Last Lap: Flying low

When the "best drivers in NASCAR" topic is broached (don't even act like it doesn't come up, either, like down at the watering hole when some dude stumbles in sporting a pair of god-awful Mark Martin high-water pajama-bottoms) Stewart and Gordon are invariably mentioned; unanimous selections based on talent and grit and career-achievement, regardless one's personal feelings towards them as individuals.

	MARTY SMITH •   E-mail Marty •   Opinion Archive

Many throw Martin in. (Respect, man.) Some say Johnson, some Earnhardt. Kenseth gets some votes, too. Robby Gordon's talent is acknowledged, though not often enough.

He's among the love-starved guys that deserve more credit, those capable of manhandling a car and making chicken salad from chicken... Well, you know...

See, on average, the "best drivers" debate is based on popularity or distinctive rights of passage -- i.e. championships won or trophies hoisted. So inevitably some worthy talents are underappreciated. Left out, even.

And in turn vastly underrated.

To gauge where folks-in-the-know stand on this issue, I conducted a poll among Nextel Cup drivers, media and industry officials; roughly 15 people, total.

Those receiving the most votes were Dave Blaney (solid performances despite no teammates and lack of factory support), Jeff Burton (races hard but clean, doesn't tear up equipment and will never embarrass his team with sponsors or the media, and is a great representative for the sport) and Scott Riggs (ever-improving performance in a sport where expansion is much tougher than it might seem on the surface.)

Not surprisingly, no one mentioned my choice, which, ironically is precisely why I chose him: Greg Biffle.

Biffle is easily one of the five most-talented drivers out there, nearly won a championship last year, but no one mentions him among the elite. Might be because he's in choice equipment, and thus isn't judged in a "get-the-most-with-the-least" context, I don't know.

But as far as sheer underrated talent goes, he's at the top of my list. He can flat wheel it; the poster-boy for loose-is-fast.

How 'bout you guys? Who's the most underrated driver in the Nextel Cup Series?

From what I could tell, seemed like Casey Mears carried the majority fan vote.

20Stewart02: Casey Mears. Great talent but just doesn't get any respect from fans or the media.

Mears was my dark horse Chase pick this year, much to the amusement of my colleagues. But it could be a good sign for him. Everyone gave me lip last year for picking Burton to make the 2005 Chase -- an incorrect prediction; a year premature. Maybe '07 is Mears' year. (I can hear David Newton laughing now.)

And...

Results Banquet 400 Pos. Driver Make 1. Tony Stewart Chevy 2. Casey Mears Dodge 3. Mark Martin Ford 4. Dale Jarrett Ford 5. Jeff Burton Chevy 6. Carl Edwards Ford 7. Kyle Busch Chevy 8. Brian Vickers Chevy 9. Clint Bowyer Chevy 10. D. Earnhardt Jr. Chevy • Complete results, click here • Driver standings, click here Victory LaneTony Stewart celebrates his wild victory at Kansas Top finishersBurton, Martin, and Mears talk the crazy finish Final lapsStewart coasts to the checkered flag at Kansas Speedway Running on emptyGordon runs out of fuel and gets a push to pit road Tough dayKenseth spins into grass causing minor damage Race RewindWatch a condensed version of the Banquet 400 Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

Ducky201811: Casey Mears. The kid has talent to win races, but he is in Ganassi equipment. Ganassi cars can run in the top 10, but haven't won a race since Jamie McMurray at Charlotte in 2002.

When he moves to Hendrick and the 25 car, I see him doing extremely well. He will challenge for wins, and in two or three years, I believe he will be in the Chase. He is a great driver, but with the equipment he is in, he can't show what he is made of.

Ganassi could put Tony Stewart or Jeff Gordon in there car, and they probably wouldn't even be able to win in the car. It's all about equipment, and once Casey gets in that 25 car, he will start winning races.

I disagree, Donald. While you're correct that Chip Ganassi Racing hasn't won a Nextel Cup race since McMurray's breakthrough triumph, they have been close on multiple occasions -- namely last season's finale at Homestead when Mears was flat robbed.

And the organization is getting better. Several drivers have commented to me recently that Ganassi is showing marked improvement, both structurally and competitively -- a trend they expect to continue moving forward.

Granted, next year stands to be a bit hairy with a driving corps consisting of two second-year drivers and a rookie from Formula One. That rookie, Juan Pablo Montoya, was impressive -- exceeded expectation, even -- during a test at Rusty Wallace's track in Iowa last week. The man's a champion -- maybe that learning curve won't be quite as steep as we're all expecting.

Montoya makes his stock car debut in the ARCA race this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, which Dale Earnhardt Jr. tells me is the best place he could possibly start.

And Reed Sorenson? The boy's already fast. Once he learns to manage a 500-mile race he'll be nasty.

Maleficient1: Most underrated, Paul Menard. Averages 111.5 points per race and, if you do a little math, that puts him ahead of Kurt Busch and behind Carl Edwards. I would love to see him drive full time with some real equipment and I don't even like the guy.

Menard isn't a full-time Cup guy yet, so he's not eligible for this particular discussion. However, he impresses the heck out of me, and I happen to agree he's an underrated talent, so why not?

