Powerhouse Teams Go Deeper Than You’d Think
Look at the Joe Gibbs Racing stable. Household names spill from its cupboard: Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano.Same with Hendrick Motorsports. Its roster boasts Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne. Seemingly, the organization is set for life. Literally. Gordon has a lifetime contract with Hendrick.
But every organization, even one as prolific as Hendrick, needs to stockpile talent. And those two are doing it from the ground, up.
Darrell Wallace Jr. heads up the list of names that will fill out primetime rides in the coming decade. Wallace, a current Joe Gibbs Racing developmental driver and former NASCAR Drive For Diversity standout, won last weekend at Greenville (S.C.) Pickens Speedway to take the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East points lead. Wallace’s stats scream "future star." In 24 starts in the NKNPSE, he has won six times – a 25 percent clip – and finished in the top 10 in all but five starts. Comparatively, here are the NASCAR K&N Pro Series winning percentages of a few well-known NASCAR national series drivers: Logano (41%), Martin Truex Jr. (8%) and Ryan Truex (23%). Ricky Craven, regarded as the most talented prospect in series history prior to Logano’s emergence, had a winning percentage of 27%.
Likewise, Hendrick strategically grooms for the future. Chase Elliott, son of 1988 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Bill Elliott, is competing in his second season of NKNPSE competition. Elliott sits second in the points behind Wallace, collecting top-10 finishes in each of the first two races of 2012. Ben Kennedy, third in NKNPSE points, has scored top 10s in the first two races this season with technical support from Hendrick Motorsports.
Ryan Gifford, a member of Rev Racing and of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program, opened his 2012 NKNPSE season with a third-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway and currently sits fourth in points.
The NASCAR Ladder System – it’s the way of the stock car world.
Richard Childress Racing young guns Austin and Ty Dillon continue their climb after making their NASCAR debut in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series. Austin became the youngest champion in NASCAR Camping World Truck Series history last season and has immediately found success at the next level – he’s third in points in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Brother Ty nabbed a runner-up finish at Martinsville, and is fourth in the truck points.
Similarly, Roush Fenway Racing has developed incredible talent. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wears the NNS crown, and may again this year. Trevor Bayne is a Daytona 500 champion, and a likely future star.
Second In Points, Junior’s Stock Continues To Gain Value
Dale Earnhardt Jr. without a doubt has turned the corner.The 135-race winless streak remains intact. But its end has become a case of when rather than if. Junior has become a story not for where he’s been but rather where he’s going – straight toward the top of the points standings.
A third-place finish at Martinsville Speedway, his third top five of the season, shot Earnhardt out of a third-place traffic jam and within six points of leader Greg Biffle. How well is Junior doing? Consider:
• He’s one of two drivers with three top-five and four top-four finishes. The other is Biffle.
• Three of the past four races have seen the No. 88 Chevrolet head the field.
• Earnhardt is the highest ranked of Hendrick Motorsports’ four drivers.
• His second-place ranking in points is his best at this stage of the season since 2008 – the year Junior won his last race at Michigan International Speedway.
Martinsville, a track where Earnhardt collected his fourth consecutive top-10 finish, is indicative of the progress his Steve Letarte-led team has made. He’s passing – and passing champions like teammate Jeff Gordon.
That begs a pretty obvious question: The last time Earnhardt held the points lead was after the Talladega Superspeedway race on Oct. 3, 2004. The stay was short-lived, as a mid-week 25-point penalty knocked him from the top spot.
Newman Joins Party As SHR Continues To Steamroll
For Stewart-Haas Racing, the beat goes on.Ryan Newman’s Sunday victory at Martinsville Speedway was the organization’s third of the 2012 season and eighth trip to Victory Lane over the past 16 races.
Batting .500 ain’t bad – especially in an environment as competitive as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
It’s fair to say SHR has few – if any – weaknesses. The team’s recent run of victories includes wins on short track (two), mile, intermediate tracks (five) and a two-mile layout.
Newman had been winless since last summer’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Teammate Tony Stewart had been doing the heavy lifting, a point not lost on Newman, who collected his 16th victory.
"Just glad I finally contributed," said Newman, smiling, following the race.
Heading to Texas Motor Speedway, Stewart, winner of last November’s Texas race, stands third in points. Newman, also a Texas winner, is eighth.
Michael Waltrip Racing’s Rise Is No Overnight Success
Enjoying what’s on track to be the best season of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career, Martin Truex Jr. will tell you that the fortunes of Michael Waltrip Racing didn’t change overnight – or over the winter.The trip from the middle of the pack has been a process, ongoing but steadily in the right direction.
Truex ended the 2011 season, in which he finished 18th in the standings, with top-10 finishes in five of his last six races. Too late to make the Chase but laying the foundation for a fast start in 2012, not only for Truex but teammates Clint Bowyer, Mark Martin and Brian Vickers.
Truex is one of three drivers with four top-10 finishes. He’s in a logjam of four – Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick are the others – sharing third through sixth, 12 points behind leader Greg Biffle. Bowyer is ninth in the standings. All three MWR entries – including the No. 55 Toyota thus far shared by Martin and Vickers – are among the top 10 in owners’ championship points.
"I felt really good about where we were as a team at the end of last season," said Truex, whose only series victory came in 2007. He ticks off a number of organizational changes including the hiring of Scott Miller, the team’s executive vice president of competition, Bowyer and crew chief Brian Pattie. "It wasn't just one thing that we did. It was a lot of changes – a lot of work by a lot of people through last year – to get where we were at the end of last year. I feel like the stuff that we did in the off-season bringing in those guys, I think those are the things that are going to take us into the future."
For Some, ‘Wild Card’ Scenario Already Looms Large
NSCS championship hopes are very much alive for many – some who weren’t among pre-season favorites to capture the sport’s biggest prize.For others, the Easter weekend pause means reflection on what so far hasn’t been and may not be.
Qualifying for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup™ on points has become a long shot, especially for some big names outside the current top 20. They’ll head to Texas with two goals in mind: win races and reach a top-20 ranking to ensure eligibility for one of two "wild card" berths in the postseason.
Four names stand out, topped by Jeff Gordon. The four-time champion, a three-time winner in 2011, is 21st with a single top-10 finish. Jamie McMurray, winner of both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 two years ago, is 24th. Former champion Kurt Busch is 26th followed by Kasey Kahne, Hendrick Motorsports’ newest driver who is 31st without a top 10 and stung by two DNFs.
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