Pit Picks – Subway Fresh Fit 500 (Phoenix)
I hope everyone enjoyed the week off from the Sprint Cup series and found time for the family and a good meal. At least there was a good reason for a weekend off this time. Anyway, the series is off to Arizona for the spring race at Phoenix International Raceway, a relatively flat, 1 mile, tri-oval unlike any other track on the circuit. This should be a good weekend to be one of the Hendrick drivers, or a road racer. All four Hendrick drivers have a win at the track, the team has won the last four, and Martin and Gordon share the record for most top 10s. I think they have this place figured out.
**The numbers beside the drivers names are how many races I have them available for (9 starts per driver)
Group 1 – Jeff Gordon(6) & Jimmie Johnson(8)
Jeff Gordon has been on fire this season, especially over the past 5 races, posting an incredible 3.4 average finish. He’s also the only driver with an average finish under 10 for the season. I’m thinking he should post another top 5, and possibly start a different type of streak this weekend by winning his second straight race. Johnson has been money at Phoenix, winning both events last season as well as the fall event in ’07. Johnson is also second to Gordon in average finish over the most recent 5 races. I can’t say I’d be overly surprised to see a Hendrick 1-2 finish on Saturday night.
Group 2 - Kurt Busch(7), Denny Hamlin(7), Ryan Newman(8), Juan Montoya(8)
Kurt Busch has been getting out front and leading laps, and coming through with decent finishes for the most part. You can’t overlook those 10 bonus points for your drivers. Newman has come around after a slow start, and you can’t ignore his qualifying prowess, even though he’s not quite back to his Rocketman status of a few seasons past. Plus he’s part of Hendrick Lite (Stewart-Haas Racing). Gotta go with Montoya here, as the guys with alot of road course experience run well on the flatter tracks. Denny Hamlin is a short track guy. Always has been, always will be. I will be a little surprised if he’s not hovering around the top 5 throughout the race, and could be a bit of a ‘darkhorse’ to pull off a win.
Group 3 – Marcos Ambrose(8), AJ Allmendinger(5)
If you want to know why I picked these two, you can pretty much look to the Martinsville Picks and Recap. A similar style of track, that suits both of these guys well. Dinger is still the class of this group, but has secured funding to get through the first 26 races, and will be pretty much assured of getting a sponsor for the final 10 if he keeps himself in the top 10-20 in points. This might be time for me to hold him back and save some starts. Ambrose will be the guy here unless he has some sort of disaster in quals.
Don’t forget this week’s race is on Saturday night! Good luck with your picks and have a great weekend!
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