With thirteen races now completed, it is clear which drivers were the pleasant surprises of the 2009 Sprint Cup season. Making NASCAR news is a small group of top-ranking drivers. Drivers, Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman, are two that have went beyond preseason expectations. One of the Michael Waltrip Racing drivers David Reutimann, a recent winner at the Lowe's Motor Speedway, is having an amazing season. He is within striking distance of the top twelve.Although a part-time driver in the Sprint Cup, Brad Keselowski has become a first-time winner in 2009. He won at Talladega driving for Phoenix Racing, and independent team owned by James Finch.There were other pleasant surprises, including the improvement of Juan Pablo Montoya and Sam Hornish Jr over their 2008 season performances.Now, there have also been disappointments in NASCAR, both with drivers and teams that have had less than stellar scores.Popular racer Dale Earnhardt Jr takes the first position on the list of disappointments for 2009. When Earnhardt Jr first arrived at Hendrick Motorsports in 2008, he was the most promising of the four-car outfit. Unfortunately, as the season commenced, competing teams gained in ranking, and Earnhardt Jr started to fall behind. Neither he nor Tony Eury Jr have managed to recapture the top-rated performance of the early months of the 2008 race season. Consequently, Rick Hendrick has replaced crew chief Eury Jr with Lance McGrew. McGrew will serve as the interim crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr.Even when his performance is great, Earnhardt Jr is trying to hold up to serious expectations;when he struggles, it is almost impossible to meet them. NASCAR's top driver is in a race to improve his performance to avoid continued negative press.Kevin Harvick met qualification for the Chase for the Championship in every season from 2006 to 2008 and won six races in that span. Now, he is struggling to salvage what's left of a season that has proved just about as bad as his 2002 sophomore slump. At this point, Harvick, who hasn't had a victory since the 2007 Daytona 500, has little chance of garnering a fourth appearance in the Chase for the Championship.Harvick is not the only driver from his stable that is failing to hold up to earlier expectations. Fellow members of the Richard Childress Racing team have not fared much better over the last year, especially Clint Bowyer. While Bowyer did manage a fantastic start to the 2009 season, he has finished below the top ten on the previous seven races before the Pocono 500. Jeff Burton has kept up his consistency, but it is clear that the team's performance as a whole is lower . Casey Mears had a weak start to the racing season, but he's obtained two top ten finishes in the last four races.As poor as the performances of Harvick and Earnhardt Jr were, Roush Fenway Racing driver David Ragan gives them a run for their money. The NASCAR news circuit continues with negative reports. Ragan was perhaps the most improved driver in 2008, but he has fallen back into obscurity. After finishing in thirteenth place in the championships for 2008, the buzz among NASCAR news analysts held that Ragan would be one of possibly twelve drivers competing for the Spring Cup. The unfortunate part is that Ragan has only complete one race out of thirteen in the top ten. There must be some problem with the team.For Carl Edwards, a teammate of Ragan, the 2008 season was marked by a Sprint series-high nine races. After thirteen races, Edwards has failed to perform his race-winning celebratory back flip. Regardless of the fact that Edwards is currently numbered among the top twelve in the championship ratings, most enthusiasts were expecting more from him and others in the No. 99 group.
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With thirteen races now completed, it is clear which drivers were the pleasant surprises of the 2009 Sprint Cup season. Making NASCAR news is a small group of top-ranking drivers. Drivers, Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman, are two that have went beyond preseason expectations. One of the Michael Waltrip Racing drivers David Reutimann, a recent winner at the Lowe's Motor Speedway, is having an amazing season. He is within striking distance of the top twelve. Although a part-time driver in the Sprint ...
I, like many others, am drawn to the spectacle of NASCAR racing and keep up on NASCAR news items when I can. Writing about NASCAR offers some adde dimensions.
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