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StarterTo me, Kyle's clearly been THE story of he season. With seven Cup wins, he's got a decent chance of becoming the 16th driver to win ten races in a season since 1972. He's got a pretty good chance at challenging the "modern era"-record of 13 wins in a season. He's ALREADY tied Kevin Harvick's 'modern era"-record for wins in all of the NASCAR series with 14, and if he wins four more times, with 18 wins he would have reached a level that has been achieved only five times in the history of NASCAR.
Kyle is also leading the JJD points in both Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series. If he wins both titles he would be the first driver to win two in a season. The closest I've ever come to that happening was Kevin Harvick in 2006, when he finished fourth in Cup and first in the Busch Series. In 2005, Greg Biffle finished second in Cup and third in the Busch Series.
SPRINT CUP (DRIVERS)
Rank Points LW
1 Kyle Busch 239 1
2 Carl Edwards 162 2
3 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 142 3
4 Jimmie Johnson 127 4
5 Jeff Gordon 112 5
6 Denny Hamlin 108 6
7 Matt Kenseth 103 9
8 Greg Biffle 102 11
Tony Stewart 102 10
10 Jeff Burton 101 7
Kasey Kahne 101 7
12 Clint Bowyer 88 12
13 Kevin Harvick 67 15
14 Ryan Newman 64 13
15 Kurt Busch 62 13
16 Brian Vickers 61 16
17 David Ragan 54 17
18 Martin Truex Jr. 51 18
19 Mark Martin 40 19
20 Elliott Sadler 32 21
As dominating as Joe Gibbs Racing has been in 2008, mostly due to Kyle Busch, they aren't quite up to the level that Hendrick Motorsports was in 2007. Last year at this time, HMS had a nearly 100-point lead over then second-place JGR.
SPRINT CUP (TEAMS)
Rank Points
1 Joe Gibbs Racing 324
2 Hendrick Motorsports 266
3 Roush Fenway Racing 244
4 Richard Childress Racing 175
5 Gillett Evernham Motorsports 116
6 Penske Racing 109
7 Dale Earnhardt Inc. 86
8 Red Bull Racing Team 62
9 Yates Racing 48
10 Chip Ganassi Racing 47
11 Michael Waltrip Racing 26
12 Robby Gordon Motorsports 18
13 Hall of Fame Racing 15
14 Petty Enterprises 13
15 Bill Davis Racing 12
16 Haas CNC Racing 3
17 Furniture Row Racing 2
18 Front Row Motorsports 1
No Fear Racing 1
NATIONWIDE SERIES
Rank Points LW
1 Kyle Busch 209 1
2 Clint Bowyer 185 2
3 Carl Edwards 156 5
4 Brad Keselowski 147 4
5 Denny Hamlin 143 3
6 Tony Stewart 124 6
7 David Reutimann 113 7
8 David Stremme 98 8
9 Kevin Harvick 93 9
10 David Ragan 92 10
11 Scott Wimmer 77 11
12 Mike Bliss 66 12
Joey Logano 66 16
14 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 64 13
15 Jason Leffler 54 19
16 Greg Biffle 52 14
17 Jeff Burton 51 15
18 Brian Vickers 47 17
19 Mike Wallace 46 18
20 Kasey Kahne 35 20
While the #20 Camry continues to dominate the Nationwide Series, JR Motorsports' #88 team is having a somewhat underappreciated season. I feel like the real place to evaluate Nationwide drivers in via the owners points, because with so many drivers being part-time in the series it skews the drivers standings toward the guys who run every race. (A good example is Brad Coleman, who is 16th in drivers points. The team, however, is 24th in owners points, 23rd out of 35 teams that have attempted every race.) After Dover the 88 team was tenth in my owners points, but with several strong performances they have moved up to fifth in points, by far the highest-ranked team that does not use any Cup drivers.
