The winless streaks by drivers such as Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick have ranked amongst some of the biggest stories so far this season. They came into this week’s race at Watkins Glen as some of the odds-on-favorite to win, but alas, Kyle Busch shut the door on those plans yet again. This week’s “List of the Week” will feature the 10 longest winless droughts amongst the drivers inside the top-20 in points.

10. Matt Kenseth - 22 races - Last Win: Homestead-Miami Speedway, Fall 2007
9. Jeff Gordon - 27 races - Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Fall 2007
8. Greg Biffle - 29 races - Kansas Speedway, Fall 2007
7. Tony Stewart - 36 races - Watkins Glen International, Summer 2007
6. Jamie McMurray - 40 races - Daytona International Speedway, Summer 2007

5. Martin Truex Jr. - 45 races - Dover International Speedway, Spring 2007
4. Kevin Harvick - 57 races - Daytona International Speedway, Spring 2007
3. David Ragan - 60 races - No NSCS wins
2. Brian Vickers - 68 races - Talladega Superspeedway, Fall 2006
1. Elliott Sadler - 141 races - Auto Club Speedway, Fall 2004

Jimmie Johnson finally won his first-ever ESPY award last Wednesday when he was voted as “the Best Driver,” beating out fellow race car drivers, Dario Franchitti, Kyle Busch, Tony Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, and Scott Dixon for the honors. Johnson has won back-to-back NASCAR Sprint Cup championships in 2006 & 2007 en route to winning the award, and compiled a very impressive 10 wins over the course of the 2007 season. Congratulations to Jimmie on this outstanding achievement!

Kyle Busch lost out to Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings for best breakout athlete of the year, and Jamie McMurray’s win over Busch at the 2007 Pepsi 400 at Daytona was beaten out by Western Kentucky’s victory over Drake in the NCAA Tournament for best finish. The ESPY Awards Ceremony took place last Wednesday evening, but the show did not air until this past Sunday.

Complete List of 2008 ESPY Winners.

Image details: 2007 ESPY Awards - Arrivals served by picapp.com

The annual 2008 ESPY Awards will air live on ESPN on Sunday, July 20th at 9 pm est / 8 pm cst, and keeping with their tradition of including outdoor sports and motorsports within their equation, NASCAR will be represented with nominees in three separate categories this year.

Every year, the ESPY’s select from a pool of nominees for their racing-specific athlete category for “Best Driver“. A NASCAR driver has won this award in 9 of the 15 years, and 4 of the last 5. The most recent winners of this award were Jeff Gordon in 2007 and Tony Stewart in 2006. Representing NASCAR this year are 2006 and 2007 Sprint Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson (whom has never won the award), current Sprint Cup points leader, Kyle Busch, and Dario Franchitti (though Franchitti was nominated for his win in the 2007 Indianapolis 500 and for winning the IndyCar Series championship last season). They will compete against Lewis Hamilton, Tony Schumacher, and Scott Dixon.

Kyle Busch’s surge to 7 wins this season in the Sprint Cup Series and 14 altogether in NASCAR’s top-three series has also earned him a nomination as the “Breakthrough Athlete of the Year“, but he’s going to be looking at some pretty stout competition in this category, particularly as he goes against Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings. Also nominated for this award are Stephen Curry (basketball) and Ana Ivanovic (tennis). Devin Hester of the Chicago Bears won the award last year.

Much to his own surprise, Jamie McMurray is up for an award himself. He’s been nominated for the “Best Finish” award for his 0.05 second victory over Kyle Busch in the 2007 Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. He will be up against Western Kentucky’s 3-point buzzer shot to advance over Drake University in the NCAA Tournament; the San Antonio Spurs’ victory over the Phoenix Suns in the NBA Finals in double overtime; and the Pittsburgh Penguins triple overtime win against the Detroit Redwings in Game 5 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals.

Additionally, IRL star, Danica Patrick, is nominated for the awards of “Best Moment” and “Best Female Athlete.”

Go here for a complete list of the 2008 ESPY Nominees and go to ESPN.com for listing information on the event itself.

