson with less than 25 laps to go. His finish of 7^th followed a solid finish of 3^rd at Texas, and gives him hope of sneaking into the top 10.

12. Denny Hamlin (12): Hamlin has basically been a forgotten man in the Chase, and finds himself at the bottom with a race to go. He finished 16^th on Sunday, and is now 599 points behind Johnson, and 83 points behind Kurt Busch.

So, is there really any argument now?

Since the start of the Chase (and before), many have said that no matter what happens, Jeff Gordon deserves the championship because he’s been the most consistent driver in the series all season long.

But, after Jimmie Johnson expanded his lead to 86 points after his fourth straight win, capturing Sunday’s Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix, his hopes for a fifth series title look bleak.

It’s impossible to say that Gordon isn’t deserving, because he has statistically had one of the best seasons in series history, and with a top-10 finish at Homestead, will have an astounding 30 top-10 finishes. That’s the kind of consistency that any driver would love to have, and, in many years, would be more than enough to win the championship.

But, it may prove to not be enough, as Johnson’s 10 victories are the most in the series since 1998, when a still-young Gordon won 13 races and ran away with his third championship by 364 points over Mark Martin.

And, he is the first driver since Gordon in 1998 to win four races in a row (Gordon did it at Pocono, Indianapolis, Watkins Glen, and Michigan).

Even if Johnson somehow loses the championship on Sunday, while Gordon could rightfully and deservedly celebrate the title, you’d have to feel bad for Johnson, who has soundly whipped everyone lately, including his teammate and friend.

There wouldn’t be any discussion about who, if anyone, was more deserving of the championship, if Gordon’s car hadn’t decided to start turning on him in the last few races.

While Johnson has raced towards wins, Gordon has had to battle just to finish well, with an ill-handling car and one issue after another that has rendered him anything but a serious contender towards the end as of late.

And, as unfortunate as it is, he’ll have to settle for second-best if a miracle doesn’t happen on Sunday. It’s not out of the question, but in the previous three years, the champion has finished no worse than 15th (Tony Stewart, 2005). In 2003, the last year before the Chase, that year’s series champion, Matt Kenseth, finished 43rd at Homestead, but he had already wrapped up the title in the previous race, at Rockingham.

But, no matter what happens, both deserve immense praise for how well they’ve raced this season, and even though only one can lift the trophy, neither one has a reason to hang their heads.

Apparently tired of being the best in the IRL, Sam Hornish, Jr. is becoming the latest open-wheel star to take on the new challenge of stock-car racing, as the three-time IRL champ is becoming the newest member of the Penske NEXTEL (or Sprint, rather) Cup team, joining up with Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman.

Hornish will be the new driver of the #77 car, with Mobil 1 as the sponsor. With him making the full-time switch to NASCAR’s top flight, that means the last two Indy 500 champs are going to be racing together in stock cars next season, with 2007 champ Dario Franchitti driving for Ganassi Racing.

Hornish’s move for NASCAR was more of a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if.’ He raced in two Busch races last season, and has driven in seven Busch races this season. He’s also tried to qualify for six NEXTEL Cup races, but hasn’t qualified for any of them, which is why the move might seem a little too soon for some.

But, if there’s a team where he could succeed, it’s Penske, where he’s raced for the last four seasons in the IRL, during which he won eight races and the 2005 points title. He’ll not only be with a familiar team, but an established team, where he’ll have ample chance to succeed. And, there’s a chance he won’t have to worry about qualifying for the first five races of next season, if Penske decides to move the owner points Kurt Busch has over to Hornish, since Busch doesn’t have to worry about qualifying.

That would eliminate the potential issues that Patrick Carpentier and Jacques Villenueve will face, and what A.J. Allmendinger has faced this season, after coming over from Champ Car. Dario Franchitti is joining a team in the top 35 in owner points, and thusly locked into the first five races of next year, which is the situation Juan Montoya was fortunate to be in.

Montoya is currently 21st in points, and has been locked into every race, while Allmendinger has qualifed for only 17 of 34 races this season. So, if there’s an advantage to be had with getting in those first five races (and there is), then you would think that Penske would go that route and let Hornish have the free pass to the first five races, and let him take care of business from there.

