Race 18 - Coke 400 Review

Wow! What a race! Finally, there's action during the race, lots of passing, and we have an exciting finish. I have to say, I was pretty upset when Gordon wrecked, but it was exciting and some great entertainment. I've complained about the new car a lot this year, but tonight it showed that it allows the driver to save the car and avoid spinning out....unless of course it gets as crazy as it did tonight.

I was on vacation so I didn't get a chance to post my picks for the week, but with that crazy finish, it'd be hard to have good predictions.

More to come later this week...

Race 17 – Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Preview

New Hampshire Motor Speedway is just over a mile long and is pretty flat. There’s only 12 degrees of banking in the turns and 2 degrees on the straight-aways. The “flat tracks” are tougher to pass on and is harder for the drivers to go fast and keep control. Hopefully we’ll see a good race, but I have a feeling that the late passing could be during the pit stops.

Four with a real shot to win
Jeff Gordon
I know, I know…I almost always pick him even though he’s having a bad year. Well, how great do you have to be for 6th place in points to be a bad year? In his last three races here Jeff has three top 5s. Look for him to keep up the trend. In is career he has 3 wins, 12 top 5s, and 15 top 10s in 26 races with an average finish of 11.6. I smell win number one of 2008.

Denny Hamlin
Denny is just a really, really good driver. In only four races here he has a win, two top 5s, and three top 10s with an average finish of 6.5. It’d be tough not to have him on your team.

Kevin Harvick
Kevin is good on the flat tracks and has a pretty good record here. In his last four races at New Hampshire he has a win and three top 10s. For his career he’s racked up eight top 10s in 14 races. He should be in the top 5 or 10 all race long.

Jimmie Johnson
One top 5 and three top 10s in 3 of the last 4 here. Two career wins, and an average finish of 10.7 at the track make Jimmie hard to ignore. He should be contending for the win on Sunday.

Two others that should do well
Kyle Busch
Kyle has two top 5s including a win in his last four at this track. He’s doing better than anyone could have expected this season, and there’s no reason that success couldn’t continue.

Jeff Burton
Jeff is the poor guy that gets no respect because Kyle is doing so well. Jeff is more consistent and is always around the top 10. He also has four career wins in New Hampshire, seven top 5s and 12 top 10s in 26 career races. Picking him is almost a sure top 10.

Dark Horse
J.J. Yeley
This season has been very rough for Yeley as he’s down in 36th place in points, but I think he can do well this weekend. In three of his last four races here he has a 8th, 10th, and 12th place finish. So far this season 25th has been his best finish (twice), which is pretty bad. Look for him to turn things around and get his first top 10 finish of the season.

A closer look at the fantasy standings

16 races are complete and there are 10 more to go until the chase begins. Let’s take a closer look at the fantasy standings and see how some people are doing, and how close the competition is.

At the top highlife and buchsmoto have been trading back and forth for the lead. Right now highlife has a 90 point lead over buchsmoto, but that could change at any time.

From 2nd down to 3rd is a large, 270 point, gap. Bdf24 seems to be in good shape at 3rd place holding a 109 point edge over 4th place jusmony. 4th thru 7th place is a little closer where only 110 points separate them.

8th on down to 12th place is also a pretty close race. Only 107 points separate Buckeye65 and hotwheels, so there could be some movement among the teams at the bottom of the top 12.

For those that are currently out of the chase trying to get in, there’s still some hope. 20th place is only 90 points out of 12th place, which could be made up in one week. So, if you’re in 13th – 20th place, don’t give up! Keep plugging away, and you have a good shot to make the chase.

21st – 30th is separated by less than 200 points, and 30th place is 345 points out of 12th place to make the chase.

As you can see there are still a lot of positions to be gained and lost before the chase get here. Keep up with your picks, and good luck!

Race 16 – Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway Preview

Sonoma. The first of two road courses in the NASCAR season. The good thing about this race is that you shouldn’t hear people complaining about the new car since it really shouldn’t have an affect on this race. It’s always tough to pass on this track, but there are a few places on the course that they can, and we should see some good action.

A road course also means there’ll be drivers who aren’t regulars to NASCAR in the race, trying to show their skills. (Think Boris Said, Ron Fellows, and Brian Simo to name a few.)

Four drivers with a real shot to win
Jeff Gordon
15 races here, five wins, nine top 5s, 11 top 10s, and an average finish of 9.7. He’s won two and finished 7th in three of the last four here. I know Jeff hasn’t looked real good lately, but he is an awesome road course driver. He’s probably the only NASCAR regular that could go to F1 and win. He’ll win on Sunday.

Boris Said
Boris isn’t an every week driver, but road courses are his specialty, and teams hire him just for the two road courses. He’s finished 6th, and has two 9ths in the last four here. He averages a 9.7 place finish in the races that he completes all the laps….Which means he has to avoid the wrecks and he’s virtually guaranteed a top 10 finish, and should be contending for the win.

Jeff Burton
Jeff’s career numbers aren’t great at Infineon Raceway, averaging a 19.4 place finish, but he has three top 10 finishes in the last four here. His worst finish this season was 15th last week, which was only the 5th time he finished outside of the top 10. He’ll be running up front again in this race.

Tony Stewart
Tony had a bad stretch this season starting at Darlington where he finished 18th or worse in four straight races. He turned that around at Michigan with a 5th place finish, and should get another top five finish this weekend. In nine career races he has two wins, three top 5s, and five top 10s with an average finish of 10th place.

Two others that should do well:
Greg Biffle
Greg only has five races here under his belt with two top 5s which were in the last two here. He’s starting a good trend, and it should continue this weekend.

Kurt Busch
Kurt has finished 3rd and 5th in two of the last three here. He’s had a rough season, but he’s a pretty good driver on road courses and should be able to get a top 10 finish.

