After the first 2 races of the year, 2005 Champion Greg Miller of Miller Motorsports takes a look at Lucky Dog Racing's standings and compares them to last year.
The 2006 Lucky Dog NASCAR Nextel Cup Series pool has taken on a very different look then the 2005 pool took. Last season, Dan Kowalski, lead driver for High Octane, had won the first two races of the season, while CrazyAboutRusty2 and Gasitnpassit were hot on his tail with 2 top 10 finishes. 2006 has not gone that well for those guys, as neither team in currently inside the top 10 in the standings.
This season's complete turnaround has come from NASCAR Fan Racing, Inc. lead by Kim. After the 2005 Daytona 500, Kim was 41st in points and was looking for a better finish at California. Too bad however, as she went west and finished 43rd, and fell to dead last in points. 2006 has proved to be different. She went to Daytona and finished a very strong 8th, and then went to California and finished 2nd. Kim is running 43 positions better in points after the first two races, and now has a 1 point lead in the standings, her first time every leading the Lucky Dog Series standings. Last season at Las Vegas, NASCAR Fan Racing, Inc. finished 39 th, but this turnaround 2006 season could change that to a another top 10 finish.
Another team who has been running well is Moonshiner Racing. Last season after California, Mark Mason's team was running 35th in points after a 42 nd in the Daytona 500 and 20th at California. This season, Mark has moved up 33 spots and is currently running second after finishing 3rd in Daytona and 7th at California. Moonshiner Racing finished 37 th in the UAW-Diamler Chrysler 400 at Las Vegas in 2005.
Currently 3rd in points is Speed Demon racing headed by Daniel Shmittou. Daniel didn't start his Lucky Dog Racing career until the Talladega race on May 1st of 2005. After missing 8 races to begin the season, Speed Demon racing finished 35th in points after posting 1 win, 4 top 5's and 5 top 10's in 28 races. Daniel has started his 2006 season on the right foot by posting a 2 nd in the Daytona 500 and a 10th at California.
A feel good story is Yates Fan, after a dreadful 2005 season. Marty Fleissner missed a lot of races last season in both series due to problems in his family. He started 17 races and finished in the top 10 five times. The Yates Fan team finished 11 th at Daytona this season, and then backed that up with a 3rd at California and is currently ranked #4 in the Lucky Dog Nextel Cup Series.
Jeffjoeracing is the next team to have a turnaround from the 2005 season. Troy Wiggens started his Lucky Dog Racing career in 2005 by finishing 38 th in the Daytona 500, then followed that up with a 26th at California. After the first two races of the season, Jeffjoeracing was running 37th in points. Now, the 2006 season finds him 32 positions higher, 5 th. Troy finished a disappointing 23rd at Daytona, but turned that around and won his second career Lucky Dog Nextel Cup Series race of his career at California. Last season at Las Vegas Troy finished second. If he can repeat his 2005 Vegas performance, we may see him near the top.
Jeff Burton Racing is having a fair season so far. His RCR driver, #31 Jeff Burton, is also having a fair season, winning the pole for the Daytona 500, then finished 5 th at California. Ray Perotta, lead driver for Jeff Burton Racing, did not have a great start to his 2005 season, finishing 26th at Daytona and 24th at California. After the first two races of the season Ray was ranked 27 th in points. The 2006 flip flop sees him now ranked 6th in points after finishing 6th at Daytona and 14th at California. Last season at Las Vegas, Ray finished 15th.
Your 2006 Lucky Dog Racing Daytona 500 champion Larry Scroggins, lead driver of Pappy's Drivers, started his season the best way possible, in Victory Lane. After starting his 2005 season by finishing 40th at Daytona and 9th at California, Larry decided to change that and succeed at Daytona and sleep at California. Pappy's Drivers finished 26 th at California and is now ranked 7th in points, which is 18 positions better than he was after the 2nd race last season. Larry looks forward to the Vegas race after finishing 4th there last season, which moved him into the top 15, where he remained for the rest of the season.
Matt Sealy, lead driver for June Bug Racing, has moved up 27 positions in points over the past year. After he finished 36th and 28 th at Daytona and California respectively in 2006, Matt was 35th in points heading to Vegas. Currently, the 2006 season has been one of better fortunes, finishing 20th at Daytona and then 6 th at California for his first top 10 since his win at New Hampshire last September. June Bug Racing is currently 8th in points, only 59 points from being called the points leader.
The 2005 Lucky Dog Champion, Greg Miller of Miller Motorsports, is the highest ranked team without a top 10 finish yet this season. Miller started defending his championship by finishing 14 th at Daytona and 12th at California. At this point last season Greg was ranked 9th in points, which is where he is ranked currently. Greg is currently only 64 points out of the lead, and hopes to get another top 10 at Las Vegas after finishing 10th there last season, which helped keep him in the top 10 for 35 of the 36 races last season.
Finally, rounding out the top 10 in points currently is Zipperhead Racing headed by Stephen Dutko. His favorite driver, Jimmie Johnson, started his season off the right way, and that raised Dutko's spirits for the 2006 season. He did not fare as well as Johnson at Daytona, as the team finished 24 th, but his first top 5 since his win at Kansas last October was recorded at California when he finished 5th. Zipperhead Racing was ranked 23rd after California in 2005, and has moved up 13 positions to 10 th in 2006. Dutko is also looking forward to heading to Vegas, the track where he recorded his only top 5 and top 10 in the first half of the 2005 season.
With only 24 races left until the Chase for the Nextel Cup begins, there are currently a lot of new names on the top of the list. The big surprise thus far is that there are no rookies in the top 10 in points. Helton Motorsports is currently 11 th in points, and is the highest rookie in that category. However, DixieLee, a new team headed by Cindy Riney is ranked 16th in points but is the ROTY leader. The money pit race also is tight, with Jeff Burton Racing narrowly beating Pappy's Drivers, June Bug Racing, Miller Motorsports and Zipperhead Racing by a total of 25 points.
Next Week the Lucky Dog Racing league is off to Las Vegas for the Cup and Busch Series. Last season's top 10 looked like this, with that teams current standings in perenthesis next to their name:
1. Big Country Motorsports (18th)
2. Jeffjoeracing (5th)
3. Zipperhead Racing (10th)
4. Pappy's Drivers (7th)
5. Bump And Go Racing (14th)
6. Suezbele Racing, Inc. (27th)
7. Shawnda's Redneck Racing (31st)
8. Jerry Jones Racing (24th)
9. Fast Eddie Racing (N/A)
10. Miller Motorsports (9th)
