I personally think Jesse Love is a great surprise. Yes I know he’s in RCR and yes I know he only had one win but he is constantly running up front. Cool to see such a young driver in his first year having great success
Seeing the recent Daily Downforce short that highlighted how Gilliland has the least amount of incidents helped highlight part of what's made his season a big improvement, he's been quite steady, and the only thing that's stopped him from having a clean run of Top 20s since Kansas was the brake failure at Pocono. I've also been impressed by Hocevar, save for his idiotic Nashville move (which, at this point, will he ever really grow out of), because he's pulled a lot of speed of what's basically still C-tier equipment at best, almost as many Top 20s as both of his teammates put together.
Justin Haley out here getting Rick Ware more positive TV coverage in one season than the entirety of Rick Ware's last 4 years prior. Heck even Cody has done okay in one race.
Haley at RWR is a surprise. I thought his career was going to take a big step back, but it's been the opposite. He's one good racecar driver. Can't wait to see what the future holds for him and RWR.
Fair assessment, but dig deeper, and it all makes sense. My comment explains it, but basically I am confident Justin ends up in the 6 when Brad is done. Remember how good Brad is at recruiting talent!
Daniel Dye 100% deserved to be on this pyramid. He went from a punchline to a legit playoff driver and no one would’ve predicted that before this season.
He's even shown some potential in the Xfinity Series running part-time for Kaulig. He's already racked up two top-10s (Iowa and Indy), and only two finishes outside the top-20...and even then, his worst finish there is 27th at Daytona. This has certainly been the year where he's shown his potential. Not gonna say he's gonna win this year, but I wouldn't count out a Truck win next season.
Reddick is a natural talent, look at what he did at RCR . He’s the kind of guy a team gets excited about and gets behind. Not so sure about his future teammate?
at this point it doesn't surprise me anymore. The Grand Marshal could say "Sheldon Creed, start your engine" and no one else is allowed to start theirs and he'd find a way to choke that too. He's a damn good driver. But I want him to finally get a win.
i'm calling it right now todd gilliland will make the playoffs either this year, next year, or both i can't see this guy ever leaving frm and with that team's improvements over the years i can certainly see gilliland becoming a contender for wins in the near future
Jesse Love, he has been the most positive surprise (especially as a rookie) this year, in my opinion. I can’t wait to see what his racing future will look like.
SPOILER . . . . I was very concerned that you’d exclude Gilliland from the list. He’s now on the level of McDowell on the intermediates and has been really consistent - plus his Atlanta performance turned me into a fan 😂
Regarding Gilliland beating McDowell you also have to remember that McDowell is in a lame duck year and Ford has cut him off. Todd has Tier 1 support and McDowell is once again an underdog with now no support. He got cut off as soon as he made his departure announcement
Bowman is just horrible and will probably never get to the final 4 lol. Plus he shouldn't be a surprise driver when in Hendrick car. That just tells you how horrible he is.
I have always liked Todd Gilliland but I was surprised when Front Row Motorsports kept Todd over Zane. I am glad they did and I can't wait for him to get his first win.
I think because Alex fans believed in him when no one else did does not hurt his chance to be higher, but I really liked your reasons on many of them and agreed with a lot of it. I think with Alex being with HMS, and the pressure, post injury doubts and racing is so much a head game, that finally getting that win was huge. Hopefully he ends the season well, that's all I'm asking for as a fan. I think Carson H maybe deserved to be higher, despite his immaturity at times because he has really made Spire finally figure out that 7 car was just fine, it needed a driver change :-)
💯 Gilliland has put everyone on notice that he can be successful in the cup series. Justin had that iffy win but he has also proved his place. Those 2 guys are gonna go on good runs in the coming years, possibly upset wins, but it wouldn't be a surprise.
Good video. Happy for Eckes, Elliott, SVG and others who made it here. Probably won’t watch the negative surprises video just because I know at the forefront is going to be Kyle Busch and I feel like his crappy season has been beaten into the ground at this point.
I totally agree, I’ve always thought Todd was underrated. I would have loved to see him in the 21 next year, but sounds like front row is only going to get better.