Dark horse
Elliot Sadler
Elliot has done very well in Sonoma. He has a 10th, 6th and 8th in three of the last four. In nine career races he has four top 10s. He may not get a top 5 finish, but should be around the top 10 most of the day.

Race 15 – LifeLock 400 at Michigan Recap

So, I'm a couple days late in my recap...oh well.

The race had its moments of excitement and overall wasn't too bad. It was typical Michigan with long green flag runs and fuel mileage playing a big part at the end of the race. Unfortunately for me, the place I was watching the end of the race had Directv, which went out with 4 laps to go. I did get to hear the "overtime" on the radio.

How did my picks do this week? I had the 1st, 2nd, and 5th place finishers, with some others that finished in the teeens.

Four with a real shot to win:
Kyle Busch - 13th place finish. Didn't look like his dominating self.
Tony Stewart - Nice 5th place finish
Denny Hamlin - 14th place finish was about 5 or 10 spots lower than expected.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. - Finally, a win!

Two who should do well:
Martin Truex Jr. - 17th place finish was disappointing.
Kasey Kahne - Another strong run with a 2nd place finish.

Darkhorse:
Reed Sorenson - Horrible race for Reed, finishing 34th. Was never in contention


The fantasy standings are getting interesting. I'll do a full writeup on them after the next race at Infineon Raceway.

Race 15 – LifeLock 400 at Michigan Fantasy Preview

This week’s race is at the "D" shaped, Michigan International Speedway. This race could either be very exciting, or very boring. Michigan is a wide track that gives the drivers plenty of room to maneuver and could have very long green flag runs. There have been races here without a caution, which makes it pretty uneventful. If one driver starts to dominate and lap the field it could get ugly early. Races without many cautions also mean it could come down to who gets the best fuel mileage in the race. Many drivers have run out of gas on the last lap at Michigan.

On the other hand, it could be an exciting race. Michigan has two or three racing lanes on the front part of the D, and will really tempt the drivers to push the limits. Based on the action we saw last week at Pocono, I’m going to guess we see a good amount of side-by-side action, and a good race this week.

Here's an interesting stat from NASCAR.com:

A Dodge or Ford has won each of the last 13 Michigan races, dating back to Jeff Gordon's victory in a Chevrolet in June 2001. Bobby Labonte leads all full-time drivers with three wins there, while five drivers have two.

Now, on to my picks…

Four with a real shot to win
Kyle Busch
Why not pick Kyle? After last week's disappointing 43rd place finish, he'll want to come out running hard in Michigan. The bad thing is that he doesn't have much success here (only two top 10s in six races), and his practice times weren't very good (27th fastest). With a normal driver I'd say to stay away from them with stats this bad, but come race day Kyle performs.

Tony Stewart
Tony has been solid at Michigan recently. In his last three here he has a 10th and two 3rd place finishes. In eighteen career races Tony has one win, eight top 5s, and twelve top 10s. His 12.0 average finish is also a strong stat. Taking out an accident in 2006, in which he finished 41st, Tony has all top 5’s and one 10th place finish since 2005. I like Stewart to run upfront all day and get the win.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It’s been a while since I’ve talked about Dale Jr. Historically he hasn’t done great at MIS. In seventeen career races here he only has two top 5s and five top 10s, with a 17.2 average finish. He has had some success here recently. In three of his last four races he’s finished 5th, 6th, and 3rd. He’s had a solid season so far, and this could be a track where he gets that elusive win.

Denny Hamlin
What track doesn’t Denny run good on? In two of his last three here he’s finished 5th and 9th. He’s a solid driver that knows how to go fast, and not wreck. Denny will be in the top 10 most of the day, and will be challenging for the win at the end.

Two others that should do well
Martin Truex Jr.
Martin has been close at Michigan recently finishing 2nd in last two here. I don’t know if he’ll do that good this weekend, but he should at least finish in the top 10.

Kasey Kahne
I never thought Kasey would win last week. I don't really think he'll win again this weekend, but he should carry some momentum from the win into Michigan and have another solid run. He has finished 4th and won in two of the last four here. Another solid top 10 run should be doable for Kasey on Sunday.

Darkhorse
Reed Sorenson
Reed has had a tough season so far. He’s sitting thirtysecond in points, and his only top 10 finish was 5th at Daytona. Michigan could be his second top 10 of the season. He has two top 10 finishes here in his last four races. I don’t think Reed will win on Sunday, but he should contend for a top 10 finish.

Race 14 – Pocono 500 Preview

The boys are on the triangle track in Pocono this weekend. This will be the first of six races that TNT will broadcast. Kyle Petty will be joining the announce crew.

Will this race be more exciting than last week’s at Dover? Probably not. Historically Pocono doesn’t have much side-by-side racing, and I expect it to be extra hard to pass with the new car. Don’t expect much passing for the lead on the track, as the pit crews will probably play a big part in determining the winner.

One interesting stat from NASCAR.com is that “Four of the past five races at triangular-shaped Pocono have been won from the starting row -- twice from the pole by Denny Hamlin and twice on the outside by Kurt Busch.

Now, on with my picks.

Four with a real shot to win
Kyle Busch
Kyle is going to race the Truck, Nationwide, and Cup series this weekend, which mean he’ll be doing a lot of flying. The truck race, Friday night, is in Texas; the Nationwide series, Saturday night, is in Nashville; and the Sprint Cup race is Sunday afternoon in Pocono. Will he be able to hold up to all the racing and flying form city to city? We’ll find out, but one good thing about it is that he’ll probably get out of sponsor commitments, fan meet and greets, etc. that the drivers normally have to do. This will allow him to focus on driving and nothing else.

Kyle really hasn’t done much at Pocono in his career with only two top 10s in six career races, but with how he’s running this year, how can you not pick him? The question is, will all of the travel and racing in the other series take his attention away from Sunday’s race? Qualifying 10th is a nice way to start things out. The kid’s on a roll, and I say take him again this week.

