Story by: Langley Austin ~ langley@RACE22.com

Wytheville, VA(September 3, 2009) -- Everyone's always talking about where a driver stacks up, NASCAR.com does weekly Power Rankings of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers, but in Late Model Stock Car racing there's so many variables, where do you even begin???

We've done Power Rankings here most recently in the Spring in our "RACE22.com The Magazine" and while it was fairly easy to gaze into our crystal ball and predict(right or wrong) who the big winners would be this season and who would be the "Top 22" drivers in LMSC racing, but now that the season's almost complete .... Well it's a little harder to determine who the best of the best are.

Some people say well, 'who's won the most races' and I ask do you base it completely off wins? Some people say 'look at where they race' ... OK, well is a one-time winner from Motor Mile Speedway better than a three-time winner at Greenville Pickens Speedway ... is a three-time winner at South Boston better than a one-time UARA-STARS Series winner? I don't really know how to determine that, I've been sitting here for several weeks trying to figure out just that and while I've done a lot research and I've made a list of about 75 drivers who deserve to be in the list, but I don't know who to eliminate and where to place the ones we keep.

I've even went as far as to try and rank each track by the level of competition and then you have a guy who's won a bunch of races at a lower competition level track and one at a high rated track and another guy who has double digit wins at a middle of the road track ... OK, so I've confused you, at least you know exactly how I feel. So let's play a little numbers game and try to figure this thing out!

Beside of me is a list of the winningest drivers in Late Model Stock Car racing ... leading that list is Andy Mercer and Marty Ward, who each have 13-wins this season at Hickory and Greenville respectively. So does that out weigh the fourth winningest driver, Philip Morris, who has nine wins this season, six at Motor Mile and three at South Boston??? I would say on the surface that Morris' nine wins were tougher, simply given the fact that he's won at two different tracks, which is tougher than winning at one, right???

CE Falk is in the same boat, he's the third winningest driver in Late Model Stock Car racing with ten wins total, nine at Langley and one at South Boston. Does that mean that he should be ranked ahead of Morris, when he has one more win and at the same amount of race tracks? Throw in the fact that Morris' six wins at Motor Mile would be considered to have been against the toughest competition at a weekly track in LMSC racing and then you think well, nine of Falk's wins came at Langley, considered to be the toughest track to drive.

One thing I don't and won't consider in anyway shape or form in this is car count ... people who think car count is important(aside from the promoter) are stupid. I'd much rather see a great race between six cars than a decent race with 30-cars, but everyone's first question is always 'how many cars did they have' ... Who cares! The NASCAR National points standings are done based on that principal becuase it's too difficult to figure out which track is more competitive just from looking at the rundown, especially when you've got dirt and asphalt tracks, Late Models and Modifieds and who knows what else.

NASCAR National points standings have also caused the waters to be a little muddy, where you have tracks and teams putting back-up cars out there to fill the field with start and park drivers and even moving Limiteds up into the Late Models. There are very few places you can look that don't cheat the system with car counts and honestly I'm more impressed with a 17-car field with no field-fillers than I am a 30-car field with either junk or drivers who have no intention to run the race in it.

OK, now that I'm done with my car-count rant, back to the Numbers Game, which simply has me scratching my head. Brent Brinson has nine wins this season, as does Kevin Leicht, these two drivers would be tied with Morris as the fourth winningest driver in LMSC, but where do there wins stack up? Brinson has won nine races, all at Myrtle Beach Speedway, but many would question the level of competition at Myrtle Beach ... Leicht has dominated Newport, but like Myrtle Beach, many question the level of competition there, but he does have a victory at Tri-County, but again there's questions.

Speedy Faucette and Dexter Canipe, Jr. each have seven wins at Ace and Tri-County respectively and are tied for seventh on this years wins list so far. Would Faucette's wins count greater than Canipe's or would Canipe's be consider tougher than Faucette's? Matt McCall is tied with Nick Smith as the ninth winningest driver, each with five wins, but would you consider McCall's four UARA-STARS Series wins and a win in the Dwight Huffman Memorial to be more important than Smith's five wins at South Boston? McCall's wins have came on five different tracks, the most of any winner, but how much does that weigh into determining how to rank these guys?

There are five drivers tied with four wins Rodney Cook(Ace), Travis Swaim(Caraway), Roger Powell(Greenville), Jesse LeFevers(2 at Hickory & 2 at Tri-County) and David Triplett, Jr.(Orange Co.). So how would you rank these guys ... LeFevers has won at two different tracks, while the others have won at only their home tracks ... does that matter more???

Eleven drivers are tied with three wins and this may be the most diverse group of the bunch; Robert Turner(Ace), Alex Yontz(2 at Caraway & 1 at [UARA]Myrtle Beach), Brad Brinkley(Caraway), David Roberts(Greenville), Dylan Presnell(2 at Lonesome Pine & 1 at Newport), Nate Monteith(Lonesome Pine), Tommy Lemons, Jr.(Motor Mile), Rick Smith(Myrtle Beach), Stacy Puryear(Orange Co.), Wayne Ramsey(South Boston), David Wilson(Tri-County).

