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Highlighting The NASCAR Season Upsets

It is obvious who the pleasant surprises of the 2009 Sprint Cup season are after thirteen races. NASCAR news has highlighted a few bright talents. The Stewart-Haas Racing drivers Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman have surpassed any speculations established in the preseason. David Reutimann, a driver for Michael Waltrip Racing, is having a exceptional season, with a recent victory at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Reutimann is very close to reaching top twelve status.

Although a part-time driver in the Sprint Cup, Brad Keselowski acheived a first-time win in 2009. He was victorious at Talladega driving for Phoenix Racing, and independent team owned by James Finch.

Open-wheel icons Juan Pablo Montoya and Sam Hornish Jr both showed slight improvements over their 2008 performances.

Of course, while there are some notable performers, we have seen some drivers and teams fall well below their expectations.

Dale Earnhardt Jr tops the roster of disappointments in 2009. When Earnhardt Jr joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2008, he was, by far, the best racer out of the team’s four drivers. However, as the season progressed, other teams caught up, and Earnhardt Jr started lagging behind. He has yet to regain the magic he and Tony Eury Jr found in the early months of the 2008 season. Consequently, Rick Hendrick has replaced crew chief Eury Jr with Lance McGrew. McGrew is serving as the interim crew chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Despite his efforts, Earnhardt Jr has struggled to carry his burden; in the midst of his struggles, this burden seems like too much to handle. As the most well-known racer in NASCAR, Earnhardt needs to make a fast comeback in order to head off further bad publicity.

Kevin Harvick, who was a qualifying driver in the Chase for the Championship between 2006 and 2008, also won six races during that time. Now, he is struggling to salvage what’s left of a season that has proved just about as bad as his 2002 sophomore slump. It seems as if a fourth consecutive Chase for the Championship appearance is a far-fetched notion for Harvick, who has not won a race since the 2007 Daytona 500.

Harvick is not the only driver from his group mired in mediocrity. His Richard Childress Racing teammates have faded since last year, most notably Clint Bowyer. After an impressive start to the 2009 season, Bowyer has finished below the top ten in each of the previous seven races leading up to the Pocono 500. Even with Jeff Burton’s consistent record, the overall performance of the team is below average . Casey Mears encountered a very slow start to the season, but he has scored two top ten finishes in the last four races.

Roush Fenway Racing driver David Ragan ranks high as another disappointing performer, rivaling even Earnhardt Jr and Harvick. It seems the NASCAR news is getting grimmer. Ragan was possibly the most improved driver in 2008, but he has fallen back into mediocrity. With a thirteenth place finish at 2008 championships, NASCAR news and racing analysts were forecasting that Ragan would join the ranks of race car drivers competing in the Sprint Cup championships. Unfortunately, for Ragan, he only scored one top ten finish in the first thirteen races. There must be some issue with the team.

For Carl Edwards, a teammate of Ragan, the 2008 season was marked by a Sprint series-high nine races. Now, with thirteen races finished, Edwards has not won another race. Even though he is among the top twelve in the championship standings, we all expected more out of Edwards and the No. 99 group.

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