User blog:Ajaxcupseries/Charles Fallon's Top 10 Ajax Cup Drivers in 2022 (Preseason Edition)

The Fallon Corner - February 2022

As we close in on the dawn of another new Ajax Cup season, something I’ve been meaning to do for actually a couple years now is to make driver power rankings not based off points, but simply on who I think the most talented drivers in the series are in any given season.

While end of the year points standings are normally pretty straightforward, there are times where they don’t truly paint the full picture on how a driver preformed any given season. Take Norm Lester’s 2021 campaign for example - he was clearly much better than the 12th best driver in the series all year, and none of the six DNF’s he suffered last season were directly his fault.

Power rankings are most definitely a lot more subjective to say the least, especially preseason rankings, but part of the fun we’ll be having at the conclusion of the 2022 Ajax Season Finale in Belltown is looking back at how misguided all of our preseason predictions were right?

So without further adieu, here are the top 10 most talented Ajax Cup drivers in my opinion on the Ajax Cup tour entering the 2022 Cup campaign:

Honorable Mentions
15. #42 Laquon Scransen (R) | 2021 Points Finish: 1st (Craftsman)

The only rookie on this list, the reason the reigning Craftsman Champion is so low is because we simply have no idea how well he’ll preform in Dexter Andrews Motorsports Cup equipment. The combination of what we know to be horrific equipment at DAM and a generational talent in Scransen make his Cup potential a total mystery entering the 2022 season. He could very well be the sport’s next Diego Orkedi or he could be the sport’s next Adam Petty Jr, we simply do not know just yet.

14. #17 Cameron Atwood | 2021 Points Finish: 14th

For all you Cameron Atwood supporters out there, I have a lot of faith that the Tennessee native has been criminally underrated throughout his career to date and will excel in championship level equipment. The problem is, its not 2018 anymore folks, meaning that CJ Barrymore Racing is not even close to competing for titles right now. Hell, at this point they’re lucky to even win a race a season at this rate. Maybe Atwood’s talent can elevate what has been a mediocre at best No. 17 team to a dark horse title contender but I think it’ll take a couple years for that to happen, if it ever does.

13. #6 Ryan Dixon | 2021 Points Finish: 10th

Don’t get me wrong, I do not think Ryan Dixon is a bad driver at all. He has proven that in a perfect situation, he can win multiple races and be a fringe title contender (see 2018). However, like I mentioned for his teammate Cameron Atwood right now, CJ Barrymore Racing is FAR from a perfect situation right now. Plus when you look at the drivers younger than Dixon that already seemed to have passed him up in terms of weekly performance based off last season, I think that with how tough the competition is on a weekly basis this is about where Dixon will be in points at the conclusion of 2022.

12. #88 Jimmy Hood | 2021 Points Finish: 6th

How the hell Jimmy Hood managed to pull a 6th place points finish out of his rear end last season is beyond me, but part of me thinks that was a fluke. I’m not crapping on Hood’s performance in 2021 at all because it was impressive to see him seemingly turn back the clock to 2018 even without capturing a victory, but with him being another year older and these young drivers continuing to gather more experience don’t expect him to capture a third title in his swan song Ajax Cup campaign. I do think you can expect to see him in victory lane once more before season’s end however.

11. #20 Jared Ayers | 2021 Points Finish: 9th

Its hard to insinuate that Jared Ayers took a step back in 2021 based off him having the exact same top 5’s and top 10’s that he did in his breakout 2020 campaign, but the fact that he wasn’t able to reach victory lane again definitely hurts when you see how much Randle Woods tore up the Cup circuit last season. I can see Ayers’ career heading in two directions at this point: either he takes the next step and establishes himself as the future of Michael White Racing being a title contender this season, or he kind of lingers around this 9th-11th area in points every year, maybe getting lucky and winning once every couple years. 2022 will go a long way in showing us which path the Daytona Beach native will take.

