Was it just me, or was the Southern 500 really an uneven race? You had a bunch of wrecks and guys dominating at different times who ultimately didn't come that close to winning. Greg Biffle looked like he had it in his pocket and finished eighth. Martin Truex Jr. had his car up front for 61 laps but finished sixth. And Mark Martin kind of hung out for 320 laps, got the lead by staying out for the last couple of pit stops, then pulled away from his Hendrick teammate Jimmie Johnson to win his second race of the season.
(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
Should we talk about the Nationwide race Friday night? Kyle Busch got simultaneously unlucky and VERY lucky. Yes, leading 143 laps and having to pit due to a late race flat IS unlucky, but he noticed it under caution and finished 16th. If it happens under green he loses two laps, putting him maybe 25th. AND if he hits the wall and tears up the car he finishes in the 30s - a KILLER points day. As it was he got to scurry await with the NASCAR points lead in a golf cart.
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
So, I've been putting off posting any kind of updates for a while. First, there were only a couple of races run, then I thought I'd do one after the sixth race (you know - one-sixth of the way into the season). The sixth became the eighth, then the ninth, then I said I was DEFINITELY doing one after the tenth race.
It's not like I haven't been watching the races, either. Thanks to my new Comcast DVR I haven't missed one second of action. The Talladega race is on "Save until I delete", and I think I've watched the last five laps of that thing about twenty times. I'm loving being able to watch every race I want - though I admit so far the IndyCar races have been mostly watched on FF. (God - they need to do SOMETHING about those races, because they SUCK, especially now that F1 has suddenly become must-see-TV.)
A funny thing happened this Saturday. I love boxing and I was hugely looking forward to the Pacquiao-Hatton fight, but due to a family commitment I wasn't sure if I was going to catch the main event. (I've recently become acquianted with watching sports online and not paying for them. Shhhhhhh. Don't tell anyone.) I got home and couldn't find the fight anywhere but it sounded like it was over.
Sure enough, I went to ESPN.com and found that Pacquiao had knocked Hatton out. (Then I watched it on youtube - Hatton got KTFO'd if anyone ever has.) Unfortunately - and something I've gotten better about - I also JUST happened to catch a glance of the headline "Busch celebrates birthday with win". Aaaaaaargh.
But you know what? I watched the entire race, anyway.
That's what it has become for NASCAR - either give me Carl Edwards flying into the catchfence (and being thankfully OK) or give me Kyle Busch. Shrub's got 50 wins already. FIFTY. Is there any doubt he'll get six more wins in the next 52 weeks? If (when) he does, he will already be NINTH on the all-time list of winners in NASCAR. At age 24. The only names ahead of him when he does it? Petty. Pearson. Waltrip. Earnhardt. Martin. Gordon. Allison. Yarborough. FAST company.
Clearly the guy who Busch's career mirrors most closely in that group is Mark Martin, and I don't think it is any kind of stretch to say if you ranked those eight drivers Mark is clearly eighth. However, Mark has 91 wins - 36 at the Cup level. Busch has 50 wins - 15 at the Cup level. They both get into whatever they want and win - though Mark never had the kind of winning streak Kyle's been on at the Cup level he did win 32 out of 115 Busch starts - which is just over three season's worth of races. And Mark drove the #6 truck 14 times in 2006 to the tune of six wins and 11 top-four finishes, while at the same time finishing ninth in Cup points. So it's not like it's NEVER been done in all three series to some degree. Just not THIS degree.
And since you know I can't stand not to, let's talk points. In the interest of brevity, I'll just post the Sprint Cup points here now and I'll do the rest later in the week. A quick refresher...
POINTS THE JJD WAY 20 for a win, 16 for second, 14 for third, then 12-10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 down to 12th one point for the pole one point for leading a lap two points for leading the most laps
SPRINT CUP (DRIVERS) Rank Points 1 Jeff Gordon 98 2 Kyle Busch 87 3 Jimmie Johnson 80 4 Tony Stewart 77 5 Kurt Busch 72 6 Mark Martin 63 7 Denny Hamlin 57 Matt Kenseth 57 9 Greg Biffle 52 10 Clint Bowyer 48 11 Ryan Newman 45 12 Jeff Burton 42 13 Kevin Harvick 32 14 Carl Edwards 31 15 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 30 16 Brian Vickers 29 17 David Reutimann 25 18 Brad Keselowski 21 19 Kasey Kahne 20 20 Juan Pablo Montoya 19 21 A.J. Allmendinger 18 22 Marcos Ambrose 17 23 Martin Truex Jr. 16 24 Jamie McMurray 15 25 Sam Hornish Jr. 13 Bobby Labonte 13 27 Elliott Sadler 12 Scott Speed 12 29 David Ragan 11 30 Michael Waltrip 9 31 Reed Sorenson 7 32 Joey Logano 6 33 Casey Mears 5 34 Paul Menard 2 John Andretti 2 Joe Nemechek 2 Jeremy Mayfield 2 38 David Stremme 1 Robby Gordon 1 Dave Blaney 1 41 Regan Smith 0 David Gilliland 0 Travis Kvapil 0 Max Papis 0 Aric Almirola 0 Bill Elliott 0 Scott Riggs 0 Terry Labonte 0 Todd Bodine 0 Mike Bliss 0 Sterling Marlin 0 Tony Raines 0
A couple of notes...
