DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series just returned from Las Vegas … and, if folks could have cashed in on the odds of predicting what the series’ top 12 would look like after the season’s first three races, the payout would have been monumental.
Heading into the KOBALT Tools 500 this Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the top 12 features a new and competitive look.
Only five drivers who were in the top 12 at this point last year are in there now and there is a trio of drivers — David Reutimann (No. 00 Aarons Dream Machine Toyota), Bobby Labonte (No. 96 ASK.com Ford), and Michael Waltrip (No. 55 NAPA Toyota) — that would have been considered long shots to break into this illustrious group at the beginning of the season.
Reutimann is coming off a career-best fourth-place finish at Las Vegas and has moved up to fifth in points. A year ago, Reutimann was 31st in points after the first three races.
Labonte turned in his first top-five performance since 2006 by finishing fifth at Vegas and is 10th in points — he was 15th this time last season.
Waltrip stayed in the top 12 for the third straight week. Consider: Has 34th at this stage a year ago. Clearly, he is answering the self-imposed pressure he applied during the preseason when he said that if his 2009 results weren’t considerably improved, that he would retire.
Call it parity; call it balanced competition. But however you frame it up, the new blood in the 1op 12 certainly has made for some interesting early-season conversation — and speculation about whether these teams will be among the elite later in the season.
“It’s pretty awesome,” said Labonte, the 2000 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, following his run at Las Vegas.
“I can’t wait to get back in it and go. We’re taking it one race at a time, so I’m excited. I just feel like we’ve got all of this confidence on our side right now.”
