Consistent Kevin Harvick back on top of SceneDaily.com rankings

By SceneDaily.com Staff

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Kevin Harvick leads the Sprint Cup Series with 14 top-10 finishes this year.

Elmer Kappell
NASCAR Illustrated

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Consistency still reigns in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series, and nobody’s better proof of that than Richard Childress Racing’s Kevin Harvick.

Harvick nearly got a second Brickyard 400 win on Sunday, and his series-leading 14th top-10 finish moved him back atop this week’s SceneDaily.com driver rankings.

But the man making the biggest charge up the charts was race winner Jamie McMurray, up three spots to 13th as the series loads up and heads to Pocono.

1. Kevin Harvick – Another rock-solid effort by the No. 29 team. This team is cruising at high altitude.

2. Jimmie Johnson – Four-time champion has finished 22nd or worse in his last three starts. Is this a trend?

3. Jeff Gordon – Broken splitter, cut tire and a 23d-place finish for the former champion ended a run of five straight top-five finishes.

4. Denny Hamlin – Only one top-10 finish since his win at Michigan. Indy was a chance to step up. Instead, the team stumbled just a bit.

5. Kurt Busch – The flagship Dodge team salvaged a 10th-place finish with a damaged car. It’s been feast or famine for the Penske Racing team this year.

6. Tony Stewart – Don’t look now, but these guys have finished ninth or better in seven of their last nine starts. Can a win be far behind? Up two spots in this week’s rankings.

7. Kyle Busch – Joe Gibbs Racing team gets the comeback award after bouncing back from lap 1 spin to race its way back into the top 10. A sign that the bleeding has stopped for the No. 18?

8. Jeff Burton – Third consecutive top-10 didn’t move Burton up in points, but it didn’t hurt him any, either. Needs to start putting some top-five finishes in the bank, though.

9. Clint Bowyer – Ended the race with a good battle for position with Tony Stewart. When you’re disappointed with fourth, that’s a good sign.

10. Greg Biffle – It looked like the Roush Fenway Racing driver might be the one to finally end the Ford dry spell, but Biffle couldn’t work his way around the leaders after a late four-tire stop. Third-place finish was one of team’s best efforts of the year, and something to build on.

11. Carl Edwards – Another Ford that is improving, ever so slowly. Still a lot of work to do for the Aflac team.

12. Matt Kenseth – Somehow managing to keep his head above water in spite of lukewarm results. A 12th-place finish at Indy was pretty much par for the course.

13. Jamie McMurray – Two-tire gamble paid off in a big way for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team at Indy, but McMurray was a contender long before that call was made. Says he doesn’t pay attention to the points, but chances are he will now.

14. Mark Martin – Thought the questions about next year’s plans would have subsided once he fell out of the top 12. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. On a brighter note, was the top-finishing Hendrick car at Indy.

15. Dale Earnhardt Jr. – Was working his way into the top 12 when he was caught up in the Juan Pablo Montoya incident. As a result, he fell another spot in points and is now 93 out of Chase contention.

16. Kasey Kahne – Struggled most of the day just to come home 13th. After strong runs at Daytona and Chicago, Indy was a big disappointment.

17. Ryan Newman – Father-to-be was as far back as 37th after tire issues early in the race, but worked his way up to 17th by the end. Gained a spot in the points, but needs to avoid such bad luck if he’s going to stay in the Chase picture.

18. David Reutimann – Two weeks after his second career win, Reutimann stumbled home 28th, three laps down. So much for a turnaround.

19. Joey Logano – Ninth-place finish was impressive. But most are wondering why the kid isn’t running like this all the time.

20. Juan Pablo Montoya – It took Dale Earnhardt 20 attempts before he finally won the Daytona 500. Montoya’s hoping his wait at Indy won’t be quite as long. But it’s starting to look that way.