Allen Bestwick

While it’s still early in the 2006 Nextel Cup season, the drivers and crews spent a rare weekend off preparing for next week’s Las Vegas race. So with one major restrictor plate race already in the books (Daytona), why not take a look at which drivers are off to a hot start, and those that will be trying to dig out from an early (points) hole in the coming weeks?

These drivers are hot
Jimmie Johnson
Putting Johnson atop this list is a no-brainer for anyone with a results sheet nearby. It’s as simple as this:  Johnson won the Daytona 500, and followed it up with a runner-up finish in California. That’s an average finish of 1.5, one position shy of perfect, a remarkable accomplishment by itself made even more impressive when you recall that Johnson’s crew chief, Chad Knaus, is serving a suspension for Daytona qualifying technical violations.

Matt Kenseth
The 2003 Cup champion earned the win at California Speedway, working his way from 31st starting spot to lead after just 80 laps. While Kenseth didn’t dominate the day, he was near the front all afternoon and led when it counted most, when the checkered flag was waved.  While Kenseth only finished 15th in the Daytona 500, that finish doesn’t nearly tell the story of his race.  Kenseth raced up front until the now infamous run-in between he and Tony Stewart sent him crashing through the grass and into the wall. Add in a NASCAR penalty for a moment of ill-temper and Kenseth looked like a sure 30th place finisher, but he rallied back, got on the lead lap late in the going, and posted that 15th place result which impressed me to no end.  Given the way he ran before his Daytona car was damaged, Kenseth could well have been two for two thus far.

Casey Mears
A driver under fire for under performing last year has started the new season as one of the most consistent top finishers, logging two top-10 results in the opening pair of races.  At Daytona, Mears ran a very quiet race by not being up front or appearing in contention until late in the race. Then he charged through the last-laps mayhem to score a second place finish, his career best. Then in California, Mears again had a subtle day, but took the checkers in seventh place, making it back-to-back top 10s to open 2006. Mears is one of only two drivers with top 10s in both of this year’s races, Jimmie Johnson is the other.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.
If only two drivers have scored top 10 finishes in the opening pair of races this year, there are two more drivers who have scored top 11 finishes to kick off the new campaign. One of them is Earnhardt Jr. Junior ran very competitively at Daytona, though he was shuffled back to eighth place at the finish, a disappointing result considering he felt a win was very possible.  Performance at Daytona is expected from Junior and his team, but last year they struggled mightily on the intermediate tracks. Given that perspective, his 11th place run at California was pretty encouraging for fans of the “red” car. If they can maintain their level of performance at places like Daytona and Bristol while overcoming some of the struggles on the intermediate tracks, Junior could be a factor come Chase for the Championship time in September.

Kasey Kahne

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Here’s the other guy with top 11 finishes in this year’s opening pair of events, and he has a similar story to Junior in that there were some pretty serious struggles from 2005 that Kahne and his team need to overcome this year. To deal with those issues, owner Ray Evernham revamped Kahne’s crew, putting quiet veteran Kenny Francis in charge, a man whose personality seems much more a match to the somewhat quiet Kahne. The team also continues to work on aerodynamically balancing the Dodge Charger body style; something all that make’s teams dealt with all of last year and will continue to deal with through ‘06.