Kurt Busch
Kurt has had a horrible season so far, but he’s done well at Pocono, and looks to contend for the win on Sunday. In fourteen races at Pocono he has two wins and seven top 5s, five of which came in his last seven races. He has a 1st and two seconds in three of the last four here, with a 14.6 place average finish. 11th place qualifying position should help Kurt stay in the lead pack early.

Denny Hamlin
With four races at Pocono he has two wins, 3rd, and 6th place finishes which is an average finish of 2.8. Denny is my pick to win the race. At one point this season Denny had four consecutive top 5s, but has finished 24th and 43rd in his last two races. Denny is too good of a driver to have that trend continue. Add that to his great record at Pocono and that makes him my pick to win the race.

Tony Stewart
Tony hasn’t had a great season, but he still finds himself in 9th place in the points which isn’t too bad. He has a good history at Pocono finishing 6th, 5th, 7th, and 3rd in the last four here. In eighteen career races he as one win, five top 5s, and thirteen top 10s. In the last three races of this season Tony finished 21st, 18th and 41st. He’s past due for a good run.

Two others that should do well
Jimmie Johnson
In twelve career races at Pocono Jimmie has seven top 10s, four top 5s, and two wins. The 10.7 place average finish is pretty impress also. Jimmie has three top 10s in three of his last four races at Pocono.

In the last five races of this season Jimmie finished 13th, 30th, 13th, 39th, and 7th. I have faith that Jimmie will buck the trend of good finishes every other race and be able to string two together. I don’t know if Jimmie will contend for the win, but he should be in the top 10. Qualifying 2nd is a good way to start a top 10 run.

Jeff Gordon
Remember after race 9 when Jeff was 14th in points and everyone wrote him off thinking he wasn’t a serious contender for the title? Well, he’s cranked out four consecutive top 10s which includes three consecutive top 5s moving up to 6th in points, and is back in the mix. Jeff finished 4th, 1st, and 3rd in his last three races at Pocono. In 30 career races here he has four wins, fifteen top 5s, and twenty one top 10s with an average finish of 10.2. Jeff should keep rolling and get another top 5 or 10 finish. A poor qualifying effort doesn't help Jeff out any, but he should be able to slowly pick his way through the field and get close to the top 10 in the first 30 or so laps.

Darkhorse
Brian Vickers
Vickers finds himself 16th in points with only two top 10 finishes and five top 15s. It’s not a very good season so far, but he has been impressive in races, leading a lot of laps only to have some bad luck take him out. Pocono can be different for him, as he does have two 4th place finishes in his last four here (qualified 4th for both). Look for him to be in the top 10 on Sunday, as he was able to qualify in the 15th position.

Does Kyle Busch stack up against recent NASCAR greats?

I know I wrote up a full entry on Kyle just a few weeks ago saying that no matter if you love or hate him, he’s good. I still stand by that because he is good, and he’s the best driver in NASCAR right now. I promise you that this will be the last blog entry that I dedicate to Kyle Busch. I’ll mention him for race previews if I think he can win, but outside of that, I’ll be done talking about him this season unless he’s in first place with one race to go in the season, and poised to win the championship.

So what prompted me to post this? Well, during one of the most boring races I’ve ever watched last Sunday at Dover, Darrell Waltrip made the comment that he’s never seen anyone on a run like Kyle Busch is right now. Following that, the announcers gushed over him some more and couldn’t stop talking about how great he is, like no one else has ever done this well so early in their career. It made me ask the question, “Did they forget about this guy named Jeff Gordon?”, who twice has won ten races in a season (1996 & 1997), and thirteen races in one season (1998; 4 in a row at one point).

I know all of this hype isn’t Kyle’s doing. He’s been pretty modest throughout all of the success he’s had this season, so don’t think I’m bashing Kyle himself, I’m just pointing out the fact that the media is conveniently forgetting about some other drivers that have done better than him this early in their career.

Jeff has gone on to be one of the greatest drivers in the history of NASCAR with four championships, in which the first one was in his 3rd full season in the sport. Kyle sure didn’t do that. Jeff would have six championships if NASCAR didn’t change to the “Chase” format, but since this is real life, we can’t play the what-if game, so Jeff only has four championships.

Another driver the announcers seem to forget about having hot streaks when he was new to NASCAR is Jimmie Johnson. He finished 5th in points his rookie year, without the chase! How impressive is that? He won three races his rookie year in 2002 as well. The next two years he finished 2nd in points, and then 5th in points in his fourth year of racing. Kyle is positioning himself to win a championship this season, but he finished 20th in points his rookie year, and last season, his third full season, he finished 5th in the standings, his best showing so far.

You can look at the table I have below comparing Kyle’s first four full-time seasons against Jeff and Jimmie. Yes, I know, 2008 is his fourth season, and not complete yet, but to compare to Jeff, they have about the same number of races under their belt. As you can see, Kyle is worse than Jeff and Jimmie in the following categories:
Average starting position, Average finish position, Wins, Top 5’s, Top 10’s, Average points position at the end of the season, and Kyle averaged more finishes of 30th or worse.

One thing Kyle has on his side is age. He started his career two years younger than Jeff, and seven years younger than Jimmie. With that fact he has the opportunity to race more seasons than Jeff and Jimmie and potentially win more races and championships. Will he actually be able to do it? It won’t be easy, but I’ll say this, if he doesn’t win the championship this season, then I don’t know when he would. He has everything rolling and going his way. He has four wins already, and only one finish of 30th or worse, which means he’s avoiding (and not creating) wrecks this season.

Something unique about Kyle’s run is that he’s dominating on all three of NASCAR’s major National circuits: Craftsman Truck, Nationwide Series, and Sprint Cup. Neither Jimmie nor Jeff did that, but I’d argue that they were busy focusing on winning the championship that people care about, and their records show it. No doubt Kyle’s run is impressive, I’m not trying to take that away from him, but let’s focus on one championship in the circuit that matters, and not beat up on sub-par competition in the trucks and Nationwide series.

