Superlatives from first six NASCAR races of 2015

MVP: Kevin Harvick. As the only driver with multiple victories (Las Vegas, Phoenix) this season, the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 bunch has shown zero let-up from its championship march in 2014, the first year of the new Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoff format. It’s a safe bet to pencil Harvick into this year’s final round, but keep the pen handy.

Biggest upswing: Martin Truex Jr. The first-year pairing of Truex and the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 team yielded just five top-10 finishes in 36 races in 2014. So far this year, Truex has already surpassed that number as one of just three drivers (Harvick and Joey Logano being the others) to go 6-for-6 with top-10 results to start the season, an amazing turnaround from the scrappy single-car outfit from Denver. Honorable mentions: Paul Menard, Casey Mears, AJ Allmendinger.

Biggest slump: With four finishes of 40th or worse to open the season, it’s been a rough go for three-time series champion Tony Stewart. Placing 14th at Auto Club and 20th at Martinsville slightly helped to stem the slide, but Smoke remains mired in 32nd place in the standings. Only Michael Annett ranks lower among drivers who have competed in all six races this year. Honorable mentions: Greg Biffle, Trevor Bayne, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Best streak: Harvick’s stunning string of eight consecutive top-two finishes drew to a close last weekend at Martinsville Speedway, coming within breathing distance of Richard Petty’s all-time record of 11 top-twos in a row. The No. 4 team’s continued excellence may be the more remarkable of the two streaks, achieved during a time of far greater parity in the world of big-league stock-car racing.

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Biggest romp: Kevin Harvick at Phoenix. Seven of Harvick’s 30 career wins in NASCAR’s top division have come in the desert. Last month, Harvick claimed his fourth straight Phoenix International Raceway victory in convincing fashion, leading 224 of 312 laps. In his four-race Arizona monopoly, Harvick has led 782 of a possible 1,248 laps, a possible indicator of more success when the series returns to Phoenix for its annual Chase race in November.

Biggest rules/technology story: NASCAR’s snazzy new pit-road officiating system made its debut this season, but so far it hasn’t garnered a large share of headlines. That’s a good thing, meaning it’s working as it should — much like a steady referee making the right calls or a long snapper in football who always hits his target. Honorable mention: The 2015 rules package and the adjustable track bar.

Biggest rules/technology to come: The early reviews of trial runs for the 2016 rules package have been boffo, lending heft to the notion that NASCAR’s Research & Development Center is onto something and that the right balance of aerodynamics, handling and horsepower isn’t far away.

Biggest scandal: The Goodyear-bleeding tactic that grew from garage rumblings to a full-blown Tire-gate. Richard Childress Racing‘s No. 31 team and driver Ryan Newman were popped post-Martinsville for alleged alterations of their racing slicks, violating one of the Holy Trinity areas of technical no-nos: tires, engines and fuel. Will a stern P5 penalty be enough to stop the practice in its tracks? Time will tell. Honorable mentions: Hold-ups in the inspection process forcing teams to miss Coors Light Pole Qualifying early in the season. That, and Martinsville Speedway changing hot dog providers.

Biggest mess: Group qualifying at superspeedways. Multicar crashes marred both Sprint Cup and XFINITY Series qualifying sessions at Daytona International Speedway, signaling the end of the format as we once knew it on restrictor-plate tracks.

Best call: He needed a little luck on his side, but Paul Wolfe’s four-tire decision in the late going at Auto Club Speedway allowed Brad Keselowski to snatch away his first victory of the season in the Team Penske No. 2 Ford on the final lap.

Best rally: Jimmie Johnson started 37th after missing out on qualifying, but wound up in Victory Lane at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March. Honorable mention: Denny Hamlin‘s comeback from a pit-road penalty to win at Martinsville Speedway.

Biggest hype: Chase Elliott‘s much-ballyhooed Sprint Cup debut had the NASCAR photography corps following the 19-year-old driver like paparazzi, but his rocky 38th-place finish was more learning experience than big-time splash. That said, Jeff Gordon — the driver he’ll replace next year in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 — didn’t wow the crowd in his first race, either, debuting with a 31st-place finish in the 1992 season finale at Atlanta.

Strangest day: February 21. On the eve of the season-opening Daytona 500, one Busch brother — Kurt — was in the midst of two unsuccessful appeals of his suspension for behavioral infractions, all while the other — Kyle — was recovering from severe leg injuries after a hard crash in the XFINITY Series opener. Neither participated in the Great American Race the next day, capping a whirlwind 24 hours of coverage. Honorable mention: February 27 — Team Xtreme’s No. 44 is reported stolen from a hotel parking lot; hours later, an SUV rolls back into Denny Hamlin‘s motorcoach.