Image details: Coke Zero 400 served by picapp.com

With only eight races remaining until NASCAR sets the field for their Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2008, only 223 points separates 8th place Kasey Kahne from 18th place Kurt Busch in the points standings. While that may seem like a lot and perhaps too much to overcome for some, keep in mind that at this time last year, those two positions were separated by 416 points, and 18th place at that point time was consumed by Mark Martin, who was running a part-time schedule and had already missed five races. Something else to keep in mind, though, is that the only driver that sat outside the top-12 in points following the Pepsi 400 at Daytona last year and still went onto make the Chase was Kurt Busch, who then ranked 15th and sat 121 points behind then 12th place, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Now, after a very rocky start to his season, Busch is 18th in the standings and lags 191 points behind Tony Stewart for that 12th spot in the Chase. The bright side? Three weeks ago, Kurt left Sonoma in 23rd, but has since managed to put together a mini-rally for himself with a win at New Hampshire and then a fourth-place effort last week at Daytona. Now, the schedule appears to be headed in Kurt’s favor. Next week, the series will make a stop in Chicago where he has 5 top-ten’s in the seven races run at the track. Kurt also finished 11th or better last year in each of the seven races on the schedule following Chicago, picking up wins at Pocono and Michigan in the process.

Despite currently being “stuck” in 16th place, Brian Vickers is another driver on the move. Ever since the disappointing ending to his strong run at Lowe’s back in May when the wheel fell off of his car, Brian has put together a string of six consecutive finishes of 16th or better. Included in that span of races were 2 top-five finishes at Pocono and Michigan - both races that he had a shot to win late in the race - and, Chicago ranks as one of his better tracks. He has an average finish of 10.3 in three trips to Chicagoland, though he did fail to make the show here last year.

Both Busch and Vickers could be in an excellent position to capitalize on the misfortune of quite a few drivers ahead of them. Though Martin Truex Jr. currently sits 14th in the standings, his team is awaiting word from NASCAR this week as to the severity of the penalty that they will incur for the infractions that occurred prior the race in Daytona. Should Truex be hit with a penalty of 150 points or more - as many suspect he will be - that would immediately drop him down in 18th in the standings, giving him a very long road of recovery.

Just as encouraging for Busch and Vickers fans is the recent slump of Ryan Newman (17th) and Kevin Harvick (13th). Newman has picked up only one top-ten in the last 8 points races, and Harvick’s last top-ten came at Richmond all the way back on May 3rd, a big reason why both drivers have slipped outside of the top-12 in points in recent weeks. David Ragan (15th) could potentially be a threat in hindering either driver’s march towards the Chase, but many people feel that his inexperience is shown with the inconsistency of his finishes, and that will ultimately give the advantage to the other drivers looking to lock onto that spot.

There’s also opportunity for Vickers and Busch with some of the cars that currently reside in the Chase transfer spots. While Greg Biffle (11th) and Tony Stewart (12th) have been two of the most dominant cars on the track this season, they’ve also had arguably the worst luck of any of the drivers in the garage, and there teams could be ready to switch to survival mode at any moment now.

Clint Bowyer (10th) and Kasey Kahne (8th) could also be two of the wildcards in the race for the Chase. After a strong run through the first leg of the season, Bowyer’s progress got hindered somewhere along the way and he’s plummeted through the rankings. After winning at Richmond, he then hit a six-race skid where he failed to finish in the top-ten before rebounding in the past three weeks with a 4th at Infineon and then a 9th last week at Daytona. Meanwhile, Kasey Kahne has managed to save his season with 2 wins, 3 top-five’s, and 4 top-ten’s in the last 7 races, but he also finished 30th or worse in the other three events, proving that the inconsistency of his race team has not gone away completely.

In fact, the only driver currently 8th or worse in the standings that seems to be an inevitable lock for the Chase is the no. 17 team of Matt Kenseth, who is currently in 9th. Ten races into the season, Matt was all the way back in 22nd, and few people were giving him a legitimate shot at rebounding to make the Chase. Now, with 7 top-ten’s in the last 8 races, Matt has gained 14 spots in the standings and has the look of a bonafide championship contender.

