A lot of drivers have started the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season brilliantly. Then there are those who’re off the pace and need improvement.
Tony Stewart
For a guy who has won two Cup championships, it’s been a shocking opening the season. He’s scarcely featured in race broadcasts, except when he’s being lapped, and languishing in 32nd in points.
Strange that Stewart’s car is so bad when his teammates, Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch, are showing such speed.
Roush Fenway Racing
One the powerhouse Ford team in the Sprint Cup Series – they won two championships and were regulars in victory lane in the early 2000s – Jack Roush’s squad are seriously on the decline, having lost veteran drivers Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards in the last few seasons.
You can’t replace that experience, and the squad had suffered as a result. Greg Biffle is the elder statesman now, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr and Trevor Bayne rounding out the three-car team.
Basically, they haven’t been fast anywhere. Biffle is the best of the bunch, 21st, with the squad’s only top-10 finish of the season.
It’s sad to see a front-running team struggle so much.
Kyle Busch
Not really his fault, but Busch’s hard impact with the wall in the Daytona Xfinity Series race has seen the driver of the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota sidelined indefinitely after surgery on his foot, highlighting issues with walls at racetracks where the SAFER barrier doesn’t exist.
It’ll be midseason before the controversial driver is back behind the wheel, and the sport is a lesser place because of it.
NASCAR
Their handling of the Kurt Busch situation wasn’t great. Yes, I know what happened with NFL star Ray Rice, and I know that there’s now a serious spotlight being shone on domestic violence, but the difference between Rice and Kurt Busch is that there was video evidence of Rice’s actions, and there wasn’t any for Busch’s – and the entire fight between Busch and his ex-girlfriend, Patricia Driscoll, was as contentious as they come.
The fact is, NASCAR suspended Busch indefinitely on the back of a supposition from a judge granting Driscoll a protective order, but, crucially, no criminal conviction. When the Delaware district attorney deemed that there wasn’t enough evidence to charge Busch, NASCAR had a fair amount of egg on its face and had to basically rescind their suspension, allowing Busch to return for the Sprint Cup Series’ fourth event in Phoenix.
Sloppily handled.
Danica Patrick
The hype around Patrick – the first full-time female competitor in the Sprint Cup Series – is not justified by her on-track ability.
It’s been another slow start for Patrick, who languishes outside the top 20 in points, and is yet to record a top-five or a top-ten finish, yet garners a lot of air time, as we listen to Darrell Waltrip gush over what a great run she’s having.
I’m not against females in racing, far from it. But broadcasters lavish huge praise on her, praise that often matches whoever is actually running at the pointy end.
Yes, it was great watching Patrick lead the Indianapolis 500, but there are other female drivers out there, like Simona de Silvestro in IndyCar, who are faster but get far less media exposure.
Track safety
This is becoming a huge talking point in the Sprint Cup Series paddock. We saw it with Kyle Busch’s horrific accident at Daytona, slamming into an unprotected wall, and it could’ve actually been much worse than it was. The next week, Jeff Gordon hit a stretch of unprotected wall at Atlanta, and, given the current climate, the fact that Atlanta hadn’t made changes in the wake of Busch’s accident a week before is beyond me.
NASCAR should mandate SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barrier installation everywhere at every track, or we’re going to end up losing a driver, and no one wants that.
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