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School is out for the summer around most of the country but the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series class is only nearing the halfway point.
So let's line up the drivers and have Professor Pistone hand out the mid-year grades:
Head of the class
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| Kyle Busch is tops with his four wins. (Getty Images) |
Carl Edwards falls in right behind Busch with a solid start to his season. Edwards dominated the first two months of the year when he rattled off three wins, all coming at intermediate tracks. His success at the mid-sized speedways, which have puzzled every other driver and team trying to figure out the new Sprint Cup car's handling attributes, could play a huge role in Edwards' quest for the title.
Stellar students
While Kyle Busch's transition to Joe Gibbs Racing has been seamless, so too has Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s move to Hendrick Motorsports. While Junior's much-celebrated winless streak is still going strong, his consistent finishes behind the wheel of the No. 88 have kept him near the top of the point standings all season. The wins will come but if Earnhardt can keep knocking down top-five finishes, his first Cup title is a real possibility.
Kasey Kahne made our 2007 Biggest Failures list after going winless last season and looking lost in the process. But Kahne is back on the map in a big way this year and is currently the hottest driver on the circuit with three trips to Victory Lane in the last four weekends. Confidence and momentum is on the No. 9 team's side which should lead to a few more wins in 2008.
Jeff Burton has again been the model of consistency with 10 top-10 finishes in the year's first 14 races, which has added up to his second-place spot in the standings. Burton's been near the top of the heap during the last two regular seasons, only to fade when the Chase kicked in, a pattern the veteran hopes to erase this year.
Average students
With a little more luck on his side, Denny Hamlin would have a couple more wins to his credit than his solo victory at Martinsville. Don't talk about luck to Greg Biffle, who has been robbed of several trips to Victory Lane by mechanical problems or pit-road miscues. Jimmie Johnson has only one win to his credit at this point of the season compared to the four he had in 2007. Jeff Gordon's last win came back in October of '07 and by his own admission the No. 24 team has been chasing its tail much of this season. It's hard to believe Kevin Harvick won the Daytona 500 in 2007 and since then the No. 29 has rarely been in contention for Victory Lane. Others in this group include Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer, David Ragan -- one of the year's more pleasant surprises after a challenging rookie season -- and Travis Kvapil, who gets graded on a bit of a curve as a member of the under-funded Yates Racing Team.
Need extra credit
Matt Kenseth has finally started to come to life but the 2003 champion better step on it if he has any hopes of making the playoffs. Martin Truex, Jr. has been the best thing at DEI this year, which unfortunately isn't saying much. Brian Vickers' recent resurgence needs to continue for the upstart Team Red Bull squad to have a shot at the Chase. Juan Pablo Montoya is on his fourth crew chief of the year and possibly final bottle of aspirin for all the headaches he's endured in his sophomore season.
First-half failures
Casey Mears isn't doing much to help people remember the fourth member of the powerhouse Hendrick team. Jamie McMurray swears he's not out of a ride at Roush Fenway next season but sources still confirm the opposite. Reed Sorenson is wearing a bulls-eye on his back these days and it has nothing to do with his sponsor. No one would blame Sam Hornish Jr., Dario Franchitti, Patrick Carpentier and A. J. Allmendinger for watching videos of their days as open wheel drivers. Michael Waltrip thought he had righted the ship at the start of the season but it turns out it actually was the Titanic. And Kyle Petty will be out of the No. 45 car for seven straight weeks this summer. Wonder if anyone will notice?
