The first 4 races of the season are in the books. We have had a chance to measure drivers and teams on all track sizes from Daytona to Phoenix and a couple of 1.5 mile cookie cutters in between. Surely things will change to a degree as the season progresses but we have had enough races under our belts to be able to gauge where teams currently stand against the competition. At this time, we breakdown the top 10 drivers in NASCAR following last week’s Campingworld.com 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. We will update this list periodically throughout the season, but for now take a look at NASCARWagers Top 10 driver rankings:
#1 – Kevin Harvick
Surprised? If you are surprised to see Kevin Harvick ranked #1 then you have not been following NASCAR in 2015, nor 2014 for that matter. Harvick won his 2nd race in a row last week at Phoenix and has now finished in the top 2 in 7 consecutive races which is the longest streak in NASCAR history. Often Harvick was the fastest car at the track throughout the 2014 season but a lot of bad luck kept him out of victory lane. Whether it was a blown tire, mistakes on pit road, or other misfortunes, Harvick was typically a letdown despite closing out the year with a couple of wins and capturing the Sprint Cup Championship. This year the #4 car has remained the fastest car on a weekly basis and they are not making mistakes which is making Harvick virtually unbeatable. The only question is how long can it continue?
#2 – Joey Logano
The 2015 Daytona 500 Champion has had a great start to the season. Logano is among just 3 drivers that have finished inside the top 10 in every race this season (Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr). The #22 has unloaded strong every week and they keep hanging around the front. Considering how strong the #22 was last year on the 1.5 mile tracks, it may be safe to say that even brighter days are ahead. For now, we will wait to find out..
#3 – Dale Earnhardt Jr
Dale Earnhardt Jr has posted a rather quiet yet strong start to 2015. A blown tire may have ruined his day last week at Phoenix after fighting a loose handling racecar. However, Earnhardt has still posted 3 top 5 finishes throughout the first 4 races and was really strong on the 1.5 mile tracks at Atlanta and Las Vegas. Of course the 1.5 tracks are important because they make up the majority of the Sprint Cup Schedule. Earnhardt had a breakout season in 2014 with 4 victories and if the #88 team keeps rattling off top 5 finishes then more wins are bound to come again this season.
#4 – Jimmie Johnson
Mr. Six Time has had a rough two weeks. The #48 team had multiple tire blowouts at Las Vegas then ran into some trouble last week at Phoenix with run-ins with Brian Vickers and then Carl Edwards on pit road. Johnson battled back for an 11th place finish but was never really a factor. However outside of the bad luck, Johnson has been strong. He finished 5th in the Daytona 500 and then won the very next week in Atlanta while leading the most laps. The #48 may have had trouble these past two weeks but they are just fine in terms of speed.
#5 – Martin Truex Jr
The biggest surprise of the season thus far in 2015 has been the strength of the #78 car with Martin Truex Jr behind the wheel. Truex is off to the best start of his career and has finished in the top 10 in every race thus far. The #78 car has shown speed off the hauler each week and Truex has backed it up with strong performances on Sunday including a runner-up finish at Las Vegas. It will be very interesting to see if the team can maintain their current pace as the season continues.
#6 – Ryan Newman
Wait? Ryan Newman? Yeh, you know that guy that finished 2nd in the standings last year. Well Newman has posted back to back 3rd place finishes over the past two weeks at Las Vegas and Phoenix. Newman was caught up in trouble at Daytona but has battled back with 3 straight top 10 finishes and keeps putting the #31 car towards the front towards at the end of races. Rather surprising considering you rarely hear any talk about the #31 machine leading up to the green flag.
#7 – Brad Keselowski
Bad Brad has had a rather quiet start to the 2015 season especially considering all the noise he made during the 2014 Chase. Keselowski has yet to challenge for a victory but the #2 car is not far off either. After wrecking at Daytona, Keselowski has also posted 3 straight top 10 finishes and has actually improved his finishing position every week. Remember Keselowski and teammate Joey Logano dominated the win totals in 2014. While Logano has continued to show strong speed each week, the #2 team has just been slightly off. However, that will not last very long.
#8 – Denny Hamlin
Hamlin has been hit or miss so far this season. The #11 car has posted two top 5 finishes with two rather lackluster finishes. However, the #11 has been pretty fast everywhere. Hamlin was running 7th when he wrecked at Atlanta which resulted in a 38th place finish. Last week the #11 car was bad off and the team reportedly could not get the car to turn resulting in a 23rd place finish. Despite some of the bad finishes, Hamlin has shown that the #11 car has speed and this may be the team that carries the JGR stable in 2015.
#9 – Kasey Kahne
Kasey Kahne is currently 5th in the Sprint Cup points standings. Therefore the case could be made that he deserves a higher position. Kahne posted a strong run last week at Phoenix with a 4th place finish and started the season with a 9th place run in the Daytona 500. The conundrum is how has his 1.5 mile track finishes been so lackluster? Typically the driver of the #5 car thrives on the 1.5 mile tracks.
#10 – Matt Kenseth
Matt Kenseth and the #20 team have captured two top 10 runs thus far in 2015 but at the same time they have not really contended for wins. Kenseth looked pretty decent at the 1.5 mile tracks of Atlanta and Las Vegas finishing 5th and 9th respectively. However, the #20 car battled handling issues all last week at Phoenix and a speeding penalty on pit road did not help matters. At this point, the #20 team is under performing. The question is whether it is a team issue or a Toyota issue?