At Dover, I heard Menard had signed-on as the second driver for Team Red Bull -- an on-again/off-again rumor thought to be dead, but one worth checking-up on. To make sure, I hunted him down in the Busch Series garage to inquire, and he swore to me he knew nothing of the sort and had every indication he'd be in the No. 15 Chevrolet next year.

"I haven't heard that, no," Menard said. "All signs are go for driving the [Dale Earnhardt, Inc., No.] 15 car, with Menard's sponsorship. Nothing's changed. I know people are running off at the mouth about some things, but nothing's changed on our end."

Menard plans to run three more Nextel Cup Series races in the No. 15 Chevrolet this season -- this weekend at Talladega, Texas and the season finale at Homestead-Miami.

"We still need to hire some people, figure out the guys on our Busch team that want to move up," Menard said at Dover. "And the guys that don't want to move up will continue on the Busch program for Martin [Truex], Dale Jr. and myself for next year.

"The guys that want to move up, great. And we have to bring some more guys in and get cars built. We have cars built. We've run our intermediate cars this year, tuned them down quite a bit and gotten them good."

3Man: Hard to say a rookie who's second in the points is underrated, but I think Denny Hamlin deserves a ton of credit. That car was junk last year until he stepped in.

The turn around in 2005 was immediate -- the #11 went from a 12th and an 18th place finish as it's best showing in the first 29 races to Hamlin stepping in and ripping off a pole, 3 top 10s, and 4 top 15s in the final 7 races.

I'm sure some more changes went into that team than just the driver, but WOW, how often do you see a turn around that dramatic? And this year, he's won 2 races, the Bud Shootout and he's currently second in points. He's driver of the year as far as I'm concerned!

Hamlin got big kudos from driving peers interviewed for this story, too, DWade. One Cup veteran said "Everyone makes him an afterthought, but this S.O.B is the real deal."

In January 2005, I asked Earnhardt if Kyle Busch was the next big thing. He said then, "Keep your eye on that Hamlin boy over at Gibbs. He's the real deal."

harvick29nnc: I may receive a lot of flak for this one, but I'd say Dave Blaney or Scott Wimmer. Neither has been put in good enough equipment to show their true talent.

Look at how well Scott has been doing with that 4 car. And Dave has brought BDR back to the front as of late. They may both be winless, but that'll change.

Flak? No flak from me, Milt. Blaney received the most votes in the industry poll and was well-represented on the fan board, too. And while he deserves considerable credit for Bill Davis Racing's recent performance surge, Tommy Baldwin does, too. Baldwin's a difference-maker. Always has been.

Since he arrived at BDR, Blaney has risen from 30th to 26th in the Nextel Cup driver standings.

BlueRidgeBob: Robby Gordon. If he could get a car that was just decent he would "smoke" the field (nice little choice of words, huh?). When he was with Childress he won 3 times and that was during Childress leanest years.

I watched him at Charlotte one race during that time and every car in the field could pull away from him on the backstretch. I'd love to see him with a Hendrick/Roush type car.

Robby, to me, gets more with less than anyone. His season has been arguably the most-impressive of the year, along with Burton. It's supposed to be impossible to compete as a single-car team these days -- and for the most part it is, otherwise Gordon wouldn't want to align with another team -- but he's made it work.

He built a coveted program quickly. Remarkable, in my opinion.

chuck48: Biffle and Edwards are not underrated -- They have just had bad luck this year. Mears and Vickers? I think both have been rated pretty high in most people's minds but they have totally underachieved. Bowyer and Truex? Bowyer is probably the second biggest rookie surprise and Truex is getting better, but not underappreciated.

For drivers that are truly not appreciated for what they are doing I'd have to say Dave Blaney first and Scott Riggs second. While Riggs has been up and down, he has shown this year what most expected of him previously.

But Blaney has always been the guy to fill in or drive for the second tier teams and bring home the hot rod in one piece. Hopefully he is getting some of his due now.

Well said, Walker, Texas Ranger, regarding Blaney, anyway. Biffle is certainly underrated. Randomly asked to rate the drivers in the Roush stable, most fans would rank them as such: Martin, Kenseth, Edwards, Biffle, McMurray.

One Nextel Cup driver rated Biffle third in overall talent in the entire series, said the driving corps is well aware of Biffle's ability. But he agreed many fans overlook it, especially in a down year such as this.

R61797R: Matt Kenseth! I know he has the personality of a Corn Flake, but let's try to remember he's on the track before the Chase races!

I have no clue what this response means, but Kenseth's personality isn't bland. He's hilarious, and isn't scared to bust a man's tail. And I'd agree he's underrated, largely because folks do consider him bland. Perception is big in this sport.

JuneBug0899: Well I would go with Reed Sorenson, but he's got a little way to go. So my pick is Brian Vickers or Greg Biffle. Brian because he's always been the forth wheel at HMS to the likes of Johnson, Busch and Gordon.

He has performed well and doesn't seem to have most of the mechanical problems his teammates have. At Kansas he was running in around 30th all day and managed to comeback with a 7th place finish.

Greg, well because he had six wins last year and almost won the title, and still people don't think he can win anything. Does anyone not know that he won the Truck and Busch championship and had more wins then anyone last year?

He just doesn't stand out like most of the other guys because he, like Matt Kenseth, doesn't need to. Biffle will be a champion soon and when he does will he finally get the respect he deserves?

You'd think so, Tony Sr.

At least I would, anyway.