With all of these open-wheelers moving to NASCAR, one has to wonder how the Champ Car/IRL head honchos are feeling right now, with several of their headliners leaving, and more to make the move soon enough more than likely (Danica Patrick has been mentioned with a move to NASCAR, and possibly Dan Wheldon as well).

We’ve got a new name at the top of the new Chase driver rankings, and it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out who it is.

How do the rest of the rankings shake out? Keep reading.

1. Jimmie Johnson (2): Jeff Gordon had been in this spot for the last several weeks, but with Johnson winning the last three races and taking over the points lead, we’ve got a new #1.

It’s like 2006 all over again, where Johnson overcame a deficit in the final half of the Chase to win the championship. He’s certainly got a fight on his hands, but now that he and his crew know what it takes to close it out, catching him’s going to require a rare slip or piece of bad luck.

2. Jeff Gordon (1): If it were someone else, you might count them out as hot as Johnson is right now. But Gordon has been here before, so he’s not going to get fazed by what he faces now. I’m sure he doesn’t feel too hot about running as consistently as he has and losing the points lead, but even he won’t argue with how well his teammate has been.

After winning at Talladega and Charlotte, he’s finished 3rd, 7th, and 7th, while Johnson’s won, and that’s translated into a 68-point lead becoming a 30-point deficit.

It’s not over yet, in the least, because 30 points can be made up in a flash. And, if there’s anyone who can do it, it’s the #24.

3. Clint Bowyer (3): Bowyer’s slight championship hopes all but faded when he finished 19th at Texas. He’s still in third by a good margin, but he’s now 181 points back of Johnson with two races to go.

4. Kyle Busch (4): A slow pit stop late in the race cost Busch a chance at a win for the second straight race, but as opposed to Atlanta, where he got taken out when Denny Hamlin ran out of gas, he rebounded to finish fourth. The finish helped move Busch into fourth in the standings, 339 points back. He’s pretty much out of it, but he can feel pretty good about the way that he’s going out in the #5.

5. Carl Edwards (4): Edwards finished 26th at Texas, which dropped him from 261 points back to 357 back of the leader, and knocked him down a notch into fifth, just behind Busch.

6. Tony Stewart (6): After finishing 30th at Atlanta, Stewart finished 11th at Texas. He hasn’t had a top-10 since Charlotte, when he finished 7th, and as a result, he’s fallen 373 points back, and has to be disappointed about how things have transpired in the Chase, where he was expected to be a serious contender.

7. Jeff Burton (8): Burton has had four solid races after an up and down start to the Chase, finishing 4th, 12th, 5th, and then 6th in Sunday’s Dickies 500. Burton was mathematically eliminated from the Chase on Sunday, but he is finishing the year strong, and has had a resurgence in the last two seasons after falling off of the map for a few seasons.

8. Matt Kenseth (9): If Kenseth hadn’t that four-race bad streak, he would be much higher in the rankings and in the Chase standings. He was a hard-luck loser at Texas for the second time this year, losing the lead to the hard-charging Johnson with two laps to go. But, he recorded his third straight top-five, as he finished second behind the race winner.

He’s gotten himself out of the basement in the last two weeks, and is now 10th in the standings, a point behind Kurt Busch, and only 23 behind Burton.

9. Kevin Harvick (8): I said in last week’s rankings that Harvick didn’t have any top-10s in the Chase, when, in fact, he finished 10th at Martinsville. He recorded his second top-10 on Sunday, finishing 10th. Harvick’s 439 poins back of Johnson, just behind 7th-placed Burton.

10. Kurt Busch (11): Busch finished 8th for the second straight race on Sunday, his third top-10 of the Chase. We’ve come to expect more from him, but you can rest assured that he’ll be back with a vengeance next year.

11. Martin Truex, Jr. (12): Truex won the pole at Texas and finished 3rd. It had to be a lift for him, after he hadn’t finished in the top ten since finishing fifth in the Sylvania 300 at Loudon, the first Chase race, and after a late-race accident knocked him out of contention at Atlanta, where he led the most laps but finished 31st.

12. Denny Hamlin (10): Hamlin finished 29th at Texas, dropping into a tie with Martin Truex, Jr. for last in the Chase standings, 524 points behind Johnson, and officially out of the hunt, along with the rest of the bottom six.

