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In its second year, the Toyota Camry has won two races with two drivers.
This shouldn’t surprise anyone. In the manufacturer’s first year in NASCAR’s top series, the most accomplished driver was Dale Jarrett. The 1999 champ is now retired, but hadn’t been competitive since his last days at Robert Yates Racing in a Ford.
Even that final year wasn’t that great.
This year, however, Toyota hooked up with Joe Gibbs, an organization that has won three championships with two drivers and two manufacturers — Pontiac and Chevy.
So where is the surprise?
Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin — Sunday’s winner in the Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at the Martinsville Speedway — are past Rookies of the Year and potential future champions. That these two young guys have each won a race this year shouldn’t be any more of a surprise than that Dale Earnhardt, Jr., continues to be the most popular driver on the circuit.
That third guy at Gibbs is no slouch either. Two-time champion Tony Stewart is sixth in points after Martinsville, one behind Busch and two ahead of Hamlin.
Gibbs isn’t the only stable with multiple drivers in the coveted top 12 six races into the season.
Richard Childress Racing’s Chevys hold the top two spots, as well as 12th. Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton have been battling for leads all year, while Clint Bowyer is showing a consistency and patience unusual for a third year, 28-year-old driver.
Pretty good for a team that was proclaimed dead four years ago.
Even better for a team that just announced the addition of a fourth full time car for 2009. The new No. 33 will be sponsored by General Mills, which had been the primary sponsor of Petty Enterprises No. 43 for 12 years.
That car will search for a new sponsor while Childress looks for a driver for his new car.
Speaking of new sponsors with new drivers, that Earnhardt kid isn’t doing too shabby.
He finished sixth at Martinsville, led the most laps for the race and jumped one spot in the standings to fourth. He continues to be the highest standing Hendrick driver and leads all drivers with five top 10 finishes.
Teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson — together they dominate Martinsville, but ran out laps, finishing second and fourth, respectively — finally cracked the top 10.
Hendrick’s other driver, Casey Mears, finished seventh to put all four Hendrick cars in the top 10 for the race and get himself a guaranteed start for Sunday’s Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway by being the top 35 in owner’s points.
Where’s Roush, you ask? Only Greg Biffle is in the current top 12, despite Carl Edwards’ two wins.
Texas, however, has been kind to Roush drivers. His Fords have won five races there, including the first in 1997. Burton won that race, just as he won in 2007. Edwards won the fall race.
Johnson and Earnhardt have wins at Texas, also, but take a look at all past winners and you’ll notice there is one name missing: Gordon.
The Dupont Chevy has never won a race at Texas, one of only two active NASCAR Sprint Cup tracks not included in his 81 career wins.
Season closer Homestead-Miami is the other. Until April 2007, Phoenix was on that short list too.
Texas is one of the intermediate “cookie cutter” tracks — a 1.5 mile oval that tends to give Earnhardt trouble. He’s run well there and had decent finishes at intermediates this season, but I’m not picking him to win.
There’s a rule that you should always root for your driver, no matter how unlikely it is that he will win. I am predicting another top five for the No. 88.
Your race winner will be points leader Kevin Harvick and his No. 29 Shell Oil Chevy.
I hate the yellow and red paint scheme the car has used since switching sponsors from General Motors Goodwrench, but it seems to have lit a fire under Harvick. After close finishes this year and a focus on Sprint Cup and not the Nationwide Series, he will be a threat every week and should be considered a true championship contender.
Burton will finish third after getting passed by Earnhardt on the final lap. Biffle will be the highest finishing Ford in fourth, with Stewart rounding out the top five. Dodge will put two in the top ten with high finishes from past track winners Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne.
So sit back, crack open another Amp and let’s go racing.
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