I think Rajah Caruth should've been up there. The reasons being: 1. Getting Spire Motorsports their first win as a Full-Time Truck Series organization. 2. Being only the third African-American driver to win a NASCAR-sanctioned race (Not to mention he's also the youngest African-American driver to win a NASCAR-sanctioned race). 3. Having prior, albeit limited time and experience in GMS Racing, a former Truck Series team (Despite not winning) and learning a lot in his first Full-Time year. 4. Getting a decent amount of experience in the ARCA Menards Series (Again, despite not winning, but being close on multiple occasions), so he definitely wasn't rushed to the Truck Series.
Did not realize Gilliland was that high in points. That's actually a massive surprise despite FRM being tier 1 now. Sanchez I'm NOT surprised about tho, I actually picked him to win the Truck Series title xD
No disagreements with any of the list, but Bowman has proven to be very much worth sticking around in the 48 car indefinitely. I'd put him in the next tier up in surprises mainly due to the Chicago win.
All possible guesses for the negative surprises pyramid: Cup: Chris Buescher Ross Chastain Martin Truex Jr. Kyle Busch Michael McDowell Corey Lajoie Ryan Preece Austin Dillion Ty Gibbs? Xfinity: Sam Mayer Josh Williams Sammy Smith Brandon Jones Sheldon Creed Ryan Sieg Trucks: Ben Rhodes Layne Riggs
I would put Josh Berry in there. Didn't he have a penalty at the beginning of the year? If not for that penalty he would be inside the top 20 in points instead of 22nd.
Thank you !!!!!!!!!!!!!! About time i was worried you wouldn't say Todd's name i been saying so many times LOOK AT TODD GILLILAND not enough eyes are on the man, at all. I told you all hes sort of a late to table learner but when he and team is on the top of their game and mindset and ideas. they can get really good runs he could of couple of times had glimpse of winning he in that one race was passing people for toward the lead to like3rd to 2nd or 4th to 3rd then he went off a tad . The man is talented and is my tied favorite with John Hunter.
SVG may be able to win a cup road course race if he competes in Cup in 2025; but he will still be a 20 to 30 place in points for the year. He can't race ovals, he will not be able to win stages except for Road Courses. If Trackhouse starts a 3rd team he may have a chance to finish the year below 20th in points. If he joins a B Tier cup team; he may not even be able to win a Road Course race. Road course tracks still require speed to win. Half of the road courses require Tier One cup cars to win. XFinity road courses only has about 6 drivers on any given week with speed and handling to win along with having a great driver.
Fun ranking. All worthy of the high marks for the year. I can't believe I'm saying it (because last year I was totally "glad to be rid of the dipsh!t"), but I'd have to put Noah Gragson at the top of the list. That is not to take away from Todd Gilliland or Justin Haley (though I think you are giving Haley a bit too much credit). Gragson seemed like a seat-filler, brought in because of sponsorship. And then SHR has completely imploded. And Gragson has looked absolutely terrific. Everybody on the list has exceeded expectations but, given how bad his team is, Gragson has wildly exceeded expectations. I have to give credit where credit is due.
I realize that there are only ten positions on your stack but I think you really missed the boat when you over looked Rajah Caruth. Here's a young man who got the attention of Mr. H. who gave him a sponsorship and Raj is using it well. He has 3 top fives, 2 poles and a win. Right now he is 5th in points in the Craftsman Truck series. For a new, young driver, I think he has earned recognition.
Surprised you didn't include Rajah Caruth. 16th in points last year with GMS to 5th in points with Spire plus a win this year. I guess Sanchez makes more sense bc he's higher in pts and has more wins, but Caruth has also had a very consistent season so far.
Last year I picked Blaney to win the Championship and I was right. This year even before Daytona I picked Bowman to win the Championship this year.🤞🤞🤞🏆🍾
Van Gisbergen winning whatever he stepped into is not a surprise. The dude won 3 Supercar Championships, 3 Bathurst 1000s, a Bathurst 12 Hour, and in Sprint Car Races, the New Zealand GP, Legends Car races, GT3 races (including at Nürburgring)... He's a once in a generation talent, who just plugs into everything and goes.