The top three are the same in the new Chase driver rankings, as has been the case for quite a while, but there’s a new name in the fourth spot.

How do the rest of the rankings shake out? Keep reading, and you’ll find out.

1a. Jeff Gordon (1): Gordon posted his 26th top-ten finish of the season on Sunday at Atlanta, overcoming a stubborn car to finish 7th. But, it wasn’t good enough to keep his lead from shrinking just as quickly as he’d built it, as teammate Jimmie Johnson won to trim the deficit atop the Chase standings to nine points with three races to go.

Gordon is set to have one of his best seasons ever, but if Johnson overtakes him in the final three races, it could end up like 1996, when he overtook teammate Terry Labonte late in the season and seemingly took control of the points lead with an amazing run of four wins in five races leading up to the final four races of the season.

He headed into Charlotte with three straight wins and a 111-point lead over Labonte, but the championship race swung when Labonte won and Gordon finished 31st, cutting Gordon’s lead to one point. Labonte overtook him in the next race and would go on to win the championship by 37 points.

Gordon won ten races that season, had 21 top-five finishes, and 24 top-ten finishes, while Labonte won only two races, had 17 top-five finishes, and 24 top-tens. The difference ended up being the fact that Gordon had six finishes of 31st or worse, while Labonte had only one.

1b. Jimmie Johnson (2): Johnson has followed where Gordon left off, winning the last two races, both with late passes much like his teammate did at Talladega and Charlotte. Johnson was trailing by 68 points following Gordon’s win at Charlotte, but has trimmed the deficit to nine points with his victories at Martinsville and Atlanta, his seventh and eighth of the season.

3. Clint Bowyer (3): Bowyer continued his consistent run in the Chase by finishing sixth. He qualified outside of the top 20 for the fifth time in seven races, but has finished in the top twelve in all seven. But, with Gordon and Johnson both winning two races and outdoing him just a little (combined with the 60-point deficit that he faced at the start of the Chase) mean that Bowyer’s got an uphill climb.

But, as shown by that ‘96 season, anything can happen.

4. Carl Edwards (5): Minus finishing 37th at Kansas, it’s been a pretty solid Chase for Edwards, who finished second at Atlanta, the track where he won his first race. He did move up to fourth in the standings, passing Tony Stewart, but is still 261 points back of Gordon with time running out.

5. Kyle Busch (6): Busch was the leader going into a late-race pit stop, but mistakes in the pit knocked him out of contention, and then to add insult to injury, was spun out after Denny Hamlin ran out of gas on the restart. He wound up 20th, which doesn’t do justice to the race that he had. And, instead of gaining a little ground on Gordon, he remained in sixth in the standings, and lost 38 points to fall 328 behind the #24.

6. Tony Stewart (4): Stewart finished 30th on Sunday, and dropped to 322 points behind Gordon, and fell to fifth in the standings, barely ahead of Kyle Busch.

7. Jeff Burton (8): Burton has rebounded from a rough couple of races to post three straight top-12 finishes, including 4th at Charlotte and 5th on Sunday at Atlanta. Burton is up to eighth in the standings, but that’s little consolation, as he’s 400 points back pretty much done. He’s not mathematically eliminated, but is pretty close to it.

8. Kevin Harvick (7): Harvick finished 15th at Atlanta, and has zero top-fives and no top-tens in the first seven Chase races. He’s now 392 points back of Gordon, and barely hanging on to 7th in the standings, with Burton close behind.

9. Matt Kenseth (11): Kenseth posted his second top-five in a row by finishing 4th at Atlanta. If only he hadn’t woken up so late, he might still have a shot in the title race. As is, he did pull himself out of the basement, up to 11th, 448 points behind Gordon. Like Harvick and Burton (and Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin), he’s not mathematically eliminated quite yet, but is a race away from it, along with Stewart and Kyle Busch.

10. Denny Hamlin (9): Hamlin stayed on the track when many of the other contenders went into the pits with a few laps to go, but while it got him the lead for a few moments, it didn’t pay off, as he ran out of gas shortly after the restart, and after causing a mini-melee, wound up 24th. He dropped 50 more points to Gordon and is 424 back, in 10th, just behind Kurt Busch.

