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.

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.

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.

Race 8 – Subway Fresh 500 at Phoenix Preview

Well, let's hope the racing action in Phoenix is better than Texas. Last week was a snoozer of a race. The "experts" think that Phoenix will have 2 and 3 wide racing, giving it more action than the last couple of races. I don't know if I believe them or not. Texas was suppose to be an exciting race too, but it was far from it. ...on to the driver selections.

Jeff Burton is leading the points chase and historically he does pretty well at Phoenix. In his last six races here his worst finish has been 15th, so look for him to have a solid run this week.

Greg Biffle has been struggling lately finishing 20th and 39th in the last two races. Can his team turn it around? They’re usually hit and miss at this track. Over his last 6 trips to the track he’s finished as high as 2nd, and low as 41st. What’ll he do this week?? Who knows, but I won’t pick him for my fantasy team.

Can Jimmy Johnson continue his run of top 5 finishes? In the past two weeks he’s moved up 7 spots in the standings to 6th. Will be able to continue the momentum on Sunday? I think so. He’s finished in the top 10 in his last four races here, and top 5 in 3 of them.

Four drivers with a real shot to win
· Kevin Harvick – 6th, 10th, 1st, 1st in last 4. He qualified 17th, which isn’t great, but with his record at Phoenix you can’t go against him.
· Jimmy Johnson – 1st, 4th, 2nd, 7th, in last 4 here. After qualifying 7th, you should expect him to be in the lead pack all day long.
· Matt Kenseth – 3rd, 3rd, 5th in 3 of last 4. He qualified 27th and will need to get off to a good start, but he should be able to. If anything, his pit crew should be able to keep him on the lead lap for an extended period of time until the car is dialed in.
· Tony Stewart – 4th, 2nd, 2nd in 3 of last 4, qualifying 12th.

Two others that should do well:
· Jeff Burton – 9th, 10th, 9th in 3 of last 4. Qualifying 39th doesn’t help, but his average starting position this year is 21.4, and he usually ends up doing OK.
· Jeff Gordon – 10th, 1st, 4th in 1 of last 3 and qualified 11th.

Samsung 500 Review and Fantasy Recap

Carl Edwards was the car to beat, and dominated all day long. Kyle Busch and Jimmy Johnson tried to keep up with him in the race, but couldn’t get it done in the overtime laps.

The surprise finish of the race had to be Ryan Newman in 4th. This was only is 2nd top 5 finish of the season.

The drivers I said had a real shot to win did pretty bad.
Matt Kenseth did the best, finishing 5th.
Martin Truex Jr. had a top 10 run until his engine gave out with a few laps left.
Jeff Burton finished 6th.
Jeff Gordon was bad all day, and finished dead last.
Kevin Harvick did alright finishing 11th.

The two others that I said should do well, didn’t do so well
Jamie McMurray had a solid top 15 finish, placing 14th, helping him stay securely in the top 35 in standings.
Denny Hamlin had a good run finishing 5th.


On the fantasy side of things nascar_nug got the high point total with 580, moving up to 30th place. Buchsmoto is still leading the league by 45 points over highlife. Jusmony and Speedy both moved up 7 spots, to 3rd and 4th place.

jj24, who didn’t play the first week, and got 0 points, has overtaken Hessler for 48th place. Good job jj24! Hessler, you’re not so good.

7 races down, 19 to go until the chase begins. Check back on Friday or Saturday for a preview of the next race. As always, don’t be afraid to post your comments or send some mail through the website to talk some trash to the other players.

Race 7 – Samsung 500 Preview

For those people that keep track of the tire issues you’ll be happy to know that the much complained about tire used in the Atlanta race won’t be used in this race at Texas. Usually Goodyear uses the same tire, but this year they decided not to since there were so many complaints. The track owner is obviously happy about this, since the tire their going to use produced two great finishes last year.

After a 3rd place finish last week Jeff Burton jumped up 3 spots in the standings to take the lead. Over the past four races Jeff is averaging a 4.75 place finish, with one win. Texas is a track that Jeff has done well at over the past couple of years. He’s taken home two 6th place finishes and a win. With the hot streak he’s on, and the fact that the does well at Texas should be good news for Burton fans. Don’t let his 35th place qualifying effort scare you away. He’s only qualified better than 20th twice in Texas, and has done very well. This is a wide track that allows for some good racing. Jeff should be able to make his way to the front of the field.

Jeff Gordon had a good run last week and moved up to 9th in points, and looks to continue the trend at Texas. In the first four races at this track Jeff Gordon did horrible, not finishing better than 25th. The next four races he averaged a 3.25 place finish, but the three races after that (when they started having two races per year in Texas) he didn’t finish better than 14th. The good news is that over the last three races he’s averaged a 6.67 place finish. So, what does this mean? Well, it looks like Jeff is streaky here. He’s had three top 10 finishes in a row, is he now due for a run of bad luck in Texas? Jeff will start out in 18th, which isn’t great, but if they can perform some in race tweaks he should make it to the front.

