OK, I know every Cup fan could come up with a different list of "The 20 Most Talented Active Drivers in Cup Racing" so I'll throw my list out and look forward to hearing who you think I left off that should be included and who I included that you feel shouldn't have been.
The only caveat is that you must realize there is a difference between listing The 20 Best Active Cup Drivers and The 20 Most Talented Active Drivers in Cup Racing. I'll illustrate that significant difference while presenting the list.
Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon have to be the top two on my list. Their winning percentage and championship runs speak for themselves. Johnson gets my nod for number one but boy would I have liked to seen the difference if they had swapped crew chiefs the past couple of seasons.
My next two are Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart. While Kyle hasn't been around long, I give him a slight edge over Smoke.
Carl Edwards gets my nod at number five although his most recent win was certainly tainted with compelling evidence that there was intentional cheating.
Sixth through Tenth in Order: Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Dale Jr., Ryan Newman, and Mark Martin.
I'd put Kenseth, Harvick, Jeff Burton, and Kasey Kahne in the next group but I have to add Juan Pablo, Dario, and Sam Hornish as being arguably more talented than any of those four. While they haven't shown their full talent in a Cup car yet, they proved plenty in open wheel cars to earn spots on this list (which again is not a list of the Top 20 Cup Drivers but instead is a list of the 20 Most Talented Drivers in Cup Racing).
That leaves three spots and my picks are Denny Hamlin, a 3-time Cup race winner and two guys with single victories so far in Cup racing, Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers.
Notably Absent: Robby Gordon, Bobby Labonte, Martin Truex, Jr. and ???
I know Robby has tremendous car control and talent but what has he really done with it? As for Bobby, his winning percentage is 12th best of the drivers listed above, but he is with a bad team and on the down side of his awesome career.
So, now it's your turn and I look forward to reading your comments.
First, for those of you who don't already know, I think Tony Stewart has awesome talent as a driver but he also has awesome talent at being childish, boorish, mean-spirited, and a total jerk at times. While his complaints about the performance of Goodyear tires lately obviously have some merit, his delivery of that message could certainly be improved. What is ironic is that tires with a compound that is too hard actually favor the most talented drivers. Tony and Kyle and Biffle are perfect examples. They all can get more out of ill-handling race cars than 90% of the guys on the track so they all owe Goodyear gratitude for the tires provided for the Atlanta race.
But even more importantly, Smoke has at least five other complaints that should supersede any discussion of tires. While he hasn't gone public with some of these yet, I have a spy in his organization who has confirmed that these are the five topics about which he whines most frequently.
#1) He is now taller lying down than he is standing vertically.
#2) Because of his recent Cup winless streak, Mary Kay Cosmetics has discontinued the Home Depot Orange lipstick that he prefers.
#3) Subway is cutting commercial ties with him since he is now wider than most of their stores.
#4) Pillsbury has filed legal action against his use of the nickname "The Pillsbury Dough Girl" and
#5) He is now known to be only the second best driver on the JGR team.
