NASCAR gets ready to start its engines

PRINCETON — A week from Sunday is the Super Bowl of the NASCAR Sprint Cup series, the Daytona 500. I thought that I’d look at some of the key performers in the Sprint Cup series as a way to preview the 2013 season.

One must start by looking at Brad Keslowski, the defending series champion. From a guy who won his first race on the Sprint Cup level on a bit of a fluke (the cars ahead of him crashed), he’s now a legitimate star, winning his title in his third full year of racing on this level. Can he repeat? Jimmie Johnson notwithstanding, it’s hard to do so, but Keslowski hasn’t had the turnover in his crew, and he’s almost guaranteed for a couple of wins in the regular season, so he should be in position to defend.

The old adage that “no one remembers who came in second” could very well apply to 2012’s Sprint Cup. It wasn’t Johnson, who dropped out of second place during a bad race at Homestead, but Clint Bowyer. Bowyer took the Michael Waltrip Racing organization to new heights by finishing second. Whether the organization can sustain such heights is cause for speculation, although Bowyer has a knack for consistent good finishes without winning a lot of races.

Johnson and Chad Knaus will go down as one of the most potent driver-crew chief combinations ever. You have to consider 2012 an off-year for the organization, as trouble late in the season cost them a sixth title in seven years. Still, that track record has to be given respect.

Tony Stewart can be a headache, but he’s never a bore. He didn’t have the late finishing kick in the Chase races he’s been known to do, which kept him from more serious contention for the title he was defending.

Matt Kenseth has left Roush Racing for Joe Gibbs Racing. Shifting organizations can work out in the cases of Stewart and Bowyer, but it can also lead to disappointment as in the case of Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose move from DEI hasn’t paid off for either driver or team. I think Kenseth and Gibbs will be a good combination, though.

This year’s driver “will he stay or will he go” drama looks to be Kevin Harvick from Richard Childress Racing. Rumors are that he might go to Stewart-Haas Racing, which would be interesting, considering the respective personalities of both Stewart and Harvick, in 2014. Is it just me or does RCR attract a certain type of personality, such as an Dale Earnhardt, a Harvick or a Robby Gordon, a crusty in the case of the former), arrogant and outspoken type (in the case of the latter two, who didn’t get along when they were teammates)? Jeff Burton is an anomaly among RCR drivers, a tend to his own business type.

Jeff Gordon won two races last year and demonstrated a level of previously unrevealed crankiness by intentionally wrecking Bowyer in the second-to-last race of the season. Jeff, you’re over 40 and are closer to the end of your career than the beginning. You’re married to a Dutch supermodel and have two children. Let others pull off those type of stunts.

Speaking of Jack Roush’s organization, the position of top team will either be Carl Edwards’ or Greg Biffle’s. Edwards has to regain the form that saw him push Stewart to the end in 2011. Biffle is one of my sentimental favorites to win the Sprint Cup for the simple reason that, if he does it, he’ll be the first one to win the Truck Series, the Nationwide Series and the Sprint Cup titles.

This year’s potential top rookie is Roush driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., now better known for being Danica Patrick’s post-divorce rebound relationship than being the defending Nationwide Series champion. Patrick is also eligible for Rookie of the Year, by the way.

I can’t get away without looking at the other two Rick Hendrick Racing teams; Earnhardt Jr.’s and Kasey Kahne’s. Earnhardt finally broke his long losing streak last year, while Kahne quietly got two victories. I’m picking Kahne as a dark-horse to win the Sprint Cup, behind favorites Keslowski, Johnson and Stewart.

I really don’t have much to add where Ryan Newman’s concerned. He had his typical year, win a number of poles and one race.

I guess that I’d be amiss if I didn’t mention everybody’s favorite whipping boys, the brothers Busch, Kurt and Kyle. Kurt has really taken a downfall from when he was the 2004 champion, to Phoenix Racing, a one-car organization where his ride depends as much on his behavior as his driving. Kyle, I guess, is Joe Gibbs’ top driver, but he remains the most disliked driver among the fans.

Denny Hamlin, like Edwards, has struggled to an extent after finishing second to Johnson in 2010. If not Kyle Busch, he’s Gibbs 1A or 1B driver and would rank as my fourth favorite to win the Sprint Cup.

It just wasn’t Bowyer who put MWR in the Chase. Martin Truex Jr. also made the final 12 in his best year ever in Sprint Cup.

Other drivers outside the 12 from last year who should be considered for the Cup are Kyle Busch, Burton, Joey Lagano, Juan Pablo Montoya, Stenhouse and Jamie McMurray.

I can be reached c/o Jeff’s Sports Corner, P.O. Box 1199, Princeton, WV, 24740. I can also be reached at delimartman@yahoo.com or jharvey1@frontiernet.net or on Facebook.

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NASCAR gets ready to start its engines

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