With his win last week Denny Hamlin moved up the most spots in the championship standings, 7 places, up to 8th. He’s done well at this track in his career with 4 top 10’s in 5 tries. Look for him to continue to climb in the standings as his 14th place qualifying spot should let him get into the top 10 quickly and run there all day.

Drivers with a real shot to win
· Matt Kenseth – 2nd, 2nd, 2nd in 3 of last 4 and qualified 8th this week
· Martin Truex Jr. – 3rd, 7th, 8th in 3 of last 4, qualified 12th this week
· Jeff Burton – 6th, 1st, 6th in 3 of last 4, qualified 35th this week
· Jeff Gordon – 7th, 4th, 9th in last 3, qualified 18th this week
· Kevin Harvick – 10th, 3rd, 5th in 3 of last 4, qualified 21st this week

Two others that should do well:
o Jamie McMurray – 9th & 5th in last 2, qualified 32nd. He’ll have to make some moves early to get up in the standings, but his confidence has to be up after last week, and he should do well.
o Denny Hamlin – 9th, 4th, 10th in 3 of last 4, qualified 14th

Race 6 - Martinsville Recap & Fantasy Update

Well, Martinsville is in the books, and it went pretty much as planned.

My four drivers with a real shot to win did very well, and Denny Hamlin did win. In addition to Hamlin, Jimmy Johnson and Jeff Gordon finished in the top 4. Although, Kyle Busch had some issues and finished 38th.

The two others that I said should do well did pretty good. Kevin Harvick finished 12th, and Stewart 5th.

And the pick I really called was my Dark Horse, Jamie McMurray. He made me look like I actually know what I'm talking about and finished 8th. 18% of the fantasy teams did have McMurray on their team, so good job by them to pick up some points.

More Fantasy Notes:

• Irish had the high point total of the week, and also moved up the most spots, 14, to 22nd.
• FYYFF had a rough week, only getting 427 points and dropping 17 spots to 34th
• Hessler still sucks....he's still in 48th, on my advise to him to pick up Arik Almirola. Hey, jj24, when you going to pass this bum up?
• The top 4 spots are only separated by 111 points. It looks like it'll be a close race this year.
• Eliminator - After 2 weeks 17 players have been eliminated, and we have 8 left.

Race 6 – Goody’s Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Preview

Kyle Busch is leading the points chase by 30 points over Greg Biffle. Historically Busch has done very well at Martinsville. He’s finished in the top 5 in his last four races here. He’s definitely the driver to beat in NASCAR right now, and every time he goes out to race he can win. This week is no exception. Expect Busch to be contending for the lead the entire race, and don’t be surprised to see him take home the checkered flag.

Ryan Newman, the Daytona 500 winner, was having a solid season, but slipped a little after last week’s disappointing 33rd place finish. He dropped 4 spots in the standings, down to 8th place. Will the week off allow him to regain the focus and be ready for this week’s race? He’s only finished in the top 10 at Martinsville once in the last 4 races here. That was a 2nd place finish in the Fall of ’07 race. I’ll be cheering for Newman since he’s a Purdue grad, but I don’t have a good feeling about this race. He did qualify 13th, which isn’t bad, but he’ll need to do some good driving and stay clean to have a shot at a top 10 finish, which isn’t really his specialty.

The big mover in the point standings the past couple weeks has been Clint Bowyer. After 3 races he was in 23rd place. After a 6th place finish at Atlanta he moved up to 16th, and after a 3rd place finish in Bristol he moved up to 9th. Can he continue his hot streak and gain more spots in the championship standings? He’s finished 11th and 9th in his last two races at Martinsville, and qualified 12th this week, so he could do well.

Four drivers with a real shot to win. I know there’s not much creativity in picking the favorites, but you have to go with who you really think will finish well.
· Jimmy Johnson – Won last 3, and finished 3rd in spring ’06. This should be the week he gets back on track. A 10th place starting spot should help with that.
· Jeff Gordon – 3rd, 2nd, 5th, 2nd in last 4, and the pole position for this week’s race. He’ll be tough to beat.
· Kyle Busch – 4th, 4th, 5th in 3 of last 4. 8th place qualifying spot. Has this guy had a bad showing yet this year?
· Denny Hamlin – 6th, 3rd, 2nd in last 3. Qualified 2nd and should be a contender all day.

Two others that should do well:
· Kevin Harvick – 10th, 9th, 7th in 3 of last 4. Qualified 11th. Kevin is always a threat to win, and should be running up front in this race.
· Tony Stewart – 7th, 4th, 1st in 3 of last 4. Starting in the 9th position should help Smoke get his 4th top 10 finish in 5 trips to Martinsville.

Darkhorse of the race:
· Jamie McMurray – Has 2 top 10 finishes in his last 4 at Martinsville and qualified 5th. Hopefully he’ll be able to break out of the awful slump he’s in.