11. Kurt Busch (12): Busch rebounded from a couple of bad races to finish eighth at Atlanta. He started second in the race and was dominant at the start, leading more than 90 of the first 100 laps, and led once again in the middle of the race, but it was his brother and Martin Truex that wound shine for most of the race past those first 100 laps.

But, it was a good day for the #2, after finishing 26th and 31st in the last two races. He moved up one place into 9th in the standings, but is still 419 points back.

12. Martin Truex, Jr. (10): Truex led the most laps with 135 and had a shot at the win, until Hamlin ran out of gas, and Truex got caught up in the resulting mess. So, instead of a great day, Truex finished 31st, and dropped into the bottom spot in the Chase standings. And, he’s the first driver mathematically eliminated from championship contention, as he is 513 points behind with three races to go.

Once again, the top four stays the same, but for once, the fifth and sixth spots do as well in the new Chase driver rankings.

Jeff Gordon is still on top, and you can pretty much guess the rest of the top six, but past that, who’s in the final six spots? Keep reading to find out.

1. Jeff Gordon (1): Gordon led 168 laps from the pole at Martinsville, but relinquished the lead to Jimmie Johnson in the final 50 laps and wound up finishing third. Johnson trimmed 15 points from his lead, but Gordon still leads by 53 points with four races to go. And, even though his lead was trimmed by the guy in second place, he gained on everyone else, including third-placed Clint Bowyer.

2. Jimmie Johnson (2): Johnson rebounded from a subpar race (by his standards) at Charlotte with a win at Martinsville, his seventh of the season. After dropping more than 50 points to Gordon the previous week, he gained 15 back, and is well within striking distance.

3. Clint Bowyer (3): Bowyer finished 9th at Martinsville, keeping his streak of top-12 finishes at six for six in the Chase and seven overall, dating back to Richmond. But, he lost some valuable ground to Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson in the Chase standings, and is 115 points back with four races to go. But, he’s got a pretty comfortable cushion on the rest of the guys, and continues to be consistent week in, week out.

4. Tony Stewart (4): You could go as far as saying that, past 1 through 3, the rest of the spots aren’t that relevant, but that would be a slight to some pretty darn good drivers.

Tony Stewart is the best of the rest, and finished 13th at Martinsville to maintain fourth place in the standings and fourth in these rankings. But, he dropped more ground in the Chase, and is 240 points back. Time’s running out, and the top three have just been too good.

5. Carl Edwards (5): Sunday might be more memorable for Edwards’ post-race altercation with teammate Matt Kenseth than for Edwards’ finish of 11th. With the finish, Edwards held on to fifth in the standings, but is only two points ahead of Kyle Busch. But, more importantly, he’s fallen 288 behind Gordon.

6. Kyle Busch (6): Busch had his second straight strong race, and made it three Hendrick cars in the top four, with his fourth-place finish at Martinsville. He was barely edged out by Gordon for third, but overall, it was another great race for the younger Busch, who led 106 laps. He’s 290 points behind Gordon, so his championship hopes are pretty much done, but he can close out his season and Hendrick career on a high note if he finishes well in the final four races.

7. Kevin Harvick (8): After a disappointing race at Lowe’s, Harvick started third and finished 10th on Sunday. After the Lowe’s race dropped him three places in the standings, he moved past Kurt Busch from eighth to seventh after Martinsville. But, seventh place means you’re 369 points behind the points leader.

8. Jeff Burton (10): Burton finished 12th at Martinsville to move up another spot in the Chase standings, from 10th to 9th. He’s 406 points behind Gordon.

9. Denny Hamlin (11): Hamlin started 30th, but finished 6th at Martinsville to move up to eighth in the points standings. He’s five points behind seventh-place Harvick and 374 points behind Gordon.

10. Martin Truex, Jr. (9): Truex started second but finished 19th at Martinsville and didn’t move up a spot in the standings, as he drops to 447 points behind the points leader.