Title Contenders in Perfect Scenarios
10. #11 Devin Smith (R) | 2021 Points Finish: 15th

If the 2021 Ajax Cup season was 11 races long, I would’ve had Devin Smith at the top of the list for biggest potential ASCA busts of the 2020’s. However, the way this No. 11 team finished last season with 5 straight top 10 finishes and Smith nearly stealing Rookie of the Year honors from Shane Park has me thinking this camp should have a TON of momentum heading into 2022. Of course the dreaded sophomore slump is certainly a thing in the ASCA and could hamper the Livonia native’s campaign, but if all goes right don’t be surprised to see the 23 year old collecting his first career win by season’s end.

9. #21 Chris Barrymore | 2021 Points Finish: 8th

Five points. That was the thin margin between Chris Barrymore and Jimmy Hood, who ended up finishing 6th in the final standings. Its hard not to call 2021 a success for Barrymore and this No. 21 camp, scoring their first victory since the 2018 season and actually being somewhat relevant in the title hunt past the first half of the season for the first time in his career, but at age 24 its become put up or shut up time. Why I put Barrymore in this category and spot is because I think IF CJ Barrymore Racing can provide him with championship caliber equipment, Barrymore has the talent in my opinion to capitalize on that opportunity. That is a MASSIVE if however, and one I don’t see as all that likely honestly.

8. #48 Brynn Rennerd | 2021 Points Finish: 2nd

Before all the Brynn Rennerd supporters out there obliterate my mentions on Twitter calling me a “buffoon” and whatnot for having the runner up in the standings last season as the 8th best driver in the sport, just remember that his 2nd place points finish last season was his first top 5 points finish in half a decade - since 2015! That’s right, during the prime years of his career from ages 24-28 he had ZERO top 5 points finishes. Now, I’m not saying Rennerd doesn’t have talent because he most certainly does, but lets not act like he’s a legitimate championship threat because he has three crown jewel victories and finally put together a full elite level season last year. Sure, if everything goes right for Rennerd like it did in 2021 besides, well Randle Woods, he could steal the 2022 Cup Championship. But with the competition only getting tougher, I think he reverts back to his 8th-10th place level he was at throughout the last five seasons prior to 2021.

Dark Horse Title Contenders
7. #8 Shane Park | 2021 Points Finish: 13th

While me selecting Shane Park as my breakout star for this season in my season preview article, as well as putting him so high on this list probably means he’s due for an impending fall from grace like Doug Bowden, I’m gonna stick to my guns on this one. We know Park is in race winning and championship contending equipment simply based off of what Greg Healey’s been able to do the past couple seasons, and now with a year of experience under his belt, a Rookie of the Year Award to his name, and presumably no broken wrist to deal with after the Ajax 200, I expect this 21 year old to take the Cup scene by storm in 2022. Even if the 2020 Craftsman Champion doesn’t end up competing for a title, I GUARANTEE he will win his first career race this season.

6. #19 Norm Lester | 2021 Points Finish: 12th

As I revealed in my season preview article, 35 year old Norm Lester of all people was my championship pick for 2022. People still seem to be sleeping on this man despite, all things considered, a really impressive 2021 campaign. Take out the six DNF’s that were all not directly his fault, and he finished in the top 10 in all but one race. Lets also not forget he’s kind of the DEFENDING WINDOWS 300 CHAMPION. Lester could’ve easily had won at Ajax Superspeedway as well had he not been junked by Doug Bowden with just three laps remaining. If the Diego Orkedi/Randle Woods stranglehold over the Ajax Cup championship is officially over like everyone speculates it is and the young guns still aren’t ready to capitalize on it, Norm Lester is easily the safest bet of the veterans to get the job done if the opportunity arises.

