Wytheville, VA(July 16, 2009) -- After putting half of this racing season behind us, it's time to look back and grade the drivers from top to bottom. Some have impressed while some should be depressed, but you can't win them all. And, just because a driver has a lot of wins, doesn't automatically put him at the top of the list.

Valedictorian: Matt McCall

This one was really a no-brainer. Matt has shown this year that he can win anywhere, and has been doing it in two different cars. The "Pig Rig" has been virtually unstoppable, while the #23 has been equally impressive, just having a few mechanical issues most of the time while leading. The #23 came out of the smoke last week with the biggest win to date, a victory in the Dwight Huffman Memorial. This race is looking to go down as one of the biggest victories in Matt's career, after taking the challenge to start from the rear of a heavily star-studded field, he had a fierce battle with Steven Wallace to take the win. He's starting to look like Mark Martin used to at Busch races, where you hate to see him roll through the gate if your a competitor.

The A List: Speedy Faucette, Marty Ward, Andy Mercer, Jamey Caudill, CE Falk

Speedy, Ward and Mercer have dominated their home tracks this year like nobody's business. While some may call them "one track wonders", the fact is, any outsiders that come in can't do anything much with them either. At the halfway point, they get the "A" ranking, but if they don't venture out to different venues for the rest of the year, their GPA will drop.

Falk is the man at Langley, but he has ventured out and shown he can run at different tracks including Caraway and Motor Mile. His schedule will become more diverse as the year continues, hitting all the big races at the season's end. Look for him to pick up a victory in one of those "big" races.

Why is Jamey Caudill in here with 1 win? Because he is the model of consistency, anytime Caudill pulls up to any track, he is a force to be reckoned with. The #50 machine never tries for more than it's capable of, you can always load it in the trailer when It's over, and running the UARA tour shows how diversified a driver he is. Jamey will go down in the books as one of the best ever as it stands now, and he has no intentions of slowing down anytime soon.

A- Time: Paddy Rodenbeck, Nick Smith, Tommy Lemons, Philip Morris, Ben Rowe

Paddy is borderline to being in the top bracket, and if he continues his outstanding Sophomore season the way he has, he will be challenging McCall for the top honors. When the #81 has been "on", he has been unstoppable, and could possibly have 2 more wins to his credit this year if he hadn't been taken out by other cars. But that's part of racing, and he will no doubt get better as the year progresses.

Smith, Lemons and Morris have been fighting tooth and nail between Motor Mile and South Boston. Morris has been having trouble of late, not picking up a win in over a month, but still has 7 wins on the year. Lemons has come into his own recently at Motor Mile, and Smith looks dominate at times at SoBo, but mechanical problems have taken a few wins away from him.

Ben Rowe is to the PASS series, as what Jamey Caudill is to the UARA. Consistent and always a threat for the win, he came into a predicament a few weeks ago when his car owner did not venture South for an event. They were committed to the Northern tour, but with Rowe leading the points down here, he scrambled to bring his own car to the track and has picked up where he left off, up front. With 2 wins in the Northern and Southern divisions, and leading the points for the South and 3rd up North, Rowe is having a year racers dream of.

B+ For You: Rodney Cook, Chad Harris, Owen Kelly, Frank Deiny Jr., Brandon Dean, Richard Boswell, Garrett Campbell, Travis Swaim, Deac McCaskill, Kevin Leicht, Nate Monteith, Dexter Canipe Jr.

This list is pretty large, and to be honest, there are a few others that could be thrown into the mix here. Cook, Harris, Deiny Jr. and Dean are flying just under the radar, they are one tick away from moving up in the rankings. Swaim, Leicht and Monteith are leading the point standing at their respected tracks, but if they don't go to other tracks they will surely fall as their competition isn't on the level with other places. McCaskill is leading the points at SoBo, but another win would look much better on his resume this year. Canipe Jr. is one that is questionable being here, as he has won some races this year, but needs a few more wins against larger fields and he will definitely move up.

The UARA guys are tough ones to fit in here. While they haven't set the world on fire, they are driving in the most competitive Late-Model fields around, at at a different track each race. Boswell and Kelly have both of the Jr. Motorsports cars in the top 5 in the standings, but haven't been anywhere close to competing for the win. Kelly is in his rookie season in the UARA, and at times has been a tad wild, but has stuck with it and at the end of the night he has soldiered to the front. Boswell is the team leader, and while he hasn't left us lacking excitement, a little luck needs to go his way to be a front-runner once again. Campbell has been the Cinderella story early this season, but bad showings in the past few races have dropped him from a A to a B after starting out red-hot.

Those Getting a B-: Jesse LeFevers, Coleman Pressley, Justin Johnson, Danny Edwards, David Wilson, Roger Powell, David Quakenbush

LeFevers and Pressley both won a ton of races last year, but 2009 has been a different story. Ever since LeFevers destroyed his car at Hickory he has been struggling to keep pace, and Pressley has had many mechanical demons jump up at him this year, and at times has been in left field on the setup. Both drivers will find their stride again, Pressley had his luck nearly turned around in the Dwight Huffman Memorial, but a blown engine ended his day late in the going.

Edwards has been strong at Langley this year picking up 2 wins, but the season has mostly been in the shadow of CE Falk. Same with Quackenbush at SoBo, he is second in points, but needs to reel off a win or two to get more exposure.

Johnson has been very good at times at SoBo, but in other races he is off the radar, when they find that balance they will be contenders each week. And Roger Powell races at GPS against Marty Ward, he has 2 wins but Ward has destroyed the field in nearly every other event. Don't see things changing down there, unless Roger puts some water in Marty's fuel cell.

The rest Of The Best C: Jason York, Brandon McReynolds, Andy Loden, Dean Fogleman, RA Brown, the rest of the field at Newport, Brennan Poole.

This is the final ranking of the day. There is no D or F ranking, as all the drivers on the list are some of the best in the business. The final grade is a hard one, as it doesn't necessarily indicate how a driver has ran, as most have just had terrible issues with mechanical failures. These drivers will round us out, and if you didn't make the list, that doesn't mean that you can't turn it on in the second half of 09' and go to the top.

Jason York is one of the best drivers in the history of Late-Models. But after his victory in the Bailey's 300 last Fall, the 09' season has been one to forget. It isn't from lack of running good, as he has poles and has lead more laps than anyone at Caraway, but if something is going to break, it has so far. Brandon McReynolds falls into this same situation, as he is usually one of the top 3 cars at every UARA event, but blowing 5 engines before the halfway mark can really let the wind out of your sails. Look for massive turnarounds from these two as the year progresses.

Andy Loden came to the UARA full-time this year after winning the championships at Hickory and Tri-County last season. After so much success, the UARA season has been a living hell for the #29 team, with engine failures and mechanical issues nearly every event. At Orange County they didn't make it 500ft before they got turned around into the wall, It's been one to forget so far. Brennan Poole is another driver in the UARA who has no luck, or is either hit or miss. He has the talent and the equipment, but he is young and when it aligns all together, he will move up the list quickly.

Dean Fogleman won the championship last year at Ace, but can't find that "balanced" setup he had from last year and has struggled to keep pace with the front runners. RA Brown has cut back his racing a bit, but has always been a threat for the win wherever he shows up, but 09' hasn't seen that "sparkle" from him yet. Both of these drivers are veterans, and with the good times come the bad, but they both will undoubtedly bounce back.

Corey's Mid-Season Report Cards are out and it's now about time for the RACE22.com Mid-Season Power Rankings to be released ... will those match the thoughts of Corey???  Stay tuned to see.....