#2- Brad Keselowskis 21st-place showing at Sonoma marked the seventh time in the past eight races that he has failed to crack the top 10. This comes after a blistering start to the season in which he had four top-5 finishes and seven top 10s in his first eight starts. Since then, hes dropped from third to ninth in the point standings and is only 10 points away from falling out of the top 10 entirely. In fact, the standings are so crowded that Keselowski is a mere 29 points ahead of 17th place #78-Kurt Busch. Hes also only one early crash or mechanical failure away from dipping into territory rarely seen by a defending Cup champion. Over the past 40 years, since NASCAR consolidated its schedule, no defending Cup champion has finished worse than 12th in the standings (not including 1992 champ Alan Kulwicki, who died in a place crash in April of 1993). In fact, only five drivers have finished worse than seventh. The average finishing position for the defending champion over the past four decades has been fourth place.( Sports Illustrated )
