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Wednesday, Mar. 26, 2008

Too early to compare Busch, Earnhardt

From the moment that NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick chose one of them over the other, the comparisons were inevitable between the two drivers.

Last season, Hendrick was looking for a way sneak Dale Earnhardt Jr. onto his team after he chose to leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. And who could blame him? Earnhardt draws lots of attention and sponsor dollars toward himself and his team - win, lose or wreck.

Kyle Busch wound up paving the way for Earnhardt when the team opted to shift the very talented- yet outspoken - Busch out of the way. Earnhardt conveniently was right there to take Busch's spot at Hendrick Motorsports.

Five races into the season, Busch is having a little bit better success than Earnhardt. Busch has won once already this year, has three top fives, and he is leading the points standings.

While he has not won a race yet this year, Earnhardt has been consistently strong. He has run near the front of the field each week other than when he was caught up in an accident on a wet track in California, a performance good enough to put him well within the top five of the standings.

That's a lot better situation than most of last season, when Earnhardt spent less time contending for victories, was plagued by mechanical failures and failed to qualify for the Chase for the championship.

From an early glance, it would seem that Hendrick made a bad choice in cutting ties with Busch in favor of NASCAR's most popular driver. The truth is that it's simply way too early to tell.

Busch has been very strong, but so have his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates. Both Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin have been major factors at one time or another in each of the season's first five races. Add in the fact that drivers such as Kevin Harvick have noted Toyota's engines being able to turn more horsepower than the other automakers right now, and the reason for Busch's success so far this year cannot rest on his shoulders alone. It also has to be shared by Joe Gibbs Racing's engine shop.

Earnhardt probably didn't begin the season with a goal of running fifth, his position in the points standings right now. He likely did, however, have aspirations of running toward the front pretty much every week, something he has done.

While not quite as glamorous as a victory, a string of finishes in the top five is almost as valuable toward winning a championship with NASCAR's points system still rewarding consistency.

Last year's Sprint Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson, had 11 top fives during the season's final 15 races.

Earnhardt is also having the best start of any Hendrick driver, ahead of teammates Johnson and Jeff Gordon, who are 13th and 14th, respectively, in the standings.

There is more than enough time - 21 races before the Chase, to be exact - for both drivers to make up for a slow start to the season and for drivers like Busch and Earnhardt to show how good they are.

Five races are not enough to judge the choice of Earnhardt over Busch. The rest of the season, however, is.