But, the good news for Kurt Busch and Brian Vickers is that they don’t need ALL of the other drivers from 8th to 18th to hit a rough patch and hand their points over to them … but, it would certainly help.

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Earlier this week, the Charlotte Observer reported that Jamie McMurray would be parting ways with Roush-Fenway Racing at the conclusion of the 2008 season, but McMurray has denied such allegations. McMurray, who is in the midst of his third full season with Roush-Fenway, stated that those rumors are false and that he plans to remain with the organization at least until the end of 2009, when the team will be forced to shut down one of its five operating teams, though many people feel strongly that the team that team owner, Jack Roush, lets go will simply be handed over to their Ford Racing partners over at Yates Racing.

Despite earning his second top-ten finish of the season this past weekend at Dover and moving up to 22nd in points, Jim Utter from the Charlotte Observer states that McMurray has contacted other teams about racing opportunities for next season, and that his agents have put his name out there as an available driver for 2009. They also stated that Roush has been in several negotiations with sponsor, Crown Royal, in a deal that with pair them up with the no. 16 car of Greg Biffle.

Should the story be true, then adding McMurray’s name to the list of silly season spectacles could add yet another twist to this ongoing saga. Roush has already locked up Carl Edwards to another multi-year deal and appears to be only a few minor details away from re-signing Greg Biffle to his current contract. So, with Bobby LaBonte, Martin Truex Jr, and Elliott Sadler all already being reported as being re-signed with their teams for 2009, and Joe Gibbs Racing going on record by stating that they would not allow Tony Stewart to exit his contract obligations early, that would leave McMurray and Ryan Newman as the two biggest names on the market assuming that Roush’s deal with Biffle does in fact go through.

Richard Childress Racing has already stated that they are in search of a driver to field their fourth Cup car for next season, and the lineup at Penske Racing remains uncertain with Ryan Newman yet to be re-signed and the future of Sam Hornish Jr. with the team potentiall in question. There have also been a few reports that a release from Hendrick Motorsports for Casey Mears might not be out of question, and nobody appears to be safe over at Chip Ganassi Racing, so a potential return for McMurray there could even be in play. So, there could definitely be some opportunities for McMurray should the rumors of his departure from Roush hold true. As stated earlier, however, McMurray told reporters on Monday that as of right now the rumors are false.

“I spoke to Geoff Smith (Roush-Fenway president) this morning … You never know what’s going to happen, but as of today, there’s no truth to that,” says Jamie McMurray.

McMurray first broke onto the Cup scene in 2002 while substituting for an injured Sterling Marlin over at Chip Ganassi Racing. He won the Fall race at Lowe’s that season in only his second career start. He drove the next three seasons full-time for Ganassi, finishing between 11th and 13th in points in each of those seasons. Since moving to Roush in 2006, McMurray has won only one more race (the Pepsi 400 last year at Daytona), and finished 25th in points in ‘06 and 17th in points last year. Jamie fell outside of the top-35 in points following the fifth race of 2008, but has since been able to climb his way back to 22nd thanks to seven top-20 finishes in the past nine races.

DYN Imposes:
This week, Do You NASCAR also asks its readers …

1. Will Jamie McMurray be back with Roush-Fenway Racing in 2009? If not, where will he go?
2. If McMurray is not with the organization, will Roush field a fifth car next season, and who will it be?
3. If McMurray does stay with Roush, which driver will be dropped from the 2010 roster?
4. How long before we can expect to see Jamie Mac back in Victory Lane?

After running runner-up for the NASCAR Cup championship on four occasions with Mark Martin from 1988 to 2002, Roush Racing finally won it all in 2003 with Matt Kenseth and then again the following year in ’04 with Kurt Busch. Additionally, the organization had runner-up finishes again in 2005 with Carl Edwards & Greg Biffle and again in ’06 with Kenseth, establishing Roush as one of the absolute elite forces to be reckoned with in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, second only to Hendrick Motorsports.

