Fan's Eye View ~ 2014 Mid-Season Awards7/23/2014 |
Hello friends, and welcome to the Great Experiment! Never before in the history of motorsports
article writing has this happened! I
have created ten categories for some mid-season awards for our 2014 Sprint Cup
Series Season. Now, here comes the best
part! For the first time ever, you’ll be
able to comment on what I’ve written and tell me if you agree or disagree and
who you would have chosen instead! Isn’t
that big news? We’re break--what? Hold on a sec. What, Mama? Oh? Nooooo…. Really? Sooooo, okay, I may have been
mistaken. PattyKay Lilley has just told
me that you’re able to make comments on whatever we write about and have been
able to for a long time. Well, then, if
that’s the case, have at it! Here are my
halfway awards. 2014’s Best Driver: For me, so far this year, I have to
go with Brad Keselowski. He’s got those
three wins which have him on top of the points
standings if the Chase started today.
Not only that, he’s seen an incredible rebound from his single win
season last year. He and crew chief Paul
Wolfe are working extremely well together right now, and if current performance
is any indication for that of the future, it could be a long season and a
frustrating Chase for a lot of competitors. The Biggest Surprise Performance: For the surprise
performance of the year, this is a little bit of a two headed monster which
brought me to my conclusion. If you
think about the rookie battle we previewed at the beginning of the season,
there were more than a handful of drivers who were vying for the rookie of the
year title. Now, at the halfway point,
for the greater view, we are down to two.
If you consider those two drivers and the teams for which they drive,
you have to seriously consider Kyle Larson as the biggest surprise in performance. Consider the historical performance of
Richard Childress Racing and Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates and the
experience of each of the two respective rookie drivers, and at the beginning
of the year, you would have had a strong case for Austin Dillon to outperform
Kyle Larson. It has not happened that
way, and Larson has four top-five finishes to Dillon’s one, and the top-ten
category is even more skewed in Larson’s favor and Larson’s eight to Dillon’s
two. The two actually are tied in
points, but Larson’s stats give him the nod, and right now, he’s in the Chase,
and Dillon is out. Most Improved Performance Over Last Year:
You can make a strong case for Dale Earnhardt, Jr., as he is leaps and bounds
above last year with two wins, but consider those two wins. Daytona, which is Daytona and we all know how
that works. The other was a win at
Pocono that really could have gone to Brad Keselowski if not for an errant move
to rid his grille of some trash. Keselowski could be another candidate, but I
went in a different direction and selected Paul Menard. Through 19 races, Menard has already equaled
his totals from last year in top-fives and top-tens. His points
position at this point last year? Menard
was eighteenth in points last season after New Hampshire, and this year he’s in
the top ten, and would make the Chase if it started today. The Biggest Disappointment of 2014: Without question,
I’m going to go with Matt Kenneth. Yes,
he’ll probably still make the Chase based on his points tally, but the fact
that he has not yet won a race in the first season where winning is almost a
must, and only has seven more chances to do so, combined with the seven wins he
scored last year, five of them before the Chase started, it makes me have to
look at the season as a disappointment after the No. 20 team finished second to
Jimmie Johnson for the Championship in 2013.
This one was a slam dunk for me.
Manufacturer of the Year: We can take Toyota and leave
them out in the cold as they have only two wins this season. That only leaves Chevrolet and Ford. Chevy started off with a win in a big way at
Daytona, and then followed it up with another at Phoenix. Later, starting with Jeff Gordon’s win at
Kansas, Chevy ripped off five consecutive.
Ford, however, has followed that streak up with four consecutive of its
own, which added to the pre-streak total of four for a combine eight Ford wins
this season. How many wins did the blue
oval grab last year? A whopping six
victories. For the streak, and a return
to the fray, and increasing the wins by at least 33% already this season over
last, my vote for Manufacturer of the year goes to Ford. Best Crew Chief:
Although it was a bit of a slow start, Chad Knaus has worked his driver to just
where he needs him in preparation for the new Fall Classic. It took them a solid 11 weeks to score a
victory, but Jimmie Johnson now has three wins and they will be placed firmly
ahead of most when The Chase begins. On
top of that, Chad is still searching.
Remember New Hampshire? Chad was
in test mode, searching for something for when the series returns to the
Granite State for the second race of the Chase in September. What did they learn? Perhaps the notes for setting up the car
should be “Anything but that,” but at least he’s still learning, still trying,
and probably most important, still winning. Car Owner Of The Year: While you can certainly cast a vote for
Hendrick Motorsports based on the Daytona 500 and five additional wins by three
of the four drivers, my choice for Car Owner of the year is going to be Team
Penske. Brad Keselowski, should the
Chase begin today, would be the top seeded driver based on his three wins. Joey Logano would also be in the mix because
of his two victories a few weeks apart earlier in the season. They already have more wins this year than
for all of 2013. The big question is
whether the momentum carried by the team now will continue into the second
half, and can that momentum bring Roger Penske another Championship. Best Race Of 2014:
Here’s another slam dunk, for me anyway.
This race ended after fourteen cautions, thirty-three lead changes, and
when it was over, forty-one of the forty-three starters were still on the
track. There was a thrilling battle for
the win in the losing laps, with the lead changing hands four times in the last
50 circuits. When it was over, it wasn’t
Jimmie Johnson in victory lane. Instead,
it was Kurt Busch with the grandfather clock, returning to the winner’ circle
after a long unwanted vacation. That
race was Martinsville. Feel Good Story: There are a couple nominees here who are really deserving.
Let’s go back to Daytona in February. For the first time in 13 years, the top
circuit in NASCAR boasts a car with a No. 3 on the roof. Then the driver of that car, with so much on
his shoulders, puts that car on the pole for the biggest race of the year. Then there was the end of that race, when
with debris on the grille and rains ruining most of the day, it was NASCAR’s
favorite son, delivering a win that so many knew he had in him again. Then again at Daytona, this time in July,
thirty years after the last time and Richard Petty’s last win, Aric Almirola
delivers the No. 43 car to victory lane.
All of these were certainly in the running, but I think the best feel
good story, to me anyway, was Kurt Busch returning to the Winner’s Circle for
the first time since September of 2011 at Dover when he took Roger Penske’s No.
22 to the victory. Best Driver/Team Currently Not In The Chase: Taking a
look at the first five driver in points who would not be in the Chase were it
to begin on this day, a lot or arguments could be made in a lot of different
directions. Austin Dillon, Greg Biffle,
Kasey Kahne, Brian Vickers, and Tony Stewart are all on the outside looking in
right now. Dillon is mired in mediocrity
with the high spots of his year only coming at restrictor plate tracks, and
unless something changes drastically, I see his stock continuing to fall. Greg Biffle has shown me little or nothing
this year, so I cannot but my money on the No. 16 team. Vickers is hit or miss at a lot of tracks,
and until Tony Stewart shows that he is able to be consistent again, he’ll just
be…well, inconsistent. My pick is Kasey
Kahne. Kahne has two top-fives and seven top-tens, but his
record does not accurately reflect his performance. Mechanical issues and crashes have put Kahne
in this spot, but, I think if anyone of the top five outside of the Chase will
make it in, it will be Kasey Kahne. And so those are my categories and winners for the 2014
Season Halfway Awards. As I said, feel
free to chime in and let me know if you agree, and if not, who would be your
choice? Until next time, my friends…
Feel free to leave comments below, and be sure to follow me @RaceFansJim on Twitter, because sometimes I give stuff away!