13 races done...

Bucky Badger

Bucky Badger

Go Kyle Go
Joined
May 11, 2003
Messages
14,461
Points
783
Location
Madison WI
Pick ONE driver that is
1. better than you expected
2. Worse than you expected
3. right where you thought he would be

Kurt Busch
Joey Lagano
Robbie Gordon


1 +1 Tony Stewart 1853 Leader 13 0 0 6 9 3,220,320
2 -1 Jeff Gordon 1807 -46 13 0 1 6 8 2,817,940
3 +1 Jimmie Johnson 1789 -64 13 0 2 6 8 2,888,790
4 -1 Kurt Busch 1762 -91 13 0 1 4 7 1,983,110
5 +2 Ryan Newman 1680 -173 13 1 0 4 7 2,202,640
6 -- Kyle Busch 1634 -219 13 1 3 4 5 2,781,800
7 -2 Denny Hamlin 1630 -223 13 0 0 2 4 1,839,090
8 +1 Matt Kenseth 1625 -228 13 1 2 4 6 3,743,810
9 +1 Greg Biffle 1618 -235 13 0 0 4 7 2,029,630
10 -2 Jeff Burton 1587 -266 13 0 0 2 5 2,205,320
11 -- Carl Edwards 1582 -271 13 0 0 2 6 2,236,870
12 -- Mark Martin 1567 -286 13 3 2 3 7 1,995,060

13 -- David Reutimann 1536 -317 13 2 1 2 3 2,128,890
14 +1 Kasey Kahne 1501 -352 13 0 0 1 4 2,051,710
15 -1 Juan Montoya 1475 -378 13 1 0 0 4 1,908,720
16 +1 Clint Bowyer 1449 -404 13 0 0 3 4 1,981,530
17 -1 Brian Vickers 1436 -417 13 2 0 2 5 1,861,090
18 +1 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1352 -501 13 0 0 1 3 1,765,590
19 -1 Martin Truex Jr. 1338 -515 13 1 0 0 3 1,895,640
20 -- Marcos Ambrose 1319 -534 13 0 0 1 2 1,587,240
21 +1 Casey Mears 1306 -547 13 0 0 0 2 1,594,410
22 -1 Jamie McMurray 1289 -564 13 0 0 0 3 1,673,890
23 +2 Joey Logano* 1263 -590 13 0 0 0 3 2,093,830
24 -1 Kevin Harvick 1261 -592 13 0 0 2 2 2,900,840
25 -1 Reed Sorenson 1259 -594 13 0 0 0 1 1,883,380
26 +4 Sam Hornish Jr. 1237 -616 13 0 0 0 2 1,740,210
27 +1 Elliott Sadler 1216 -637 13 0 0 1 1 1,678,710
28 -1 Bobby Labonte 1213 -640 13 0 0 1 1 1,829,380
29 -3 David Stremme 1206 -647 13 0 0 0 0 1,814,110
30 -1 A.J. Allmendinger 1202 -651 13 0 0 1 2 1,864,810
31 +1 David Ragan 1180 -673 13 0 0 0 1 1,560,090
32 -1 Michael Waltrip 1153 -700 13 0 0 0 1 1,526,960
33 -- Paul Menard 1100 -753 13 0 0 0 0 1,765,250
34 -- Robby Gordon 1031 -822 13 0 0 1 1 1,646,620
35 -- Scott Speed* 917 -936 12 0 0 1 1 1,380,290
36 -- John Andretti 804 -1049 11 0 0 0 0 1,174,290
37 -- David Gilliland 770 -1083 12 0 0 0 0 991,199
 
1) Reutiman

2) David Ragan

3)Michael Waltrip
 
Better: Tony Stewart. I figured he'd be strong eventually, but not this quick.

Worse: Earnhardt. Talk about dreadful. I didn't think he'd be champ material, but figured he'd do a lot better than he is.

Where he should be: Mikey Waltrip. Yup, near the back on a regular basis. He needs to just step away (should have a while back) and just run the team.
 
Better than expected: Ryan Newman. I was expecting Stewart to do well, but I didn't think Newman would be secure inside the top 12. Honorable mention: SKurt Busch.

