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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
JENSEN: Pop Quiz Time
With just two of 36 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points races in the books for 2009, it’s pop quiz time...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted February 23, 2009   Harrisburg, NC
SPEED.com's Editor-in-Chief Tom Jensen. (Image: SPEED)

Alright, folks, with just two of 36 NASCAR Sprint Cup points races in the books for 2009, it’s pop quiz time.

What do Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart have in common? Kenseth, who followed his bizarre victory at Daytona with a more conventional triumph in Sunday night’s Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway, obviously has scored top-10 finishes in both his starts this season.

But the only other two guys to post consecutive top 10s are Busch and Stewart, which are both somewhat surprising, given that Penske Championship Racing has struggled for the past two seasons and Stewart-Haas Racing is essentially a start-up team. It seems unthinkable that after just two races, only three drivers have finished in the top 10 both times, but the numbers don’t lie.

What do Jeff Burton, Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have in common? Burton and Earnhardt, who both made the Chase for the Sprint Cup last season, and Newman, who was expected to contend this year, are all 30th or worse in points after two races. Earnhardt’s car blew an engine Sunday night, while Burton and Newman fought ill-handling race cars.

It’s way too early to panic after just two races, but these guys all need to put up good finishes next weekend at Las Vegas.

How many of the first ACS races of the season has Roush Fenway Racing won? All of them. Five to be exact — Kenseth’s triumph on Sunday was his third at the 2-mile track in the February race, while his teammates Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle also have won here.

Biffle could have won his second race here, but made a critical blunder on his last pit stop, running over his air hose and losing a bunch of positions in the process. He recovered to finish fourth, but still was crestfallen afterwards. “They should fire me,” a glum Biffle said of his team. You have to admire his honesty.

And oh, by the way, four Roushkateers are in the top nine in points: Kenseth (1st), Biffle (5th), David Ragan (8th) and Edwards (9th). This team clearly has come out of the box the strongest of anyone.

In 2007 and ’08, Richard Childress Racing put all three of its cars into the Chase. Now that he has four cars, how many are in the top 12 in points? Just one — Clint Bowyer, who’s in sixth place. The other three — Kevin Harvick (16th), Casey Mears (20th) and Jeff Burton (30th) have ground to make up.

Then again, the same thing could be said of Hendrick Motorsports, with Jeff Gordon (2nd) having a good season, but Jimmie Johnson (19th), Mark Martin (27th) and Earnhardt (30th) are struggling.


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