Pit Picks – Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 (Martinsville)
Some more short track bumpin’ and bangin’ is on tap for this weekend as the Cup Series makes the short trip east (from Bristol) to Martinsville. This track may be close to the same length as Bristol, but it’s a whole different race. Martinsville has long straights and tight corners, without alot of banking. This puts good brakes at a premium for this race, and you’ll see alot of glowing rotors throughout. A good qualifying effort is pretty important here, as there aren’t multiple grooves to run on this track and it’s alot tougher to move through the field, plus if you start at the back, the lead cars will be on your tail in no time.
**The numbers beside the drivers names are how many races I have them available for (9 starts per driver)
Group 1 – Jeff Gordon(8) & Kyle Busch(8)
Jeff Gordon has won at ‘the paperclip’ 7 times in his career, and also has 7 poles to go with them. He hasn’t won on the track since 2005, but he’s run consistantly well so far this season, and should be in the top 5 when all is said and done. This is one of the tracks Kyle Busch hasn’t won at yet (at least not in the Cup Series), but in my opinion he’s flat out the best driver on the track, and could get one this weekend. Jimmie Johnson is another solid option here, but I like saving quite a few Johnson starts for the end of the season where he rips off great finishes like it’s nothing. He’s won 4 of the last 5 here and 5 overall. He’ll most likely get the start in the fall race at Martinsville.
Group 2 - Kurt Busch(7), Denny Hamlin(8), Ryan Newman(9), Juan Montoya(9)
Look for Hamlin to follow up a second place finish last week with another good finish this week. He’s a short track guy, and won last season’s spring race at this, his home track. Kurt has a Martinsville victory under his belt, and is the only driver to win that’s started beyond 21st position. He’s been running consistently well this season, and should be in the mix in the final laps. Ryan Newman finally put together a solid run, and picked his first top 10 with the new team. That said, he’s mainly here on his qualifying prowess this week. Road course guys tend to excel on flatter tracks, so Montoya is definitely worth a look, even though there aren’t any right turns this weekend.
Group 3 – Marcos Ambrose(9), AJ Allmendinger(5)
As I mentioned with Montoya, road course guys tend to run better on the flat tracks than they do on the banked ovals. By that logic, Ambrose should be better than he was last week, and improve on a 10th place finish. That’d be ideal, but I’ll take something in the top 20 and barring a disaster, Ambrose should end up there. I think Allmendinger could put down a solid finish in this race as well, but I like the experience of Ambrose a little more. We’ll have to see what happens in qualifying to nail down who gets the start. Also keep in mind the ‘Dinger is comfortably in the top 35 and has secured sponsorship for an additional 4 races beyond the original 9 he was supposed to run.
Good luck with your picks and have a great weekend!
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