Sometimes it's the quiet ones you have to watch out for

While NASCAR loves it's newsworthiness of it's "star" drivers and the news that even their aggressive drivers bring about, sometimes it's the quiet ones you have to watch out for.

These aren't your drivers that make the news week after week with their driving style or with their "star" power hype that NASCAR has hyped, these aren't the ones that NASCAR and the media push on us week after week.  Weekly, we hear about Dale Earnhardt Jr. (when will he win for HMS), Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch, just to name a few, these drivers are the NASCAR's media favorites right now, but sometimes it's the quiet ones you have to look out for.

These guys aren't in the media every week, even when their in the top, but you can't count them out.  Who am I talking about?  The RCR drivers of Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer.  All three RCR drivers are in the top 5 in the standings and other than when Burton was in first in points, not much has been said about them.

Quiet and consistent this season so far, I expect all three to be in the Chase again this year.  I guess they're just not the kind of drivers the media likes to hype unless Harvick is in a feud with some other driver, which he hasn't been in a while, he's not considered a bad boy of NASCAR anymore.  Sure, we heard that Jeff Burton was in the points lead, but a big deal wasn't made about it, not like when other drivers had the points lead, he's too quiet and not controversial enough for the media it seems.

Here are a couple of little known facts about RCR drivers this season (hopefully this won't jinx them) -

Jeff Burton is the only driver to complete every lap this season and leads all drivers with the most runs on the lead lap.  But you have to go to RCR for that information, the media doesn't hype that, but if it had been one of NASCAR's "media darlings", we'd all know about it.

Kevin Harvick has the longest running streak of no DNF's at 54.  He's run 54 consecutive races without a DNF coming into Darlington.  Additional, Harvick hold the record in the modern era (1972 to present) with 58 consecutive races without a DNF.  Again, you won't hear about it, the media only seems to jump on Harvick if he's in disagreement with some other driver.

While Bowyer doesn't have the long career and stats to compare with his teammates, he's been consistent and always seems to be there at the end of the race, again quietly.

So while the media commentators are going on about Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch during the race, take a look at where the RCR drivers are, more often than not, they're quietly moving up.

Your thoughts?