NASCAR ranks filled with future Hall of Famers

It's NASCAR Hall of Fame week, or at least that's what it feels like as the day inches closer when the inaugural class of inductees to the Hall will be announced.

But if you will for a moment, forget about Big Bill France, Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt -- and whether Bill France Jr., David Pearson and/or Junior Johnson deserve to join stock-car racing's Holy Trinity be amongst the first to crash the Hall's doors.

October unveiling

A Voting Panel will meet in Charlotte, N.C., to select the five for enshrinement with the inaugural Hall of Fame class to be announced Wednesday.

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About the Hall

The Hall of Fame will bring NASCAR's history to life and preserves that history in the appropriate environments. The facility will allow fans to have the opportunity to relive the sport's greatest moments.

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Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Auto Club Speedway in California provided a rich glimpse into the future. When it comes to the delicious debate of which active drivers will someday grace NASCAR's Hall of Fame, you can start with four of the top five finishers in Sunday's Pepsi 500 -- race winner Jimmie Johnson, second-place finisher Jeff Gordon, fourth-place finisher Mark Martin and fifth-place finisher Tony Stewart.

All four are one-day locks to make the Hall, with Gordon, based on their current resumes, heading up the list with his four championships and 82 career Cup victories -- which ranks sixth all time. Only Petty and Earnhardt, who each recorded seven, have more championships.

Of course, it's looking more and more like Johnson will match Gordon's championship total by registering an unprecedented fourth in a row this season. With his fifth win of the year and second in four Chase events at Fontana, Johnson took over the points lead heading into the season's last six races.

With lots of racing still left in the 34-year-old's competitive tank, Johnson already has a total of 45 Cup wins to go along with all the championships and therefore has more than locked up his spot in the Hall, no doubt with plenty more resume-padding to come down the road.

And the other locks?

As a two-time champion and winner of 37 races in a career that seems to have been rejuvenated since he started driving essentially for himself at Stewart-Haas Racing, Stewart also is a Hall lock. Plus, who knows what he will now go on to accomplish as a car owner?

And Martin, even if he falls short again in his championship bid this season (he's finished second three times but never won it), is a no-brainer not only because of his 40 Cup wins -- including five this season at the remarkable age of 50 -- but also because of all he has done in the Nationwide Series and even during one highly productive season (2006) in the Truck Series when he won six of the 14 races he entered.

Remember, Martin has won more Nationwide races than anyone else in that series' history. His total stands at 48 -- 14 more than the 34 in the bank by Kevin Harvick, his closest pursuer on the all-time list. Amazingly, despite all the race victories, Martin has never won a Nationwide championship, either, but his overall resume is too impressive to ignore and he's obviously not done building on it, at least on the Cup side.

The other active-driver lock to get into the Hall someday, if you had to pick only one, would have to be Dale Earnhardt Jr. Yeah, yeah, we know. Many believe he's overrated, pointing out he's only won one Cup race since joining powerful Hendrick Motorsports at the beginning of last season, and so on and so forth.

All great points, to be sure, but this isn't a sympathy pick just to curry favor in the e-mail inbox. Earnhardt has won NASCAR's Most Popular Driver award a gazillion times in a row -- and don't forget he also won back-to-back Nationwide championships in 1998 and 1999, respectively, before moving on to the Cup Series full time.

This is a Hall of Fame, after all, and who is more famous amongst the active drivers than Earnhardt? Win or lose, he has done as much or more than any of the other active drivers to help promote and popularize the sport with the masses. His 22 career Nationwide wins rank him tied for eighth on that all-time list, and it's likely he will at least add to his Cup career total of 18 victories before he's done racing.

All of which adds up to the fact that he's a future Hall of Famer.

Future fame?

There are plenty of other future Hall candidates among the list of current active drivers. We didn't even include Bill Elliott because he wasn't in Sunday's race and runs only a part-time schedule these days, but he'll obviously get in with his 44 Cup victories and one championship.

Matt Kenseth isn't done racing yet and will have at least one Cup championship to go along with his total of 25 Nationwide wins, which ranks fifth on that career list. With 18 lifetime Cup wins, his career stacks up closely with those of fellow active drivers Jeff Burton (21 Cup wins, tied for fourth all time with Kyle Busch and 27 Nationwide wins, but no championships); and Bobby Labonte (who also has 21 Cup wins and only 10 Nationwide victories, but one championship in each of the two series).

Former Cup champion Kurt Busch may one day get in, although it could be argued that he needs to build on his current resume first. The same can be said for Harvick, but don't forget he has the aforementioned solid creds on the Nationwide side and also as an owner/driver in the Truck Series, bolstering his Fame potential.

And who knows what guys like Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards and others have yet to accomplish on the track? Or even relative upstarts such as Juan Montoya or Joey Logano, who appear to be merely scratching the surfaces of their vast potential?

Finally, don't forget Ron Hornaday. He is to the Truck Series what Jimmie Johnson is to the Cup Series, as he appears to be cruising toward his fourth championship. Hornaday's 45 career wins are 17 more than anyone else who has raced in that series. The Hall is supposed to honor all things NASCAR, and Hornaday, when he's done dominating the Truck Series, will be deserving of a place there.

But with only five candidates per year getting in, Hornaday, Gordon, Johnson and everyone else currently driving will have to remain patient. It's going to be a long wait for all of them.

The opinions expressed are those solely of the writer.