Like I said to close my previous blog; when Kyle starts winning championships we’ll be able to say he's one of the greats in NASCAR. Until then his impressive runs of top 5’s and races won are good, but it really just means that he had some good races, and didn’t win the big prize.

Race 13 – Best Buy 400 at Dover Fantasy Preview

This week’s race is at the “Monster Mile” oval in Dover, Delaware. Races here can be long and grueling on the drivers, as the last 4 have an average length of 3 hours and 37 minutes with close to 17 lead changes and 10 cautions.

So, will Kasey Kahne carry the momentum of winning the past two weekends into Dover? The short answer is no. He’s horrible at Dover. In eight career races here he only has one top 10 finish and averages a 25.2 place finish. He may get a top 10 at best, but a more realistic finish for him is in the top 15.

Four drivers with a real shot to win

Carl Edwards
Carl normally dominates on the 1.5 mile ovals, but he’s had good runs on the Monster Mile as well. Over the last three races he has a win, 3rd, 2nd place finishes. In seven career races here he has three top 5’s, and four top 10’s while averaging a 9.1 place finish. Carl is running good, and that should continue this weekend.

Greg Biffle
The Biff has been money at Dover. In his last four races here he has a 2nd, 6th, 5th, 8th place finish. In only eleven career races here he has one win, three top 5’s, and six top 10’s with an average finishing position of 12.9. Five of those top 10s came in his last six races. Greg hasn’t closed on his new contract with Roush yet, so look for him to prove how good he is to other teams interested in signing him. Qualifying on the pole is a great start to the weekend for the Biff.

Jeff Burton
Jeff definitely has experience on his side at Dover. In twenty eight career races here he has one win, six top 5’s, and 11 top 10’s with a 16.9 average finish. Early in his career it was tough to guess where he would finish. In his first four races here (1994 & 1995) he finished 20th or worse every time. In five of the next eight (1996 – 1999) he finished in the top 10, then in 2000 & 2001 20th place was his best finish.

Since then (2002 onwards, a span of 12 races) Jeff has averaged a 9.9 place finish with one win, four top 5s, and six top 10s. If you take out a 33rd place finish in the fall of 2004 when he got in a wreck Jeff’s worst finish in that span is 14th.

In his career he has finished 23 races, and had an average finish of 11.6 in them. His last DNF was the fall of 2004, and he’s had a 7th, 1st, 4th in three of the last four here, so look for his string of good runs to continue.

Don't let the 38th qualifying position scare you. In eight of his races here Jeff has started 30th or worse and managed two top 5's, five top 10s, and two 11th place finishes. He's patient enough to pick his way through the field and get you a top 10 finish.

Matt Kenseth
I haven’t said much about Kenseth this year. He’s having a quiet if not disappointing season so far, sitting 16th in points. He has managed to string two top 10 finishes together over the past couple of points races. Look for him to keep that trend going this weekend.

In three of his last four here he has a win, 5th and 10th place finishes. In 18 career races he has 1 win, five top 5’s, and ten top 10’s, averaging a 15.3 place finish. In the 14 races that Matt has finished he’s averaged a 10.9 place finish. He has had three accidents and one blown engine, but if he can avoid those things, he should contend for the win.

Two others that should do well:

Mark Martin
If you want to talk about experience at a track, Mark Martin has more of it at Dover than all others. In his impressive career he’s raced here 43 times with four Wins, twenty top 5’s, and twenty seven top 10s with a 12.7 average finish. Of the 43 races he’s been in a wreck or had engine problems only nine times. In the 34 races he’s finished (no accident or engine troubles) he’s averaged a 7.9 finish and was out of the top 10 only seven times.

Mark hasn’t been in an accident or had engine problems at Dover since Spring of 2002. He’s finished 4th, 7th, and 9th in three of his last four here, so look for him to keep that going.

Mark had a poor qualifying run, earning the 30th starting position, but his career here has been like Burton's. Just because he qualified poorly doesn't mean he'll run bad. In five other races he's qualified 30th or worse, and managed to get three top 5's, so he's probably worth keeping on your team.

Kyle Busch
How could anyone bet against Kyle now? Right now the kid dominates every race he’s in. In six career races at Dover he has four top 5’s. His worst finish was 40th in the fall of 2006 when he had engine problems. I don't think he'll have engine problems this weekend, and should be in top 10 all night.

The kid continues his domination at just about everything as he qualified in the 3rd position. Look for him to challenge Biffle for the lead quickly.

DarkHorse

I almost picked Jamie McMurray for this, but I have to go with Martin Truex Jr.
Martin Truex Jr.
Martin Truex Jr. has only raced here four times, but does have one win and two top 10’s. The last two weeks have been less than impress for Truex, so he needs to turn it up, and I think he will this weekend, especially since he considers this his home track. There'll be a lot of friends and family in the stands that he wants to impress.

Ragan’s breakout season; RCR getting a 4th car in ’09; Trouble getting sponsors

David Ragan’s breakout season
David Ragan is having a great season in his second full year in the Sprint Cup Series. He’s currently in 13th place after slipping one spot from the 12th place Coca-Cola 600 finish. In an interview earlier in May when David was 12th in points he said, “I still got a lot of hard racing in front of us” to get into the chase. “Don’t want to stop at 12th. Want to move up to 11th, 10th, and so on.

He says he’s better this year since he doesn’t push at the start of races anymore, and he’s smarter driver now that he’s doing everything for the second time.

Last year, in his rookie season, David had two top 5’s and three top 10’s with an average finish of 24.5. This season David already has two top 5’s and three top 10’s with an average finish of 16.33.

I don’t know if David will be able to keep the good run going and make the chase, but he has the potential to do it. When asked about his success he said that he’s not surprised about it, and expects to contend for the chase.


