After not recording a top-20 finish in his first 14 Nextel Cup starts in 2006, David Stremme has four in his last seven. Credit: Autostock

Stremme: With maturity, comes confidence

Four top-20 finishes may mean top-10 is around the corner

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Not many drivers will admit it when their confidence level is lower than crossly-cropped infield grass.

David Stremme is an exception.

In his own words, his early-season runs were horrible and pathetic. He probably became the first driver in Nextel Cup Series history to finish 33rd in four of his first dozen Nextel Cup starts.

Stats at a Glance David Stremme's 2006 Cup stats Race St. Fin. Status Daytona 32 28 running California 40 33 running Las Vegas 40 33 running Atlanta 38 33 running Bristol 26 36 running Martinsville 38 38 rear gear Texas 28 21 running Phoenix 29 29 running Talladega 17 34 running Richmond 29 33 running Darlington 4 25 running Lowe's 25 31 running Dover 29 41 overheating Pocono 2 26 running Michigan 30 19 running Daytona 3 16 running Chicagoland 20 21 running New Hampshire 22 11 running Pocono 42 29 running Indianapolis 24 18 running Michigan 32 28 running Bristol 36 35 running California 32 36 running Richmond 11 26 running New Hampshire 6 20 running Dover 20 18 running Kansas 40 26 running Talladega 38 33 crash Lowe's 12 15 running Martinsville 13 15 running Atlanta 33 39 crash

He was 33rd at Las Vegas and 33rd at Atlanta. If his Dodge had been equipped with an in-car camera, it would have shown a continuous stream of cars passing him left and right.

It wasn't the debut Stremme had in mind, especially when teammate Casey Mears got off to the best start of his career. Teammate Reed Sorenson had his car in the top 20 in points after just six races.

By comparison, Stremme was running in the high 30s.

"When you start out the way we did, my confidence wasn't very good," Stremme said. "It was rock bottom for awhile. We were in the way and it was horrible at Atlanta. It was pathetic. It was horrible. Again, the cars were a lot different than my teammates' cars."

He started the season with highly-regarded car chief Jeff Vandermoss stop his pit box. Vandermoss had been a key member of Matt Kenseth's championship-contending teams, but the cars Stremme drove early in the season did not fit his tastes. Steven Lane replaced Vandermoss in April, and Vandermoss was moved over to the No. 41 Dodge to serve as Reed Sorenson's car chief.

"The motors, [the team knows] they need to work on that," Stremme said. "But the main thing is, we got so far behind with cars being heavy and not up to date, we were running older stuff. Now as we have been building newer things, we need to stay on top of it."

The Ganassi infrastructure has changed dramatically this season. Team owner Chip Ganassi lured John Fernandez from Dodge to run the team in August, and since then, things have improved dramatically for Stremme.

Stremme couldn't buy a top-20 finish early in the season, but since Fernandez's hire, he has scored four of them, including back-to-back 15th-place runs at Charlotte and Martinsville. Martinsville was a surprising result for Stremme, who bounced around Martinsville in the spring like a pinball, finishing 38th after an accident.

Stremme was labeled as accident-prone when he was promoted to Nextel Cup. Stremme says that his numerous Busch Series accidents could partly be blamed on poor equipment, but he also admits that racing on Sundays improved his concentration.

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"There are some things I have matured with as a driver," Stremme said. "I just realized, 'Hey, it is easier to work on them when they are not torn up.'"

Ganassi Racing had an inexperienced driver lineup in 2005 -- Casey Mears, 28, was easily the veteran of the three-car team -- and Stremme said that has put the group was a disadvantage when it comes to adapting to early-season setups.

"We don't really have a solid veteran driver sitting here to where Reed [Sorenson] and I can go and say, 'This is definitely what works,'' Stremme said. "At Joe Gibbs and Hendrick, they have a Tony Stewart or a Jeff Gordon that has been there and knows what is solid. They are not having to constantly stay on top of it."

The poor early-season runs had Stremme's No. 40 flirting on the edge of the top 35 in owners points for most of the season. Because its franchise's future was in doubt, Ganassi placed road-racing veteran Scott Pruett in the No. 40 Dodge for the two road course races.

Pruett finished seventh at Watkins Glen in August to get the team back into the top 35, and Stremme has been able to retain that spot.

Despite the improvements, a top-10 finish has been elusive for Stremme. He came close at Loudon in July when he finished 11th, and he correctly points out that he has a lot farther to ascend to reach that plateau.

"You're not going to from running 30th to finishing in the top 10," Stremme said. "You look at any of the good teams, they just didn't build them overnight.

"Our company is decent, and I feel like we are gaining a lot."