Hotties hats go to the first six drivers in the points standings: Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kasey Kahne.

In his first season racing Toyotas for Joe Gibbs Racing, Busch has emerged as a force. If he's in a Cup, Nationwide or Craftsman Truck series event, he's up front.

Biffle, with Hatboro native Greg Erwin as crew chief, has three consecutive top-five finishes.

Harvick has two top-fives and two top-10s. With his victory at Bristol last Sunday, Jeff Burton led a Richard Childress Racing sweep of the first three places (Harvick was second, Clint Bowyer third).

Earnhardt Jr., the new guy in the heavy-hitting Hendrick Motorsports lineup, has three consecutive top-fives.

Kahne, recovering impressively after a winless 2006 season, has four top-10s.

With two wins already, Carl Edwards was hot. But following a postrace inspection violation after Las Vegas on March 2, NASCAR sliced 100 points off Edwards' total, and fined and suspended crew chief Bob Osborne. Edwards has slipped to 16th place in points. Consider him lukewarm.

Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, two of Earnhardt's teammates at Hendrick, also are lukewarm. Both had slow starts, but they are lurking just outside the top 12 in 13th and 14th place, respectively. Johnson is the two-time Cup defending champion.

Casey Mears and Jamie McMurray are the two most prominent drivers who aren't hot. Mears, the fourth Hendrick driver, is 33rd in points. McMurray, in his third season with Roush Fenway Racing, is 36th.

After five races, the top 35 drivers in points are guaranteed starting positions in races. For the first five races, the top 35 were based on last year's owner points standings.

Starting with the race at Martinsville Speedway on March 30, drivers outside the top 35 must qualify on speed.

In position to pounce

Burton led only two laps . . . the final two. He was running in the top five when his teammate, Kevin Harvick, inadvertently took out Tony Stewart, who led 267 laps.

Admitting he didn't have the fastest car, Burton said, "We had some breaks, but we put ourselves in position to take advantage of the breaks. This is a track that you have to be smart, aggressive. You have to do everything well here. You don't have any fluke winners at Bristol."

Asked if Childress Racing has replaced Hendrick as the pace-setting Chevrolet team, Burton replied: "We'll talk about that in December. I can assure you [Jeff Gordon] didn't run the way that you normally see him run here. You wake the sleeping giant, they're going to be hard to beat."

Pocono testing

Fans who are not ticketholders for Pocono's Cup Series races, June 6 and Aug. 3, may purchase tickets for the testing for $5 each. Ticketholders to the two races may obtain four free tickets to the test sessions. Call 800-722-3939 for information. *

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