Hot 20 over the past 10 – Edwards the new flame atop this candle
No wins, yet Jimmie Johnson has been able to remain at the top of the mountain, until this week. Carl Edwards put together his fourth Top Ten in five starts this season, to go along with three wins in his past ten, to take over the summit. How long he stays there is another question.
No one is hotter at Martinsville than Johnson. He was 35th there in his first attempt back in the spring of 2002. He has finished in the Top Ten in the seventeen races he has run there since. If that isn’t dominance, then he needs to start wearing chaps with his leather suit and carry a whip. Johnson has to be considered a favorite to lay a beat down on the field this Sunday.
Kevin Harvick’s win keeps him at the big boys’ table this week, but Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne both made significant gains. Denny Hamlin may be slipping, but Joey Logano is the one in a free fall.
Kyle Busch was third at Fontana, but he was second at Charlotte ten races ago and so slipped a point over the past ten races. On the other hand, his brother Kurt, Paul Menard, and Tony Stewart moved up with significantly better results than they had in that race in the fall. So, while Kyle remains hot, those other three have become even hotter. Who said life was fair?
Here are our hot 20 drivers over the past 10 events…
1 (2) Carl Edwards – 369 pts – Most famous cousin not in the Grand Ole Opry.
2 (1) Jimmie Johnson – 367 pts – 18 Martinsville races, 17 Straight Top Tens, 6 Wins
3 (3) Kevin Harvick – 360 pts – As Bobby McFerrin sang, “Don’t be McMurray, be Happy.”
4 (6) Matt Kenseth – 332 pts – Daytona was a disaster, but 12th or better each race since.
5 (5) Mark Martin – 329 pts – For the 800th time, once more unto the breach, my friends.
6 (11) Ryan Newman – 317 pts – 3 top fives, 4 straight top tens, he is taking off like a…rocket.
7 (4) Denny Hamlin – 304 pts – Drives a Toyota, yet still sinking like a rock.
8 (10) Kurt Busch – 302 pts – Might be just going around in circles, but NASCAR’s no drag.
9 (8) Paul Menard – 301 pts – How do you like him now?
10 (9) Tony Stewart – 301 pts – Tony has been good, but not good enough for Tony.
11 (7) Kyle Busch – 292 pts – Performing like Junior was supposed to…and once did.
12 (17) Kasey Kahne – 290 pts – Best Martinsville finish since 2006? Last fall he was 14th.
13 (12) Juan Pablo Montoya – 281 pts – Already has made a million bucks this season.
14 (16) A.J. Allmendinger – 276 pts – Steady competitor, but not yet a contender.
15 (15) Martin Truex Jr – 270 pts – I want the sideburns back.
16 (14) Greg Biffle – 269 pts – Turn-a-round in last two needs to continue for next two or ten.
17 (19) Dale Earnhardt Jr – 267 pts – If he avoids disaster, a top ten driver after Darlington.
18 (13) Joey Logano – 258 pts – Consistency can be a good thing, but 23rd three times??
19 (18) David Ragan – 240 pts – 14 Top Tens in 2008, but just five since (in 78 races).
20 (22) Clint Bowyer – 239 pts – First Top Ten last week, but needs to string a few more.
Other notables…
21 (21) Jeff Gordon – 239 pts
22 (20) Jamie McMurray – 223 pts
25 (24) David Reutimann – 212 pts
27 (28) Jeff Burton – 191 pts
Crew chief Jimmy Fennig quietly leading Matt Kenseth and team in right direction
[media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”259″]
[/media-credit]Matt Kenseth finished fourth in Sunday’s Auto Club 400 with a car that he referred to a few times as “absolute junk.”
Like most of the competition, Kenseth spent much of the day fighting either a loose or tight condition and sometimes a little of both. While he battled his way into the top-10, his No. 17 Crown Royal team battled on pit road to adjust his car. With every opportunity given, adjustments were made and the progress began.
Kenseth was strong enough to maintain in the top-10 for much of the event. Although the race was expected to be a dominating performance for all four of the Roush-Fenway Racing drivers, but none other them where a factor for the win.
Kenseth and teammate Carl Edwards were the only two who finished in the top-10 and currently sit in the top-10 in points. That made the race an oddball in itself as none of the four drivers even led a lap.
As the race wound down it was Kenseth however, who said he came up a few laps short from giving the top three a run for their money. When the caution flag flew on lap 185 for the final time, putting the race into the crew chief’s hands, Jimmy Fennig brought Kenseth down pit road and called two tires and no fuel.
On the restart Kenseth went from ninth to fourth where he stalled out and finished. Afterwards he praised his pit crew for their hard work, his crew chief and spotter and said given more time he might have been able to challenge for the win. Fennig told the team they’re “knocking on the door” and will win one soon.
“The last two weeks, Jimmy (Fennig) and these guys have made some great adjustments,” said Kenseth on Sunday. “They had our Crown Royal Ford the best it has been all day at the end of the race, which is important.”
The team did the same last weekend in Bristol where Kenseth had again started 11th and came home fourth.
“It’s a good day for us,” he said. “Of course you are always greedy and want more. I was the first guy on tires and I didn’t do probably a good a job as I need to on the restart. It just took a while to get there, but we got another top-five finish this weekend and just ran out of time to get any more positions today.”
Kenseth now sits 10th in points as the Sprint Cup Series heads to Martinsville this upcoming weekend. Kenseth’s silent but deadly approach, of which he’s made a career of is off to a fast start in 2011. But there’s nothing silent about Martinsville.
Kenseth ruffled a few feathers last season in the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 when Jeff Gordon and him had a pushing and shoving match during a green-white-checkered finish. It was Kenseth who cost Gordon the win according to some, while it was Gordon who made sure Kenseth couldn’t win.
The result was an 18th place finish last season. He’s never won at the paperclip in Virginia but has completed 99 percent of the laps and has a pretty good understanding of what Martinsville is all about: short tempers.
“Martinsville is probably not our best track, but, statistically, it’s probably not our worst either,” he said. “It’s just one that I get aggravated at and probably don’t use my head as much as I should at times. I think it’s more of a Matt thing trying to be patient and not let my emotions get the best of me. You can never get away from anybody it feels like so it can get frustrating.”
As Kenseth’s describes, Martinsville doesn’t leave much room for drivers to work. It’s a track that has drivers making a living by bumping, banging and annoying other drivers.
Fennig is well aware of that. It puts the pressure on the team to make sure the car is handling correctly in order for Kenseth to navigate the what is bound to be an all day traffic jam.
“Track position is really important since you don’t have the long straightaways to be able to make passes like we would at longer tracks,” said Fennig. “So we’ll make sure that our No. 17 Ford turns well in the center of the turns and that it has good grip off the turns in order to race down the short straightaways.”
Their quiet consistency and never give up attitude the last two weeks is what made the No. 17 team champions in 2003. With back-to-back top five finishes their climb through the points has begun and they confidence is growing that they’re getting closer to their first win since February of 2009.
