Top Row Seat - Halfway Home
Dateline: 07/04/99The 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup season reached its' midpoint with the running of the Pepsi 400 under the lights in Daytona. This provides an excellent opportunity to take a look back at the early season storylines of 1999.
Rookie Review
In this season's crop of rookies there is one driver who stands out from the crowd. In fact, Tony Stewart would stand out against any crop of rookies. Tony is currently sixth in Winston Cup points and looks promising to improve on that as the series makes its' second visit of the year to many of the tracks.
Tony has been a champion in every type of race car that he has ever sat in and based upon his early Winston Cup statistics it is safe to say that Winston Cup will be no different.
Title Trace
Dale Jarrett has been without peer in Winston Cup this year in terms of consistency. All of the top contenders have had some lows but other than DJ's flip during the Daytona 500 he has been unflappable and has pulled out to a 177 point lead over Bobby Labonte.
If the Ford Quality Care team can keep the cars together for DJ then he will be extremely tough to catch.
Gordon's Grind
The biggest surprise of the season has got to be Jeff Gordon's inconsistency and bad breaks. The three-time and defending champion is mired back in fifth place in the points some 397 points behind.
If it were anybody else they would have to be considered out of the running for the championship, but Ray Evernham and the Rainbow Warriors are fully capable of winning every one of the last seventeen races. They can never be counted out until the season is over.
Do you think Gordon still has an honest shot or will Dale Jarrett take it all? Do you believe that Tony Stewart is just a flash-in-the-pan? Let the world know what you think on the bulletin board. Or you can talk about all things NASCAR in the chat room Wednesday night from 8-9pm EST.
