Coming out of the Daytona 500 with a strong showing is a bit like the Washington Nationals scoring an opening week sweep in baseball: you know not to read a whole lot into it. While props must be given for good Speed Week performances, it’s safe to say the rankings will go through dramatic shifts, and that more of the drivers you expect to see at the top will be.
For more rankings, visit www.racetalkradio.com- where yours truly is a voting member of a media panel.
The Big 10
10. Kasey Kahne- Before a late race mishap, Kahne looked every bit the contender I thought he’d be. A good downforce track racer, Auto Club should right the ship for the Bud Machine.
9. Martin Truex, Jr.- Perhaps the apocalypse is near, or maybe Hell froze over. Suffice it to say few ever envisioned two, TWO Michael Waltrip cars in the top ten. I could have given this spot to teammate David Reutimann, but, in reality, I felt Truex has the better day.
8. Jimmie Johnson- I expect a divided opinion here. Some will say I’m being too harsh in response to Jimmie’s bad luck. Others will say no one finishing the first race of the season in 35th place deserves to be here. I won’t win this one.
7. Kurt Busch- He could of been a contender. The car was there, the talent was there, but one false move….and your in the back, Jack.
6. Juan Pablo Montoya- Solid Speed Weeks performances have this team operating from a position of strength. EGR has to be feeling good heading into Auto Club.
5. Greg Biffle- Kudos to Biff for the winning push. The Roush Gang starts 2010 in fine fashion with Biffle the finest.
4. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.- Good ahead, Junior haters, flame me if you want, I stand behind the pick. A second place finish is worthy of props. An outside front start and a runner-up finish? This is starting your season right.
3. Jamie Mc Murray- Perhaps I should rank the race winner
higher. I’d concede that. Is Jamie Mac the Cinderella story of 2010? Let’s just take that one race at a time for now.
2. Clint Bowyer- He looked like a winner for much of this race. Number RCR among those hating the new approach to the green/ white/ checkered finishes.
1. Kevin Harvick- To this observer, this is the driver who benefitted most from opening week. The standings just don’t look right without some good representation by Richard Childress Racing. It looks like they’ve got something going right this time.
Ready To Strike
Mark Martin was virtually invisible. Better that than make headlines for crashing out on lap eight…Jeff Burton is another RCR racer with a solid Daytona day. Not known for his plate racing, this is practically a win by J.B. stanards…based on his top ten, Carl Edwards could very well be back on top soon…an argument can be made that David Reutimann is worthy of a higher ranking. Ditto for Matt Kenseth, who slipped into the top ten at race’s end.
Distant Thunder
Seriously, do you think Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch will be down very long? They may be “Exhibit A” for the funkiness of plate racing…A.J. Allmendinger looked like an “upset special” ready to happen. He just needs to close the deal…where do you think Ryan Newman will really be by season’s end?…Joey Logano finished a quantum leap better than last season.
PHOTO CREDITS- Kasey Kahne by Geoff Burke, Jamie Mc Murray by Rusty Jarrett. Photos courtesy of Getty Images for NASCAR.
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Was great to see Kasey win his duel race, looks like maybe changing to Fords might be a good thing for him. Lets hope so I wold love to see Kasey win a championship.
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