Amongst other insulting things that Kyle said with his thin, gross beard look on his baby face, he closed with “Glad he’s out of a job”. What a piece of shit. Kyle was either blindly defending his big brother or just decided he felt like looking like an idiot. Watch the replay, if you have the lead on the guys you are racing the entire way down the straightaway then why is it your fault if someone (Kurt) presses too hard and tries to dive in front of someone (Kenseth) only to not be able to handle it, get bumped from behind, and wreck themselves as well as the guy who had the lead on the outside? Did you follow that? Point is Kyle is an idiot.

373. Morgan Shepherd

I would put him ahead of these next few because of his accomplishment this past weekend but A. he finished 41st only completing 92 of 302 total laps having retreated to the garage early and often for a vibration, still unclear it was inside his skull. B. While the next guy’s full time aspirations are looking more and more like he will be s.o.l. he isn’t 71 years old and still has a chance to make his last Cup start better than a 41st place finish. I hope Morgan gets another shot somewhere, somehow.

372. Ryan Newman

Poor Newman. First he loses his job at SHR. Then he struggles in Loudon before getting into the top 10 only to get wrecked by the elder of the idiot Busch brothers. Then he is called an idiot and an ogre by the other idiot Busch brother. The best thing to take away from last weekend is that Ryan is 100,000% going to wreck Kyle and maybe Kurt in the next few weeks. He has nothing to lose at this point. Why not settle some things?

371. Danica Patrick

I don’t want to be too hard on Danica, yet I do... sorry. She is still a rookie and gets overanalyzed more than any other driver. But she finally wrecked her boyfriend this weekend. They seemed like they were on a season long mission to wreck each other and it finally happened.

149.5. Denny Hamlin’s Chase hopes  

For whatever stupid reason I set 150th as the cutoff point when I ranked these guys. He should be out of it, but I have found myself once again talking myself into his Chase hopes. Stay tuned on the site for more on this. He might not be out of the hunt just yet but SBG sucks ass and won’t give me a line yet so look for this as a separate piece.

13. The Truck Series/Jeff Gordon’s Opinion

Sorry to do this to you but this is also going to be another piece... these are freebies for fucks sake, get over it.

12. Kurt Busch

Now we get into the thick of things. The top 12 signifies the 12 that make The Chase. Right now Kurt is driving is ass off and absolutely is one of the best 12. He just makes too many boneheaded mistakes pressing too hard like I already mentioned. Regardless he got the extra bonus point at NHMS for leading the most laps and had poste three straight top 6 finishes heading into the weekend.

Kurt still has a long way to go to get into The Chase. He probably won’t win a race simply because of his punk attitude and driving style, but he sits in 14th just seven points back of the top 10. Proved his ego doesn’t start driving faster than his car and wreck his way out of it, which he is the most likely candidate to so, he should find himself a spot in The Chase.

11. Kasey Kahne

Kahne has run pretty well this year but as always problems seem to find him. Only so many of those can be bad luck, just like Jr but Jr. has done a better job managing it. Kahne has really disappointed with the best equipment available. He has finished outside the top 10 in nine of the last eleven races but is far from out of this years title hunt. He sits 10th in the points standings and has a win to keep him tied for a wildcard spot if he were to fall back out of the top 10.

10. Brad Keselowski

Someway somehow this blue deuce is in 9th place in the points standings. He has been docked points and his crew chief at times yet there he is. Somehow despite finishing 15th or worse in eight of the last eleven races this team is still in the hunt. It feels like Brad has as many points as Denny does this year.

9. Martin Truex Jr.

Truex had a disappointing day at NHMS and of course the week prior when their day was ended early finishing 41st but Truex and the #56 had three top 7 finishes straight heading into Daytona. I know that feels like a stretch but Daytona is a crapshoot and NHMS is impossible to pass at. Plus one of those top 7 finishes was a win. He is currently outside the top 10 in points but with his win is in the #1 wildcard spot. With some tracks coming up he likes he shouldn’t need to burn his bonus points to get in.

8. Tony Stewart

Fuck you if you think this is a homer pick. He had the best strategy at NHMS and the best car, except for Vickers. He probably didn’t deserve to win but he didn’t deserve to finish 26th. He deserved probably a 2nd place finish but the green-white-checkered finish happened and that’s where he ended up. He is outside the top 10 in points but trails Kasey Kahne by 5 points for 10th and sits in the second wildcard spot just 3 points behind Truex.  

7. Dale Jr.  

Jr. is just the perfect example of inconsistent. He isn’t the complete package. He is flat out great at some tracks and then really piss poor at others. He hasn’t shown that he has what it takes, even with Henrick, to win a title. However, last I saw he was 25-1 to win the ‘ship. I know I might sound crazy to some but he has led the points standings for the season in past years and is up there now. If Jimmie suffers some real bad luck it’s anyone’s championship and with Kenseth, and Kyle being two of the most hit or miss, points wise, guys in the sport Jr. could out-points them. Stranger things have happened. I want in on that action.

6. Carl Edwards

Carl and the #99 has been really good but really, really quiet this year. Another solid finish for them at NHMS coming in 8th. That team just feels far too inconsistent to compete for a title.

5. Kyle Busch

Obviously you know I think he’s an idiot, but he’s also one of the most talented drivers alive. As far as NASCAR goes I think I have it ranked Stewart-Johnson-Kyle. But he needs to get mentally right. He has to want a championship and not a race trophy. If he could just finally grow up he could create one of the greatest rivalries in NASCAR history with the #48, that team is that talented.

4. Kevin Harvick

Nine straight top 10’s including one win. If you stretch it, it becomes 10/11 top 10’s including two wins. Though he has led just 34 laps this year, probably not a championship way, he is “The Closer”. He doesn’t like to get two bonus points he just enjoys pouncing at the end.

3. Clint Bowyer

50% of my brain looks at the #15 as an underdog in this whole thing and 50% of me thinks they has really overachieved. I love Clint Bowyer but despite sitting 2nd in the points standings, he has led just 114 laps this season. That’s nearly half of what Denny Hamlin has led despite missing four races. He has raced up front and while not the recipient of good luck he also hasn’t much bad luck. While I think he can win this whole thing, I would really feel better about it if he would win of these next seven.  

2. Matt Kenseth

He has been rather hit or miss this year, but his hits have tallied four wins on a new team. Coach Gibbs told the group of us in the FedEx suite that Matt “hates” NHMS yet he lead some laps and pulled out a 9th place finish. If he can become more consistent like last Sunday he may challenge this next guy for the title.

1. Jimmie Johnson

This #48 team is doing things that we should all be recognizing. He is the most dominant thing in any sport. He is like Tiger in his prime, in fact... stay tuned.

mlz

Sunday, July 21, 2013