2014 Sprint Cup Series Free Picks: Sprint Cup Championship Dark Horses and Sleepers

2014 Sprint Cup Series Free Picks: Sprint Cup Championship Dark Horses and Sleepers: When discussing contenders for the 2014 Sprint Cup titles, the conversation always starts with Jimmie Johnson with big names like Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch not far behind. However, there have been a few occasions when a driver seems to come out of nowhere to capture the championship, especially since the inception of the Chase playoff format in 2004. In fact, Kurt Busch was the surprise winner of the inaugural Chase. In 2011, Tony Stewart barely made the Chase but went on to win five times in the 10-race playoff to claim the crown, and the next year, Brad Keselowski won the title in just his third-full season in the Cup Series. With NASCAR expected to expand the Chase from 12 to 16 drivers in 2014 while adding an elimination system, the chances of a surprise winner are only going to increase. With that in mind, here is a closer look at a few sleeper title contenders for the Sprint Cup in 2014.

The Dark Horses

His career was in jeopardy just a couple of years ago, but Kurt Busch earned his way back into a prominent ride with Stewart-Haas Racing in 2014. After making the Chase while driving for a single-car Furniture Row Racing organization last year, it is clear that the former champ’s talent behind the wheel hasn’t diminished. Now, he will be driving for a multi-car team that has top-notch equipment and plenty of resources. If Busch can harness the same focus that helped him land his ride with SHR, there is no reason he can’t win a title with his new organization.

There is no bigger wild card among the title contenders than Kasey Kahne. He has made the Chase in each of the past two seasons, finishing a career-best fourth in the standings in 2012. Meanwhile, he is always one of the fastest cars on the track, consistently ranking in the top five in fastest laps run and average speed. However, Kahne always seems to mix in a few really bad runs along the way, and his tendency to run hot and cold has hurt him during the playoffs. However, Kahne is one 10-race hot streak away from being a serious title threat, and the proposed elimination format could benefit him more than any other driver by lessening the blow of one bad finish.

Although he has been sporadic in recent years, Carl Edwards has been known to string together a championship-caliber season on occasion. In fact, he would have two championships if NASCAR still used its original point system. Instead, Edwards was relegated to second-place finishes in 2008 and 2011, posting a combined 10 wins, 38 top-5s and 53 top-10s in those two years. Granted, he has been mediocre the past two seasons, but his career pattern says that he usually follows two down years with a big one. Watch out for Edwards in 2014.

Sleepers

He has been out since last August after suffering a broken leg in a dirt track event, but Tony Stewart is still on pace to be ready for the start of the 2014 season. Granted, there is no telling how the long layoff will impact him, and the same can be said for the stress that will come with running his newly-expanded Stewart-Haas Racing organization. However, Stewart showed as recently as 2011 that he can still be the best in the business, and considering the three-time champ has never gone a year without winning a race, he is a virtual lock to at least have a puncher’s chance given the proposed change to the Chase format.

After failing to live up to the hype for the first four years of his career, a change of scenery did wonders for Joey Logano as his first season with Team Penske was by far the best of his career. Logano made the Chase for the first time in 2013, logging a career-high 11 top-5s and 19 top-10s while compiling a career-best14.1 average finish. If he can build on his initial success with his new team, Logano could follow in the footsteps of his current teammate Brad Keselowski and come out of nowhere to win the series crown.

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