With 102 combined victories in the Cup Series, Roush Racing ranks fourth on NASCAR’s all-time list and second on the active-teams list, trailing Hendrick by 65 wins … adding further proof to the team’s dominance. After placing three of their five race teams in the Chase for the Cup field in the playoff system’s inaugural campaign in 2004 and then qualifying all five of their teams for the Chase in ’05, things have since started to go south. In 2006, only Kenseth and Mark Martin qualified, and after the Chase field expanded to allow for 12 drivers last year, they still were able to qualify two teams once again in ’07.

Much of the disappointment incurred by Roush Racing fans in 2006 has been chalked up to the inexperience of Carl Edwards and the adjustment period for Jamie McMurray to his new team. Last year’s performance has widely been accepted as a result of NASCAR’s inception of the “Car of Tomorrow” and Hendrick Motorsports going on an absolute tear. Still, many fans are not counting Roush out of the 2008 championship hunt with Kenseth and Edwards. Many fans also believe that McMurray has finally begun to get things going with Roush and that Biffle will be able to return to form sooner than later.

In an odd way, another positive that Roush fans can hold onto this season is the fact that 2009 will be the last year that Roush will be allowed to field five race teams in the Cup Series. With both Edwards and Biffle in their contract years this season, as well as many long-term sponsorship contracts that still linger out there for Roush, every driver on the team’s roster has all the incentive in the world to make both 2008 and 2009 successful campaigns, or they could soon find themselves looking for work. I’ll go on record by stating that I believe Roush Fenway Racing will be the primary force to throw a wrench into the HMS domination this season, and 2008 will be solid all around for the Roush camp.

Cup Series Roster:

6: David Ragan – After being thrown into Cup competition last season with Mark Martin’s retirement from full-time competition, Ragan’s rookie season campaign fell well-short of what many race fans had expected from him. Garnering only 2 top-five’s and 3 top-ten’s all season long, the youngster was the lowest finishing Roush car coming in 23rd in points for the season. I believe he’ll improve a bit this season in terms of consistency, but it’s going to be a tough year with the highly-touted rookie class coming in this year, the Toyota’s picking up steam, and the Hendrick boys still running strong. I don’t see him picking up any wins, and his improvement in the points standings will be limited to three or four spots.

16: Greg Biffle – Greg’s ultimate goal is to become the first driver in NASCAR history to win championships in all three of the main series (Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and Craftsman Truck). His start in the Cup Series sent him well on his way to accomplishing this feat, picking up 11 wins in his first four full-time seasons and finishing runner-up to the 2005 Cup Champion Tony Stewart, finishing only a mere 35 points shy in a season that saw him bring home six victories for Roush. He’s come up just shy of making the Chase field since then, though, finishing 13th in ’06 and 14th in ’07. Forget about the last two seasons, though. Biffle is a veteran driver at this point in his career, and still has plenty left in the tank. With his established desire to remain with Roush Racing, he has plenty of motivation to keep his ride well past 2009, and as he enters his contract year he appears to be well-focused. Look for Biffle to make the Chase this year and close it out around 8th in points.

17: Matt Kenseth – The 2003 Cup Series champion hasn’t finished outside of the top ten in points since 2001, and has been one of – if not the – most consistent drivers in NASCAR since then. After appearing very solid in the early parts of last season, the middle of the year saw Kenseth start to drop in the standings and he entered the Chase for the Cup in 8th place and the Chase itself didn’t start out much better. In fact, after Martinsville, Kenseth sat 12th in points – the very last spot in the Chase field – with only four races left to go. Refusing to go quietly, though, Kenseth went onto finish 4th at Atlanta, 2nd at Texas, 3rd at Phoenix, and won the season finale at Homestead to claw his way back up to a 4th place points finish. Despite heading into 2008 with a new crew chief for the first time in his career, I don’t see Matt encountering the same problems he ran into last season. He seems to have a firm handle on the COT now, so expect him to not only be extremely consistent and win four-to-five races, but he’s also my pick for the 2008 Sprint Cup Series Champion.