4th Car in 2009 for RCR
Richard Childress Racing will add a 4th car to their team in 2009, and it will be #33. General Mill will be the sponsor since they’re leaving Petty, and they want a driver by June to start a marketing scheme with him in it.

They don’t have a driver for the car yet, but current General Mill driver Bobby Labonte says he’s staying with Petty racing although he has been linked to moving to RCR. A couple of other candidates for the spot are Scott Wimmer and Martin Truex Jr. Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards contracts are up at the end of this year, so they may be candidates also.

Bobby Labonte Labonte may be a better choice since he’s won a championship and guaranteed to start the first five races, and he already has established a relationship with the sponsor.

So, what do you think? Who should RCR get to be their driver for the new team?

Sponsor Issues
Several teams are having issues getting and keeping sponsors for their teams. It costs teams about $300,000 to $400,000 per race for a car, which adds up quickly to $10.8 Million to $14.4 Million to finance a since car for an entire season. With these high costs it’s easy to understand how teams can get into financial trouble.

There are only a handful of teams that have legitimate shots at winning races and making the chase for the championship, so it’s also easy to understand why corporations don’t want to shell out $10 - $15 Million for sponsorship. You’re seeing more teams have multiple sponsors to help pay for an entire season.

There are some sponsors looking to get out of their contracts and/or restructure them. UPS and Office Depot are a couple of the sponsors that are looking to get out of their contracts or restructure them.

Even established teams like Robert Yates are having problems. They didn’t have a sponsor for six races already this season. Their team has been on the decline since the 1999 championship. Yates has a technical alliance with Roush which has helped them get back on track.

BAM racing is going to part time schedule due to lack of sponsors

While on NASCAR Now on ESPN, Dale Jarrett suggested cutting some races to save money and reduce the financial strain on the teams and corporations. I like Dale’s idea, and even suggested it myself in an earlier blog (How To Bring Back The NASCAR Viewers). Trimming the schedule to 28 – 32 races would be nice, but there’s no way they’ll turn down the revenue that TV coverage brings for the races.

Leave a comment letting us know what you think.

Race 12 - Coca-Cola 600 Review and Fantasy Recap

It took a while for the cautions to come, but once they did, they came in bunches last night. The first 200 laps or so were pretty uneventful without much passing, but the last 100 laps got more exciting and the racing action picked up. Some drivers got lucky on gas mileage and managed to salvage a top 5 or 10 finish. Overall, it was a decent raced, but hopefully the teams figure out the new car and start to learn how to pass like they could with the old car.

So, how'd my recommendations do?
Four with a real shot to win.
Kyle Busch - He ran up front all night as expected and finished a strong 2nd behind Kasey Kahne.
Jeff Burton - Jeff was in the top 10 most of the night and finished 6th.
Jimmie Johnson - Jimmie ran pretty good, staying in the top 10 or 15 most of the night, but a blown engine didn't allow him to finish the race and he took home a disapointing 39th place.
Carl Edwards - Carl was pretty quiet last night, but did manage to take home 9th place.

Two others that should do well:
Kasey Kahne - You can't do any better than winning the race. Kasey was strong all night.
Denny Hamlin - Hamlin got caught up in some of the trouble, but did manage to take home 19th place.

Darkhorse:
Reed Sorenson - Reed got down a lap early and was unable to get competative, finishing 23rd.


Fantasy Update:
It was a big points week for several teams as browngw, rauch_racing, browere, and buckeye65 all got 700 points.

Highlife's lead over buchsmoto rose to 31 points. There's a 216 point lead over 3rd place jusmony, and 372 point lead over 4th place speedy.

Less than 200 points seperate 4th place from 15th place.

There's still 14 races until the chase begins, so everyone is still in it. Next week's race is the Dover 400.

Happy racin' and good luck!

Race 12 – Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte - Fantasy Preview

The Sprint Cup circuit has its longest race of the season this Sunday night with 600 miles/400 laps around the 1.5 mile Lowe's Motor Speeday in Charlotte. NASCAR.com says this is the longest motorsports race on an oval track in the world. Let's take a look at some drivers you should pick for your fantasy team.

Four drivers with a real shot to win:

Kyle Busch
He’s the point’s leader, and seems to be able to win at any track. Historically, Kyle hasn’t done too well here with only two top 10’s in eight races, although the top 10's were in two of his last three races here. He should be able to get another top 10 finish or better. In the All-Star race last weekend Joe Gibbs Racing experimented with a new engine package, and it didn’t work out too well for Kyle. Don’t expect that to happen again on Sunday night. Kyle should do well, and battle for the victory. ...Oh yeah, he also is sitting on the pole for the race. If it's as difficult to pass Sunday night as it was in the All-Star race, then don't look for Kyle to give up the lead for a long time.

Jeff Burton
The man running second in points struggles to get the respect he deserves, but I’ll give it to him this week. He’s done very well at Charlotte in the past. He has two wins, seven top 5’s, and thirteen top 10’s in 24 career races. Three of the top 10’s have been in the last four races. He should be a front-runner all night. A pretty good 14th place qualifying position should keep him in the lead pack to start the race.

Jimmie Johnson
Talk about pure domination at his sponsor’s track. In thirteen career races at Lowe’s Motor Speedway Jimmie has eleven top 10 finishes including five wins! He averages a 6.8 place finish at the track. He qualified 10th for the race, and looks like he's ready for a good run in the race. It’d be tough to go against his career numbers at the track.

Carl Edwards
Carl dominates on the 1.5 mile ovals, and Charlotte is no exception. In six career races here he has three top 5’s and five top 10’s. He doesn’t have the wins that Jimmie does, but his worst finish was only 15th, and he averages a 7.1 place finish. Carl had a poor qualifying effort, starting in 30th, but don't panic Edwards fans...he's qualified 22nd and 28th before and was able to finish 3rd and 8th. He should be able to pick his way through the crowd Sunday night. We know there's plenty of time.