- Brad Keselowski is 18th. He is behind plenty of guys without a win, but ahead of only one guy with a top-three finish this year. (That would be A.J. "Remember when we talked about me making the Chase?" Allmendinger.) You know where BK is in NASCAR's standings? 42nd! Behind Scott Riggs. Scott. Riggs. Riggs' best finish in 2009 is 25th - but NASCAR says he's had a "better" year than BK. I'm pretty sure if you could go back in time and give Tommy Baldwin the option to have BK's 2009 for his driver, he take it, don't you think?
(And don't tell me NASCAR's not saying Riggs' season is better than Brad's, OK? Because if they're NOT saying that, then there is NO point to the, uh, points. If first-place had a better season than second in points, then the same holds true for 41st and 42nd, does it not?)
- Last night I watched This Week in NASCAR (which featured Michael Waltrip telling Steve Byrnes "there are three types of people in this world: those who can count and those who can't." Not only did Byrnes NOT get it, he was kind of annoyed about it because Mikey wouldn't correct himself. High comedy.) Mikey also mentioned that he and Kevin Harvick are "neighbors", with Mikey 23rd and Harvick 24th in the standings. Unreal. Harvick's finished second and fourth in 2009. Mikey's best finish is seventh, and his next best is 13th. Again - who'd take Mikey's season so far over Harvick's? Not me.
Here is the deal with the team's points. I use the same system as the driver's points, but only the highest finishing driver counts, so if Hendrick sweeps the top four spots they get points for first, then whoever came in fifth gets points for fifth. That seems like the best way to balance it out from the one-car teams to the four and five-car teams.
Another thing - the 96 is considered a Yates Racing team, and the 47 is considered a Michael Waltrip Racing team. There was a lot of funny business with the points being sold for top-35 spots and mergers that weren't really mergers, but all of the MWR guys refer to the 47 as an MWR car, and the 96 is run out of the Yates shop.
SPRINT CUP (TEAMS) Rank Points 1 Hendrick Motorsports 159 2 Joe Gibbs Racing 121 3 Roush Fenway Racing 107 4 Stewart-Haas Racing 101 5 Richard Childress Racing 83 6 Penske Racing 79 7 Michael Waltrip Racing 47 8 Richard Petty Motorsports 43 9 Red Bull Racing Team 35 10 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing 34 11 Phoenix Racing 21 12 Yates Racing 15 13 Front Row Motorsports 2 Mayfield Motorsports 2 15 Robby Gordon Motorsports 1 NEMCO Motorsports 1 Prism Motorsports 1
It is a little surprising to see Hendrick so far ahead, but for all of Kyle Busch's winning Gibbs only has two other top-three finishes so far while Hendrick has three wins and seven total top-threes. Clearly Stewart-Haas is the big surprise this season, since people thought they would be a little more hit or miss coming out of the gate - they've only had one race where their best car was not in the top-eight. Conversely, Roush, Childress, and Gibbs have all had a race or two where they were complete non-factors.
Saturday, February 28, 2009, 09:13 AM EST
[General]
Richard Petty Motorsports needs a sponsor for A.J. Allmendinger's #44 after the first eight races. Hopefully they are tuned into the truth of their situation - there is almost NO way A.J. is going to be out of the top-35 after Bristol. Las Vegas qualifying pretty much sealed the deal on it.
Why should they know that, after only two races?
We know that the cut-off for making the top-35 after five races is roughly 350 owner points. Last year Jamie McMurray had 352 points after five races and was 36th, just four points behind Sam Hornish. In 2007, 350 points was roughly half-way between 35th (365 points) and 36th (331 points). Going further back, it holds true - if you were going to establish a "target" for a GOGH car, it would be 350 points after five races.
We also know it is EXCEEDINGLY difficult for a GOGH team to miss a start and make the top-35. Last year, no cars missed one of the first five races and were locked in after Bristol. In 2007, Joe Nemechek finished 9th, 14th, and 17th in his three best starts, had a DNF and a DNQ, but was solidly in the field in 26th. (Unfortunately, shortly his Bobby Ginn-owned team would shut down, but that's another story.) Johnny Sauter also made the top-35 with a DNQ - barely - thanks to a 16th and an 18th-place finish. If you can get a couple of top-20 finishes, you can afford to miss a race.
A.J. Allmendinger finished third at Daytona - that's worth 165 points, almost half-way to 350 on the strength of one finish. Right now he is sitting on 241 points, so if he just makes the field the next two races (he is in for Sunday), and finishes last all three races, he will have 343 points. If he finishes 30th in two races and misses the show for the third - he would be at 387 points PLUS whatever points he got for the race he DNQed. (NASCAR gives owners points to the DNQ cars, too.)