5. #2 Nick Orkedi | 2021 Points Finish: 7th

Its rather odd to call a former Ajax Cup champion a “dark horse” title contender, but when was the last time Nick Orkedi had a serious shot to win a championship heading into the Ajax Season Finale post 2016? Obviously a driver with 13 career Ajax Cup wins and a former Windows 300 winner is far from a bad driver by any means, but the fact of the matter is he’s just a slight step below the top four drivers on this list at this stage of his career. If he proved me wrong and won the 2022 Championship with ease however, it honestly wouldn’t shock me in the slightest.

Elite Level Talents
4. #9 Todd Kidd | 2021 Points Finish: 3rd

It may have taken a little longer than anticipated, but there’s no denying that Todd Kidd has finally developed into the perennial title contender we expected he’d become entering the Cup Series at the age of 20 back in 2016. For the past four seasons, Kidd has been an elite level performer, but just not quite championship caliber just yet. How can you tell? He’s only led the points for one week throughout his entire six year Cup career to date. The consistency has always been there for Kidd, which is why the wins have finally started to come in bunches. But the question now becomes does he have that extra gear left in the tank to etch his name firmly in ASCA lore as an Ajax Cup Series champion? Only time will tell.

3. #3 Greg Healey | 2021 Points Finish: 4th

Many Todd Kidd supporters may be butthurt that I put Kidd behind a driver he’s frequently been compared to in Greg Healey, but my reasoning for that is simple - Healey has shown more signs that he’s ready to win a championship right now than Kidd has. Yes, you can point to his late season collapse in 2020 that handed the title right to Diego Orkedi after leading the points over half the season, but let’s not forget this was all started by Hunter Bradley running over Healey under caution for his one and only DNF of that season at the Michigan Road Course. Last season was a difficult one for Healey and co., as they clearly lacked the speed that Randle Woods and even the Ronnie Woods Motorsports duo of Brynn Rennerd and Todd Kidd had. Despite this, Healey still managed to score two victories and just barely edge out Diego Orkedi for some slight revenge as a consolation prize. If a driver from this “youth movement” that’s been so heavily discussed over the past half decade is going to dethrone Diego Orkedi or Randle Woods, mark my words that it WILL be Greg Healey that does it.

2. #18 Randle Woods | 2021 Points Finish: 1st

For these final two drivers its honestly a 1A and 1B scenario between these two, they’re just both that talented and clearly all time greats of the sport. Since I had to put someone at two however, I went with Randle Woods only because the #1 driver has more championships and Woods is three years older than said driver. That being said, that’s certainly no disrespect to the third most winningest driver all time in Ajax Cup history. The fact that Woods put together arguably the most dominant season of any driver in the ASCA’s Modern Era at the age of 33 shows how special of a talent he truly is - especially in this day and age where it seems like every ASCA team owner is shoving out the veterans to find that next young superstar. I expect Father Time to catch up with Woods at some point, but until I actually see it happen I will not speculate on when that will happen after the astounding campaign he put together last year.

1. #22 Diego Orkedi | 2021 Points Finish: 5th

Did you really expect anyone else to be #1 on this list? I don’t really care that he finished the lowest in points that he has since 2016, scored the lowest number of top 5’s since that season as well and racked up his most DNF’s since 2014, Diego Orkedi is FAR from washed up folks. I think his 4 victories despite his preseason child support arrest warrant and midseason arrest prove that even with numerous off track distractions he STILL somehow took home a career high in race wins in a season. He’s going to get a new contract done before the year kicks off so don’t get your hopes up he won’t be racing this year. He’ll be in a brand new Mustang that Ford is confident will be 10x better than their wooden box car of a Fusion, and is still only 31 years old. Randle Woods won his first championship at this age……so all I’m saying is don’t be surprised if Orkedi ends the year with his record tying fourth title.

That’s enough of what will will probably be very idiotic takes when we look back on this in June 2022, but stay tuned for more preseason The Fallon Corner content coming soon to get you prepared for February 25th’s 8th Annual Intel Shootout!