Two more that should do well:

Kasey Kahne
He won the All-Star race and is full of confidence, and it showed with a very good qualifying run earning him the outside pole. Kasey didn’t start his career out very well at Charlotte though. In his first four races here he didn’t have a top 10 finish and averaged a 23.3 place finish. The past four races have been more kind to him. He has two wins and one 8th place finish averaging a 8.3 place finish.

Denny Hamlin
In five career races at the track Denny has three top 10’s with two of them coming in his only Coca-Cola 600's. He should be solid again in this weekend’s race.


Dark Horse

Reed Sorenson
Reed has only started four races at this track, but he does have some success on it. He has twelve career top 10 finishes, two of which have come here. So far this season he only has one top 10 finish, with a 5th at Daytona. After that it’s been pretty much downhill for Reed. With last week off I think he’ll have a clear head, more focus, and compete for a top 10 finish. Qualifying in the 17th starting spot will help Reed with this.

Good luck this week, and happy racin'!

Kyle Busch – Love him or hate him, the kid is good

Fans love to boo a winner
Kyle Busch has been one of the most talked about drivers so far this season. He’s one of the best drivers, can dominate and win any race on any track, and of course the fans love to boo him and paint him as the villain. NASCAR fans, like fans of many sports, boo anyone who wins and dominates too much. Richard Petty, Darrell Waltrip, and Jeff Gordon all got booed by the fans when they were in their prime, winning 10 or more races a season. Kyle hasn’t won that many races in a season yet, but he does have 3 wins already in 2008. Kyle is being a good sport about the fans booing him though. At Darlington, as the fans booed on his parade lap before the race, he took off his sunglasses and acted like he was wiping away a tear. Good stuff.

Fans also love to boo a jerk
Along with his success on the track Kyle has had a few “bump and runs” as well. He has a very aggressive driving style, not letting up on any lap. Along the way he’s wrecked his share of drivers, including Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Richmond a couple weeks ago. This is a prime example of why many fans have come to despise and villainize Kyle. When asked about his approach to the races Kyle says, “I’m just out there to do one thing…win races.” He says that the fans’ reaction doesn’t matter to him. As Ray Evernham said, “He’s not really a villain, but the competition.”

Throwing beer cans at him isn’t the answer
Booing a driver you don’t like is fine. Yell at him; flip him the bird, whatever you want, but the fans that throw their beer cans shouldn’t be allowed back at the track. Security should try to catch as many of them as possible and ban them for life. After Kyle won the race in Richmond (when he wrecked Jr.) fans threw cans on the track at him, similar to what they did to Jeff Gordon after he passed Dale Earnhardt in career victories. What a stupid thing for the fans to do, for more than one reason. #1 being safety. They don’t all have strong enough arms to get their cans of beer on the track, and are hitting the fans in the front few rows. A 12oz can of beer cracking you in the skull can’t feel good. #2 is that throwing cans give the tracks a reason to stop allowing fans to carry in their own beverages. If people are going to act like idiots and throw their stuff around, there’s no reason to allow them to bring it in. This is a huge selling point for the sport, and I don’t think NASCAR wants to take that privilege away, but if people are going to continue to act like this they may not have a choice.

Will he become one of the all-time greats?
Kyle has been receiving some comparisons to the all-time great drivers in NASCAR. He’s heard some Earnhardt comparisons because of his aggressive style and dominating races. He said that it’s “Awesome to have that” regarding the comparisons. He says it more about being himself, and not worrying what others are saying.

Kyle is definitely one of the top drivers in the sport right now'. He has more raw talent than most of the drivers combined, and he has access to great equipment and minds at Joe Gibbs Racing. With all of this, he could be on his way to all-time greatness, but I don’t think we can really begin this discussion until he has a couple championships under his belt. The greatest, “King” Richard Petty has 7 championships, Dale Earnhardt also had 7, while Jeff Gordon has 4. All others considered among the best have 3 (Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarbourgh, David Pearson, and Lee Petty). No doubt, it's tougher to win a championship now than when most of these drivers were active, but if he wants to be mentioned among the best, that's what it'll take.

Kyle is off to a great start this season, and could very well win his first of many championships. If he does, then let the hype machine and larger endorsement deals begin. On top of all this, remember that the kid just turned 23 on May 2nd. He has what looks to be a long and promising career ahead of him. Will he become one of the all-time greats? Let’s see if he can win a championship first.

Race 11 – Darlington Recap and Fantasy Update

Well, the track was much faster with the new surface, and there were quite a few drivers that got their “Darlington stripe”. Kyle Busch hit the wall a couple times late in the race while leading, but it didn’t stop him from running away with the win.

The racing action wasn’t that great last night, but it wasn’t really expected to be with the higher speeds. Once a driver got the lead it was pretty tough to pass them. Dale Earnhardt Jr. made mention of it in the post race interview, saying it was almost impossible to pass. This should change as the new surface gets broken in and speeds slow down a bit.

So, how’d my recommendations do?
Four drivers with a real shot to win
· Jeff Gordon – Strong 3rd place finish, but didn’t have close to the car needed to win….but then again, no one had a car to compete with Kyle Busch.
· Jimmie Johnson – Had a pretty uneventful night and finished 13th.
· Ryan Newman – Disappointing night for Ryan. Got a couple laps down early, but made it up to about 24th, then had more issues and finished 37th.
· Dale Earnhardt Jr. – Strong all night, and finished 4th.

Two others that should do well
· Greg Biffle – Greg was running strong, but mechanical failures had him finish dead last.
· Denny Hamlin – Strong 7th place finish.Dark Horse· Martin Truex Jr. – Martin was in the top 10 most of the night, and even cracked the top 5, but after a late race incident with Denny Hamlin he wasn’t able to hold the good position and fell to a 14th place finish.

Fantasy Update
We have a new leader! Highlife passed buchsmoto and now leads by only 16 points. After that it’s 220 points to 3rd place jusmony.

