Early Season Report Card

The NASCAR season is now more than a month old. With the Sprint Cup Series taking it's traditional Easter weekend off, it's a good time to look back at the first few weeks of the season. Just a way to look back to see if there are any trends that might hold into the rest of the season. But so far, there aren't many to go with.

Going into the start of the 2008 season, there were plenty of story lines to watch for as the season would progress.  The biggest thing to watch for was how the new car would do.  By most accounts, the new car gets a passing grade.  It especially got rave reviews during Daytona Speedweeks.  The new car didn't seem to help the racing much at California, but nothing much has there recently.  All in all, it seems to be doing what it was intended to do.  Still, it will be interesting to see how the car does as the season goes along.

 

There was also a question about how much Toyota would improve after a less than stellar debut season in 2007.  They're doing quite a bit better so far this season.  Now, it doesn't hurt that Joe Gibbs decided to turn to Toyota.  Gibbs newcomer Kyle Busch has been leading that charge.  After the first five races of the season, he leads the Sprint Cup standings.  He also gave Toyota their first win at Atlanta.  No question, Kyle has the talent.  The question is does he have the maturity to translate it into a championship season. 

 

Two teams have enjoyed great success early in the season:  Roush-Fenway and Richard Childress.  Roush-Fenway has two drivers (Greg Biffle in 2nd and Matt Kenseth 11th) in position early for The Chase.  Carl Edwards won back to back at California and Las Vegas.  However, Edwards was hit hard by penalties after serious infractions at Vegas.  Carl is currently 16th in the standings, but you have to know he'll get back.  As for Richard Childress Racing, they have been the best team so far.  After a 1-2-3 team finish at Bristol, all drivers are in the top ten in points (Kevin Harvick 3rd, Jeff Burton 4th, Clint Bowyer 9th).

 

One team is, at least for their standards, is having a subpar season:  Hendrick Motorsports.  After winning half of the schedule in 2007, Hendrick has no wins so far.  Dale Earnhardt Jr. has held his end of the bargain.  He's had four top tens in the five races (three of them top five's) and is fifth in the points.  Jimmie Johnson is 13th in the standings with one top five.  Jeff Gordon is 14th with two top fives.  Gordon has also got two DNF's saddled to him.  Many thought Casey Mears would have a breakout season this year.  That has been far from the case.  He is 33rd in the points, no top tens, and two DNF's. 

 

Leading a list of drivers with good starts to the season is Ryan Newman.  He is currently eighth in the standings, helped by his Daytona 500 win.  Even with no wins to show for it, Tony Stewart has had a strong start.  With two top fives, he finds himself seventh in the standings. After a very disappointing '07 season, Kasey Kahne is having a good start to '08.  With the help of four top tens, Kahne is sixth in the points.

 

If there has been a disappointment, it has to be the rookie class (Dario Franchitti, Sam Hornish Jr, Regan Smith, Patrick Carpentirt, Jacques Villeneuve).  The highest in the point standings is Hornish at 35th.  Franchitti is 38th, Smith is 39th, Carpentier is 46th (only made two races) and Villeneuve is already replaced.  After an eighth place finish at Bristol in his first race at Bristol, Aric Almirola might be the best rookie before it's all said and done. 

 

In reality, it's still a tad early perhaps to find many trends.  A lot of what has happened so far this season will probably not be the story later.  After all for example, do you really think Hendrick Racing won't win at all this year?  NASCAR has the longest season of any pro sport in the country.  The Sprint Cup Series still has 26 races to go.  The rest of the season begins next weekend at Martinsville.

By:  CrimsonCowboy