May 13, 2009
By Nick Blake
From the Toyota All Star showdown, to the NASCAR Sprint All-Star race, this season has been filled (so far) with many thrilling moments, shocking stories, and even early 2010 silly season rumors. Since I didn’t join the staff at Insider Racing News until after the season started, without being able to rank the drivers before the season started led me to some tough calls in this, the first of three more rankings I plan to do before the season is over. (Daytona, the halfway point, Richmond, pre-chase, and of course, the season ending rankings after Homestead.) So here they are, the top 20 drivers from Daytona to Darlington. Plus the Rookie Report.
1. Tony Stewart. Surprise! Smoke gets the nod after a beyond impressive turnaround of an underachieving Haas CNC Racing team. His consistency and determination to win has him only 29 points out of the top spot. Engine gremlins corrupted top 10 runs at California and Talladega, but you can bet he will be ready to get that win that got away from him in last year's Coca-Cola 600.
2. Jeff Gordon. Gordon leads all with six top fives out of 11 races. He got over the winless hump by winning at Texas, but as Mark Martin has shown, it’s going to take more than one win and a bunch of fancy paint schemes to win the championship. 2001 seems like forever ago.
3. Mark Martin. Although he’s ranked 11th in points, 3rd is an understatement to the turnaround Mark has had since Bristol. Two wins and not even a dead last finish at Talladega could slow the progression of his climb from the top 35 basement to the Chase. Kyle Busch wasn’t able to guide the sister team of the 24 & 48 to a championship during his tenure at Hendrick motorsports, but wisdom and experience could bring this team back to its 1st championship since 1996.
4. Jimmie Johnson. This second place finish is exactly what the doctor ordered. Now it’s time to prove Lowe’s is still Jimmie’s House. He must feel like a kid in a candy store now.
5. Ryan Newman. This just might be the best career decision he’s ever made. Since Atlanta, he’s finished every race on the lead lap, and jumped from 27th to 8th in the points standings. It’s also proving he can still drive with the best of ‘em.
6. Kurt Busch. “To be, or not to be.” That line has pretty much summed up Kurt’s season. He’s been up and down, and back up again. After leaving Talladega with the points lead, he’s had back-to-back finishes outside the top 10. Kurt’s always good for a win or two, but he’s never shown the muscle to stay in the top five every week like Gordon or even Stewart has.
7. Jeff Burton. Quiet yet deadly. Burton somehow continues to climb the standings after starting out 28th after Daytona. His last win was also the last RCR win, last October at Lowe’s. Where are we racing next week? Lowe’s.
8. Denny Hamlin. “Dude, did you know Denny’s 5th in points?” “What? Really? How’d he get there?” “I have no idea.”
9. Matt Kenseth. He has Roush Fenway Racing’s only two wins this season, but a rare pole followed up with a Nationwide win and a top 10 Cup finish has to have Matt pumped up for his return to the track he got his 1st win on.
10. Kyle Busch. Honestly we can speculate all we want about Kyle, “he’s too aggressive”, “he needs more maturity”, “he needs patience”. Truth is, he just wants to win more than the other 42 drivers he races with. End of discussion. You have to respect that about Kyle Busch.
11. Greg Biffle. The Biff! He leads the Roush Fenway group of drivers in the Chase, which includes him, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards. Problem is, he’s 9th in points, and Roush Fenway is still winless after Kenseth’s double dip at Daytona and Auto Club Speedway. There’s no problem at Roush. Greg just has to close out races. He looked like he was ready to run away with the Southern 500.
12. Clint Bowyer. Must be that Nationwide champions curse.
13. Carl Edwards. No Surprise here. Carl’s usually a June-July, September-November driver. So don’t worry fans. Your back flip is coming real soon. But don’t expect dual championships this year either.
14. Juan Pablo Montoya. I’m ranking JPM where he usually likes to hangout, around 14th to 15th. I just hope he knows that’s not a Chase spot. He sure looked like a happy camper leading at Talladega though.
15. David Reutimann. I think we gave him “The Franchise” nickname a tad bit too early. Or at his age, a tad bit too late.
16. Brian Vickers. He’s another one that suffers from the Nationwide champions curse. Just when you think Red Bull racing is ready to turn the corner and contend for wins and a chase spot, they fall right back down to the mid-card level.
17. Martin Truex Jr. He’s giving Earnhardt Ganassi Racing all he’s got. The chase is far fetched for Truex this season, but if he continues to run well, he could pick up a win or two before he finally leaves EGR….hopefully.
18. Joey Logano. This is another surprise you’re possibly thinking. Well sooner or later, the Joey Logano that we all were highly anticipating, had to show up, and at Talladega and Darlington of all places, he did. He might be mired in the 30’s in the points, but at this point, he can just let it all hang loose.
19. Dale Earnhardt Jr. I’ve got a feeling I’m going to get a lot of hate mail for this, but Little E’s lucky to even make my top 20. It was the runner up finish at Talladega that snuck him in. He’s another one of those drivers whose paint schemes are more attractive than his race results. In the last 4 races, he’s been out finished by the likes of Regan Smith, Brad Keselowski, Robby Gordon, and Scott Speed….…driving Joe Nemechek’s car. Seriously Dale? Are you ok?
20. Marcos Ambrose. Tough call here, but I just didn’t see anyone else that could take this spot. I’m impressed with him, no doubt. He’s still got a few surprise top 10’s left in his season.
Notable names left out:
Kasey Kahne, Reed Sorenson, Elliott Sadler, David Ragan, Jamie McMurray, Kevin Harvick, David Stremme and Casey Mears.
The Rookie Report
Joey Logano. Overall, this was to be expected. Joe Gibbs put faith in the teenager, and despite digging into a deep hole early, he showed a sign that good things come to those who wait. And he’s got a great chance to taste victory at the Cup level if he can win the Sprint Showdown this weekend. Not to mention that he is very much in contention for the Nationwide championship as well, with a win at Nashville. However, with Brad Coleman slated to run a few races for the Gibbs camp, Logano may not get to run for the title.
Brad Keselowski. He’s not running for rookie of the year, but BK pulled the shocker of the year winning at Talladega in only his fifth start. Not only that, but in his six career cup starts, he’s out-finished his boss Dale Jr. four times. Just something to think about. He’s going to have to wait 'till 2011 to run full time in Cup, but while he’s waiting, he could rack up some Nationwide wins as well.
Scott Speed. Speed’s only problem is that he simply came up through stock car racing too fast. Yes, Speed does have a Camping World Truck Series win at Dover to his credit, but he may not have gotten over the heartbreak of losing an ARCA championship that was his to lose. He needs a full season of either truck or Nationwide to fully be prepared to race the COT. Red Bull did the same thing with A.J Allmendinger, but they didn’t wait for him to learn on the job. Worrying that the same could be happening to Scott Speed, Red Bull Racing bought Speed’s way into the Southern 500, making an agreement for Speed to drive Joe Nemechek’s unsponsored #87 Toyota. (Ironically, the move came less than 24 hours after Speed wrecked Joe Nemechek and Scott Lagasse Jr. in the Nationwide race. Awkward much?) The arrangement worked for both sides as Scott Speed earned his best non-restrictor plate finish of the season, (26th) and Joe Nemechek earned his best non-restrictor plate finish as owner, proving that if he had the money, he wouldn’t be a start and park team.
Max Papis. Anyone want some Italian pasta?
Comments or suggestions are encouraged. Please contact Nick Blake at Insider Racing News.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
