2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Points Following Bristol

After the fourth race of the 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup season the new point system is beginning to shake out. While some expected names are back on more familiar ground, some others are surprising the statisticians this season.

Surprise number one is Paul Menard. For years, it has been assumed that he bought his way in, but eight years of Sprint Cup experience and a solid team at Richard Childress Racing are paying off. Menard sits solidly in fifth in the points on the back of four top twenty finishes, including two top tens and one top five.

Five time champ Jimmie Johnson finally cracked the top ten this week after a top five finish at Bristol. Although Johnson has had bad starts before, his team does not typically take this long to find their groove. Kevin Harvick is still climbing his way back up through the standings after several bad finishes including sour motors and bad luck on the track. Harvick currently sits in 15th and is 40 points behind leader Kurt Busch. Under the new system 43 points is a full race behind and although Harvick has the ability, he can not afford any more bad finishes in the first half of the season.

Look below to see the rest of the surprises in the points and to see where your driver sits.

Pos____Driver __________BPts___Pnts__Ldr
1_____ Kurt Busch________ 3_____150___ 0
2_____ Carl Edwards______ 6_____ 149___-1
3_____ Tony Stewart______ 3_____ 138__ -12
4_____ Ryan Newman_____ 4_____ 138__ -12
5_____ Paul Menard______ 3_____136__ -14
6_____ Kyle Busch________6_____ 133__ -17
7_____ Jimmie Johnson____ 3_____ 130__-20
8_____ Juan Pablo Montoya_2_____ 126__ -24
9_____ Dale Earnhardt Jr.__1_____ 124__ -26
10____ Martin Truex Jr.____3_____ 123__ -27
11____ Mark Martin______ 0_____ 123__ -27
12____ Kasey Kahne_______0_____122__-28
13____ Matt Kenseth______ 2_____ 117__ -33
14____ Bobby Labonte_____1_____ 115__ -35
15____ Kevin Harvick______3_____110__ -40
16____ A J Allmendinger___ 1_____107__ -43
17____ Denny Hamlin______2_____106__-44
18____ Marcos Ambrose____1_____105__-45
19____ Jeff Gordon________7_____104__ -46
20____ David Ragan_______1______89__ -61
21____ Brad Keselowski____1______89__-61
22____ David Gilliland_____1______88___-62
23____ Greg Biffle________ 1_____ 86___ -64
24____ Clint Bowyer______ 2_____ 84___ -66
25____ Bill Elliott_________ 0_____ 82___ -68
26____ Jamie McMurray____1_____ 76___ -74
27____ Regan Smith_______ 1____75___ -75
28____ David Reutimann___ 1_____75___-75
29____ Jeff Burton________ 1_____ 74____-76
30____ Joey Logano_______ 0_____74___ -76
31____ Brian Vickers_______0_____69___ -81
32____ Robby Gordon_____ 1______59___ -91
33____ Casey Mears_______ 0_____52___-98
34____ Dave Blaney_______ 2_____ 51___-99
35____ Andy Lally #_______1______ 49__-101
36____ Tony Raines_______ 0_____44__-106