NATIONWIDE SERIES (TEAMS)
Rank Car# Owner Points
1 20 Joe Gibbs Racing 294
Drivers: T. Stewart (8 starts), D. Hamlin (5), J. Logano (5), Ky. Busch (3)
2 2 Richard Childress Racing 185
Driver: C. Bowyer (21 starts)
3 60 Roush Fenway Racing 156
Driver: C. Edwards (21 starts)
4 18 Joe Gibbs Racing 148
Driver: Ky. Busch (9 starts), D. Hamlin (1)
5 88 JR Motorsports 147
Driver: B. Keselowski (21 starts)
6 29 Richard Childress Racing 128
Drivers: S. Wimmer (12 starts), S. Wimmer (9)
7 32 Braun Racing 117
Drivers: Ky. Busch (7 starts), D. Hamlin (5), B. Vickers (4), J. Buescher (4), M. Jourdain (1)
8 99 Michael Waltrip Racing 113
Driver: D. Reutimann (21 starts)
9 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. 100
Drivers: K. Harvick (14 starts), C. Gale (6), R. Hornaday (1)
10 64 Rusty Wallace Inc. 98
Driver: D. Stremme (20 starts), M. Papis (1)
11 5 JR Motorsports 97
Drivers: L. Cassill (10 starts), D. Earnhardt Jr. (6), M. Martin (2), M. Truex Jr. (1), A. Fernandez (1),
J. Johnson (1)
12 6 Roush Fenway Racing 92
Driver: D. Ragan (21 starts)
13 16 Roush Fenway Racing 65
Drivers: G. Biffle (9 starts), C. Braun (4), J. McMurray (3)
14 9 Gillett Evernham Motorsports 64
Drivers: K. Kahne (8 starts), C. Miller (7), P. Carpentier (4), E. Sadler (2)
15 38 Braun Racing 54
Drivers: J. Leffler (21 starts)
NATIONWIDE SERIES POINTS RESET ELIMINATING SPRINT CUP RACE WINNERS
Rank Points
1 Brad Keselowski 3325
2 David Reutimann 3238
3 David Ragan 3200
4 Mike Bliss 3057
5 Mike Wallace 2880
6 David Stremme 2860
7 Jason Keller 2833
8 Jason Leffler 2782
9 Marcos Ambrose 2677
10 Steve Wallace 2659
11 Kelly Bires 2617
12 Bobby Hamilton Jr. 2592
13 Brad Coleman 2370
14 Kenny Wallace 2283
15 Scott Wimmer 1989
Rank Points
1 Brad Keselowski 254
2 David Reutimann 227
3 David Ragan 218
4 David Stremme 174
5 Mike Bliss 170
6 Scott Wimmer 132
7 Jason Leffler 115
8 Mike Wallace 97
9 Jason Keller 95
10 Joey Logano 86
11 Kelly Bires 77
12 Steve Wallace 75
13 Marcos Ambrose 71
14 Bobby Hamilton Jr. 63
15 Dario Franchitti 53
Kyle Busch isn't leading the Craftsman Truck Series standings, but he left quite an impression on them. NASCAR has three drivers separated by five points, but in my standings Matt Crafton is quite a bit behind in third. What's the difference? On green/white/checkered finishes Kyle's dumped both Ron Hornaday (at Michigan) and Johnny Benson (at Martinsville), costing each of those drivers roughly 80 points as a result.
CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES
Rank Points LW
1 Johnny Benson 136 2
2 Ron Hornaday 135 1
3 Matt Crafton 111 4
4 Kyle Busch 104 5
5 Todd Bodine 98 3
6 Erik Darnell 82 6
7 Mike Skinner 80 7
8 Jack Sprague 71 8
9 David Starr 68 10
10 Rick Crawford 65 9
It will be interesting to see if there is an impact from NASCAR's decision to make Toyota drop some horsepower from their Nationwide Series engines. Taken individually, Toyota does lead all three of the series in my manufacturer's points, but they do have their biggest advantage (+59 points) in the Nationwide Series. (Compared to +39 in Cup and +26 in trucks.)
MANUFACTURERS
Rank Points LW
1 Toyota 995 1
2 Chevrolet 871 2
3 Ford 670 3
4 Dodge 371 4