Mike Wallace (No. 7 GEICO Toyota) has completed more laps this season than any other driver in series competition with 1,912 —failing to finish only six total laps thus far.
David Reutimann (No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota) is one of only two drivers among the top 10 to have not led a single lap this season.
Watch for two series-only regulars to run up front – Jason Leffler (No. 32 Great Clips Toyota) and Kenny Wallace (No. 28 U.S. Border Patrol Chevrolet). Leffler has finished in the top 10 in each of the last two Darlington races and has scored a Driver Rating of 104.8 and Average Running Position of 10.2 during that span. Kenny Wallace knows his way around Darlington as well. He’s scored a pole (1990) and eight top ten finishes in the Nationwide Series, with a career best runner-up finish in 2005.
Due to Morgan Shepherds "oh so excellent" and most popular 13th place finish at Talladega - and all of the support streaming in from within the NASCAR community and racing communities in general - TheHotLap.com has decided to start a "Sticker Tires For Faith" fund with the goal of donating a set of tires for Sat May 24th's NASCAR Nationwide CARQUEST Auto Parts 300 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
With five races remaining in the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series Point’s Championship, Bobby Hamilton, Jr. has moved into a tie for fifth in the standings. Following Saturday’s race at Kansas Speedway, Hamilton moved into a tie with Nextel Cup driver David Ragan for fifth position. Only one true Busch Series driver, Jason Leffler, stands ahead of Hamilton in the point’s race. Full time Nextel Cup driver Carl Edwards continues to lead Nextel Cup driver David Reutimann in race for the championship.
“We are excited to be inside the top-five in point’s right now,” Hamilton said. “This team has worked hard all year in what has been the toughest year ever for competition. We are looking forward to the last five races of the season.”
Marcos Ambrose currently sits 13th in the NASCAR Busch Series standings and is third among Busch regulars. This weekend Ambrose will make his second start at Dover International Speedway, a tough, portland cement concrete surfaced one-mile oval known as ‘The Monster Mile’. The Australian was 27th in his fifth race in last year’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Dover. Ambrose will be looking for his fourth Raybestos Rookie of the Race Award this weekend as he seeks to improve on his third place in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings.
2007 NASCAR Busch Series Points Standings – After Race 13 1. Carl Edwards 2075 2. Kevin Harvick 1652 3. Dave Blaney 1483 4. Matt Kenseth 1431 5. David Reutimann 1393 6. Regan Smith 1393 7. David Ragan 1358 8. Clint Bowyer 1349 9. Jeff Burton 1340 10. Greg Biffle 1320 11. Kyle Busch 1318 12. Bobby Hamilton Jr 1316 13. Marcos Ambrose 1303 14. Casey Mears 1302 15. Juan Pablo Montoya 1302
Almost…. The list is actually the top eight in the NASCAR Busch Series Point’s Championship. Seven of the eight are Nextel Cup drivers, fifth place Bobby Hamilton, Jr. is the only true Busch Series driver among the top eight in the series standings following the Talladega Superspeedway race. The driver of the McDonald’s Ford has his sights set on climbing further up the point’s ladder next week in Richmond. With a solid and consistent 12th place finish on Saturday, Hamilton climbed four positions in the standings to fifth.
O.K., I have blogged on about all sorts of various details for all of the guys who need to quit trying to qualify for these Cup races. If you haven't got the message yet you must be deaf. I haven't mentioned our newby this week, Brandon Ash. But Brandon Ash? What is he thinking?
The snakes will be picked up on Snake Hill in Phoenix this week by Brandon Ash, Michael Waltrip, Jon Andretti, A. J. Allmendinger, Jeremy Mayfield, Ward Burton, and David Reutimann.
Now it is also time to pay a lot more attention to something else. I have a new game. Jay Jay has posted similar posts. But this has more to do with who can possibly make it to the top 35 in points this year to set themselves up for next year. This is a big deal. The stakes are high. Real high.
I am calling it "You Can't Drive 35." Some of these guys are so anchored as go or go home cars that they really need to start thinking about what they are going to be doing next year. If they don't, Silly Season may come really fast whether they want it to or not.
So let's start taking a look at candidates this week that are really in trouble because while they may continue to make races this year on time, they probably can't get into the top 35 thus failing to anchor five starts for their teams to start the 08 season which will make it darned hard if not impossible to secure sponsorship next year.
The first " You Can't Drive 35" candidate is a familiar face. Yes Kenny Wallace is back. Kenny drives for Furniture Row Racing sponsored by itself, Furniture Row so Silly Season may not apply to him in the usual manner. But how long can these rich boys continue spending their own funds to do this? And why do they do it? Oh yeah, I forgot, the purse for starting a cup race is almost more than winning a Busch race. We have to fix that.
O.K. then, why does Kenny demean himself by driving their car? The money?
He can't need the money. Of course, a million dollars is a million dollars and if you would like to have another million dollars and you could get it by doing something you love. And if you might just luck out and eek out a real upset win on gas mileage or something one time provided you can stay on the lead lap, well, I guess then, that's it. A million dollars. "If I Had A Million Dollars...
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