Home | Cars And Trucks

Biggest Disappointments Of The Season

By: Kyla Mie

Read More About Cars and Trucks

With thirteen races now finished, it is clear which drivers were the pleasant surprises of the 2009 Sprint Cup season. NASCAR news has made note of a few bright talents. Drivers, Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman, are two that have went beyond preseason expectations. Michael Waltrip Racing driver David Reutimann is having a career season, as he recently scored a victory at Lowe's Motor Speedway. He is within striking distance of the top twelve.

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.

Other pleasant surprises include former open-wheel icons Juan Pablo Montoya and Sam Hornish Jr, both showing perceptible improvement since the 2008 season.

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

Popular racer Dale Earnhardt Jr nabs the first position on the list of disappointments for 2009. When Earnhardt Jr joined Hendrick Motorsports in 2008, he was, by far, the best race car driver out of the team's four drivers. Unfortunately, as the season commenced, competing teams gained in ranking, and Earnhardt Jr started to fall behind. He has yet to recapture the magic he and Tony Eury Jr found in the early months of the 2008 season. Rick Hendrick removed crew chief Tony Eury Jr and replaced him with Lance McGrew. McGrew will serve 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 weak performance, this burden seems like too much to handle. As the most well-known racer in NASCAR, Earnhardt needs to make a fast improvement in order to head off further bad publicity.

Kevin Harvick met qualification for the Chase for the Championship in every season from 2006 to 2008 and won six races in that span. Nevertheless, he finds himself in the middle of his least productive season since his sophomore slump in 2002. At this point, Harvick, who hasn't had a victory since the 2007 Daytona 500, has little chance of garnering a fourth appearance in the Chase for the Championship.

Harvick is not the only driver from his stable that is failing to hold up to earlier expectations. His Richard Childress Racing teammates have faded since last year, most notably Clint Bowyer. Despite a great start to the 2009 season, Bowyer has not been able to crack the top ten in the seven races leading up to the Pocono 500. Jeff Burton is consistent as usual, but it is obvious that the performance is off with that team . Casey Mears encountered a sluggish start to the season, but he has scored two top ten finishes in the last four races.

Rivaling Earnhardt Jr and Harvick as the largest disappointments include Roush Fenway Racing driver David Ragan. This marks another series of pockmarks reported by NASCAR news sources. It was suggested that Ragan was the most improved driver of 2008, but he has since become a disappointing statistic. After finishing in thirteenth place in the championships for 2008, the buzz among NASCAR news analysts held that Ragan would be one of possibly twelve drivers competing for the Spring Cup. The unfortunate part is that Ragan has only managed to finish one race out of thirteen in the top ten. Something is definitely off with this team.

Ragan's teammate Carl Edwards won a Sprint Cup series-high nine races in 2008. Now, with thirteen races over, Edwards has not won another race. Even though he is among the top twelve in the championship listings, we all expected more out of Edwards and the No. 99 group.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

I, like many others, am drawn to the spectacle of NASCAR racing and keep up on NASCAR news items when I can. Writing about NASCAR offers some adde dimensions.

Please Rate this Article

 

Not yet Rated

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Cars and Trucks Articles Via RSS!
Additional Articles From - Home | Cars And Trucks
Sign Up for a free account.
Our other websites
All about SEO
Beauty Tips Forum
Submit Articles
Member Login
Link Us
Submission Guidelines
Ezine Notifications
Article RSS Feeds
Sitemap
New Stuff
About Us
Developer
Good shopping portal
Link to Us
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service

counter easy hit

Powered by Article Dashboard