26: Jamie McMurray – After getting off to a great start to his Cup Series career with Chip Ganassi Racing, Jamie announced that he would depart from the team following the 2005 season to race for Jack Roush, and it’s been a rough, bumpy road ever since. In his two seasons with Roush, he’s finished 25th and 17th in points with a total of 6 top-five’s and 16 top-ten’s, though he did pick up a win at the July race in Daytona last year – his first win since filling in for an injured Sterling Marlin at Lowe’s in 2002. Still, McMurray’s proven that he’s a capable driver when he finished 11th through 13th in points from 2003 to 2005 while with Ganassi. He does appear to be getting a little more comfortable with the Roush organization, though, as he spent the majority of last season hovering around the 17th spot, which is where he ultimately finished. This season should be a little bit better, but I’m still not expecting him to make the Chase field. Look for him to head into Richmond this fall as one of the bubble drivers.

99: Carl Edwards – 2005 saw Edwards complete one of the most successful rookie campaigns ever seen – though his thirteen starts the previous year disqualified him from actually being considered as a rookie. That year Edwards won 4 races and tied for second in points in his quest for the Cup championship. Since then, he finished 12th in 2006 and 9th in 2007. His inconsistency last year may be a result of him running a full-time [then] Busch Series schedule as well en route to winning that championship. He says that he plans to run the series again this year in hopes of becoming the first driver to win both championships in the same season, but he has assured that his primary focus will be on the Sprint Cup Series, which could prove to be the difference. I’m expecting him to win a couple of races and finish around 7th or so, but I wouldn’t be too surprised to see him walk away with a top five points finish.

Driver Roster: A
Off-Season: B
2008 Outlook: A

10. Juan Pablo Montoya wins his first Cup race at Infineon, setting the bar even higher for the open wheel drivers making their move to NASCAR.

9. Jamie McMurray wins his the Pepsi 400 at Daytona.  This is Jamie’s first win since filling in for Sterling Marlin at Lowe’s back in 2001 and his first win with Roush Racing.

8. Martin Truex Jr. wins his first career Cup race at Dover International Speedway in June.

7. Casey Mears wins his first career Cup race at the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowes Motorspeedway in May.

6. Ron Hornaday wins the Craftsman Truck Series championship in the final race of the season at Homestead.

5. Toyota makes their official stock car debut in NASCAR at the Daytona 500 in February.

4. Tony Stewart wins his second Brickyard 500 and gets to kiss the bricks in front of his hometown for the second time in his career.

3. Carl Edwards clinches the final Busch Series Championship at Texas Motorspeedway in a race that was won by 2006 champion Kevin Harvick.

2. Kevin Harvick wins his first Daytona 500.

 1. Jimmie Johnson becomes the first driver to win back-to-back Cup Championships since teammate Jeff Gordon did it in the mid-90’s.

Is Michael Waltrip the right man to lead Toyota’s march into NASCAR? Based on results from the 1st quarter of the season, I’d say definitely not. He committed a cardinal blunder in the first race of the season (Daytona 500) by entering a car that was caught with illegal fuel additives. How does this happen? Especially when you’re trying to make a great impression, not only to your new owners (Toyota, Inc), but NASCAR, your peers, and everyone else that are stakeholders in your team. And things have gone progressively downhill since then for Waltrip’s racing team.

What I don’t understand is why Waltrip was picked to actually run the entire organization. Yes, Waltrip is great at marketing his team and sponsors, week-in and week-out, and this has always been his strength. He’s always come across as somewhat goofy,but he’s everyman’s type of racer, and that sells in the greater NASCAR markets. But this hardly makes him qualified to manage and run an entire business organization. He’s been racing for 22 years in NASCAR and has 4 wins to his name, all when he was with Dale Earnhardt, Inc., and all on restrictor plate races. So he doesn’t bring a winning record to Toyota either.

And you have to wonder why didn’t Waltrip go to Rick Hendrick, Robert Yates, Joe Gibbs, and Richard Childress to pick their brains as much as possible. People make great organizations. Not technology. This has been true of successful businesses for ions and its no different in auto racing. If I’m Toyota, I give Waltrip to the July Daytona race to turn things around for at least one of his cup teams, and if not, then I’m looking for someone else.