NOT AS PREDICTED: The first five races of the 2009 Sprint Cup season have not gone as scripted

MARTINSVILLE — Many might not have predicted that Matt Kenseth would win two races before the Hendrick Motorsports stable could win one, but it wasn’t that far-fetched either. Kenseth, a former Cup champion, has always been consistent. And as for the Hendrick contingent, two of the four drivers are in the top 10.

Although the season is only five races in, there have been a few real surprises:

Tony Stewart sits seventh in points despite being in the infant stages of his newly formed Stewart-Haas Racing team.

Some critics wondered how long it would take Stewart to success after leaving the established Joe Gibbs Racing for his own team. Stewart said he made sure they did their homework before going out on their own, and it’s shown.

“I think it was more a question of how long would it take to jell and become successful,” Stewart said. “We haven’t gotten that first win and we haven’t gotten that first top-five, but we’ve had consistent runs and we’re in the top 10 in points. I think that in itself is an accomplishment.”

And it’s no long shot that Stewart’s No. 14 Old Spice Chevrolet could end up in Victory Lane on Sunday. Smoke has two career wins at Martinsville Speedway.

Several teams not named Hendrick, Childress or Roush have opened the season fairly strong. Richard Petty Motorsports has three of its four drivers in the top 17 in points, including Kasey Kahne, who is sixth. A.J.Allmendinger and Elliott Sadler, who are 16th and 17th, respectively in the standings, both started the year strong with a top-five finish in the Daytona 500.

Penske Racing driver Kurt Busch has been rejuvenated this season. He already has a win and is second in the standings after a miserable 2008 when he missed the Chase.

Michael Waltrip Racing driver David Reutimann is having a bit of a breakout season. He notched his first Cup top-five finish at Las Vegas and is 11th in points.

“I think all three of those companies have made some gains,” Kahne said.

Brian Vickers spent most of the 2008 Cup season bouncing back and forth between 15th and 19th in the points standings.

Vickers has turned things around in the first five races this season. The driver of the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota has already racked up three top-10 finishes, including a top-five finish at Atlanta. He was 11th in points before a rough day at Bristol last weekend pushed him back to 14th.

“Well, you know, obviously it’s been a don’t year for us so far,” Vickers said in a teleconference on Tuesday. “We’ve had some really good races and we’ve had some that we wish we could redo. But all in all, we’ve had three top-10s and a top-five and we are looking forward to going to Martinsville. We are 14th in points. For a brand new team, just three years in, I don’t think we have a lot to complain about, but obviously we always want to do better."

While Vickers is a borderline “surprise” so far this season, if he can eliminate bad finishes (like 39th at Daytona), he has the potential to find himself in the Chase by the end of the season.

While some have shined so far this season, others haven’t met expectations:

Greg Biffle was considered by some to be a contender for this year’s championship. Although there’s plenty of time left to catch up, Biffle hasn’t enjoyed a good start to his season.

Biffle has piloted his No. 16 3M Ford to two top-10 finishes, but his other three finishes have been 20th or worse. Engine trouble last week at Bristol left him in 18th-place in the standings.

“If Greg wouldn’t have blown up, he was running all right and Greg probably would have ran in the top five,” said Kenseth, Biffle’s Roush Fenway teammate.

David Ragan was arguably the most consistent driver not to make last year’s Chase, but he has yet to produce similar success this season. After opening the season with a sixth- place finish at Daytona, Ragan has fallen back to 26th in points.

“We haven’t been running as good as we hope,” Ragan said. “We’ve had a couple of good runs, but we’ve had a couple of bad runs. We’ve got to really dig deep and get back into that top five and top 10.”

Entering the season, all eyes were on hyped rookie Joey Logano, who replaced Stewart in the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota at Gibbs. However, Logano has been less than impressive in his first Cup season. He has just one top-20 finish and has teetered on the edge of missing the cut for the top-35 in points.

Although there have been ups and downs early this season, things are sure to shake up by the time the fall race at Martinsville rolls around.

“I don’t think the top 12 is going to stay where it is right now nor is the top 35 going to stay where it is right now,” veteran driver Jeff Burton said. “It’s going to continue to move.”