A quick lap around the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series shows that Jimmie’s winning … Junior’s improving ... Jeff’s giving chase ... and the surprising combination of Kevin Harvick (No. 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet) and Matt Kenseth (No. 17 Crown Royal Ford) are 1-2 in the series standings.
How’d this happen? After all, neither Harvick nor Kenseth have won a race this year.
Consistency instead has carried the two drivers — one a former series championship contender the other a former series champion — to the top of the early-season heap.
Coming into Martinsville, Harvick’s lead is scant — 774-773. But just the fact he’s at the top of the standings is a bit ominous for the rest of the series. Harvick has long been considered a possible future NASCAR Sprint Cup champion. He has two NASCAR Nationwide Series titles (2001 and ‘06) to his credit.
Harvick may not have won this year but he’s been close, starting the season with a seventhplace run at the Daytona 500, then finishing second in consecutive weeks at Auto Club Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Along the way, his renowned swagger — reminiscent of the man he replaced at Richard Childress Racing, the late Dale Earnhardt — has returned.
He has talked tough about challenging the long-running preeminence of Jimmie Johnson.
He has weighed in on the Carl Edwards- Brad Keselowski feud, taking some swipes at Edwards, an adversary from seasons past. Auto Racing Daily
CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR 0 David Reutimann Toyota Tums 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet McDonald's 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet Carquest / GoDaddy.com 6 David Ragan Ford UPS 7 Robby Gordon Toyota Warner Music Nashville / Blake Shelton 9 Kasey Kahne Ford Budweiser 9 Aric Almirola Chevrolet Phoenix Racing 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Freight 12 Brad Keselowski Dodge Penske Racing 13 Max Papis Toyota GEICO 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet Old Spice / Office Depot 16 Greg Biffle Ford U.S. Census 17 Matt Kenseth Ford Crown Royal 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Snickers 19 Elliott Sadler Ford Stanley 20 Joey Logano Toyota The Home Depot 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 26 Boris Said Ford Sacred Power 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Caterpillar 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet BB&T 34 Travis Kvapil Ford A&W All American Food 36 Mike Bliss Chevrolet Wave Energy Drink 37 David Gilliland Ford Gander Mountain 38 Kevin Conway* Ford Extenze 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet Haas Automation 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet Target 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford Charter Comm. 46 Terry Cook* Dodge Whitney Motorsports 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota Little Debbie 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's 55 Michael McDowell Toyota Prism Motorsports 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota NAPA Auto Parts 66 Dave Blaney Toyota Prism Motorsports 71 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet TRG Motorsports 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge Mobil 1 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet Furniture Row Companies 82 Scott Speed Toyota Red Bull 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota FrontRowJoe.com 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Amp Energy Sugar Free Lightning / National Guard 98 Paul Menard Ford NIBCO / Menards 99 Carl Edwards Ford Aflac 135 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet Tommy Baldwin Racing 190 Casey Mears Chevrolet Keyed-Up Motorsports
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