Points Shakeup Following The 5 Hour Energy 200

Matt had a great recap of the events from this past Saturday.

Ricky Stenhouse has hit a slump. Two straight DNFs has cost him the points lead. Last year as soon as Stenhouse got the lead he never let it go.

While the back to back mishaps hurt Stenhouse, Elliott Sadler’s great runs the past two weeks shouldn’t be downplayed. Sadler has been running like a man on a mission. His objective is to win his first Nascar Championship.

Sadler was at one time very much like Ricky Stenhouse, a hard charging young driver who was destined to take the world by storm. Sadler was not able to transition to the Sprint Cup series smoothly and thanks to Richard Petty Motorsports releasing him, he now has a new lease on his racing life.

Driver and Owner Points after the Jump!

I will take this opportunity to expand out the points a bit:

That is all the drivers who have attempted all 12 events so far. A lot of luck, most of it bad, would have to happen to the top four drivers for anyone else in the top ten to catch them at this point. It’s possible, but not so likely. So we can consider this a four man battle for the Championship until someone else steps up.

As always, there is a constant battle for the Owner’s Championship. Joe Gibbs Racing is looking to win yet again and really doesn’t have that much competition at this point.

The other battle if for a locked in position at the next event. As you can see, MAKE Motorsports holds the final locked in position by just five points over Randy Hill Racing. The #60 team cannot be locked.

The Nationwide Series is taking a week off to cool the tires but will be back in two weeks from Michigan International Raceway. Enjoy!