FYI WIRZ: NASCAR Winners Pushed by Achievers Heading into California

Drivers Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth have a history of winning and staying in the top 10 of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. NSCS drivers Martin Truex Jr. and A. J. Allmendinger race every event like the regular stars, but they are unfamiliar with holding top-10 spots this early in the year.

This season, both are in the upper tier heading into the fifth race, the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.

Truex and Allmendinger are not the only drivers seeing consistent results this season, as drivers Paul Menard and Casey Mears are climbing the standings just outside the top 10 as well.

The 2014 NSCS champion, Harvick, is also the 2015 point leader with two wins and other top finishes. But Harvick isn’t coasting early. 

“We don’t talk about things we’ve done,” Harvick said. “We always talk about the things we do wrong and the things we need to do differently. It’s never really anything about last week. It’s always about next week, the things we have to do to be prepared.”

Truex sits in fourth place after four races, but he sounded a bit like Harvick with his comments.

“The cars have been running strong and the team has been making good decisions,” he said. “Reliability has been there, so everything we have needed to work on and wanted to get better at has been there. Now it’s a matter of how much better we can get.”

Unlike the past few seasons, Kahne has avoided bad luck and bad moves this year and is poised to move up. 

“We’ve had momentum all season,” Kahne said. “We’ve run in the top 10 and have had cars that can finish in the top five each week, so I’m really happy with our team. We’re working hard and the team has really stepped it up.”

Allmendinger is enthusiastic about his good results so far, and he may once again clutch a checkered flag for JTG Daugherty Racing. His comments were focused on Fontana. 

"Auto Club Speedway has become a favorite racetrack for drivers,” Allmendinger said. “There are so many different lines you can run. The racing side by side is great. Last year, it was so fantastic to finish in the top 10, and it was cool to see the grandstands full.”

Kenseth always seems to focus on the next race. That may be one of the secrets of his success. 

“Fontana can be tricky, especially since the seams have gotten bigger, the track’s aged and the groove’s moved around,” Kenseth said. “It’s one of the most fun tracks that we race at currently because you can run high or low and you have options all over the track.” 

In the new elimination world of NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup playoffs, winning is supreme. Perhaps some of the smaller teams with drivers like Truex and Allmendinger will pull off an early win and get a Chase position advantage rolling through the season. 

Good consistent results that lift a team up in the point standings can be considered a win also. The big teams with three and four cars still have the money and data advantage during elimination rounds, but it seems that one or more of the smaller teams will at least be there to compete. 

Credit: Dwight Drum

Look for Truex, Allmendinger, Menard, Mears or another surprise single-car team in Victory Lane well before the playoffs begin.

Vigorous attempts by all NSCS driver teams can be watched this coming Sunday from the Fontana stands or on Fox at 3 p.m. ET. 

FYI WIRZ is the select presentation of topics by Dwight Drum at Racetake.com. Unless otherwise noted, information and all quotes were obtained firsthand or from official release materials provided by sanction and team representatives