Pit Picks Review – Shelby 427 (Las Vegas)
I don’t really have much to say about Las Vegas as I saw only the final 2 laps of the race, since I was visiting the family for dinner. Was definitely cool to see Kyle Busch in Victory Lane at his home track, with big brother there to celebrate with him.
It was another decent week in the pool for me, picking up another 278 points (if nothing else, I’m consistent). I nailed the race winner again this week, but unfortunately made the wrong selections in the later groups or this could have been a monster week. I jumped up a fair bit in the overall standings this week, probably due to a pile of people riding the Matt Kenseth bandwagon to a 43rd place finish. Ouch!
Group 1 – Kyle Busch(8) & Carl Edwards(9)
I had Kyle Busch winning this race (check out the predictions thread over at The Go Teams Go Forums if you don’t believe me), so I obviously started him, despite going to the back of the field due to an engine change, post qualifying. Kyle ended up leading a pile of laps (unfortunately not the most), and taking the checkers to earn top points for the group. Edwards finished on the lead lap, back in 17th and would have been a huge disappointment this week. A couple blown engines this week from the Roush camp have to make you go hmmmmmm in the coming weeks as well.
Group 2 – Kurt Busch(8), Kasey Kahne(8), David Reutimann(9), Brian Vickers(9)
I went with the elder Busch this week as well, since he started well and should have had a boatload of confidence heading into Vegas. A strong qualifying effort put him on the front row, but he ended up a lap down (I’m assuming he got caught having pitted early during Jeff Gordon’s tire mishap with several others) in 23rd. Kahne was solid posting an 11th place finish which would have been great had I not left a pair of top 10′s on the bench in Reutimann and Vickers. Ah well…it happens. I think both the #83 and #00 could contend for a Chase spot this season. I’d peg them somewhere between 8th and 15th when New Hampshire 2 rolls around.
Group 3 – AJ Allmendinger(6), Marcos Ambrose(9)
Another Dinger start and a lackluster finish, 4 laps down in 33rd place. I really should be PVR’ing these races so I know what’s going on post race. Ambrose was decent again, finishing off the lead lap in 20th. I’d expect him to stay in that range (15-25) for the first half of the season and then pick it up in the second half, and of course on road courses.
Recap
- Points for this race: 278 (Ky. Busch, Ku. Busch, Kahne, Allmendinger)
- Most Possible Points: 365 (Ky. Busch (Johnson qual), Reutimann, Kahne (Ku. Busch qual), B. Labonte)
- Season Points : 831
- Current Place : 1st
- Lead over 2nd : 13
- Overall Percentile : 93rd
Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR
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