Beyond the Flag
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NASCAR: Five most overhyped Cup Series drivers

By Asher Fair

DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 26: Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Miller Lite Ford, Austin Dillon, driver of the #3 DOW Chevrolet, Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, and Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 Aspen Dental Ford, race during the 59th Annual DAYTONA 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 26, 2017 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 26: Brad Keselowski, driver of the #2 Miller Lite Ford, Austin Dillon, driver of the #3 DOW Chevrolet, Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 Nationwide Chevrolet, and Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 Aspen Dental Ford, race during the 59th Annual DAYTONA 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 26, 2017 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /
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LOUDON, NH – JULY 14: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the #17 Fastenal Ford (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)
LOUDON, NH – JULY 14: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the #17 Fastenal Ford (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images) /

#4 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Roush Fenway Racing, No. 17 Ford

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., like many drivers who don’t drive for great teams, hasn’t had a whole lot of success thus far in his Cup Series career. It took him until his fifth full-time season in the Cup Series with Roush Fenway Racing to finally win a race, which he did earlier this season at Talladega in his 159th career attempt. He has since won at Daytona in his 166th career race for his second career win.

However, despite the fact that he really has not had a successful Cup Series career up to this point, Stenhouse Jr. still gets loads of attention and hype. A lot of this may be due to the fact that another Cup Series driver, Danica Patrick, who is one of the most popular drivers in NASCAR and in all of racing, has been and is currently his girlfriend.

So it makes sense that Stenhouse Jr. gets the hype that he gets given the fact that his girlfriend is who she is. Still, the fact that he gets that kind of hype with the very little amount of success he has had in his Cup Series so far makes him overhyped.

Sure, Stenhouse Jr. does have two wins now in his Cup Series career, and he does appear to be improving, especially due to the fact that both of those wins have come this season and he did qualify for the playoffs for the first time, and he did enter the playoffs with 10 playoff points because of those wins.

But prior to this season, Stenhouse Jr. had never made the playoffs in four full seasons of Cup Series competition, and his best result in the standings was just 19th place back in his rookie season in 2013.

While Stenhouse Jr. is in this year’s playoffs, and now the Round of 12, for the first time in his Cup Series career, this is the case only because of his two wins this season, the first two of his career, which both came on restrictor plate tracks, where pretty much any driver with a decent car as a shot to win.

Other than those two wins, he has just two other top 5 finishes and five other top 10 finishes so far this season, and he was only 18th in points before the playoffs began. While he isn’t the most overhyped driver in NASCAR, he is certainly toward the top of the list.

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