Numbers no longer slumbering for MWR

Seven is the perfect number, and to paraphrase the late and great song writer Larry Norman, those who aren't for real in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings will now begin to slumber.
The Sprint Cup series is just under one fifth of the way through the season, just completing its seventh race Saturday night at Texas. And while it's common for two or three drivers to start off the season strong in the first couple of races and then fade, by now we are getting an idea of who the real contenders are.
We've got many of the usual teams in the top 10 with the Roushkateers of Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth, the Hendrick guys of Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr., the Stewart-Haas duo of Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman, and Richard Childress Racing's Kevin Harvick.
Those teams and drivers are expected be there. If they weren't at least in the top 12, many would be asking what has gone wrong.
But the team to do a lot of things right so far this season is Michael Waltrip Racing. The Toyota-powered team has Martin Truex Jr. in the fourth spot in the standings, 20 behind Biffle and Clint Bowyer in 10th. And if you go by the owners points, the No. 55 car shared by Waltrip, Mark Martin and Brian Vickers is seventh in points.
Thanks to NASCAR's statistics these days, there's evidence that at least one, if not more, of Waltrip's drivers will be around to stay when it comes to the final 10 races, otherwise known as the Chase for the Championship.
Truex Jr. is just one of three drivers to run all of the 2,295 possible laps this season, along with Kenseth and Earnhardt Jr., who are tied for second in the points standings. Another good sign for Truex Jr. is that he has run the most laps inside the top 15 this season at 1996, just over 88 percent.
That means Truex Jr. hasn't been hanging around the top 20 in some of these races, and then just slipping into the top 10 or top 15 just because of others' misfortunes at the end of the race. Truex Jr. is also second in laps run on the lead lap, at just over 98 percent, just behind Kenseth.
Another good sign for Waltrip Racing is that Martin has run 78.5 percent of his laps in the top 15, too. And even though he has not driven in two races (Bristol and Martinsville) he is still 20th in points. Martin is scheduled to run 26 races this season. If he runs well enough to finish in the top 20 in points, and wins two races, he could make the Chase. It's not likely, but stranger things have happened.
And of course there is Bowyer, who is 10th in the standings and has run nearly 70 percent of his laps in the top 15 and is certainly capable of winning at any track. And that could happen this week as Kansas is considered his home track.
Michael Waltrip Racing can't quite be called an elite team yet when it comes to comparing it with Hendrick, Roush or Gibbs. That's because you can't be considered truly elite until you win a title
There's no doubt Waltrip Racing has come a long way since its embarrassing debut at Daytona in 2007, where penalties cost the team 100 points (that was under the old points system).
The numbers undoubtedly tell us the team is gaining on the rest of the field. The question is not if the team will make that key winning pass, but when.
That's when the numbers will be just perfect for Michael Waltrip Racing.

No more bumps, but more bumping in Shootout

NASCAR released the lineup for the Bud Shootout to be held at Daytona International Speedway Saturday, Feb. 12. It will be broadcast on FOX with the green flag set for 8:10 p.m. Though it's not a Sprint Cup Series points race, it will be the first race on the newly paved speedway. The speedway didn't undergo a simple resurfacing project during this offseason, it was much more in depth. The old surface was torn up and taken off, then after landscaping work, the new surface was put down. No more bumps, but maybe more bumping on the smooth surface.
Here's a look at the drivers that are in and the criteria that made them eligible.

2010 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Drivers
Jimmie Johnson
Denny Hamlin
Kevin Harvick
Carl Edwards
Matt Kenseth
Greg Biffle
Tony Stewart
Kyle Busch
Jeff Gordon
Clint Bowyer
Kurt Busch
Jeff Burton

Others (criteria in parentheses)
John Andretti (Coke Zero 400)
Geoff Bodine (Daytona 500, Budweiser Shootout)
Kevin Conway (Series rookie of the year)
Derrike Cope (Daytona 500)
Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Daytona 500, Coke Zero 400, Budweiser Shootout)
Bill Elliott (Series champion, Daytona 500, Coke Zero 400, Budweiser Shootout)
Kasey Kahne (Series rookie of the year)
Bobby Labonte (Series champion)
Terry Labonte (Series champion, Budweiser Shootout)
Joey Logano (Series rookie of the year)
Sterling Marlin (Daytona 500, Coke Zero 400)
Mark Martin (Budweiser Shootout)
Jamie McMurray (Daytona 500, Coke Zero 400, Series rookie of the year)
Juan Pablo Montoya (Series rookie of the year)
Ryan Newman (Daytona 500, Series rookie of the year)
Ken Schrader (Budweiser Shootout)
Regan Smith (Series rookie of the year)
Michael Waltrip (Daytona 500, Coke Zero 400)

The event is 75 laps, with two segments, the first one being 25 laps with a 10-minute pit stop for crews to change tires and make any other adjustments. Yellow flags will count and the starting order will be determined by a blind draw at 8 p.m., Feb. 11.

Unscheduled pit stops and change

Sorry, it's been a bit since I've been on here, just a lot of unscheduled pit stops this past week.

It was good to see David Reutimann find victory lane last week in Chicagoland. Reutimann and Michael Waltrip have been together since Waltrip started his team the first year Toyota competed in the Sprint Cup series. They each had no record of any great accomplishments, and in an era where patience is not a common theme among sports, it was good to see that team reach victory lane. They had won one other time, but it was a rain-shortened race. This one was completely legit, so good for them.

No Sprint Cup race this weekend, they go to Indy next week.

It was impressive to see so many fans in St. Louis stay to try and watch the truck race Friday night, but it was eventually postponed due to a power outage. They'll run Saturday at 1:30.