UPDATE: I haven't had time to post a proper points update since Richmond, but it's all for good. I took a vacation for the first time in FOREVER, getting on a plane for non-work reasons for the first time since 2003, and the Memorial Day holiday weekend truncated my work schedule for the week. Here's an abbreviated post to update the points, with a familiar name at the top of a LOT of these lists.
I should be able to get back into the swing of things next week. As always, leave a comment! SPRINT CUP (DRIVERS) Rank Points LW 1 Kyle Busch 150 1 2 Carl Edwards 110 2 3 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 99 3 4 Denny Hamlin 86 4 5 Jeff Burton 85 5 6 Jeff Gordon 81 9 7 Jimmie Johnson 77 5 8 Tony Stewart 73 7 9 Clint Bowyer 72 7 10 Greg Biffle 67 11 11 Ryan Newman 54 10 12 Kasey Kahne 53 15 13 Kevin Harvick 50 11 14 Matt Kenseth 42 13 15 Mark Martin 34 14 16 David Ragan 33 16 17 Martin Truex Jr. 25 17 18 Kurt Busch 23 18 19 Brian Vickers 20 19 20 Travis Kvapil 19 19
SPRINT CUP (TEAMS) Rank Points 1 Joe Gibbs Racing 202 2 Hendrick Motorsports 172 3 Roush Fenway Racing 166 4 Richard Childress Racing 127 5 Penske Racing 59 6 Gillett Evernham Motorsports 55 7 Dale Earnhardt Inc. 50 8 Chip Ganassi Racing 30 9 Yates Racing 24 10 Red Bull Racing Team 21 11 Robby Gordon Motorsports 8 Petty Enterprises 8 Michael Waltrip Racing 8 14 Bill Davis Racing 7 15 Haas CNC Racing 2 16 Front Row Motorsports 1 Furniture Row Racing 1 Hall of Fame Racing 1
JJD's IMPROVED TOP-35 RULE (including Haas CNC penalties) 31 Michael Waltrip 403 - 24th* 32 A.J. Allmendinger 393 - 28th 33 Paul Menard 391 - 22nd 34 Robby Gordon 389 - 29th 35 Reed Sorenson 362 - 42nd 36 Scott Riggs 347 - 26th 37 Michael McDowell 335 - 34th 38 CGR's #40 (Jeremy Mayfield) 313 - 32nd 39 Joe Nemechek 299 - 40th 40 Kyle Petty 275 - 44th *Result at Phoenix, which is dropped after the race at Dover. A higher finish = more points to replace to stay in top-35.
NATIONWIDE SERIES Rank Points LW 1 Kyle Busch 150 1 2 Clint Bowyer 117 2 3 Tony Stewart 97 3 4 Carl Edwards 81 4 5 Kevin Harvick 80 5 6 Denny Hamlin 65 8 7 Brad Keselowski 60 9 8 David Stremme 58 6 9 David Reutimann 55 7 10 David Ragan 49 10 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 49 15 12 Jeff Burton 46 12 13 Mike Bliss 42 11 14 Jason Leffler 38 13 15 Scott Wimmer 37 13 16 Brian Vickers 35 18 17 Matt Kenseth 33 16 18 Greg Biffle 30 17 19 Kasey Kahne 24 18 20 Steve Wallace 23 18 Bobby Labonte 23 18 Mark Martin 23 18
NATIONWIDE SERIES (TEAMS) Rank Car# Owner Points 1 20 Joe Gibbs Racing 178 Drivers: T. Stewart (6 starts), D. Hamlin (4), Ky. Busch (3) 2 2 Richard Childress Racing 117 Driver: C. Bowyer (13 starts) 3 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. 85 Drivers: K. Harvick (10 starts), C. Gale (2), R. Hornaday (1) 4 29 Richard Childress Racing 83 Drivers: J. Burton (7 starts), S. Wimmer (5) 5 60 Roush Fenway Racing 81 Driver: C. Edwards (13 starts) 6 32 Braun Racing 77 Drivers: Ky. Busch(5 starts), D. Hamlin (3), B. Vickers (3), J. Buescher (1), M. Jourdain (1) 7 18 Joe Gibbs Racing 67 Driver: Ky. Busch (5 starts) 8 5 JR Motorsports 63 Drivers: D. Earnhardt Jr. (5 starts), L. Cassill (3), M. Martin (2), M. Truex Jr. (1), A. Fernandez (1), J. Johnson (1) 9 88 JR Motorsports 60 Driver: B. Keselowski (13 starts) 10 64 Rusty Wallace Inc. 58 Driver: D. Stremme (12 starts), M. Papis (1) 11 99 Michael Waltrip Racing 55 Driver: D. Reutimann (13 starts) 12 9 Gillett Evernham Motorsports 50 Drivers: K. Kahne (6 starts), P. Carpentier (3), C. Miller (3), E. Sadler (1) 13 6 Roush Fenway Racing 49 Driver: D. Ragan (13 starts) 14 16 Roush Fenway Racing 43 Drivers: G. Biffle (5 starts), J. McMurray (3), C. Braun (2) 15 17 Roush Fenway Racing 42 Drivers: M. Kenseth (4 starts), J. McMurray (1), E. Darnell (1)
