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We are 7 races into the 2010 Nascar season, and some big names are outside the Top 12 in points, and some unlikely drivers are either in the Top 12 or are hanging around real close. Is this what Nascar intended? More to the point is this good for the sport?

The season started off with 20-year old-Trevor Bayne shocking everyone by taking the Wood Brothers back to victory lane in the seasons biggest race, The Daytona 500. This Daytona race saw the two car tango as opposed to big packs of cars running single file, and made for exciting racing, with more passing than ever before.

In the 2nd race at Phoenix, Jeff Gordon finally ended his long winless drought by taking the 24 car back to victory lane. People were wondering what happened to the guy who won everything in sight, when partnered up with Ray Evernham, and the majority of the blame was on crew chief Steve Letarte. In the offseason, team owner Rick Hendrick swapped a bunch of his crew chiefs around to see if that would create a spark, and so far it has.

Carl Edwards won at Las Vegas, and Kyle Busch won at Bristol, in a race that was rather boring compared to past few races with little to no “beating and banging”. Kevin Harvick won at California and Martinsville. This week we saw Matt Kenseth end his long winless streak by winning at Texas.

Looking at the standings after 7 races, we see some familiar names, and one not so familiar name. Sitting in 6th place is Dale Jr. who is finally having the kind of season he was expected to have when he joined Hendrick Motorsports. He hasn’t won a race yet, but he is definitely getting close to getting that monkey off his back. Sitting 8th is former IRL driver Juan Pablo Montoya. He has finally toned down his rough driving style, and it has paid off for him. In 11th place is Paul Menard. Who is he you ask? He is the highest paid driver in the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) stable. Menard has always been looked down on because he runs with sponsorship from his family’s business and was generally considered to be just a “rich kid playing with daddies money”.

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By Jon Tessler (Reveryroadie) – Jabberhead, SJ Contributing Author

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