Aric Almirola's string of nine straight top-10 finishes triggered a memory of when consistency used to be rewarded in NASCAR Cup Series racing.
In the final season prior to a playoff-type system being adopted, Matt Kenseth won the series championship with just one win in 36 races.
He didn't lead a lot of laps (just 354). His lone win was in the third race of the season at Las Vegas. He could have skipped the trip to Homestead and still won the title by more than 60 points.
It was solid finishes each week with very few mishaps along the way that won it all. Kenseth failed to finish the race twice during the 2003 season, including the final one.
Consistency won the championship, not race wins.
In the current points system, it's difficult to pull off that off.
Almirola is one of the drivers trying to prove it can still be done.
The No. 10 team was up and down in the first 11 races, only finishing in the top 10 three times. Since then, Almirola's average finish is 5.0.
And quietly racking up top-10 finishes is Kurt Busch, who is tied with Almirola with 12.
It made me wonder how the points standings would look under the pre-playoff system.
Surprise, surprise, Busch and Amirola would be right behind this season's prominent trio of Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin.
The playoff grid has Almirola in 11th (with two stage wins) and Busch in 12th (with one stage win), puting them in a hole when the playoffs begin.
Just to be clear, I'm not dogging winning races. Hamlin, Harvick and Keselowki have done that more than anyone else and would be in the top three spots in the points in the old system as well.
What makes me shake my head is how rough the playoff system is on drivers who are always close to the lead pack but aren't quite getting to the top spot.
Joey Logano has two wins, but would be ninth in the standings under the old system because he's had so many bad races.
For Erik Jones and Matt DiBenedetto, the lack of stage points and stage wins has them further down the playoff grid than drivers like Clint Bowyer and William Byron who aren't consistent finishers.
It's not even likely Jones makes the field of 16 drivers.
But watch out for Almirola and Busch. Their consistency could sneak one of them into the Championship Four and maybe the consistent champion isn't gone for good.
III
This week's local winner in the Riley Racing Challenge had the highest score of any winner so far this season. Jeff Stieferman of Jefferson City scored 840 points from the race at New Hampshire. None of Stiefermann's selections finished outside the top 20, and six of them were in the top nine positions. Correctly picking Denny Hamlin to finish second added 25 bonus points. It was a solid week for the News Tribune sports staff in the fantasy game. Greg Jackson recorded the top score with 819 points, Tom Rackers was close behind with 805 points and I was last for the second straight race with 728 points. We'll have two lineups to pick this weekend with the doubleheader at Michigan.