Kevin Harvick is making the most of his last contractual season with Richard Childress Racing, made most successful by his predecessor, the late Dale Earnhardt. Harvick is accomplishing something this season which we haven't seen from him much over the past two years: consistency.
Although he started off the season somewhat slowly (with a best finish of 11th at Las Vegas), the race at Bristol in late March has seen Harvick cruising along ever since. Starting with a 2nd at BMS, he has reeled off four consecutive top-10 finishes, capped by Saturday night's Cup win at Phoenix. His standings rise in the points is equally impressive, now in a very solid eighth place only one point behind both Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jeff Gordon, who together have been quietly having "comeback" seasons themselves. Harvick is having a banner year in general, though, considering he is also first place in the Busch Series with back-to-back wins at Nashville and Phoenix the past two weeks.
While there is no doubt that the "haves" versus the "have nots" in Cup series racing start to separate themselves by this point in the season, Harvick has been an "outsider" in the past two seasons, failing to make the Chase both times. Of course, he is not alone as a talented driver not making the Championship contending cut, but this year just might be different.
The top five drivers in points are pretty safe bets to make the Chase cut in September. Matt Kenseth continued this season where he was the second half of 2005 by running well and leading the points. Jimmie Johnson, in second place, is a perpetual top 5 list driver who just seems to be a champion in waiting (hopefully not fated to be the Mark Martin of his generation). Speaking of Mark Martin, he slipped a spot thanks to poor pit strategy / gas management at Phoenix to lose a potential win and/or top 5 finish but sits quite solidly in fourth place in points. The other two top 5 drivers -- Kasey Kahne (third) and Tony Stewart (fifth) -- are proving this season to be consistency stalwarts as well. Stewart, as the defending series champion, is hardly a surprise to be where he is, but Kahne is having a "coming of age" season that may be a sign that his career is just getting started.
The drivers in the spots immediately after the top five are worth mentioning further. Junior, Gordon, and Harvick, in the sixth, seventh, and eighth spots, respectively, are exceeding expectations, even if the wins (for Earnhardt or Gordon) haven't come yet. Harvick is proof that good driving eventually yields the win, even when your car may not be the most dominant one in the race. Kyle Busch is sliding a bit, especially after failing to control his car (and his temper) in crashing at Phoenix. Kyle is at least faring better than older brother Kurt, who continues to sit on the outside looking in back in the 17th position and 405 points behind first place after Phoenix. Casey Mears looks like he is one race away from sliding right out of the top 10, after failing to crack the top 10 in any of the past five races, and his second place at Daytona remains his lone top 5 finish.
The list is plenty long with "contenders" who are not in the current top 10 and/or not within 400 points of first place. Most notably, Greg Biffle is going to earn the "Joe Nemechek Award" in 2006 if his bad luck continues. Biffle cannot buy a break despite running great races for 90% of the race until failure comes near the end. Carl Edwards has been in the same boat as Biffle, but a strong fourth place at Phoenix, following a crew chief shakeup between Jamie McMurray's team and his own, didn't seem to hurt him much this week. Edwards is moving upward, now in 16th spot, up six positions, and 396 points out of first. Ryan Newman is falling like a rock in the standings, now down to 22nd, after another awful finish (40th and 39th at Texas and Phoenix, respectively). His best finish, much like Casey Mears, was a third at Daytona, and he has only one top 10 (Bristol) since then.
Even though some guys continue to "underachieve" (like Biffle, Newman, et.al.), Bobby Labonte may continue to be the 2006 "feel good story" in Cup racing. After breaking through for a fifth place finish at Bristol, Labonte has cracked the top 10 in the last two races as well (10th at Texas and 8th at Phoenix). Petty Enterprises needed this kind of turnaround from a past champion like Labonte to know that the off-season shuffling was well worth the investment, and, no doubt, Kyle Petty (and father Richard) is a very happy man. Petty himself could benefit a bit from Labonte's performances, but he has had but one top 10 (an 8th at Atlanta) and only one other finish better than 20th (and 18th at Bristol the week after Atlanta). The last three weeks have seen Kyle slide back a bit, with 30th, 39th, and 31st place finishes across those races.
I need not close this writing with a truly negative thought, but I think the best years of Sterling Marlin and Michael Waltrip may officially be behind them. Both drivers left (or were let go) from their previous commitments in Ganassi Racing and DEI, respectively. Neither has seen success in 2006, with Marlin in 30th place and Waltrip in 35th. These were two "contending" drivers in the not so distant past, so to see slides like these is truly disheartening. Granted, both drivers probably don't have the equipment under them that they had before, but the movement out of the sport is probably inevitable at this pace. To give Marlin a bit more credit than Waltrip, he has notched some quite respectable finishes since a 17th at Bristol with a 14th at Texas and his season-best 12th at Phoenix.
Here are the top 10 standings through the Phoenix race:
Place Driver Pts Behind St/Poles/Wins/T5/T10/Earnings
1 +1 Matt Kenseth 1218 Leader 8 0 1 5 5 1 $1,928,313
2 -1 Jimmie Johnson 1209 9 8 1 2 4 6 0 $2,907,053
3 +1 Kasey Kahne 1167 51 8 2 2 4 6 1 $1,771,947
4 -1 Mark Martin 1152 66 8 0 0 1 5 0 $1,160,985
5 - Tony Stewart 1141 77 8 1 1 5 5 1 $1,928,865
6 -1 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 1045 173 8 0 0 2 3 0 $1,397,133
7 +2 Jeff Gordon 1045 173 8 0 0 3 4 0 $1,376,958
8 +1 Kevin Harvick 1044 174 8 0 1 3 4 0 $1,400,138
9 -2 Kyle Busch 1010 208 8 1 0 2 4 0 $1,162,235
10 - Casey Mears 948 270 8 0 0 1 3 0 $1,966,232
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