NATIONWIDE SERIES POINTS RESET ELIMINATING SPRINT CUP RACE WINNERS Rank Points 1 David Reutimann 1996 2 David Ragan 1984 3 Brad Keselowski 1950 4 Mike Bliss 1930 5 Jason Leffler 1822 6 Mike Wallace 1752 7 David Stremme 1737 8 Jason Keller 1686 9 Steve Wallace 1684 10 Marcos Ambrose 1649 11 Bobby Hamilton Jr. 1613 12 Kelly Bires 1595 13 Brad Coleman 1530 14 Kenny Wallace 1407 15 Kevin Lepage 1278
OFFICIAL JACK INGRAM CUP PRESENTED BY JJD STANDINGS Rank Points 1 David Ragan 139 2 David Reutimann 134 3 Brad Keselowski 128 4 David Stremme 113 5 Mike Bliss 112 6 Jason Leffler 95 7 Scott Wimmer 64 8 Steve Wallace 59 9 Marcos Ambrose 51 10 Mike Wallace 50 11 Kelly Bires 48 12 Jason Keller 47 Bobby Hamilton Jr. 47 14 Dario Franchitti 44 15 Patrick Carpentier 35
CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES Rank Points LW 1 Kyle Busch 70 1 2 Ron Hornaday 64 2 3 Todd Bodine 61 4 4 Johnny Benson 52 5 5 Matt Crafton 50 3 6 Mike Skinner 45 9 7 Rick Crawford 41 6 Chad McCumbee 41 6 9 David Starr 40 14 10 Terry Cook 38 12
MANUFACTURERS Rank Points LW 1 Toyota 569 1
2 Chevrolet 540 2
3 Ford 404 3
4 Dodge 232 4
You were missed. Glad you got to take a real vacation. Would have liked to read your thoughts about the Denny-Brad-Jr. incident, though. I know, I know, works calls - you are needed :)
Denny and Dale Jr. to fight at Eldora..Oh wait Jr. didn't want to play in the dirt. Oh sorry J.J. good points run down...Still think I should be first..LOL..
Would have liked to read your thoughts about the Denny-Brad-Jr. incident
I *did* see that. I can't believe what a baby Denny has been lately, although I could see him and Tony feeling a special kind of pressure with Kyle jumping into a Gibbs car and winning everything in sight. Still, it's not like Denny is having a bad year or anything.
I think Denny is lucky he was in the 20 and not in a different car, because I'm sure NASCAR would have parked him for tearing up BK's bumper if he wasn't trying to continue that winning streak. I *do* think there is a little bit of justification for Denny feeling like BK overstepped himself by hitting him under caution, but not enough to do what he did.
I wish we could've heard Junior's radio during all that. Denny should send him a check.
JJD- Glad you got a vacation! No surprise Dodge is at the bottom of the heap, although maybe with Kasey winning and Kurt and Sam showing some life they are getting the handle on the car...
No surprise Dodge is at the bottom of the heap, although maybe with Kasey winning and Kurt and Sam showing some life they are getting the handle on the car...
I wonder how much of their problems Dodge would put on Penske, CGR, and GEM, and vice-versa. It's odd to think that all of the makes have a real strong anchor team now that Toyota is with Gibbs, but Dodge, even with their long-standing relationships with those teams (especially Penske and Ganassi - with their IRL success) has never quite been able to get up there consistently.
I think it's Kyle Petty's fault that Dodge hasn't been more successful. Don't have any evidence, just think his pitiful driving ability brings down the morale of the rest.
I'd rather the Nextel Cup champion be decided over the entire season, but I think if you are going to have a Chase for the Nextel Cup, you should break out the twelve guys and have them scored separately, so I'm tracking the points both ways.
I also strongly advocate a NCAA football playoff, so there will be some posts about that showing up here, although I have written this blog for over a year and haven't gone there yet.
I can be reached via e-mail or AIM at jayjaydean at gmail dot com.