If there was a little more room on the pyramid, I'd say two other drivers would deserve to be on it. The first being Rajah Caruth. Even with a win, I don't think many people expected him to be top 5 in regular season points at this point in the season. He's been rather consistent. 8 Top-10s in 15 races, with 3 of them being Top-5s, including that win. More impressive...only one finish outside the Top-20, being a 30th at Darlington. His worst finishes outside of that have been two 16ths, the only other times he's finished outside the Top-15. I would have expected at least a couple more finishes outside the Top-20, but not many. The other being possibly the most impressive Rookie in any series this season outside of SVG, and that's Jesse Love. Only 4 finishes outside the Top-20, a win, 9 Top-10s (including 6 consecutive, topped off by said win), 5 Top-5s. Not super impressive for a series regular, but for a rookie, that's pretty impressive.
I'd put Jesse Love in the 3rd tier, guy's the ONE glimmering hope at RCR right now (assuming they DON'T lose him like Reddick...) I guess slide off Elliot, I had little reason to believe he'd be in dire straits after the turmoil last season (AKA what happens when you take your job seriously and don't go off doing a dangerous hobby mid-season)
Dont count out Anthony Alfredo who was fighting for playoff spot with Our Motorsports for the a majority of thr season and edged out Mayer, Love & Herbst at Dover For the 100k
Ooooo fun! For negatives I know Busch is the obvious choice but I'd lump Austin Dillon in with him and put RCR Cup Teams at the top. Starting off in 2023 with the Clash it seemed like everyone was on notice that RCR was back as Dillon and Busch finished 2nd and 3rd. Busch would go on to do about the same Reddick did in the 8 car before him while Dillon did notably worse than he did in 2022. I think everyone assumed 2024 would be a marked improvement over 23 but for one reason or another both Dillon and Busch are about 4 positions down in standings so far.
Eric I guarantee you have McDowell on you're negatives list pyramid but he has a great season if he can finish like half a race. The 500 hes up front till a brake issue; Dega he wins if one block goes his way and other crappy stuff like that. He has had a great season especially when you look at flat tracks and superspeedways.
He's also in a lame duck year. Ford completely cut support after his announcement. That 34 car is not a Tier 1 Ford nor any tier at this point and Gilliland is still just barely ahead of him
![ARGENTINA vs. CHILE [3-0] | RESUMEN | ELIMINATORIAS SUDAMERICANAS | FECHA 7](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/De3AWmXzhuA/mqdefault.jpg)
"Surprise!...pyramid!" Eric trying to sell me an MLM lol
Nope… it’s the new groovy marketing strategy. Get it right🤣
@@kyleenglandracing701 For $20 he will make Juan Pablo Montoya appear at The Glen.
let’s not overlook the fact that joey hand (with 1 start) is ahead of jimmie johnson (with 6 starts) in points…
Joey hand is secretly the goat
Joey has the best hands
Joey hand for full time
Crazy
@@kylevm8 lol
The fact 1-2 years ago Todd Gilliland was part time in the 38 is crazy now.
Todd Gilliland continues to impress. The crazy thing is that he has been consistently a top 5 threat week in week out!
I personally think Jesse Love is a great surprise. Yes I know he’s in RCR and yes I know he only had one win but he is constantly running up front. Cool to see such a young driver in his first year having great success
I’d agree with that.
I love Todd Gilliland, his whole cup career is underrated in my opinion
Seeing the recent Daily Downforce short that highlighted how Gilliland has the least amount of incidents helped highlight part of what's made his season a big improvement, he's been quite steady, and the only thing that's stopped him from having a clean run of Top 20s since Kansas was the brake failure at Pocono.
I've also been impressed by Hocevar, save for his idiotic Nashville move (which, at this point, will he ever really grow out of), because he's pulled a lot of speed of what's basically still C-tier equipment at best, almost as many Top 20s as both of his teammates put together.
Todd Gilliland really is exceeding expectations
I am not surprised. He's got the talent and at Watkins a couple years ago he was leading for a bit in the rain
For me Hocevar is the biggest positive surprise. People forget the #77 car was the slowest car on track in 2022 and 2023.
