CUP: Who Is Making The Grade?

Sprint Cup

CUP: Who Is Making The Grade?

The NASCAR Sprint Cup regular season has reached the halfway mark...

Tom Jensen | Posted June 03, 2010 Charlotte, NC

Denny Hamlin (Pictured) was one of the first to learn which team LeBron James would move to as he continues his NBA career. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Thirteen of 26 races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup regular season already are in the books. But who among the top 35 teams in owner points are getting straight A’s and who’s in danger of flunking out?

SPEED.com takes a close look and hands out its midterm team grades as follows:

JOE GIBBS RACING. Grade: A+ Even if they occasionally act like petulant children who can’t stand each other, the Gibbs boys have got it going on in a big way this season. Kyle Busch is second in points, with Denny Hamlin fifth, as the two have won five of the last eight Sprint Cup points races. And young Joey Logano is only 86 points out of 12th place, the final transfer spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. This team is Toyota’s best hope for a first championship.

RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING. Grade: A RCR has rebounded nicely from 2009, when all three of its drivers missed the Chase. Kevin Harvick is the Sprint Cup points leader and has signed a long-term contract extension with the team. RCR pilots Jeff Burton (eighth) and Clint Bowyer (13th) are looking good, too. Still, Gibbs gets the nod at the top of the charts by virtue of race victories.

HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS. Grade: A With drivers Jeff Gordon (4th), Jimmie Johnson (7th) and Mark Martin (10th) all in the top 10 in points, Hendrick is still dangerous. But only Johnson has won a race, while the four-car team has been shut out of victory lane since Bristol. And the whole Dale Earnhardt Jr. experiment continues to produce sketchy results, at best.

PENSKE RACING. Grade: B+ Kurt Busch and Steve Addington have proven to be an extremely effective combination, as witnessed by the Blue Deuce’s sweep of the Sprint All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600. But you can’t give the organization an A overall when Brad Keselowski is 25th in points and Sam Hornish Jr. is 29th.

ROUSH FENWAY RACING. Grade: B You would think that with Matt Kenseth (3rd), Greg Biffle (8th) and Carl Edwards (11th), things would be rosy for the Roushketeers. But they are were they are because of consistency, not speed. This is a good team, but clearly still a small step behind.

Teammates Jeff Gordon (Left) and Jimmie Johnson (Right) have had an up and down season. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

EARNHARDT GANASSI RACING WITH FELIX SABATES. Grade: B It’s hard to believe that Jamie McMurray won the season-opening Daytona 500 and has finished second three times in the last five races, but still isn’t in the top 12 in points. And Juan Pablo Montoya’s season has been a train wreck all year long. The cars have been rockets, the consistency MIA.

MICHAEL WALTRIP RACING. Grade: B- Martin Truex Jr. and Pat Tryson have hit it off famously in their first year at MWR, while David Reutimann has rebounded from a horrendous start to post five consecutive top-15 finishes, including fifth-place runs at Dover and Charlotte. This team continues to improve.

STEWART-HAAS RACING. Grade: C+ A good team this year, but not a great one as they were in 2009. Although Ryan Newman earlier this year scored his first victory since joining SHR, he and Tony Stewart haven’t achieved the success they did last year. Stewart is 16th in points, Newman a tenuous 12th.

RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS. Grade C- RPM’s four drivers are 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 28th in points. Kasey Kahne is counting the days until he can join Hendrick Motorsports.

TEAM RED BULL. Grade: D Last year, Red Bull was one of the most improved teams in the garage. This year, they’ve fallen way back. Brian Vickers health problems are no one’s fault, certainly, but this team has struggled quite a bit. And Scott Speed’s results have been underwhelming.

JTG/DAUGHERTY RACING. Grade: D A huge disappointment. Marcos Ambrose was expected to contend for a Chase spot, but a series of crashes and mechanical failures have left him 30th in points.

ROBBY GORDON MOTORSPORTS. Grade: D Kudos to Gordon for staying in the top 35 in owner points with a team that has minimal resources relative to the teams he races. Had a nice 14th-place run at Phoenix.

TRG MOTORSPORTS. Grade: D- How depressing is it to watch Bobby Labonte, a former Sprint Cup champion, as a start-and-parker?

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEEDtv.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

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Tom Jensen

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