Y.E.S. Graves Yamaha's Tommy Hayden (Photo: Evan Williams)

Which riders are in the best position to challenge Cardenas at Infineon?

The first rule of racing is to beat your teammate and Cardenas has a tough one in Dane Westby. Westby has his M4 Suzuki dialed and is very quick in race trim. His run to second from around tenth on Saturday at road Atlanta looked a lot like his epic Mid-Ohio win last year.

Westby’s had some bad luck, though. A slow pit stop took him out of contention at Daytona and he had two bad starts in Dixie.

Westby will win this year. It’s just a question of putting it all together.

Tommy Hayden already pushed Cardenas in Atlanta and says he’s one more change away from really showing what he can do on the Graves R6.

Hayden was called to replace Garrett Gerloff after the first day at Daytona and his result was about what you’d expect from a guy drafted to ride the bike the first time after the race weekend started -- not bad but not contending. But he got points, improved the bike at the Homestead test, and is getting closer each time he rides.

Hayden is Yamaha’s best shot at the championship and is a perfect foil for Cardenas. History has shown Martin will crash every now and then.

The issue is Hayden isn’t signed up for the whole year yet.

Yamaha has Hayden through Infineon and will make a decision on whether to sign him up for the rest of the year a few days after the race in California.

They should do it, even though Gerloff and Cameron Beaubier will both be healthy down the road. They were fortunate to be able to find a substitute rider that has a realistic shot at a title and already has two crowns from the days when this class was called Supersport. When you’re lucky, roll with it.

One guy with plenty of speed but no luck has been Jason DiSalvo. The Castrol Triumph rider has pulled off course three times this year with bike issues. At Daytona, he got going again and charged up to second. Road Atlanta wasn’t so good.

The Triumph is quick and DiSalvo has shown he’s capable of running fast. They just have to work out all the bugs.

It could happen at Infineon.