Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog
At the beginning of the season I outlined my Top 12 finishers for this year’s NEXTEL Cup. Let’s see how I did.
Here is who I picked to be in the Top 12:
1. Tony Stewart (just keep him out of the Busch cars)
2. Kevin Harvick (just keep his mouth shut and focus on the big picture - Championship)
3. Jimmie Johnson (provided he doesn’t have a string of bad luck)
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr (maybe even as high as 2nd - no Championship, too many distractions off the track)
5. Jeff Gordon (marriage won’t distract him - much)
6. Carl Edwards ( getting it back together, but too much ground lost last year)
7. Greg Biffle (see Edwards)
8. Kyle Busch (as long as he isn’t stupid he could finish even higher than Jeff - but stupidity prevails)
9. Juan Montoya (this man ain’t no rookie, look out - as long as Ganassi gives him good cars)
10. Matt Kenseth (see Edwards - look for either his team to rebound or continue to blow up)
11. Kasey Kahne (needs to improve on intermediate tracks - and get that bad mojo gone)
12. Denny Hamlin or Jeff Burton (sophomore slump for Denny and not aggressive enough for Jeff)
Here is the actual Top 12:
1. Jimmie Johnson ( I thought he would do well, maybe even get 2nd, but not 1st)
2. Jeff Gordon (not as distracted with home life as I thought)
3. Clint Bowyer (considered him very briefly for the top 12, that was a mistake)
4. Matt Kenseth (rebounded from bad ending of 2006, but still not a contender)
5. Kyle Busch (stupidity prevailed)
6. Tony Stewart (stayed out of the Busch cars - almost - but faded fast in last half of season anyway)
7. Kurt Busch (seriously considered him, but I thought Penske was still getting his act together - well ok he still is, but they are moving along better than I thought)
8. Jeff Burton (close on this one, still not aggressive enough - I wonder if his sponsorship woes had anything to do with his decrease in performance?)
9. Carl Edwards (I’ll say this one is pretty much on the head here)
10. Kevin Harvick (glimmers at times of what I expected, but failed to live up to expectations
11. Martin Truex Jr. (this is supposed to be Dale Jr, and if not for 7 engines failures would have been - and maybe a little higher too - good job for Martin none-the-less)
12. Denny Hamlin (bang on baby!)
So who did I have that didn’t make it?
Juan Montoya - not a rookie Tony Stewart here, but still in the top 20. I was a little overzealous with this pick. Rookie of The Year though, which I did predict. Maybe Ganassi didn’t give him good enough cars like I speculated might happen, who knows? Maybe I’m just trying to save a little face here too.
Kasey Kahne - come on, you all thought he’d be there too. Didn’t you? Who would have ever thought they would read their computers wrong and screw up their areo packages so bad that they would have to go back to their 2006 front clips. So they say anyway.
The Biff - again, come on, you all thought he’d be there too. Didn’t you? Roush needs to look at hs drivers, and their equipment very seriously in the off-season or he’s going to find continued decline in the standings next year. Maybe he was telling the truth when he said they were behind in their testing schedules, because the decrease in performance, especially in the CoT races, really showed.
Dale Earnhardt Jr - see Martin Truex Jr above. Add to that the major distractions of track regarding ownership battles, sponsorship sagas, merchandising mayhem, and so on. Again, as predicted.
There you have it, my crystal ball isn’t what it used to be. Perhaps I’ll have to take it in with my mini van during the off-season for a tune up. I guess I’ll have to rely more on my psychic abilities for next year instead.
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