Edwards, obviously, is the favorite. i have no reason to believe that Tony Stewart can't repeat his success either. i don't think Hamlin will run as poor this year as he did last year and Kyle Busch is ALWAYS a wild card. i think Harvick's window of opportunity has closed. maybe Johnson too.
I just get the feeling Stewart will not be a strong title contender, cannot point to anything. I expect Johnson to rebound and contend, cannot see why Harvick shouldn't. I agree about Hamlin, almost named him in my previous post instead of Kahne.
Kyle Busch is his own worst enemy. It seems he gets too caught up being a "heel" and not enough time to competing for a full season
Agreed, which is why I have him a wild card. As for the 29 and 48, I think having a kid has an impact on a driver. It's not something I totally buy into, but there's some proof there. The 48 still won in 2010, but he fell off last year. The 29 is expecting, after shutting down his shop this year. We now know why. I think the 24 was affected by his divorce and now he has two children. He won't be a championship contender again. Scott Dixon hasn't come close to pre-child success with his career. Obviously this doesn't apply to everybody, so who knows how valid it really is, but the point can atleast be made.
You make a good case, and there might be a correlation. It did seem Gordon lost some of his drive to win after the birth of his first child. It could be argued that a child being born would lead to driving more to win due to the added responsibility. I witnessed this in sales people I hired, the ones with kids worked harder to win a sale.
Im kinda of the mind to leave Kahne out until he proves he can do it over a full season. This may be his year, but I will hold off til he does it.
He will continue to hit the "wall" (pun intended) until he gets past this. He will still win a lot of races, but also tear up a lot of cars and finish in the 30's and 40's as well.
