Grapevine: Rankings: Kurt Busch could move up

The Penske Dodge driver, who lies fourth in the championship, did not make the finish of last year's race following a collision with David Ragan's Roush Fenway Ford.

Because of that, he only needs to finish 35th to boost his Castrol Rankings score. However with the seven drivers ahead of him all being closely bunched together, a victory could be enough to move him up from his current 20th place to 13th.

Other drivers set to boost their scores are defending champion Jimmie Johnson, who is fifth in the Castrol Rankings, Mark Martin (21) Jamie McMurray (38), all of whom finished poorly in what turned out to be a race of fuel mileage a year ago.

Last year's winner August Michigan winner Brian Vickers has been out of action for two months on medical grounds and has already dropped from 30th to 90th in that time.

He will fall further this weekend, and so too could Dale Earnhardt Jr (53) Sam Hornish Jr (118) and Casey Mears (200), all of whom finished in the top six, but who have struggled to repeat such form regularly this year.

Jean-Eric Vergne (117) could become the first Frenchman to clinch the British F3 title at Silverstone this weekend.
He is guaranteed to boost his Castrol Rankings score no matter what results he achieves, but has the added incentive that a repeat of his Thruxton triple will put him above all the Euro Series runners in the Castrol Rankings.

The German F3 Cup is also likely to have a French title-winner this year, and Tom Dillmann (295) can go a long way towards securing the crown at Lausitz this weekend, even if it is not possible for him to wrap things up.

To view the full Castrol Rankings, go to www.castroldriverrankings.com.