With thirteen races now finished, it is clear which drivers were the pleasant surprises of the 2009 Sprint Cup season. NASCAR news has highlighted a few bright talents. The Stewart-Haas Racing drivers Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman have surpassed any speculations established in the preseason. David Reutimann, a driver for Michael Waltrip Racing, is having a career-defining season, with a recent victory at the Lowe’s Motor Speedway. He is within striking distance of the top twelve.

Brad Keselowski, a part-time Spring Cup driver, became a first-time winner in 2009. He was victorious at Talladega driving for Phoenix Racing, and independent team owned by James Finch.

Open-wheel icons Juan Pablo Montoya and Sam Hornish Jr both showed slight improvements over their 2008 performances.

Now, there have also been disappointments on the circuit, both with drivers and teams that have had less than stellar records.

It seems that Dale Earnhardt Jr holds the top spot for disappointments of 2009. When Earnhardt Jr first arrived at Hendrick Motorsports in 2008, he was the most promising of the four-car outfit. Unfortunately, as the season commenced, competing teams gained in ranking, and Earnhardt Jr started to fall behind. At present, he has had little luck regaining the momentum that he and Tony Eury Jr held during the preliminary months of the 2008 season. Rick Hendrick removed crew chief Tony Eury Jr and replaced him with Lance McGrew. McGrew is now the interim crew chief for Earnhardt Jr.

Despite his efforts, Earnhardt Jr has struggled to carry his burden; in the midst of his struggles, this burden seems like too much to bear. NASCAR’s most popular driver must improve quickly in order to cut down all of the negative press.

Kevin Harvick met qualification for the Chase for the Championship in every season from 2006 to 2008 and won six races in that span. However, Harvick is now in the midst of his worst season since he went through a bad driving period in 2002. At this point, Harvick, who hasn’t had a win since the 2007 Daytona 500, has little chance of garnering a fourth appearance in the Chase for the Championship.

Harvick is not the only racer from his racing team that is drowning poor track performance. His Richard Childress Racing teammates have faded since the previous year, most notably Clint Bowyer. While Bowyer did manage a fantastic start to the 2009 season, he has finished below the top ten on the previous seven races prior the Pocono 500. Jeff Burton has kept up his consistency, but it is clear that the team’s performance as a whole is lower . Casey Mears encountered a sluggish start to the season, but he has scored two top ten finishes in the last four races.

Rivaling Earnhardt Jr and Harvick as the biggest disappointments include Roush Fenway Racing driver David Ragan. This marks another series of blemishes reported by NASCAR news sources. Ragan was possibly the most improved driver in 2008, but he has fallen back into mediocrity. After a thirteenth place finish in the championships for 2008, the buzz among NASCAR news analysts held that Ragan would be one of possibly twelve drivers competing for the Spring Cup. The problem with this is that Ragan has scored just one top ten finish in the first thirteen races. Something is definitely off with this team.

Ragan’s teammate Carl Edwards achieved victory in the Sprint Cup series, with nine races in 2008. After thirteen races, Edwards has yet to perform his race-winning celebratory back flip. Regardless of the fact that Edwards is currently numbered among the top twelve in the championship ratings, most enthusiasts were expecting more from him and others in the No. 99 group.