11. Matt Kenseth (12): Post-race altercation with Carl Edwards aside, it was Kenseth’s best day in more than a month, as he finished 5th. He had finished 35th, 35th, 26th, and 34th in the previous four races, and hadn’t had a top-10 since the first race of the Chase, at Loudon, and no top-fives since the 3M Performance 400 at Michigan in August.

However, the finish wasn’t enough to pull him out of the Chase cellar, as he’s still occupying that last spot, 462 points behind Gordon.

12. Kurt Busch (7): Pretty steep fall, yes. But, it’s been tough going for Busch in the Chase, and he followed up last week’s finish of 26th by finishing 31st at Martinsville. Busch drops three places and is now 420 points back, in the 10th spot in the standings.

Jeff Gordon won the pole and led the most laps, but Jimmie Johnson stayed close to him and passed him with less than 50 laps to go and from there, held off Ryan Newman’s charge to win a caution-filled Subway 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

It’s Johnson’s series-leading 7th win of the season, and he closes the gap from 68 points to 53 on Gordon, who wound up finishing third. Clint Bowyer, who came into the race 78 points behind, finished 9th, and is now 105 points behind Gordon with four races to go.

Gordon led the first 108 laps, but was passed by Johnson on lap 109. And, after he had to come into the pits twice on laps 167 and 168 because of a loose tire, he fell to 33rd. Johnson also had something loose nearly 50 laps later, and he had ground to make up.

But, he would take the lead around lap 300, and after Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. had both led, it was back to a battle between the Hendrick cars. Johnson led until lap 348, when he pitted, and Busch took the lead back. Johnson retook the lead seven laps later, and would hold it until pit stops on lap 396, when Gordon had a great stop and came out first.

The #24 would lead the next 60 laps, but after Johnson passed Newman for second on lap 436, he set his sights on his teammate, and finally passed him on lap 456.

From there, Johnson held off Gordon and then Newman to take the victory, which came after the first green-white checkered in Martinsville history. That was brought on by a late accident between Bobby Labonte and Casey Mears, and the race would end with Johnson crossing the line first after David Ragan spun out after the restart.

Gordon led a race-high 168 laps, while Johnson led 147. Busch as edged out by Gordon for third, and the #5 led 106 laps. Matt Kenseth rebounded from four bad races and finished 5th, while Denny Hamlin made it five Chasers in the top six with a 6th-place run. Greg Biffle, Juan Montoya (who led nine laps), Bowyer, and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top 10. It was a good day overall for Chase drivers, as 10 finished in the top 13 (Carl Edwards finished 11th, Jeff Burton 12th, and Tony Stewart 13th). The only Chase drivers to finish outside the top 15 were Martin Truex, Jr., who finished 19th, and Kurt Busch, who finished 31st.

There were 21 total cautions in the race, which accounted for 125 caution laps. There were eight leaders and 13 lead changes (Burton led 51 laps, Dale Jr. 24, Jeff Green one).

I’ll have the points standings shortly.

April’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500 went down to the final lap, and it went down to the two guys at the top of the Chase right now.

But, if it comes down to those guys at the end on Sunday, there’s a chance things might go a little differently.

On the final lap of the race in April, Gordon raced Johnson as hard as he could in an attempt to get by him, even making a little contact, but Johnson held off his teammate for the win.

If the same situation happens on Sunday, would one race the other as hard? With both trying to win the championship, five points means a lot, but so does assuring that you both get a high finish and stay ahead of the competition.

One tap could lead to a spin, and that spin could not only take one guy out, but both, and not only do you have some teammates angry with one another, someone’s (or both’s) championship hopes take a hit.

When you’ve got a lot to lose, there’s no need to risk it, especially with four races to go.

But, if it’s the last lap of the last race of the season, and one place could mean the difference between the championship trophy and second place, it might be a different story.

But, back to that spring race. Chase drivers took the first four spots and eight of the first twelve. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. led the most laps with 137, but wound up fifth, while Denny Hamlin led 125 laps and finished third, with Kyle Busch in between in fourth.

But, it came down to Johnson, who led the final 113 laps, and Gordon, who led 92 laps. And, the #48 would not be denied, even by his teammate, as he edged him out by 0.065 seconds for his third win in four races, and his third at Martinsville, while denying Gordon of his eighth victory there.

Sunday’s race will likely be just as tight, as is usually the case at the short tracks.

