Husker,
I hear what you're getting at...and I don't even disagree entirely. I think it's a fair assessment to say Pierce looked lost early on, before finding his groove and making that DB car competitive in order to climb to 7th, almost 6th, in points. Meanwhile, Lanigan struggled to find speed in the corners all season long and labored home to 9th.
All of that said, all of those guys in the top 10 are pretty doggone good. I could see many a driver not doing close to what Pierce did in the DB ride, and equally as many who could not have piloted that Disco car to a top 10 points finish.