Surprises and disappointments so far at the halfway point

[Joe Fan]

The surprises are:

Ward Burton--in the top five in the standings and ahead of his brother Jeff
Dale Earnhardt Sr.--in another championship hunt!
Johnny Benson--has done real well with a very backmarker team.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.--figured he would win a race but has won two early on in the season plus The Winston
Jeremy Mayfield--although he should be higher in the standings he has won two races in the first half of the season, nobody expected that.

The disappointments are:

Scott Pruett--I expected him to do better than this. So far he has produced some good "Crash and Burn" material.
Jeff Gordon--I expected him to be back in the top five again but he has struggled to get top five finishes.
The number 6 team--Can't seem to field a car consistent enough for Mark Martin to win a championship with.

[marcus]

allthough I havent seen all the races for me the biggest disapointment would also be Scott Pruett..i thought he would do fairly well but so far i dont think he has done enough to keep his ride for next year.

surprises so far...well not really a huge surprise but Tony stewart and Dale Jnr have been exciting and i think johhny benson is awesome...sad he carnt get a sponsor but i do love the car that way...the young guns seem to be firing on all cylinders which is good for the sport.

[Lee]

Hello Joe Fan and Marcus,
Happy 4th of July, yes I know Marcus, being from down under it isn't a holiday there, but I'm in a good mood today and am wishing everyone a happy Fourth.
As to what my biggest suprises and disappointments for this year, really not too many. I guess the biggest suprise for me this year has been the number of different winners, and I hope it is a trend that continues. I really enjoy watching someone get their first win, and just like the number of different winners period. Can't really think of anymore suprises. Disappointments, none really, to me, no suprise that Pruett is doing no better than he is. Traditionally, Indy-type car drivers and road racers do not fair well in stock cars. This is not a dig at them, its just that their backgrounds are not really compatible with stock cars. Gurney and Donahue, yes they won in stock cars, but only on road-courses, their speciality, no success on ovals in stock cars. Foyt, he drove anything with wheels on it, had alot of experience in stock cars (USAC Stock Car Division, now defunked, sadly) prior to running in NASCAR. Jeff Gordon, never drove Indy-type cars, migets, sprints, then too Busch and Winston Cup. John Andretti, yes he has won a few races, but how long has he been driving in Winston Cup? Earnhardt and Kenseth have won almost as many races as he has, in their rookie year. Tony Stewart? He appears to be the exception to the rule, or is it that, like Tim Richmond, he was not in Indy-type cars long enough to develop the habits that would be detremental to his stock car driving, by this I mean, so atuned to open-wheel cars that his skills would be toward that direction instead of stock cars, they are two completely different animals, and require two completely different forms of driving, for proof of this, ask Scott Pruett. "I thought that at least some of what I had lerned from driving all of the different types of race cars over the years would have transfered (I think he used the term crossed over here) over, it hasn't. What I thought would work hasn't, or has worked just the opposite from how I thought it would." Again, not a bash, just an observation. Really, as I said, no great suprises or disappointments this year. Ya'll have a nice day.

[marcus]

I agree Lee..but being an open wheel fan i had hoped that he could do better and he also has plenty of trans am experience..but who knows what is going wrong there...I guess he was in open wheelers for about 10 years so yes the habits of those cars would be well set in by now..I think Tony Stewart is the exception...Im a big fan of his and think he would be at the front in whatever class he drives...as you mentioned the biggest surprise is definately the amount of winners so far this year...(dont know how i forgot that one)..and I too hope that it continues