The Pit Stall

What a surprise, Jimmie Johnson wins at Martinsville.  Not only did he win, he dominated leading close to two-thirds of the race.  There was a little scare towards the end of the race when Bill Elliot came down on the front of his car, but luckily there was no tire rub and they managed to hold on for the victory in a green white checkers finish.  The entire Hendrick team finished in the top 6 with Earnhardt Jr in 2nd, Jeff Gordon in 4th and Casey Mears in 6th.  The win gave Jimmie a boost in the Chase standings, increasing his lead over second to 149 points.  If he can pick up another 20 points or so on the competition over the next 3 weeks, this thing could be wrapped up before Miami.

It was a solid week in the pool for my squad, picking up the points we dropped last week at Charlotte and getting the lead back to 64 points with 4 races to go, and still having quality options left to start.  These qualifying rainouts are killing me, since I tend to pick my subs according to who qualifies well at a track, and I’m missing out on points there.

Group 1 – Jimmie Johnson(2) & Jeff Gordon(2)

This race was the reason I saved that Jimmie start a couple weeks ago in Talladega.  It paid off with a Jimmie win here, but in the long run it was pretty much a wash, with Gordon’s brutal finish that week, and solid run this week.  Johnson picked up the max 110 points and Gordon finished with a top 5 as well.

Group 2 – David Ragan(3), Kyle Busch(1), Ryan Newman(2), Bobby Labonte(9)

Ragan was the best of the bunch in this group, with a 13th place finish thanks to a late spin when he was running inside the top 10, and Busch’s Chase woes continued.  It’s crazy to see how a season so promising can go straight into the crapper in no time.  You almost feel bad for the guy.  It’s definitely going to be interesting to see how he rebounds in 09.  Newman and Labonte both finished multiple laps off the pace. I originally had Earnhardt and Mears as my other 2 drivers, since Hendrick runs well here…definitely kicking myself for not leaving them on the roster.

Group 3 – Aric Almirola(7), Paul Menard(8)

Almirola finished with a 20th place finish, three laps off the pace, but at least was a factor at one point in the race, leading 53 laps and earning a 10 point bonus, giving him 15th place points.  Menard finished where he started, back in 27th position.  One driver to look at over the next 4 races in this group is AJ Allmendinger.  Throw out his early accident last weekend for MWR, and he’s posted some solid finishes of late.  With any luck he’ll finish strong and get a long look from some other teams in the garage.

Recap

• Points for this race: 272 (Johnson, Ragan, Ky. Busch, Almirola)
• Most Possible Points: 348 (Johnson, Earnhardt Jr, Mears, Vickers)
• Season Points : 8659
• Current Place : 1st
• Lead over 2nd : 64
• Overall Percentile : 96th

Filed under: Pit Picks, Short Tracks by Site Admin - Monday, October 20th, 2008