Big Teams Often Snatch NASCAR “Mo,” but Drivers Excel

Rain has been the big winner in NASCAR lately, but who got "Mo" this week after Talladega?

Momentum is defined as the capacity to develop, the power to increase at a growing pace. The phenomenon is shortened to "Mo" for this series and it's not unique to NASCAR.

Mo is a force in all sports even though no one really knows how to possess it. That’s fortunate, a Mo owner would never lose.

Not everyone believes consistent results are anything other than focused effort over time producing positive outcome.

In other words, Mo doesn't exist, teams do. Yet no one ever seems to know everything about why a team surges or why Mo comes and goes.

The fluid path of Mo this week in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has no team dominating and individual drivers from top teams on the move.

With nine of 36 races complete, about 25 percent of the season is over, but 17 of 26 races remain before the Chase playoff starts.

Gloating or groaning at this point is wasteful, as championship runs require consistency. The way to get percentages working for a team is good results, not necessarily every week, just most weeks.

No team has snatched Mo, and no team has lost a lot of Mo either with individual drivers on the move. 

Big Movers this week:  

Kevin Harvick (+2) positions
Kyle Busch (+1) position
Mark Martin (+4) positions
Kurt Busch (+2) positions
Denny Hamlin (+2) positions
Clint Bowyer (+3) positions

Recent quotes:

Harvick spoke about last year and now:

Kevin Harvick [Richard Childress Racing]

"Nine races in, and last year at this point, we had our hands tied behind our backs and wondered what we were going to do,” Harvick said. “This year, we are right in the thick of things and where we want to be. You want to be able to win every race, but that's just not possible. We are only 26 points out of the lead, and with the way we have run so far, I think it is a good sign of things to come."

Busch described an efficient crew:

Kyle Busch [Joe Gibbs Racing]

“Last year, we’d be running up front and we would be making changes to the car and going backward,” Busch said. “Then, we would try to fix it on the next stop and we wouldn’t. We would still go backward. This year, it seems that we fix the cars more often than we don’t, and I’m really encouraged by that and encouraged by how we are running overall.”

Martin was buoyant about recent results:

Mark Martin [Hendrick Motorsports]

"The last three weeks have been huge for this race team,” Martin said. “We haven't always had the best car, but we've done the best with what we had and that made the difference. Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) has made all the right calls in all of these races. And to finish in the top five at Talladega, that's just huge. It felt like a win for me. We're on a roll, and we just gotta keep it going."

Busch attributed results to a new crew chief:

Kurt Busch [Penske Racing]

“I really think that the last couple of races have been a true statement as to the quality of leadership and level of ability that Steve Addington has as a crew chief,” said Busch. “He never gets rocked when bad stuff happens to us on the track and always remains so even-keel. He has a calming effect that just rubs off on everyone around him. He’s always calculating, whether it’s a situation of getting ahead or playing ‘catch-up.’ Our team is more solid than it’s ever been and Steve is due so much of the credit for that.”

Hamlin spoke of his frequent success at Richmond:

Denny Hamlin [Joe Gibbs Racing]

“If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” Hamlin said. “Other than that, I’ve got a great feel for that race track. It’s just a track that we’ve always run extremely competitive at. I always like to perform as good as we can. The only thing is we are going back to a heavy braking race track again in Richmond. So, hopefully we make a little bit more strides with the (knee surgery) recovery.”

Bowyer was optimistic about Richmond:

Clint Bowyer [Richard Childress Racing]

“We always seem to have solid runs at Richmond," Bowyer said. "RCR has a pretty a rich history there and I think we've really improved on our short-track program since last season. I think we'll continue that theme this weekend."

Johnson defined season competition:

Jimmie Johnson [Hendrick Motorsports]

"I'm a little shocked to see some of the big gaps right now,” Johnson said. “I think here over the next month or so, things will stabilize. There's some guys that are further down then we'd expect to see with some bad luck and all that.

"I think you'll have some guys moving up and maybe some guys falling out of the top-12, but I think it's going to be pretty stable for the most part from here on into the Chase. I don't think you can have a clear-cut favorite for the championship yet, there's still a lot of time between now and when the Chase starts and a lot of time for the good cars to slow down and the slow cars to speed up."

NASCAR Sprint Cup Points

1 -- Jimmie Johnson [1323 points] Leader [Chevy]
2 (+2) Kevin Harvick -26 [Chevy]
3 -- Greg Biffle – 86 [Ford]
4 (-2) Matt Kenseth -99 [Ford]
5 (+1) Kyle Busch -160 [Toyota]
6 (+4) Mark Martin -169 [Chevy]
7 (+2) Kurt Busch -177 [Dodge]
8 (-1) Dale Earnhardt Jr. -181 [Chevy]
9 (+2) Denny Hamlin -185 [Toyota]
10 (-5) Jeff Gordon -193 [Chevy]
11 (+3) Clint Bowyer -237 [Chevy]
12 (-4) Jeff Burton -241 [Chevy]

This analysis of Mo will return after the next Sprint Cup checker flag.

Photo credit: Dwight Drum @ Racetake.com