By Bill Marx
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
 
Mark Martin’s stay outside the top 12 was a short one. His victory in Sunday’s race at Michigan rocketed him up five spots to No. 8. He replaced David Reutimann, who dropped to 13th, three points behind No. 12 Jeff Burton. Here’s our weekly breakdown of the top 12:
 
1. Tony Stewart, 2,189 points. Stewart ran out of fuel 100 feet from the finish line but still finished seventh for his series-high 11th top 10. He can afford to continue taking chances. He is 382 points ahead of Reutimann with 11 races to go before the Chase field is set. In other words, Stewart is as good as in.
 
2. Jeff Gordon, 2,142. Gordon played the fuel-mileage game to near perfection, finishing second. But could he have pressed the issue more and possibly passed Martin and won the race? Martin ran out of gas coming out of Turn 4 on the final lap. Gordon didn’t.
 
3. Jimmie Johnson, 2,047. Two weeks in a row Johnson has run out of gas. This time he finished 22nd. Does it really matter, though? Not in the Chase era when you are comfortably in the top 12 and it’s all about winning. And that’s where Johnson is.
 
4. Kurt Busch, 1,961. Busch conserved enough fuel on the final green-flag run to finish eighth. He had the most quality passes—passing a car running in the top 15 under a green flag—889; Johnson was next with 824. A year ago, Busch was 19th in the standings after Michigan.
 
5. Ryan Newman, 1,934. Newman finished 23rd, ending his run of top 10s at six, one short of his career high. Handling was the issue, and Newman suffered his worst finish since 25th at Las Vegas in the third race of the season.
 
6. Carl Edwards, 1,927. Edwards finished fourth to extend his outstanding record at Michigan to nine top 10s—six top fives—in 10 races. This season, it was his fourth consecutive finish seventh or best, which has moved him from 12th in the standings to sixth.
 
7. Greg Biffle, 1,913. Biffle came up short again, running out of gas on the backstretch of the final lap. “Pretty frustrating,” Biffle said. “It was our first win for the season; I watched it slip away there. Fuel mileage two weeks in a row. Last week I was running third and finished 11th, and this week I was leading and finished fifth.” Biffle led 42 laps to push his season total to 354, fifth best in series.
 
8. Mark Martin, 1,868. Martin was racing for points but instead won his third race of the year. He hasn’t been this high in the standings after 15 races since he was fifth in 2006. But he was winless that year. The last time Martin won more than three races in a season was 1998, when he won a career-high seven and finished second in the standings.
 
9. Kyle Busch, 1,860. Busch finished 13th for his third straight finish outside the top 10. His sixth place at Lowe’s is his only top 10 in the past five races and one of two in the past 10. It would be a real stunner if Busch dropped out of the top 12, even for one week.
 
10. Denny Hamlin, 1,849. Hamlin finished third for his first top five since Martinsville in March. It came just in time, too. He had finished 36th and 38th the past two races and entered Michigan in 12th, one point inside the top 12. He now has a 42-point cushion over Reutimann.
 
11. Matt Kenseth, 1,848. Kenseth was running ninth with less than 80 laps to go when he detected a vibration, forcing him to pit under green. He had a loose wheel and didn’t return to the lead lap until he got the lucky dog. But the pit stop was costly, and Kenseth finished 20th. Although he dropped three spots in the standings and is only 41 points ahead of Reutimann, he is 86 out of fifth. A quick move right back up the standings is within reach.
 
12. Jeff Burton, 1,810. Burton steered his ill-handling car to a 26th-place finish and now is in peril of falling out of the top 12. All three Richard Childress Racing teams made the Chase last year. Now, it’s not a stretch that all four (Casey Mears was added in the offseason) will be on the outside in September. Who would have thought?