Carson Hocevar does have potential.
who was even driving it last year i forgot
@@somerandomanonymousnpcTy Dillon
@@somerandomanonymousnpc Ty Dillon
@@DuddleBug5 yea def an upgrade
This two week layoff feels like an offseason.
Eh, call it a Super Bowl Halftime Show, haha. There's zero time off starting next weekend!
If someone told you at the beginning of the season Justin Haley would be ahead of the 31 in points I don’t think anyone would’ve believed you.
I said before the season starts both Kaulig cars will be outside the top 30 in points
Alot of people questioned that move. I honestly did too but in the long run it will.
He must have saw troubling things in Kaulig and split at the first opportunity
Justin Haley out here getting Rick Ware more positive TV coverage in one season than the entirety of Rick Ware's last 4 years prior. Heck even Cody has done okay in one race.
Idk Daniel Hemeroids driving the car doesn't make it too far fetched
Carson Kvapil looking dangerous
Haley at RWR is a surprise. I thought his career was going to take a big step back, but it's been the opposite. He's one good racecar driver. Can't wait to see what the future holds for him and RWR.
Fair assessment, but dig deeper, and it all makes sense. My comment explains it, but basically I am confident Justin ends up in the 6 when Brad is done. Remember how good Brad is at recruiting talent!
Daniel Dye 100% deserved to be on this pyramid. He went from a punchline to a legit playoff driver and no one would’ve predicted that before this season.
You can put a lot of that down to the Truck field aging and thinning in talent. Still, Dye has had decent speed
I’d struggle to put any truck driver in their. Talent pool is much thinner than Xfinity.
He's even shown some potential in the Xfinity Series running part-time for Kaulig. He's already racked up two top-10s (Iowa and Indy), and only two finishes outside the top-20...and even then, his worst finish there is 27th at Daytona.
This has certainly been the year where he's shown his potential. Not gonna say he's gonna win this year, but I wouldn't count out a Truck win next season.
Austin Cendric winning before Lagano was a pleasant surprise
You forgot to mention Todd Gilliland had 9 finishes in a row of 17th or better from early May to early July
Tyler Reddick has me susprised with how fast he’s been lately
Reddick is a natural talent, look at what he did at RCR . He’s the kind of guy a team gets excited about and gets behind. Not so sure about his future teammate?
@@John-kx3ng is his future teammate montoya?
I'm not surprised! he's in JGR equipment basically and he's darn good. He's at least 97% as good as Bell, who's really good.
Todd Gilliand has the least amount of dnf’s out of any cup driver this year I’m pretty sure
Damn no How's it going everyone my name is Eric and welcome to Out of the Groove.
Sheldon creed is surprising with 9 top 5s and no wins
at this point it doesn't surprise me anymore. The Grand Marshal could say "Sheldon Creed, start your engine" and no one else is allowed to start theirs and he'd find a way to choke that too.
He's a damn good driver. But I want him to finally get a win.
i'm calling it right now todd gilliland will make the playoffs either this year, next year, or both
i can't see this guy ever leaving frm and with that team's improvements over the years i can certainly see gilliland becoming a contender for wins in the near future
Jesse Love, he has been the most positive surprise (especially as a rookie) this year, in my opinion. I can’t wait to see what his racing future will look like.
SPOILER
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.
.
.
I was very concerned that you’d exclude Gilliland from the list. He’s now on the level of McDowell on the intermediates and has been really consistent - plus his Atlanta performance turned me into a fan 😂
his Atlanta performance came outta nowhere and definitely wowed me
@@iBolt07 same for me. I was watching the race with a friend and had no specific driver I was a fan of at that time so he caught my eye that day
@@AS19Motorsport That's about where I'm at, all of my guys have retired and I don't really have a favorite yet
Eric, very important question
Captain crunch or rice krispies
(Last one before next round of braket)
Rice krispies
@@EricEstepp hell yeah. The elite 8 begins
@@EricEstepp I usually respect your opinions, but Rice Krispies? 😲
holy cow I didn't realize Todd Gilliland was so high in the standings, good job kid!
