I will start with, who in my opinion, is the most underrated driver in NASCAR Sprint Cup. Regan Smith drives for an underfunded, single-car effort in Furniture Row Racing. The team is based out of Colorado, thousands of miles from the Charlotte-region, which is where all of the powerful teams reside.
Smith is 25th in points, which on the surface, appears less than stellar. However, he is performing far superior than previous Furniture Row drivers Joe Nemechek and Kenny Wallace. He placed the upstart team on the radar with a win at the often treacherous Darlington Raceway in May. Sure, luck and strategy were somehwat involved in Smith's seemingly improbable victory, but he was running sixth prior to the caution that ultimately resulted in his first Cup victory.
Smith has two top five finishes and five top 10 finishes, which happens to be more than Jeff Burton, Jamie McMurray, and David Reutimann, all of which drive for multi-car teams based in North Carolina. Smith's statistics are comparable to those of 'Sliced Bread' Joey Logano, who drives for an organization currently boasting three Cup championships.
We can only speculate how well Smith would be performing if he were to switch rides with Logano.
Additional drivers falling into the underrated category include A.J. Allmendinger and Landon Cassill. Allmendinger has yet to show his full potential based on the fact that he has driven for Red Bull Racing, a team that gave him no chance after bringing him to a sport in which he needed years of development. He joined Gillett Evernham Motorsports in 2009, and we all know the story regarding that organization, which is now Richard Petty Motorsports. Petty's team seems to be on stable ground, so this should bode well for Allmendinger. After all, he has spent the entire 2011 season in or near the top 15 in the standings.
Cassill, a former Hendrick Motorsports development driver, has brought Phoenix Racing, a former start and park team, into respectability. This kid is still young, and has given his team several decent performances in 2011.
2 comments:
It's nice to see these drivers haven't been overlooked.
After Reagan was robbed of his plate win by NASCAR (he was forced below the yellow line which is a rule that NASCAR has but doesn't seem to want to enforce) I've been rooting for him.
AJ was setting CART on fire with 6 wins before NASCAR came calling. He really did need a couple full seasons in Nationwide (as did Logano) before attempting Cup. I'm proud of how he's managed to survive and adapt to stock cars. He continues to improve.
Landon is another driver who is a talent and I'm glad to see him getting another chance. How many promising young drivers over the past 5 years have disappeared because of sponsorship woes?
Love seeing drivers overcoming these hurdles.
There are several drivers worth noting. They have some good performance on the track too.
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