Midseason grades: Busch well ahead of classmates

Report card reflects Cup performance, not necessarily drivers' popularity

DAVID POOLE

The Charlotte Observer

Wednesday, Jul. 02, 2008

• Qualifying order | How the Cup cars will go out on Friday
• First practice | Kurt Busch leads way early at Daytona
• Opinion | How much is too much - and is it ever really enough?
• Video | Daytona weekend preview

One of the hardest things about doing a NASCAR midseason report card is deciding just what constitutes "midseason" these days.

Is it 13 races, after Dover, since that's halfway to the Chase? Or is it after the 18th race in a 36-race schedule, which would be Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway?

Well, this year at least, it's before Daytona. Why? Why not?

A-plus

Kyle Busch (No. 18 Toyota)

Even without the extra credit he deserves for wins in the Nationwide and Truck series, clearly, Kyle Busch is at the head of the class. He has five wins and 10 top-five finishes and has led 869 laps, more than 200 more than anyone else.

For everyone else, from here on it's about measuring up to Busch and his team.

A

Carl Edwards (No. 99 Ford)

Edwards won three of the first seven races, but the sense that he's dropped off lately isn't entirely accurate. He has more top-10 finishes (12) than anyone and had a streak of seven straight snapped at Loudon, N.H.

A-minus

Kasey Kahne (No. 9 Dodge), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (No. 88 Chevrolet) and Jeff Burton (No. 31 Chevrolet)

Kahne is the only other multiple race-winner other than Busch and Edwards. He won the All-Star race, then added two points victories and a second in a four-week span. The consistency Kahne has lacked has been the hallmark for Earnhardt Jr. and Burton. Each has a win, but each has also put himself solidly in position for the Chase by racking up solid finishes (11 top 10s for Earnhardt, 10 for Burton).

Burton's worst finish is 15th and he's completed all but one lap run all season.

B-plus

Denny Hamlin (No. 11 Toyota), Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Chevrolet) and Brian Vickers (No. 83 Toyota)

Hamlin has led the second-most laps (664) and should have more than his lone victory. Johnson and Bowyer each has one win. Johnson has four top 10s in his past five starts after sputtering through May a little, and he's now fifth in points. Vickers' team is probably the year's most improved and it seems that he could get a win just about any time now.

B

Clint Bowyer (No. 07 Chevrolet); Jeff Gordon (No. 24 Chevrolet), Greg Biffle (No. 16 Ford),
Matt Kenseth (No. 17 Ford), Tony Stewart (No. 20 Toyota) and Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Chevrolet)

Bowyer is the only one in this group with a win, which is amazing. Kenseth is just outside the Chase cutoff, 15 points behind Harvick, so at least one of these drivers will miss out - two if Vickers or someone else claws his way in.

Gordon has seven top-five finishes, and it seems Stewart has had almost that many races in which he should have won but hasn't. Biffle's team has made too many missteps. Harvick has only five top 10s and needs to pick that up.

B-minus

Ryan Newman (No. 12 Dodge), Kurt Busch (No. 2 Dodge), Martin Truex Jr. (No. 1 Chevrolet)
and David Ragan (No. 6 Ford)

Newman won the Daytona 500 and Busch won last week at Loudon, but neither has done much else. The Truex team seems a half-step off from where it was last year. Ragan is improving rapidly.

C-plus

Bobby Labonte (No. 43 Dodge), Elliott Sadler (No. 19 Dodge), Juan Pablo Montoya (No. 42 Dodge),
Mark Martin/Aric Almirola (No. 8 Chevrolet), Casey Mears (No. 5 Chevrolet), Jamie McMurray (No. 26 Ford) and Travis Kvapil (No. 28 Ford)

The common thread here, Kvapil aside, is that it seems each should be doing at least a little better. In fact, a breakout performance by any of these teams would not be a surprise. Kvapil has done a nice job keeping a team with less than full sponsorship in the top 20 in points.

C

David Gilliland (No. 38 Ford), David Reutimann (No. 44 Toyota), Michael Waltrip (No. 55 Toyota). Paul Menard (No. 15 Chevrolet), Dave Blaney (No. 22 Toyota), Robby Gordon (No. 7 Dodge), Reed Sorenson (No. 41 Dodge) and Sam Hornish Jr. (No. 77 Dodge)

About all you can say for each of these drivers is each has kept his team in the top 35, at least so far. Waltrip's second-place finish at Loudon doesn't alter the fact that it has been a struggle most of the time for these teams.

C-minus

A.J. Allmendinger (No. 84 Toyota), Regan Smith (No. 01 Chevrolet) and Michael McDowell (No. 00 Toyota)

Smith and McDowell are rookies and Allmendinger, given how many races he missed last year, practically is. Allmendinger has shown promise in recent weeks. But there's much learning left for each in this trio.

Needs to improve

Scott Riggs (No. 66 Chevrolet); J.J. Yeley (No. 96 Toyota), Joe Nemechek (No. 78 Chevrolet), Patrick Carpentier (No. 10 Dodge), Dario Franchitti (No. 40 Dodge), Kyle Petty/Terry Labonte (No. 45 Dodge) and various drivers (No. 21 Ford and No. 70 Chevrolet)

You can't give these teams a failing grade at halfway, but they're outside the top 35 and that's the danger zone in today's Sprint Cup world. The rest of the season is nothing less than a fight for survival for many of these teams. In fact, Franchitti's team owner, Chip Ganassi, shut that operation down this week.

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