Who is the biggest surprise and/or disappointment after Race 7/36??

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I’ll go with Noah Gragson. I expected the 42 & 43 to both improve with the new Jimmie Johnson alliance & honestly the team & driver looks just as it did with Ty Dillon. Kinda surprising out of a driver that was probably the best in the Xfinity Series last year.
 
AuzGrams said:
???

I’ll go with Noah Gragson. I expected the 42 & 43 to both improve with the new Jimmie Johnson alliance & honestly the team & driver looks just as it did with Ty Dillon. Kinda surprising out of a driver that was probably the best in the Xfinity Series last year.
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I wouldn't single out Gragson, Lagacy has been disappointing all the way around. Kind of thought they would be this year's Trackhouse. I would also say Blaney. Not much to show for a driver and team at their level. On the positive side, I think Byron's speed EVERY week Bowman's utter consistency have been somewhat surprising, even for a HMS fan. Finally both fulfilling the promise.
 
Legacy have been pretty disappointing for sure. Apparently the BizOps president just left after starting February 1 as well. Combined with the Jimmie/Petty stuff back at Daytona the vibes there seem pretty off, not totally sure what’s going on. But they’re more off the pace then I expected.

I’d say Kaulig also seem to have fallen back a bit as well when I thought they’d take a step forward.
 
Formerjackman said:
I wouldn't single out Gragson, Lagacy has been disappointing all the way around. Kind of thought they would be this year's Trackhouse. I would also say Blaney. Not much to show for a driver and team at their level. On the positive side, I think Byron's speed EVERY week Bowman's utter consistency have been somewhat surprising, even for a HMS fan. Finally both fulfilling the promise.
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Yeah at Rickmond, I noticed both Jones and Gragson were running on the other side of 20th every time I looked. I think it is internal. I hope they get it straightened out. It's hard to tell who is running the show.
 
After the new car was introduced, we all knew the big teams would eventually rise back to the top. I'm surprised it happened this quickly. None of this year's winners are surprises or first timers. We've already had one repeat winner. It looks like the magic of last year's parity has evaporated much sooner than I'd hoped.
 
Brad Keselowski running in the top 10 consistently has been my biggest surprise. Briscoe & Preece have been the biggest dissapointments thus far. I was expecting Preece to be a threat to win races this year. He doesn't even have a top 10 yet.
 
JJ_14 said:
Brad Keselowski running in the top 10 consistently has been my biggest surprise. Briscoe & Preece have been the biggest dissapointments thus far. I was expecting Preece to be a threat to win races this year. He doesn't even have a top 10 yet.
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Preece fell out of the seat after the last pit stop. He ran 12-15 for most of the race.
 
Efisher131 said:
I really thought Allmendinger would run better than he has.

If we’re talking positive, I’m gonna go with Chandler Smith. That dude is on fire so far this year and he had a very respectable run in the cup race this past week.
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Chandler beat the other two Kaulig cars by a lot and I think that was his first cup start. I don't think A.J. wants to be in cup much except on road courses and Haley isn't cutting it in a cup car so far. I can't say I m disappointed though, I was skeptical when they announced the Cup lineup.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I'm still not sure AJ wouldn't have been happy to stay in X, and only moved up reluctantly.
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Why would you want to be in Xfinity instead of moving up to the Cup? I'd assume that if you thought you were good enough and you could find a good ride, you'd absolutely want to be in the Cup series rather than driving in the lower series. I look at guys like Crafton who's been in the trucks for ever. Is that just where he wants to be or has no one given him a call to offer him a Xfinity or cup ride?
 
ToyYoda said:
Biggest surprise: Brad K. He’s gonna win one sooner rather than later.

Biggest disappointment: Chase Briscoe. Made it to the final 8 last year but can’t seem to get out of his own way this year.
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I'm really high on Brad k this season as well. I think he's still absolutely has another championship in him. We will see if he can elevate that team, however.

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Brentford said:
Why would you want to be in Xfinity instead of moving up to the Cup? I'd assume that if you thought you were good enough and you could find a good ride, you'd absolutely want to be in the Cup series rather than driving in the lower series. I look at guys like Crafton who's been in the trucks for ever. Is that just where he wants to be or has no one given him a call to offer him a Xfinity or cup ride?
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More home time with the fam, less pressure and they are good enough to keep a ride, they don't have the press crawling over them at every turn. Not every driver thinks Cup is the end all, they would rather have a more secure long term career that fits their driving skills.
 
aunty dive said:
He’s in the Cup car because that’s where his owner wants him.