Worse than expected: Martin Truex, Jr. His results speak for themselves. And I can't put all the blame on EGR because Montoya's had several good runs and a lot of races he would've run better had it not been for blown Goodyears. Honorable mention: Kevin Harvick... WTF man? :mad:

Right where I expected: Joey Logano. He's showing improvement every single week. Honorable mention: The Old Man. :)
 
better: 00 car

worse: 88 car

where I thought: 20 car

man I am surprised at how well the double 00 has been, having won a race now for MWR. congrats to Mike for finaly breaking through, not a whole lot of drivers have owned a car that won a race while they were also still active.

I thought last season would be the learning curve for the 88 team & that this year they'd come out of the box hard but they've performed the same as Jr has run since 05, fast at the plate tracks & terrible everywhere else just about.

my opinion on Logano has always been that he needed a full Nationwide season before sticking him in the 20 car but i understand that with Tony's departure they needed someone in that car & he was the only candidate. they couldn't let the car sit or stick a bum in there for the 09 run while Logano was being trained.

P.S. what is the deal with Mark Davis? why are they not running him fulltime in either the 20, 18 or 32?
 
Better: Joey Logano
Worse: Martin Truex, Jr.
Where I thought: Jimmy Johnson(copout)

I knew Logano would get good, but he is improving greatly from week to week. I wouldn't be shocked to see him get win #1 this year.

I was expecting a breakout year from Truex. He has been pretty meh though.

Jimmie Johnson is Jimmie Johnson, doing his thing.

Toyota keeps getting better, Chevy is Chevy(for how much longer is anyones guess). Dodge's new engine package has alot of potential. Ford seems to be losing ground pretty quick. RFR, the only real marketable Ford team left(Wood Brothers scaling further down, Labonte not doing much with the #96, and Yates throwing scrubs Kvapil and Menard out there to start they year hasnt helped), has for the most part looked like crap this year.
 
better: Tie Stewart/Newman

worse: Tie between Jr and Harvick

where I thought: Johnson. Unless any part of the J.J./Knaus/Hendrick equation change in any way, he can never be counted out to win races in any part of the season.
 
Better - Toss-up between Reutimann and Kurt Busch
Worse - Kevin Harvick
Expected - Casey Mears
 
Better: Kurt Busch The old blue duece seems to be back and a contender this year! I didn't see that coming!

Worse: David Ragan I really expected him to have a break out year and score his first win, based on how he was improving last year. Seems as though he has taken a step back.

No surprise: Dale Jr. I didn't expect anything out of him, therefore, I am not disapointed in the least.
 
1. better than you expected - Reutimann
2. Worse than you expected - Harvick
3. right where you thought he would be - Ragan, Mears
 
Bucky Badger said:
Pick ONE driver that is
1. better than you expected
2. Worse than you expected
3. right where you thought he would be
Click to expand...

1. Mark Martin - How about it? Who would have thought the 50 year old would have 2 wins, and in the running for his first championship?

2. Dale Earnhart Jr. - Last year at this time, he was the best driver at HMS. Now he's well outside of the chase.

3. Juan Montoya - The last couple years he's been just outside the top-12, and I expected the same this year. Something's missing, but it wont take much until he's in the chase and winning races.
 
foehammer111 said:
1. Mark Martin - How about it? Who would have thought the 50 year old would have 2 wins, and in the running for his first championship?
Click to expand...
As someone who's been a Mark MArtin fan for a long time, I can't say I'm surprised.

I knew, with the right equipment, Mark could get it done. Besides, 50 years old ain't old by any means.
 
AndyMarquisLIVE said:
As someone who's been a Mark MArtin fan for a long time, I can't say I'm surprised.

I knew, with the right equipment, Mark could get it done. Besides, 50 years old ain't old by any means.
Click to expand...

He's had the right equipment before. How many times has he finished second? The real question is, can he finish the deal?
 
AndyMarquisLIVE said:
As someone who's been a Mark MArtin fan for a long time, I can't say I'm surprised.

I knew, with the right equipment, Mark could get it done. Besides, 50 years old ain't old by any means.
Click to expand...

I'm surprised that he's done so well in his first full-time season since "retiring." Granted, he did pretty good for a part-time driver the last couple years, but I wasn't expecting him to win or even be in chase contention this year.

I know he's a good driver. I just didn't expect him to be where he's at now. Especially since he was close to being outside the top 35 at the start of the season.
 
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