Another thing in A.J.'s and RPM's favor is that the GOGH cars are really taking each other out this year. After Las Vegas qualifying, only Tony Stewart's #39 and A.J.'s #44 have made all three races from outside the top-35. Part-time teams from Hendrick Motorsports, Germain Racing, and Furniture Row Racing made the field this week, knocking out Tommy Baldwin's #36, Doug Yates' #28, and Jeremy Mayfield's #41, who had all made the first two races on speed.
So - A.J. - you're IN. Tell that team of yours to put the numbers in some sponsor's face and get 'em to sign up for 2009! (And then don't wreck in qualifying.)
Here is the OWNER points after Las Vegas qualifying - ADJ. PTS. is the post-qualifying total, with 34 given to each qualifier (the reward for finishing 43rd) and the points given to the DNQs. 210 points should be the benchmark for 35th after three races. Cars in RED are GOGHers.
RK # OWNER POINTS STARTS ADJ. PTS.FOR 210 4 14 MARGARET HAAS 14 294 2 328 43rd 13 44 GEORGE GILLETT, JR 44 241 2 275 43rd 26 83 DIETRICH MATESCHITZ 83 180 2 214 43rd 27 5 MARY HENDRICK 5 168 2 202 40th 28 26 GEOFF SMITH 26 167 2 201 40th 29 77 BILL DAVIS 77 161 2 195 38th 30 28 JEFF MOORAD 28 146 2 177 DNQ 31 31 RICHARD CHILDRESS 31 146 2 180 33rd 32 36 TOMMY BALDWIN 36 143 2 159 DNQ 33 39 TONY STEWART 39 134 2 168 29th 34 7 ROBBY GORDON 7 134 2 168 29th 35 88 RICK HENDRICK 88 133 2 167 28th 36 8 CHIP GANASSI 8 131 2 165 28th 37 66 PHIL PARSONS 66 128 2 156 DNQ 38 20 JOE GIBBS 20 119 2 153 24th 39 41 JEREMY MAYFIELD 41 104 2 126 DNQ 40 98 MAX JONES 98 101 2 135 18th 41 78 BARNEY VISSER 78 100 1 134 17th 42 82 DIETRICH MATESCHITZ 82 98 2 132 17th 44 171 KEVIN BUCKLER 171 83 1 117 12th 45 187 ANDREA NEMECHEK 187 65 1 99 7th 46 37 BRAD JENKINS 37 44 0 57 DNQ 47 09 JAMES FINCH 09 44 0 63 DNQ 48 73 BARRY HAEFELE 73 35 0 57 DNQ 49 64 LARRY GUNSELMAN 64 32 0 66 1st 50 51 DAVID BEAN 51 29 0 39 DNQ
*Hendrick Motorsports #25 and Germain Racing's #13 made the Las Vegas race in their first attempts of 2009, so they have no points until Sunday.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009, 08:26 AM EST
[General]
I don't have time to do a full-blown points post, but suffice to say Matt Kenseth is way out in front of my Sprint Cup Series points. There were a couple of things I found interesting after plugging in the numbers from this weekend's races, though.
KYLE BUSCH NOTES - With his win Saturday in the Truck Series, Kyle became the second driver to win ten Cup races, Busch/Nationwide races, and Truck races. Greg Biffle has 14 Cup wins, 18 Busch/NW wins, and 16 Cup wins, while Kyle now has 12 Cup wins, 22 Busch/NW wins, and 10 Truck wins.
- If you count TOTAL all-time wins, there are eight drivers who are on a level above everyone else.
Richard Petty 200 David Pearson 106 Darrell Waltrip 97 Dale Earnhardt 97 Mark Martin 90 Bobby Allison 87 Jeff Gordon 86 Cale Yarborough 83
The next guy on the list is Rusty Wallace, with 55 total wins. Kyle Busch - all of 23 years old - ALREADY has *44* wins. He might pass Rusty by June. (Carl Edwards is at 42, btw.)
(No, I'm NOT saying Rusty's 55 wins - ALL in a Cup car - would be less or even equal of an accomplishment than if Kyle gets to, say, 60 wins in all three series. You would be an idiot to make the comparison. However, I would personally put Kyle's 44 TOTAL wins as his "Chasing the King's 200" total - which you already know if you've read my blog for any amount of time.)
RANDOM DRIVER COMPARISON - These two guys are peers, having raced each other pretty much every week for eleven years.
Driver A: 18 Cup wins, 22 Busch/NW wins, one Daytona 500 win, two Busch championships Driver B: 19 Cup wins, 24 Busch NW wins, one Daytona 500 win, one Winston Cup championship
I am fairly incredulous at both the lack of respect Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Driver A, obviously) and Matt Kenseth (Driver B) get AND the lack of respect Junior still gets even relative to Kenseth.
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