There's just 2 races left, and the Race to the Chase is hotter than Carmen Electra...okay, nothing in NASCAR is that hot!  However, the Chase is almost set in stone, and the clock is about to strike midnight for someone.  As we go to the final Labor Day race in California (THANK GOD!), who's hot and who's not?  Here's this week's power rankings:

NEW THIS WEEK: Ryan Newman & Kurt Busch
DROPPED OUT: A.J. Allmendinger & Travis Kvapil
BIGGEST GAIN: Denny Hamlin
BIGGEST LOSER: Jeff Burton

20. Juan Pablo Montoya (-2): Juan made more enemies at Bristol than he completed laps.  I can't imagine how ticked off he's going to be this week now that his main sponsor is pulling out of NASCAR.

19. Kasey Kahne (-4):  Kasey was in the wrong place at the right time.  He wanted to punch the Allstate Girls after the race when they said "we're super sorry about your Chase chances."

18. Kurt Busch (previously NR): Allmendinger finished 34th, Kvapil 24th, the Blue Deuce 15th.  That's what gets Kurt into the rankings.  He even got some TV time when he started shedding his front bumper...granted it wasn't as drastic as the 44's entire rear bumper coming off in one piece, but Kurt still made sure the fans couldn't cry about a phantom debris caution.

17. Martin Truex Jr. (-3): Speaking of the clock striking midnight, stick a fork in Truex...better luck making the Chase next year.  It's going to take a Bill Elliott 1992-style collapse by everyone in 12-16 in points for the #1 team to make the 2008 Chase.

16. Ryan Newman (previously NR): Hello again, Newman!  Welcome back to the rankings!  You still have a lot of work to do to get the #12 back into the top 12, but the solid top-10 run is a lot better than the stall in Watkins Glen.

15. Brian Vickers (-3): A 20th place finish when the new 12th-place man finishes 7th with a damaged race car spells trouble for team Red Bull.

14. Jeff Burton (-8): I realize it's a huge drop in one week, but you were supposed to win the race to clinch your spot in the Chase, not finish NEXT TO LAST!

13. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (-6): The dumba$$ of the week award goes to... DALE JR!

12. Jeff Gordon (+5): The 24 team has now surpassed the longest they've ever gone into a season before winning their first race since Gordon won his first career race.  Hey look on the bright side, at least you got a decent finish, and even got your 5 bonus points for leading a lap.

11. Jamie McMurray (+2): Suddenly McMurray is looking like a driver on a mission.  He's not making the Chase, but he's at least running consistently every week.  For the 2nd week in a row he was the lowest finishing Roushketeer and still finished 12th.

10. Jimmie Johnson (-6): Johnson had one of those nights you want to forget.  The good thing (if there is any) is that it only took Johnson only finished 18 laps down with the repairs...the next closest driver finished triple digits down.

9. Denny Hamlin (+7): Hey Denny, one of your fans wrote to FedEx asking how you finally managed to finish a race at Bristol without a fuel pickup problem.

8. David Ragan (+2): Ragan started dead last in a backup car, finished 10th, and would've gotten into the Chase if Bowyer's crew hadn't been so damn good at repairing a beat-up race car.

7. Greg Biffle (+2): The Biff scored the 7-Eleven at Bristol!  He finished 11th and hung on to 7th in the points...but since more than half of the Chasers finished ahead of him, the guys behind him are now breathing down his neck.

6. Clint Bowyer (+4): When you can take a Bristolfied car, repair it, and get back into the Chase with a 7th place finish, you must be doing something right!

5. Matt Kenseth (+3): Kenseth held his own on a night when chaser after chaser had problems...and you can think the alcoholic chaser too since the cars sponsored by Jack Daniels, Red Bull, and Bud all had bad nights.

4. Kevin Harvick (+1): Happy had to be happy with a 4th place finish on a track he's won at before.  Once again, the 5 Winless Chasers stayed winless, but all 5 of them finished in the top 11, led by Harvick himself.

3. Tony Stewart: No fat man climbing the fence this week either, but he should be climbing one in celebration of the fact that he's the last driver currently in the Chase that's NOT mathematically in danger of taking the plunge out of the top 12.

2. Kyle Busch: I don't wanna grow up, I'm a Toys R Us kid, there's a million toys at Toys R Us that I can crash with!

1. Carl Edwards: Edwards said "I decided to race him like he's raced before."  What he really meant to say was "What did you say, Kyle?  I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the cheers while I do another backflip!"

Don't miss the Pepsi 500 this Sunday night.  Keep it tuend here to The Blitzburgh Pit Stop for race previews, spotlights, and the latest NASCAR news on the Q.  Until next time, this is your NASCAR VP hoping Kyle Busch stops acting like he's still in preschool!

BK over and out