Pit Picks – Kansas (Camping World RV 400)
The Sprint Cup series heads to Kansas this weekend for the 3rd race of this season’s Chase for the Championship. It’s also the second straight week that the name of the race is Camping World RV 400. I’m sure the Roush trio hopes for more of the same this week as well. It’s currently the only race for the top series at Kansas Speedway, one of the cookie-cutter 1.5 mile tracks. The numbers beside the drivers names are how many races I have them available for (9 starts per driver)
Group 1 – Jimmie Johnson(4) & Tony Stewart(4)
How do you not take Jimmie when he’s on a roll like this, especially on one of the 1.5 milers he seems to excel at? Over the past 5 races, Johnson trails only Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards for points earned. The 10 bonus points for leading laps is key here, as he has led in 4 of those races, and if quals are rained out (seems to be happening alot this year), he starts on the front row. I probably would have went with Edwards as my second driver here, but I only have 2 more starts for him, and have a couple other races I’d like to use him in. Tony Stewart is no slouch at Kansas, having only once finished outside the top 15. Last year he dominated the race, but cut a tire and finished 39th…a tough break that can be ignored due to the trend of success.
Group 2 – Mark Martin(3), Casey Mears(8), Dale Earnhardt Jr.(3), Jamie McMurray(8)
If you have Biffle starts left, use him this week. He’s won there before and the #16 team is absolutely rolling right now. If you don’t, any combination of Martin, Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch and David Ragan or McMurray should be decent starts. Martin has also won at Kansas before, when he was at Roush. Driving Roush-Fenway Fords also gets Ragan and McMurray in the line-up this week as they have a habit of finishing in the top 5 at this track. Mears gets the nod this week as Hendrick cars tend to run well on cookie cutters, and he’s fared well at Kansas in the past, finishing 4th last year and 2nd in 2006.
Group 3 – David Reutimann(6), Travis Kvapil(3)
In the final group, it’s probably a good time to go with David Reutimann. Michael Waltrip Racing seems to finally have the ship pointed in the right direction, and are achieving some decent finishes. Reutimann is 10th overall in points over the past 5 races, the type of production you can’t ignore from this third tier of drivers. Brian Vickers has had a solid season, and should be a solid pick this week, but again, I’m close to the limit on his starts, so I plugged in Kvapil, in hopes it’s those Roush-Yates engines that keep them up front, and Travis has a shot at a top 10 finish.
So that’s the roster for this week’s race. Hopefully it’ll extend my 30 point lead over second place, and I can get a little breathing room down the stretch. I’ll let you know on Monday which 4 drivers I went with, and provide an update on the standings. Good luck to you and your teams this weekend. Enjoy the race!
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