[Note: this is not from Jayski, see link at end of this blurb for questions/etc]. We’ll start with everybody’s hero, Mr. Lead Lap. After an off-year last season, ol’ LL is getting back in form. He’s had two Top-10’s already this season (he had only three all of last year and none at this point), and has improved by 89 markers in the standings. He’s currently 10th in the rundown and has been in the Top-10 the last 5 weeks. Last year at this time he resided in 14th place, and never got any higher than 12th in the points. He’s improved his average finish from 17.9 thru the first nine races last season to 14.6 this year. When you compare this year’s points vs last year after nine events, we see considerable changes. Sterling Marlin had a 109 point margin over Matt Kenseth last year, whereas it’s Matt on top of Jr. by 51 markers this season. The best improvement goes to Kevin Harvick. At this point last year he was in 29th spot (of course he’d been parked for one event) while this year he’s 6th. In the opposite direction, Bill Elliott has digressed 17 spots (from 12th last year to 29th this season). One thing that’s really fallen off is the number of drivers. Last year at this point we had 54 drivers who’d scored points….this season that number is only 48.( StockCarFans.com Newsletter )(4-22-2003)