Kaulig thinks Allmendinger can win and go to the playoffs … I think he’s right.
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One top 10 in 7 races, the owner might be having second thoughts I would think. One race, one win in Xfinity.
 
ToyYoda said:
Biggest surprise: Brad K. He’s gonna win one sooner rather than later.

Biggest disappointment: Chase Briscoe. Made it to the final 8 last year but can’t seem to get out of his own way this year.
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It’s nice to see Brad Keselowski back up front.

People have never appreciated how smart that dude is. IMO, RFK is ahead of schedule thanks to him.
 
aunty dive said:
Maybe but I rather doubt it.

5 Cup races part time in 2021 and 18 in 2022 … 1 win, 5 top fives and 11 top tens in 23 starts. Slow start to this season but a long ways to go.
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That isn't impressive. 21 was all road courses. Only one top five finish was on something other than a road course for both years. This year the top 10 came at Daytona.
 
StandOnIt said:
That isn't impressive. 21 was all road courses. Only one top five finish was on something other than a road course for both years. This year the top 10 came at Daytona.
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LOL.

There are some fakers out there that would kill for those numbers. He gets to the front on roadies. That’s his job.
 
16 has been running mediocre this season by my surprise. I’ll be more concerned though if he doesn’t win one by August.
 
Legacy motorsports has to be the biggest disappointment at this time. I really expected much more from them this year. Seems JJ is an owner in name only as I have not seen him around outside of the two (well 1 race + half a lap) races he has run so far.
 
To me the biggest surprise has to be the lack of performance by Toyota as a whole right now. I really thought they would have come out of the box stronger.

Biggest disappointment is SHR, they can't seem to find speed and when they do they screw it up.
 
wi_racefan said:
To me the biggest surprise has to be the lack of performance by Toyota as a whole right now. I really thought they would have come out of the box stronger.

Biggest disappointment is SHR, they can't seem to find speed and when they do they screw it up.
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SHR is the same as they were last year, no surprise there.
 
Daytripper said:
Legacy motorsports has to be the biggest disappointment at this time. I really expected much more from them this year. Seems JJ is an owner in name only as I have not seen him around outside of the two (well 1 race + half a lap) races he has run so far.
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Gragson started 29th finished 30th. Jones started 28th, finished 31st. At least they were consistently terrible at M'ville.
 
wi_racefan said:
At least the #14 had a win and a good run at the dirt race by this point last year.
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Yeah SHR showed some life at Martinsville. Harvick is third in points. Briscoe 5th and Almirola finished 6th. If bonehead Preece would have held on to the lead, it would have been one of SHR's best days in a long while.
 
I would have banked on Legacy Motor Club being farther along than they are now. I expected Jones to be running at the back end of the top 10 to 15ish while hanging with the leaders some races, contending for a playoff spot and Gragson running 15-20 or so while MAYBE contending for top 10's if things broke right for him. The team look absolutely out to lunch right now with no sign of getting better.
 
Jorge De Guzman said:
I would have banked on Legacy Motor Club being farther along than they are now. I expected Jones to be running at the back end of the top 10 to 15ish while hanging with the leaders some races, contending for a playoff spot and Gragson running 15-20 or so while MAYBE contending for top 10's if things broke right for him. The team look absolutely out to lunch right now with no sign of getting better.
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Originally I would agree but when looking at it who did you expect them to out perform now that they're not?
 
wi_racefan said:
Originally I would agree but when looking at it who did you expect them to out perform now that they're not?
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I thought Jones would be above SHR and Roush for one. Also above Austin Dillon, Todd Gilliland, Corey LaJoie and Bubba. Gragson I thought would have some good runs here and there but not run as bad as he has.
 
Jorge De Guzman said:
I thought Jones would be above SHR and Roush for one. Also above Austin Dillon, Todd Gilliland, Corey LaJoie and Bubba. Gragson I thought would have some good runs here and there but not run as bad as he has.
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I guess I could see expecting him above the 7 and 38
 
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