Six races into the season so far. What has been some of the biggest surprises in the league so far? Here's a list of some of them.
1. Six rookies in the top 10, four in the top 5. It was unknown how our new teams would perform but quite a few of them have adapted well to the league. So well that 4 of them take up the top 5, only Intimidator Racing breaks it up. Half of the wins so far this year have been by a rookie team. Two by High Octane and one by CrazyAboutRusty2. Also, the rookie team Warpigs won the pre-season Bud Shootout.
2. Performance of Pappy’s Drivers and Jeffjoeracing. Two rookie teams that have gained in the standings each week. Pappy’s Drivers has correctly picked 5 race winners in as row, tying the record set by Jerry Jones Racing last year. He has gained a total of 38 spots in 5 weeks after starting in 40th place at Daytona. He also has the best picks average. Next week he only has one more spot he can move, to the top. Jeffjoeracing has moved up each week for a total of 33 spots. He has the second best picks average and doesn’t seem to be stopping either.
3. Jerry Jones Racing not in the top 5. Last year’s champion seemed to be on track again early this year. Racking up 4 straight top ten finishes and jumping up to the top of the standings, JJR could do no wrong. Then came the short tracks. A 37th place run at Bristol and 30th place run at Martinsville. Those two finishes pushed JJR put of the top 5. It could be two fluke races and he could make it up in Texas. However one has to think… has the king lost his crown?
4. Nascar Fan Racing in last place: Who would think that the team with the most wins in league history would be stuck down in the very last place? Nascar Fan started her career off with 2 wins right off the bat last year. After that she put a long string of bad finishes together before leveling off with a bunch of top ten runs until 2 poor runs at the end of the season. This season her finishers have been atrocious until a surprising win at Bristol. Unfortunately another bad run at Martinsville put her at the bottom again. She wasn’t expected to be in the top 10, probably in the middle of the standings. Dead last wasn’t expected at all.
5. High Octane’s fizzle. A rookie who surprised everyone with 2 straight wins at the start of the season. He had something to prove and turned heads. However his fire quickly died in the third week. A 26th place finish at Vegas let him barely hold on to the league lead, but he followed that up with finishes of 36th, 29th and most recently 21st. Only a few short races ago he was leading the league but has dropped faster than Michael Jackson's credibility and is now out of the top 10.
6. Shawnda’s Redneck Racing in the top 10. Last year Shawnda never seemed like much of a threat and would usually finish outside the top 10 each week. She finished close to the bottom of the standings last year, 21st out of 24. However, this year… surprise surprise, Shawnda is in the top 10 after Martinsville. Her brother. Big Country MotorSports won a race this year but fell out of the top 10. Shawnda has 2 top ten finishes so far and looks for more!
7. Green Flag Racing: One of the quietest teams in the league who sat in the second spot in the standings for most of 2004 until the final week. Green Flag finished with the best picks average and was thought to once again be a threat. So far her performance this year hasn’t been up to par. She did earn a 6th place finish and finally got into 10th place last week. However a poor 37th place run in Martinsville knocked her all the way back to 17th place. She doesn’t quite seem to have whatever she had last year. Although she didn’t get a win, she earned 10 top 5’s and 16 top 10’s. This year its been less than stellar.
8. Syracuse Alpine Racing nearly out of chase contention. Syracuse Alpine Racing was a threat every week in 2004. She finished in the top 5. However this year, Charquilla finds herself in 36th place, the last team in contention for the chase. She managed a 12th place finish in Martinsville, but before that her highest finish was 21st. This is a team had much higher expectations then what has been laid out so far.
9. KAM Racing, Inc.: Last year KAM joined a little late in the year but managed to get up to 14th place with having 9 less races than everyone else. She earned 14 top 10’s in 22 starts. She was second in total average points at the end of the season and second best average finish. She was picked early on to be a contender for the title. This year she’s stuck back in 25th place in the standings. She started the season off with a string of poor finishes. However she did earn 2 top 5’s in a row at Bristol and Martinsville so perhaps things have turned around.
10. June Bug Racing. June Bug is similar to KAM Racing, Inc. He was in the top 5 of most average points last year and earned 3 wins. This year he was also a pick to be up there in the top 5, but 4 bad finishes had him stuck down at the bottom of the standings. However a top 10 at Bristol and top 5 at Martinsville may also provide him with some much needed momentum.
So are there any other surprises that you think should be listed here? Let everyone know in the forum!