A couple more of these guys bring in to question the two different tracks factor, the UARA factor and the level of competition factor. Do you rate Alex Yontz' two Caraway and one UARA(Myrtle Beach) win equal with Tommy Lemons, Jr.'s three Motor Mile wins??? Do you rate Nate Monteith's three Lonesome Pine wins equal with Dylan Presnell's two Lonesome Pine and one Newport win??? Is Robert Turner's three wins at Ace more important or tougher than Wayne Ramsey's three South Boston wins???

Alex Yontz throws another question into the mix ... hold your breath, I'm about to get controversial ... Yontz was disqualified on three ocassions from wins at Caraway, had he not been DQ'ed he would have six wins. So, how do you look at a guy who's been disqualified? I mean almost every car could be kicked out over something on any given week ... in fact there are two prominent drivers at one of the more prominent tracks who were caught illegal and let go this season.

Does Yontz' disqualifications just simply make him a cheater or is he living on the edge? In my opinion, Frank Deiny said it best in 2008 after being kicked out for being too low following qualifying when he said ... "We're all on the edge, you have to be on the edge. It's the difference between eating steak and eating off the dollar menu." I know many of you are saying 'a cheater is a cheater and it doesn't matter why' ... well I hope your glass house remains intact. If you believe that Yontz is 'just a cheater', then you must believe that Matt McCall is and Jesse LeFevers is ... both were disqualified this season at Motor Mile and Tri-County respectively.

No matter how you feel about any of this I guess the bottom line is that ranking these drivers is difficult, there

are just too many factors ... I mean honestly I could go on with my questions forever ... Like, Jamey Caudill, who is 97-time LMSC winner fit in as he only has two wins this season, but at two different tracks and in the ultra-competitive UARA-STARS Series, where does he fit in??? Jerame Donley has two wins, one at Motor Mile and one at Caraway, where does he fit in??? Davin Scites has one win at Motor Mile, but in a very limited amount of starts ... where would you rank him???

One thing is clear ... We don't have all the answers, but despite that we are putting our best foot forward to give you the Top 50 Late Model Stock Car drivers in the region. We'll be releasing the new Top 50 next week and what a difference a weekend could make ... maybe Philip Morris goes to South Boston and solidifies himself as one of the key players for the number one ranking or maybe CE Falk hits another streak and wins both of the twins at Langley, he'd have to be in the running then, if he's not already.

Maybe Andy Mercer will double dip in twins, maybe Jesse LeFevers breaks through for another win and equals Matt McCall and Nick Smith ... Maybe Nate Monteith makes it three in a row at Lonesome Pine for his fourth win of the season or Tommy Lemons, Jr. hits Caraway and gets his fourth win or maybe someone who hasn't won all season breaks through and makes a case to be on the list.

Anything could and might just happen, but it will still be a numbers game and we'll see who comes out on top and we'll see exactly who makes the list!
 
Winningest Drivers in Late Model Stock Cars in 2009:
Marty Ward 13
Andy Mercer 13
CE Falk 10
Philip Morris 9
Brent Brinson 9
Kevin Leicht 9
Speedy Faucette 7
Dexter Canipe Jr. 7
Matt McCall 5
Nick Smith 5
Rodney Cook 4
Travis Swaim 4
Roger Powell 4
Jesse LeFevers 4
David Triplett 4
Robert Turner 3
Alex Yontz 3
Brad Brinkley 3
David Roberts 3
Dylan Presnell 3
Nate Monteith 3
Tommy Lemons 3
Rick Smith 3
Stacy Puryear 3
Wayne Ramsey 3
David Wilson 3
Dustin Rumley 2
Jason York 2
Anthony Anders 2
Danny Edwards 2
Woody Howard 2
Brian Blevins 2
Wayne Hale 2
Chad Harris 2
Jerame Donley 2
Frank Deiny Jr 2
Justin Milliken 2
Matt Leicht 2
Deac McCaskill 2
RA Brown 2
Jamey Caudill 2
Paddy Rodenbeck 2
Brandon McReynolds 2
Mack Little 1
Corey Strickland 1
BJ Mackey 1
Ryan Wilson 1
Robert Tyler 1
John Lewis Hightower 1
Greg Edwards 1
Kaleb Pressley 1
Jake Crum 1
Forrest Reynolds 1
Mike Looney 1
Davin Scites 1
Robert Elliott 1
Lance Gatlin 1
Tripp Massengill 1
Justin Johnson 1
Johnathan Cash 1
Lee Pulliam 1
Doug Godsey 1
David Quackenbush 1
Brennan Poole 1
Corey Lajoie 1
Darrell Wallace Jr. 1
Randy Porter 1
Bruce Anderson 1