By Bruce Simmons
A close race for Rookie of the year is happening this very moment, and we didn't even know it. Wow.. who'd a thunk?
The media coverage that Juan Pablo Montoya generated this year, with his 'Race hard, no matter what position I'm in' attitude, a few incidents getting him the moniker, Juan Problem Montoya, and some serious expectations or hopes has drowned out the the fact that the Rookie of the Year race is not spread out and that there are other rookies in the field.
The contending rookies this year are Montoya, Ragan, Menard, Reutimann & Allmendinger.
Points alone, Montoya leads the pack, BUT he is only 21 points ahead of David Ragan. Furthermore, Montoya is only 45 points ahead of Paul Menard and 64 points ahead of David Reutimann.
In my mind, the competition is between Montoya and Reutimann.
If you look at points alone, it's too close to call and anything can happen this weekend at Homestead but if you look at top 10 performance, Montoya has 6 while Ragan has 2. But Ragan's top 10's were actually top 5's, where Montoya has 3 top 5's. And of course, Montoya has a win under his belt, coming from his road racing talents.
After all this, Paul Menard is only 45 points back, but as 6 less starts!
Back to the Montoya/Ragan contest: Consider this - even though Montoya has many more top 10's, Ragan has performed consistently to be within 21 points of Montoya.
This Rookie of the Year race should come down to points, but as the rules state:
Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidates earn points based on their best 17 finishes of the season. Points are earned through entry points, competition points based on finish, top 10 bonus points, bonus points based on three segments of the season and a panel of voters at the completion of the season.
Montoya had the media eye this year as NASCAR's international star, and a few good finishes, but Ragan has the consistency to be right there behind him and even with 6 less starts, Menard can see the points lead in the Rookie standings. Wow. I hope marketing does not win out on this one and we'll see how it all pans out at Homestead.
I don't envy the judges.
NASCAR's Rookie Points Page
I'm not really a fan of JPM, but I'd definitely have to say that he's been the most impressive of the rookie class this year and is well-deserving of the honor.
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