Browere made a big move, up 8 spots, to get into the top 10, and mouse moved up 3 spots to 13th, only 25 points out of the last chase spot.

Other movers:
· Hollydiaz got the high point total of the week, and moved up the most spots, 14, to 20th place.
· Smoke20 moved 8 spots in the wrong direction, dropping to 25th place.
· Amped Up and SkidRow lost 9 and 10 spots with their bad weeks.

Misc Notes:
11 races down 15 to go until the chase begins.
· Right now there’s only 112 point difference between 12th and 21st place.
· From 22nd place to 36th is only a 107 point difference

It’s still wide open and anyone can make the chase, so don’t give up now. There’s no points race next week, as it’s the All-Star race in Charlotte, so enjoy the week off, and be ready to pick your drivers for the Coca-Cola 600 on the 25th. Don't forget that the next Eliminator begins with the Coca-Cola 600!!

Good Luck!!

Race 11 – Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington Preview

Another Saturday night race, this time at Darlington Raceway. The recently repaved 1.366 mile oval should be faster than normal. Look for speeds to be up, and possibly the number of drivers sliding into the wall early.

Back in early March Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, and Greg Biffle did some tire testing at Darlington for Goodyear. Could this give them a bit of an edge since they have a few more laps on the new surface than other driver?


Kyle Busch
With his strong run last week, Kyle Busch was able to pass Jeff Burton in the standings to regain the top spot he once held after the 5th race of the season. He’s only raced at Darlington three times, with just one top 10 finish, so it doesn’t look too good for him Saturday night. However, Kyle has four straight top 10 finishes, three of them in the top 3, so momentum is on his side. The new surface will also be fast and slick, which are conditions Kyle loves. Will the momentum and new surface carry him to a top 10 finish or better on Saturday?

Jimmie Johnson
After climbing up to 4th in points a couple weeks ago, Jimmie has had some mediocre runs at best, and has slipped a few spots to 7th. I expect Jimmie will be back to his dominating self this week. He has eight career top 10s in only nine races. He should be running up front all night.

Jeff Gordon
Jeff has looked good in some races and didn’t get the results due to wrecks, but had the opposite happen last week when he wasn’t running very good, but found himself in 9th place when the race ended. Expect all that to be different this week. Jeff has absolutely dominated at Darlington in his career. He has seven career wins, fifteen top 5s, and eighteen top 10s in only 27 races. Look for Jeff to be challenging for the lead the entire race.

Ryan Newman
This team has been up and down all season, and can’t seem to keep a good streak going. They’ve finished 1st at Daytona and 43rd in Phoenix. They’re sitting 11th in points right now, and must string together 5 or 6 consecutive top 10s to solidify themselves in the chase. They currently have two top 10s in a row, and should have a third one after this race. Ryan has finished in the top 10 here in the last 3 races, and has 6 career top 10s in 9 career races.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Jr. continues to put a solid season together. Every time I think he’ll have an off week, he proves me wrong and runs well. Last season it seemed like he mailed in a couple races, but this year he seemed focused every race, for the entire race. In an interview on April 3rd Jr. said, “It’s good to have other people you’re motivated to please.” Guess he was sick of Theresa. Look for him to stay motivated and please Hendrick Racing again this week.

Four drivers with a real shot to win
· Jeff Gordon – 1st, 2nd, 2nd in last 3 – 7 career wins, 18 career top 10s, 15 top 5s, in 27 races. How can you go against that success?
· Jimmie Johnson – 3rd, 4th, 7th in last 3 – 8 career top 10s in 9 races with 2 wins, 5 top 5s. He’ll make up for the 30th place finish last week.
· Ryan Newman – 4th, 6th, 5th in last 3 – 6 career top 10s, 5 top 5s, in 9 career races. Flyin’ Ryan likes to go fast, and the new surface at Darlington will be fast.
· Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 8th, 5th, 8th – 4 consecutive top 10 finishes, 6 career top 10 in 13 races. He’s gonna win soon enough…

Two others that should do well
· Greg Biffle – 2 Wins in the last 3 here. Tough to go against wins, but we’ll see if he can keep it up while contract talks are ongoing.
· Denny Hamlin – 2nd, 10th in only 2 races here. He injured his hip playing basketball this week, but he won’t feel that once the adrenaline kicks in for the race.

Dark Horse
· Martin Truex Jr. – 11th and 14th place finish in his only two races here and coming off a season best 5th place finish at Richmond, Martin should have confidence on his side for this race.

Crown Royal 400 at Richmond Review and Fantasy Recap

This looked like a pretty boring race for 350 laps as Denny Hamlin absolutely dominated, leading close to every lap. It seemed that the only suspense would be, who is going to finish 2nd, until his right front tire started to go down. If it weren’t for the bad luck Denny would have run away with the win.

The last 40 or so laps of the race were worth the wait. There was lots of aggressive, side-by-side, racing and lots of drivers trying to fit into spots that they couldn’t, causing some impressive wrecks.

After Denny went out, and Dale Jr. and Kyle Busch’s wreck Clint Bowyer seized the opportunity to take home his second career Sprint Cup victory. Kyle Busch was able to hold of Mark Martin at the end for 2nd place.

The surprise finish of the race had to be Reed Sorenson finishing 10th, a solid run for that group, and his best finish since coming home 5th at Daytona.

How'd my picks do?
4 With a real shot to win.
Kyle Busch – After he and Jr. got together, he was able to hold off Mark Martin for 2nd.
Jimmie Johnson – Jimmie had a strong run going before he got caught up in a wreck and finished 30th.
Denny Hamlin – Talk about domination. If anyone deserved to win, he did, but an untimely flat tire in the last 40 laps of the race cost him the victory, and he ended up with a 25th place finish.
Kevin Harvick – Harvick was in the top 10 all night, and finished 6th to cap off a solid run.

