Successes and disappointments from the Geico 500

The 2016 Geico 500 was an undeniably chaotic race, featuring several big wrecks including one that involved twenty one cars. Despite the high number of crashes, the racing proved to be as exciting and close as we'd come to expect from a plate track and it resulted in a rather mixed up result. So then, here are five successes and five disappointments from the Geico 500.

The successes

1: Austin Dillon (third place). Entering his fourth season of the NASCAR sprint cup, Dillon has never been a driver that has truly shone, however in 2016 it's been a completely different story. Five top ten finished in ten races is certainly impressive and if Dillon keeps us this performance he should be looking at being a serious chase contender. Dillon topped the time sheets in round one of qualifying and despite being involved in a wreck with Chris Buescher and several others on lap ninety six, the twenty six year old managed to rally back to a third place finish and score his best result of the season. Dillon currently sits tenth in the standings with 272 points.

2: Jamie McMurray (fourth place). There's no denying that McMurray goes well on restrictor plate tracks, he won the Daytona 500 in 2010 and took victory in the 2013 Camping World RV Sales 500 held at Talladega, and once again McMurray was at the forefront come the end of the race. The thirty nine year old was able to stay out of trouble all day and managed to find himself in all the right places towards the end of the race as he managed to charge through the field up to fourth place, dodging a last lap crash in the process. McMurray currently sits thirteenth in the standings with 261 points.

3: Chase Elliott (fifth place). It's easy to forget that Chase Elliott is only in his first full season of the NASCAR sprint cup, he has often out performed his much more experienced teammates and has six top ten finishes this year, more than teammates Dale Earnhardt Jr. (five) and Kasey Kahne (three). Elliott managed to continue a streak of pole positions for the number twenty four car at restrictor plate tracks, combined with Jeff Gordon, the twenty four car has taken pole at every plate track since the Coke Zero 400 last year. A good start saw Elliott lead twenty seven laps at the start of the race and the twenty year old would be near the front all day. Like McMurray, Elliott would avoid all wrecks and ultimately finished fifh. He currently sits eleventh in the standings with 271 points.

4: Clint Bowyer (seventh place). 2016 Has not been a kind year to Clint Bowyer, so far he only has two top ten finishes and has five finishes outside of the top thirty. A trouble free run is what Bowyer needed and that was exactly what he got, for the second time this year he showed signs of pace and competitiveness in his HScott Motorsport Chevrolet and a season best seventh place finish will undoubtedly be a confidence boost to Bowyer and the team. Bowyer currently sits twenty seventh in the standings with 160 points.

5: Landon Cassill (eleventh place). This probably came as a surprise to many people, Cassill usually struggles to make it into the top thirty but in 2016 he seems rejuvenated. The switch from Hillman-Smith Motorsports to Front Row Racing seems to of been highly beneficial, with Cassill having scored two top twenty finishes this year and having only one finish out of the top thirty, by this point last year he had seven finishes out of the top thirty and a best result of twenty first. Like several drivers, Cassill would avoid most of the drama throughout the race en route to his best finish since the Geico 500 in 2014. Cassill is currently twenty fifth in the standings with 170 points.

The disappointments

1: Ryan Newman (twenty eighth place). It's hard to believe that two years ago Ryan Newman finished second in the championship, his results have been steadily getting worse and he is constantly being beaten by his teammates. Eighteen drivers all had significant problems, Newman being one of them, so while it may be harsh to judge him based on his result, Newman never showed front running pace throughout the day and ultimately gets credited with a twenty eighth place finish. He currently sits nineteenth in the standings with 219 points.

2: Greg Biffle (twentieth place). Biffle has had a very quite two years in the sport and the Geico 500 was no different. Biffle showed little pace all weekend and his twentieth position finish is only because of the amount of drivers that crashed out. It's starting to look increasingly clear that Biffle is way past his best. He currently sits twenty third in the standings with 188 points.

3: David Ragan (thirty fourth place). Ragan is a very good restrictor plate track racer, his only two wins came on restrictor plate tracks (2011 Coke Zero 400 and 2013 Aaron's 499) so Ragan was expected to do well. However, theses expectations never happened and Ragan showed little pace and was outclassed by his much less experienced teammate, Matt DiBenedetto. Engine problems eventually ended Ragan's race on lap 144. He currently sits thirty second in the standings with 124 points.

4: Joey Logano (twenty fifth place). Logano seemingly had a reasonable weekend, he briefly lead and was near the front for most of the race. But he was involved in a late race caution that ruined any chance of a good finish. Compared to teammate Keselowski, who was in the top five pretty much all day and won the race, Logano's performance seems a little bit lacklustre. He currently sits fifth in the standings with 316 points.

5: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (fortieth place). Most of what happened to Earnhardt Jr. wasn't technically his fault. He got turned around by teammate Kasey Kahne before being completely wiped out by Carl Edwards later in the race., leading to a bitterly disappointing fortieth place finish for the man who normally dominates restrictor plate tracks. Earnhardt Jr. currently sits eighth in the standings with 279 points.

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