Biggest comeback: Since completing NASCAR’s outlined path for reinstatement, Kurt Busch has put the legal distractions in the rear view with sheer, solid performance, building on the chemistry he’s developed with new crew chief Tony Gibson. He opened his 2015 campaign with two straight top-five efforts, and has more Sprint Cup points in three races than several drivers do in six.

Toughest break (off-track edition): Brian Vickers. After recovering from offseason heart surgery, Vickers returned to the driver’s seat of the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 55 Toyota at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. But his comeback lasted just two races, when a recurrence of blood clots forced him to take indefinite leave for the fourth time since 2010.

Toughest break (on-track edition): Kurt Busch‘s strong return to competition almost had a crowning moment at Auto Club Speedway, but a late caution flag for debris threw his possible stretch run to the checkered flag into doubt. On the second green-white-checkered attempt, Busch’s No. 41 gave way to a charging Brad Keselowski on the last lap.

Best schedule wrinkle: The debut of the West Coast Swing was great fun for the roving band of NASCAR.com staffers crisscrossing the left side of the country in an RV, but it showed some fresh, previously untapped potential in making tweaks to the NASCAR schedule. Honorable mention: Darlington Raceway‘s return to Labor Day. Even though this hasn’t happened yet, it’s still the reigning king of schedule shifts for 2015.

Biggest void: Kyle Busch remains a polarizing figure for fans, whether it’s in his role as a Sprint Cup regular or a poacher of victories in other NASCAR national series. Love him or hate him, his absence as he recovers from leg fractures has had lasting ramifications on this year’s competition.

Best relief effort: Brett Moffitt. The Michael Waltrip Racing development driver made the most of his first start of the season, holding on for an eighth-place run at Atlanta in relief of Brian Vickers. The brow-raising finish earned him a more regular spot in the Sprint Cup rotation, increasing his prospects for a full-time ride in the future. Honorable mentions: Matt Crafton and David Ragan in for Kyle Busch; Regan Smith in for Kurt Busch and Kyle Larson.

Best farewell tour: Jeff Gordon. Not since Richard Petty’s fan appreciation tour in 1992 has their been a more celebrated victory lap. Accordingly, tracks have made a contest of trying to one-up each other with farewell gifts for the four-time champion in his final full season.

Best beef: It’s not quite to the level of the Gordon-Keselowski fracas as Texas last season, but the differences of opinion between Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano keep on giving. The two squared off again after the exhibition Sprint Unlimited at Daytona, exchanging verbal jabs but no physical ones.

Most civil post-race disagreement: Danica Patrick vs. Denny Hamlin. Their two cars — Nos. 10 and 11 — had numeric and spatial proximity during Daytona’s Speedweeks, with the latter closeness causing major issues. After their Daytona 500 qualifying race, their second run-in in a matter of days led to a rather pointed but orderly airing-out of opinions in a bizarre moment on pit road.

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Best hair: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. The mullet-wearing driver of the Roush Fenway Racing No. 17 Ford also has possession of the circuit’s best Mississippi mudflap. Honorable mention: Chase Elliott‘s offseason mop-top, since shorn.

Best Air Titan save: On a chilly, soggy March 1 at Atlanta, the Air Titan track-drying system battled in-track “weepers” and damp atmospheric conditions with relative ease, clearing the way for a full-distance race that had the markings of Monday all over it. Honorable mention: Saving Martinsville Speedway from a complete Friday washout last weekend.

Best bet for a Chase surprise: AJ Allmendinger. Had the JTG-Daugherty No. 47 not succumbed to mechanical failure last week at Martinsville, Allmendinger would be solidly in the conversation for punching his Chase playoff ticket for a second straight season, but this time on the basis of points. With two road courses on the schedule before the Chase field is set, Allmendinger has two golden opportunities ahead, if the standings route falls through. Honorable mentions: Martin Truex Jr., Aric Almirola, Greg Biffle.

Best bet for a Chase miss: Clint Bowyer. The Kansas native’s losing skid hit 83 straight races last weekend at Martinsville, and the MWR No. 15 team has only a seventh-place finish in the Daytona 500 in its top-10 column this season. To transform into a Chase-caliber contender, Bowyer and Co. need big leaps, a triple jump even. The potential is there. Finding it and unleashing it is the challenge.

Final Four predictions: Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski. Again, ridiculously early to make a sure-shot pick, but going with the chalk means placing these four in the title-eligible heap at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Honorable mentions: Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon.

Sprint Cup champion: Harvick. Repeating isn’t easy, but until another team shows it’s ready to take away the heavyweight belt, the No. 4 remains the car to beat. Honorable mention: Logano.

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