Regarding Gilliland beating McDowell you also have to remember that McDowell is in a lame duck year and Ford has cut him off. Todd has Tier 1 support and McDowell is once again an underdog with now no support. He got cut off as soon as he made his departure announcement
Great recap. Glad to see Noah, Haley and Hocavar doing well
Hey it took William Byron 6 years to make the final 4 and Alex Bowmen is his sixth year I wouldn't be surprised if 48 car has a great playoff run.
Bowman is just horrible and will probably never get to the final 4 lol. Plus he shouldn't be a surprise driver when in Hendrick car. That just tells you how horrible he is.
He is on the best team in Nascar and anything can happened.
I already know Kyle Busch is going to be at the very bottom of the trough
I have always liked Todd Gilliland but I was surprised when Front Row Motorsports kept Todd over Zane. I am glad they did and I can't wait for him to get his first win.
I think because Alex fans believed in him when no one else did does not hurt his chance to be higher, but I really liked your reasons on many of them and agreed with a lot of it. I think with Alex being with HMS, and the pressure, post injury doubts and racing is so much a head game, that finally getting that win was huge. Hopefully he ends the season well, that's all I'm asking for as a fan. I think Carson H maybe deserved to be higher, despite his immaturity at times because he has really made Spire finally figure out that 7 car was just fine, it needed a driver change :-)
Everytime I hear the name Nick Sanchez during a race I can't help but picture Rick Sanchez behind the wheel with Morty as his crew chief.
💯 Gilliland has put everyone on notice that he can be successful in the cup series. Justin had that iffy win but he has also proved his place. Those 2 guys are gonna go on good runs in the coming years, possibly upset wins, but it wouldn't be a surprise.
Rick Ware will have to get their merch site working consistently if Justin grabs them their first win.
Good video. Happy for Eckes, Elliott, SVG and others who made it here.
Probably won’t watch the negative surprises video just because I know at the forefront is going to be Kyle Busch and I feel like his crappy season has been beaten into the ground at this point.
Bowman is my toddlers favorite due to his purple car.
So seeing him have a solid season has been really nice to see!
I totally agree, I’ve always thought Todd was underrated. I would have loved to see him in the 21 next year, but sounds like front row is only going to get better.
7:15
THAT’S MY BOY! I’VE BEEN A FAN OF HIM SINCE TRUCKS, HE IS A GOOD DRIVER, LETS GET IT BABY, WOOOOOOO!
I actually completely agree with your list! I wouldn't change a thing!
Tyler Reddick has been impressive.
I think Rajah Caruth should've been up there. The reasons being:
1. Getting Spire Motorsports their first win as a Full-Time Truck Series organization.
2. Being only the third African-American driver to win a NASCAR-sanctioned race (Not to mention he's also the youngest African-American driver to win a NASCAR-sanctioned race).
3. Having prior, albeit limited time and experience in GMS Racing, a former Truck Series team (Despite not winning) and learning a lot in his first Full-Time year.
4. Getting a decent amount of experience in the ARCA Menards Series (Again, despite not winning, but being close on multiple occasions), so he definitely wasn't rushed to the Truck Series.
i think that, if SVG wins an oval race, he suddenly becomes the championship favorite
Did not realize Gilliland was that high in points. That's actually a massive surprise despite FRM being tier 1 now. Sanchez I'm NOT surprised about tho, I actually picked him to win the Truck Series title xD
TODD G LETS GOOOO. I’ve been dropping praise on that dude for years. Fantastic driver, great personality. Future contender. Love that guy
Josh Berry deserves a mention
I kind of feel like Ty Gibbs should be on the list since he's contending for wins almost every week now, but I think we all saw that coming 😂
I predict Christopher Bell will win at Richmond after the Olympic break and the championship in 2024
Bro says this every freaking time
@@DYNAMONBURRITOI know
He will lol Bell loves his short tracks
@@Staysick17your right about that
For the Negative Surpise video. Do the one where Giggles Logano had to role-play as Matt Kenseth
I think next season if McDowell doesn’t receive bad luck like this year, he could show a lot of improvement.