That means things could get very, very dicey, with so much on the line, not just for the top three, but for the other nine, who can’t afford to lose anymore ground, and need to start gaining very, very quickly.

Will luck continue to be on Gordon, Johnson, and Clint Bowyer’s side? We’ll find out on Sunday, but before then, I’ll be here with regular updates during qualifying.

NASCAR.com has an article with two writers debating whether or not Jeff Gordon will pass David Pearson in wins by the time his career is over. Pearson currently holds the #2 spot in career Cup wins with 105, behind Richard Petty’s unreachable mark of 200, while Gordon is currently sixth, with 81.

One says he should, given the pace that he’s been on in his career, while the other says he won’t, because the series is far too competitve, and because he may well retire before he reaches the mark.

What do you think? Will Gordon overtake Pearson’s mark of 105, or will he come up short?

There’s no question about who occupies the top spot, and the next three after him, but as usual, we’ve got movement from spots 5-12 in this week’s updated Chase driver rankings.

1. Jeff Gordon (1): Gordon gave himself some space atop the points standings by winning at Lowe’s, his second straight win and six of the season. He’s on fire right now, and just needs to keep it up to wrap up title #5.

2. Jimmie Johnson (2): With his 14th place finish at Lowe’s, he fell to 68 points behind his teammate, but still remains second in the points. It was an uncharacteristic accident by Johnson on lap 231 that took him out of contention for the win, and instead of him celebrating a win and a potential lead in the points, it ended up being his teammate. But, last year’s champ is still very, very much in it, and will be until the end.

3. Clint Bowyer (3): Bowyer had another excellent race, leading 79 laps and coming in second behind Gordon to ensure that he lost minimal ground in the standings. He stands 78 points behind in third, and continues to hang with the two Hendrick cars, despite the setbacks many of the other Chase drivers have had. If he keeps it up, he’ll be there until the end, and he’ll certainly be considered one of the championship favorites going into 2008.

4. Tony Stewart (4): Stewart overcame a pit-road crash with Kasey Kahne to finish 7th. But, though he remains fourth in the standings, he loses more ground to the #24, and now sits 198 points behind with five races to go.

5. Carl Edwards (6): Edwards finished fifth at Lowe’s to move up one spot into fifth in the points, but dropped 35 more points to Gordon to fall 240 behind.

6. Kyle Busch (8): After two bad races all but knocked him out of contention for the championship, Busch had a great race at Lowe’s, finishing third. He also earned a lot of points for his teamwork in helping Gordon to the win, and looks like he’ll end his time at Hendrick much more favorably than Brian Vickers did. In the Chase, he’s still got a lot of ground to make up, but even though he did lose a little more ground to Gordon, he gained a couple of spots in the standings and is now in sixth, 280 points back.

7. Kurt Busch (7): The older Busch was in contention as well until a car problem with 60 laps to go dropped him out of the hunt, and he ended up finishing 26th. As a result, he dropped 100 points to fall 315 behind Gordon, even though he remains in 7th in the points.

8. Kevin Harvick (5): Harvick was running at the back early on when a flat and a mistake by his pit crew on changing the wrong tire meant that it was a bad day for the #29, as he wound up finishing 33rd. His finish dropped him from 202 points behind to 328 back and from fifth to eighth in the standings.

9. Martin Truex, Jr. (9): Truex finished 17th at Lowe’s. He was leapfrogged by Burton to fall to 11th in the standings, 378 points behind Gordon.

10. Jeff Burton (12): After two bad finishes, including a 43rd at Talladega, Burton finished 4th at Lowe’s. He did drop 30 more points to Gordon in the standings, and is now 366 points behind, but did move up from 12th to 10th.

11. Denny Hamlin (10): After a fourth place finish at Talladega, Hamlin finished 20th at Lowe’s and, as everyone else in the field, dropped more ground to Gordon, and is 349 points back, though he moved up a spot into 9th.

12. Matt Kenseth (11): Yet another bad day for Kenseth, as he was involved in three accidents in less than 30 laps a little past the midway point of the race, and wound up finishing 34th. Kenseth is now 442 points back, in last place, and you can pretty much stick in the fork in him.