Motor Racing Digest

Photo credit: Rusty Jarrett, MRD

Posted by: Dave Thompson, follow @phillyfan17

April 9, 2012

Just six races into the 2012 NASCAR season, several storylines have taken shape. There’s a long way to go as the sport wraps up its first weekend break of the year, but these stories have made the start of the season an interesting one to watch thus far:

Stewart-Haas Racing Remains Hot

Tony Stewart’s exciting run to the Sprint Cup Series championship during last year’s Chase wasn’t the end of Stewart-Haas Racing’s impressive performance. The organization has won three of the opening six Sprint Cup Series races of the year with Stewart picking up a pair of victories and teammate Ryan Newman claiming his first victory at Martinsville. “It’s been nice to get off to a good start this year the way we have,” Stewart said. “I’m really excited about the start that we’ve got going. We’ve been strong everywhere we’ve been.”

Earnhardt Jr. Off to Competitive Start

Dale Earnhardt Jr. has risen to second in the point standings on the strength of his consistent finishes. Perhaps even more impressive than Earnhardt’s runs inside the Top-5 and Top-10 is the attitude that surrounds the No. 88 team. There’s a definite feeling of confidence around Earnhardt Jr. and the his team these days and it could just add up to a visit to victory lane for the first time in nearly four years. “I just want the good fortune to keep going. In the big span of things, you are not here for a very long time, and I feel like I’ve got a lot of career left and I know how difficult it is to right the ship, and how difficult it is to be competitive and compete in this series,” Earnhardt said. “But I ain’t taking it for granted. I just want to have a solid year, win some races, get back to Victory Lane.”

MWR Shines

The off-season organizational changes and hard work have paid dividends for Michael Waltrip Racing so far this season. Led by Martin Truex Jr., MWR has been one of the year’s biggest surprises with all three of the cars performing extraordinarily well.  Newcomers Clint Bowyer and Mark Martin, plus Brian Vickers part-time stint in the No. 55, keep finishing upfront on a weekly basis honing in on what could be MWR’s first Chase spot. “We just got a good organization right now, a good bunch of people. We got three cars that seem to go to the race track and run really well each week,” Truex said. “We’re able to feed off each other.”