The Rookie Race is Close... Somehow!

NASCAR scores the new Raybestos Rookie of the Year in the following manner:

Points are based on the best 17 finishes of the rookies season.
They get

• entry points,
• competition points based on finish,
• top 10 bonus points,
• bonus points based on three segments of the season

And after all the points distribution, a panel of voters help make the final decision.

Despite performance differences that were obvious to me last year, that's how Juan Pablo Montoya garnered the award the year he won it. I mean heck, you might has well put this in the same category as Professional Ice Skating and be completely dependent on judges attitudes.

If you are going to have people vote, why even use a points system? Eh.

With that said, here's how the Raybestos Rookie of the Year race is heating up this year...

RANK	+/-	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND	STARTS	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10	WINNINGS
1	1	Sam Hornish Jr.	195	Leader	32	0	0	0	$4,290,320
2	-1	Regan Smith	193	-2	31	0	0	0	$2,983,740
3	--	Patrick Carpentier	182	-13	24	0	0	0	$1,989,150
4	--	Michael McDowell	169	-26	20	0	0	0	$1,757,650
5	--	Dario Franchitti	97	-98	10	0	0	0	$1,008,350