He's also in a lame duck year now and Ford cut all support on the 34 team
@@isaiahmarker407 Ikr
jesse love has been a huge surpise too
My most pleasant surprise was Corey Lajoie getting fired
No disagreements with any of the list, but Bowman has proven to be very much worth sticking around in the 48 car indefinitely. I'd put him in the next tier up in surprises mainly due to the Chicago win.
Glad to see two of my favorite young drivers in your pyramid. Go Carson! Go Todd!
All possible guesses for the negative surprises pyramid:
Cup:
Chris Buescher
Ross Chastain
Martin Truex Jr.
Kyle Busch
Michael McDowell
Corey Lajoie
Ryan Preece
Austin Dillion
Ty Gibbs?
Xfinity:
Sam Mayer
Josh Williams
Sammy Smith
Brandon Jones
Sheldon Creed
Ryan Sieg
Trucks:
Ben Rhodes
Layne Riggs
Glad to see the toddler getting the recognition he deserves. Quickly becoming one of my favourite drivers
I think Noah is most improved, I mean he saved his career and under heavy pressure in a very short time frame!! Gilliland has been very impressive.
Reddick is super underrated. I’d say he’s top 3 best drivers in Cup.
I would put Josh Berry in there. Didn't he have a penalty at the beginning of the year? If not for that penalty he would be inside the top 20 in points instead of 22nd.
Hi Eric Estepp I never miss a single episode ❤
My bold preseason prediction this year was that Gilliland would win a race. I’m sticking with it to the end.
Pleasant surprises are ready!
Thank you !!!!!!!!!!!!!! About time i was worried you wouldn't say Todd's name i been saying so many times LOOK AT TODD GILLILAND not enough eyes are on the man, at all. I told you all hes sort of a late to table learner but when he and team is on the top of their game and mindset and ideas. they can get really good runs he could of couple of times had glimpse of winning he in that one race was passing people for toward the lead to like3rd to 2nd or 4th to 3rd then he went off a tad . The man is talented and is my tied favorite with John Hunter.
As a Todd “chilly Gilly” fan I def agree
SVG may be able to win a cup road course race if he competes in Cup in 2025; but he will still be a 20 to 30 place in points for the year. He can't race ovals, he will not be able to win stages except for Road Courses. If Trackhouse starts a 3rd team he may have a chance to finish the year below 20th in points. If he joins a B Tier cup team; he may not even be able to win a Road Course race. Road course tracks still require speed to win. Half of the road courses require Tier One cup cars to win. XFinity road courses only has about 6 drivers on any given week with speed and handling to win along with having a great driver.
Good pick with Todd Gilliland on top.
I'm a fan.
austin cindric is a pleasant suprise too imo
front row looks genius for sticking with him and not jumping at zane smith. we'll see how this take ages.
Fun ranking. All worthy of the high marks for the year.
I can't believe I'm saying it (because last year I was totally "glad to be rid of the dipsh!t"), but I'd have to put Noah Gragson at the top of the list. That is not to take away from Todd Gilliland or Justin Haley (though I think you are giving Haley a bit too much credit).
Gragson seemed like a seat-filler, brought in because of sponsorship. And then SHR has completely imploded. And Gragson has looked absolutely terrific. Everybody on the list has exceeded expectations but, given how bad his team is, Gragson has wildly exceeded expectations. I have to give credit where credit is due.
I really thought Jesse Love would be up top.
0:01 holy shit bro you almost give a heart attack 😭
My man justin haley is killing it for RWR in comparison to their other drivers
I agree with your assessment of the drivers
todd gilliand is the biggest improved this year and Tyler Reddick is the most consistent and will be a factor if he makes it to phoenix
Noah Gragson having a bounce back 2nd year in the cup series with SHR and will be heading to FRM next season.
SVG was fast in Charlotte in Cup. I was there. that debut was cut short and was under the radar. he was better than Jimmie Johnson. 🙃
I realize that there are only ten positions on your stack but I think you really missed the boat when you over looked Rajah Caruth. Here's a young man who got the attention of Mr. H. who gave him a sponsorship and Raj is using it well. He has 3 top fives, 2 poles and a win. Right now he is 5th in points in the Craftsman Truck series. For a new, young driver, I think he has earned recognition.