2 others that could do well
Tony Stewart – Solid run with a 4th place finish.
Jeff Gordon – Solid run with a 9th place finish

Sleeper
David Ragan – David was able to keep up with the leaders most of the night, and finished a respectable 17th, but getting caught up in an early wreck cost him a chance to finish in the top 10.

On the fantasy side of things buckeye65 & highlife got the high point total with 601. Buchsmoto now only holds a 22 point lead over highlife.

Big movers of the week:
Nascar_nut – Up 9 spots to 29th. Can they make it all the way into the chase?
Browngw – Up 8 spots to 12th, back in the chase, after forgetting to change his drivers last week.
Hollydiaz – Moving the wrong direction, down 10 spots to 32nd. Looks like holly forgot to dump Ken Schrader.

Stewart want out of Gibbs? Biffle’s contract talks distracting him?

Stewart want out of contract with Gibbs?
The main story last week was that Tony Stewart may be leaving Joe Gibbs Racing after the season. He has apparently been in contact with Haas CNC racing to become a part owner of that team, and race for them, even though he’s under contract with Gibbs through the 2009 season. Sources are saying that Tony wants to become an owner in the Sprint Cup Series and go back to driving for Chevy since he’s comfortable with them, and they sponsor cars he races and owns in many smaller circuits. Although today it was stated that some people feel that he may just re-sign with Gibbs, and not venture into ownership.

Do you think it’d be wise for Stewart to leave Joe Gibbs Racing? While there he’s won two championships and has compiled 32 career victories. A lot of that has to do with the resources that Joe Gibbs has available, and the ability to put together quality race cars each Sunday. If Tony leaves and goes to Haas CNC to become a part owner, will they be able to put competitive cars on the track?

That team isn’t even close to becoming a title contender right now. Will Tony Stewart’s name bring that much money and focus for them to change? I think it’ll help a lot, but not enough to contend for a title. If he went there, a good season may be winning a race or two and making the chase. With Gibbs he’s always one of the favorites to win the whole thing. If names like Petty and Earnhardt (DEI, not Jr.) can’t put competitive teams out on the track, does Tony really think he could? Sure he’s one of the best drivers in NASCAR, but you have to have the equipment as well as a driver to win races. Parting ways with Joe Gibbs racing would be a big mistake.

Stewart Stats
Year Finish Wins
2007 6th .....3
2006 11th ....5
2005 Champion 5
2004 6th .....2
2003 7th .....2
2002 Champion 3
2001 2nd .....3
2000 6th .....6
1999 4th (Rookie) 3

Biffle Contract Talks
Greg Biffle is in the last year of his contract with Roush Fenway Racing. In late May/early April he said that the contract was about 90% done as they were working on an extension through the 2011 season. There hasn’t been any word lately on the progress of it. Could this be weighing on the Biff’s mind and affecting performance? In the first five races this season he averaged a 7.2 place finish, and in the last four (since 3/30) he’s averaged a 21.5 place finish. We’ll have to keep an eye on this and see how it does in the coming weeks.

Race 10 - Crown Royal 400 at Richmond Preview

Well, this weekend the boys are running under the lights on a Saturday night in Richmond, Virginia. This is the short track that thinks it’s a super speedway. The ¾ mile track should give us a little bit of everything; high speeds, bumping, and good racing.

Kyle Busch
With the win last week Kyle Busch trimmed Jeff Burton’s points lead 58 points, down to just 22. Kyle has done really well at Richmond in his career. In six races he’s only finished out of the top 5 once (20th last year). Even though his two worse finishes of the season came on the short tracks at Bristol (17th) and Martinsville (38th), don’t look for him to finish that bad in Richmond. The D shaped track should fit Kyle’s aggressive style, so he should continue to do well.

Denny Hamlin
The third year driver has been having a solid, but fairly quiet year so far. He’s fourth in points with six top 10s, four top 5s and one Win. In four career races at Richmond he’s finished in the top 10 three times. His worst qualifying position has been 7th, so look for him to do well and run up front most of the night.

Kevin Harvick
Harvick’s career started out kind of rough at Richmond. In his first eight races (2001 – 2004) he only finished in the top 10 twice. Since then he has six consecutive top 10 finished with three top 5s. It’ll be hard to bet against those numbers.

Jeff Burton
Not much gets said about the Sprint Cup points leader and his chances to win races. It seems that Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, or the Hendrick drivers take a lot of the spotlight. Jeff has had a solid season so far with one Win and his worst finish being 13th in Daytona. Unfortunately I don’t think that success will translate to Richmond. Since 2004 (a span of 8 races) Jeff has only finished in the top 10 once. In the eight races before that (2000 – 2003) he had finished in the top 10 six times. That’s quite a drop off in performance. He may do okay and finish in the top 15, but I don’t see him challenging for a victory.

Tony Stewart
Smoke needs to start heating up. After the crash in Talladega and a 38th place finish Stewart dropped to 9th in the standings. Historically he’s done well at Richmond, and should have a shot at success on Saturday night. He has twelve career top 10s and three Wins at the track in 18 races. Look for him to be aggressive and push to the front.

4 with a real shot to win
· Kyle Busch – He’s been hot all season, and he does well in Richmond.
· Jimmy Johnson – Won last two, and is looking more like the Jimmy that dominated last year
· Denny Hamlin – He has a 6th, 3rd, 2nd in 3 of the last 4 in Richmond.
· Kevin Harvick – Six consecutive top 10s at a track is hard to ignore.

2 others that could do well
· Tony Stewart – 2nd, 8th, 6th in 3 of last 4, and ready to make up points after last week’s wrecks
· Jeff Gordon – Finished 4th in the last two races here, looking to get back in the top 12

Sleeper
· David Ragan – He’s only had two career races at Richmond, but finished 3rd in last fall’s race. He may be able to get another top 5 or 10 finish this weekend if he can avoid wrecks.