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Starter(I couldn't help notice that there was no parade of drivers to congratulate Mark in Victory Lane THIS week. Now he's just another guy who can win the championship.)
Amazingly, Chevrolet swept the top SEVEN spots Saturday night - the first time that had happened in 66 Sprint Cup races. Tony Stewart (who has the most points over the last five races) and Ryan Newman put their pseudo-Hendrick Chevys in third and fourth, and with Jeff Gordon fifth that put Hendrick or Hendrick-ish Chevys across the entire top five. (I'll do Dale Earnhardt Jr. a favor by not pointing out that he was by far the only Hendrick car off the pace Saturday night. D'oh! Too late.)
SPRINT CUP (DRIVERS)
Rank Points
1 Jeff Gordon 109
2 Jimmie Johnson 97
3 Tony Stewart 92
4 Kyle Busch 88
5 Mark Martin 84
6 Kurt Busch 72
7 Matt Kenseth 62
8 Greg Biffle 60
9 Ryan Newman 58
10 Denny Hamlin 57
11 Clint Bowyer 48
12 Jeff Burton 43
13 Kevin Harvick 34
14 Carl Edwards 31
15 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 30
16 Brian Vickers 29
17 Brad Keselowski 27
18 David Reutimann 25
Martin Truex Jr. 25
20 Kasey Kahne 21
From a team perspective 2009 is starting to look like 2007. Hendrick Motorsports dominated 2007 and Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson finished 1-2 in my points. *Looks up at the driver points - Mm Hmm.* So far in 2009 there has been only one race where a Hendrick car was not in the top-six. They have had eight races with at least one car in the top-three - the next closest are Joe Gibbs Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing with five top-threes.
SPRINT CUP (TEAMS)
Rank Points
1 Hendrick Motorsports 180
2 Joe Gibbs Racing 126
3 Roush Fenway Racing 116
Stewart-Haas Racing 116
5 Richard Childress Racing 85
6 Penske Racing 79
7 Michael Waltrip Racing 47
8 Richard Petty Motorsports 44
9 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing 43
10 Red Bull Racing Team 35
11 Phoenix Racing 21
12 Yates Racing 16
13 Front Row Motorsports 2
Mayfield Motorsports 2
15 Robby Gordon Motorsports 1
NEMCO Motorsports 1
Prism Motorsports 1
Instead, Matt Kenseth got the win - the 25th Busch/NW win of his career. A decent turnaround from tumbling don the backstretch at Talladega, no?
NATIONWIDE SERIES (DRIVERS)
Rank Points
1 Kyle Busch 124
2 Carl Edwards 112
3 Joey Logano 79
4 Jason Leffler 68
5 Brad Keselowski 65
6 David Ragan 63
7 Kevin Harvick 62
Matt Kenseth 62
9 Greg Biffle 57
10 Tony Stewart 38
11 Justin Allgaier 34
12 Brian Vickers 33
Clint Bowyer 33
14 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 27
15 Ryan Newman 26
16 Mike Bliss 23
Jeff Burton 23
18 Brendan Gaughan 19
19 Jason Keller 16
Steve Wallace 16
Michael McDowell 16
The better Nationwide battle is the one for the owners points. Kevin Harvick's #33 and Roush Fenway's #16 have put together solid seasons with multiple drivers behind the wheel, and Braun Racing's Nationwide-only effort has been typically solid in the first three months of the season.
NATIONWIDE SERIES (TEAMS)
Rank Car# Owner Points
1 18 Joe Gibbs Racing 124
Driver: Ky. Busch (10 starts)
2 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. 117
Drivers: K. Harvick (6 starts), R. Newman (2), T. Stewart (1), K. Bires (1)
3 16 Roush Fenway Racing 115
Drivers: M. Kenseth (5 starts), G. Biffle (4), R. Stenhouse Jr. (1)
4 60 Roush Fenway Racing 112
Driver: C. Edwards (10 starts)
5 20 Joe Gibbs Racing 80
Drivers: J. Logano (9 starts), D. Hamlin (1)
6 6 Roush Fenway Racing 76
Drivers: D. Ragan (8 starts), E. Darnell (2)
7 38 Braun Racing 68
Driver: J. Leffler (10 starts)
8 88 JR Motorsports 65
Driver: B. Keselowski (10 starts)
9 29 Richard Childress Racing 58
Drivers: J. Burton (6 starts), C. Bowyer (3), S. Leicht (1)
10 5 JR Motorsports 37
Drivers: D. Earnhardt Jr. (4 starts), M. Martin (1), S. Wimmer (1)
11 12 Penske Racing 34
Driver: J. Allgaier (10 starts)
12 32 Braun Racing 33
Drivers: B. Vickers (5 starts), B. Lamar (5)
13 1 Phoenix Racing 23
Driver: M. Bliss (10 starts)
14 80 Hendrick Motorsports 21
Driver: T. Stewart (1 start)
15 62 Rusty Wallace Inc. 19
Driver: B. Gaughan (10 starts)
Just a refresher on the Jack Ingram points. I think it would make sense to have a separate Nationwide championship for drivers who have never won a Cup-level race - the true AAA-level drivers. (Thanks to Brad Keselowski for eliminating himself from this, btw.) Basically, I take out the Kenseths and the Busches and reset the finishing order, so in this weekend's race Jason Leffler was the "winner" of the Jack Ingram division.
NATIONWIDE SERIES POINTS RESET ELIMINATING SPRINT CUP RACE WINNERS
Rank Points
1 Jason Leffler 1587
2 Joey Logano 1510
3 Jason Keller 1376
4 Steve Wallace 1319
5 Michael McDowell 1310
6 Justin Allgaier 1306
7 David Ragan 1296
8 Brendan Gaughan 1294
9 Scott Lagasse Jr. 1289
10 Mike Bliss 1274
11 Kenny Wallace 1237
12 Tony Raines 1208
13 Michael Annett 1160
14 Eric McClure 1043
15 Brandon Whitt 1039
This is the Jack Ingram points using the vastly superior JJD method. Joey Logano jumps ahead of Jason Leffler for the lead here - he is penalized using NASCAR's points for skipping the race at Las Vegas.
OFFICIAL JACK INGRAM CUP PRESENTED BY JJD STANDINGS
Rank Points
1 Joey Logano 130
2 Jason Leffler 123
3 David Ragan 105
4 Justin Allgaier 71
5 Steve Wallace 58
Michael McDowell 58
7 Jason Keller 56
Mike Bliss 56
9 Brendan Gaughan 54
10 Scott Lagasse Jr. 43
11 David Reutimann 40
12 Paul Menard 28
13 Tony Raines 25
14 Kenny Wallace 24
Erik Darnell 24