I'm surprised you didn't list Josh Berry whatsoever. He's certainly been a pleasant surprise this year SHR equipment
Surprised you didn't include Rajah Caruth. 16th in points last year with GMS to 5th in points with Spire plus a win this year. I guess Sanchez makes more sense bc he's higher in pts and has more wins, but Caruth has also had a very consistent season so far.
Good point! Rajah nearly made the cut
Shane van Granddaddy of the road course 😂😂😂
Surprised Riley Herbst didn’t get a mention
Last year I picked Blaney to win the Championship and I was right. This year even before Daytona I picked Bowman to win the Championship this year.🤞🤞🤞🏆🍾
Please don't forgor that todd also has the lowest number of DNFs among all full time cup drivers
I would have put Josh Berry on the list
Pickle Todd has me at the top of my pool.
Cheers T.pickle
Really impressed with these drivers so far!
Yup haley and gilliland 1 and 2 for me
Van Gisbergen winning whatever he stepped into is not a surprise.
The dude won 3 Supercar Championships, 3 Bathurst 1000s, a Bathurst 12 Hour, and in Sprint Car Races, the New Zealand GP, Legends Car races, GT3 races (including at Nürburgring)...
He's a once in a generation talent, who just plugs into everything and goes.
Think we need to remember how good ryan siegs done as well, especially texas
Still waiting for a DeWalt Paint Schemes Tier List by Eric Estepp…
Fr
Picked Reddick to win the championship before the season started. He’s having a great season
If there was a little more room on the pyramid, I'd say two other drivers would deserve to be on it.
The first being Rajah Caruth. Even with a win, I don't think many people expected him to be top 5 in regular season points at this point in the season. He's been rather consistent. 8 Top-10s in 15 races, with 3 of them being Top-5s, including that win.
More impressive...only one finish outside the Top-20, being a 30th at Darlington. His worst finishes outside of that have been two 16ths, the only other times he's finished outside the Top-15. I would have expected at least a couple more finishes outside the Top-20, but not many.
The other being possibly the most impressive Rookie in any series this season outside of SVG, and that's Jesse Love.
Only 4 finishes outside the Top-20, a win, 9 Top-10s (including 6 consecutive, topped off by said win), 5 Top-5s. Not super impressive for a series regular, but for a rookie, that's pretty impressive.
I'd put Jesse Love in the 3rd tier, guy's the ONE glimmering hope at RCR right now (assuming they DON'T lose him like Reddick...)
I guess slide off Elliot, I had little reason to believe he'd be in dire straits after the turmoil last season (AKA what happens when you take your job seriously and don't go off doing a dangerous hobby mid-season)
Dont count out Anthony Alfredo who was fighting for playoff spot with Our Motorsports for the a majority of thr season and edged out Mayer, Love & Herbst at Dover For the 100k
The glass is half full today for Eric.
Jesse Love and his first win was a good one
Front Row is going to be great next year!! Go Gilliland!
No Ty Gibbs? The kid is in his second full season and is 11th in pts and only 6 drivers have more laps led
Corey Heim didn't even make the list. I'm a little surprised. Good list tho..
SVG, and I mean this with the utmost respect, is doing what Marcos Ambrose could not do.
Ooooo fun! For negatives I know Busch is the obvious choice but I'd lump Austin Dillon in with him and put RCR Cup Teams at the top.
Starting off in 2023 with the Clash it seemed like everyone was on notice that RCR was back as Dillon and Busch finished 2nd and 3rd.
Busch would go on to do about the same Reddick did in the 8 car before him while Dillon did notably worse than he did in 2022.
I think everyone assumed 2024 would be a marked improvement over 23 but for one reason or another both Dillon and Busch are about 4 positions down in standings so far.
Eric I guarantee you have McDowell on you're negatives list pyramid but he has a great season if he can finish like half a race. The 500 hes up front till a brake issue; Dega he wins if one block goes his way and other crappy stuff like that. He has had a great season especially when you look at flat tracks and superspeedways.
He's also in a lame duck year. Ford completely cut support after his announcement. That 34 car is not a Tier 1 Ford nor any tier at this point and Gilliland is still just barely ahead of him