The Pit Stall

I was finally able to sit down and watch a race from pretty much start to finish on Saturday night.  Our ball team was playing in a tournament, so we’d played 3 games, out in the sun all day, and a beverage or two…so it was pretty sweet to plop down on the couch and watch a race in it’s entirety.  I’m glad the rain held off and they were able to get the race in.  I’m even happier that I had a solid week (best of the season so far), and expanded my lead in the pool.

Kyle Busch celebrates his birthday in style - winning the Russ Friedman 400 at Richmond

Pretty much all eight drivers I picked this week were running in or around the top 10 at various points of the race, including Denny Hamlin, who had a dominant car for most of the race and looked like he’d get the Richmond monkey off his back, until a lousy stop got him back in traffic and the car went away from him.  When all was said and done, 7 of the 8 had top 14 finishes.

Group 1 – Kyle Busch(7) & Jeff Gordon(5)

Two Kyle Busch starts, two Kyle Busch victories…you have to like that kind of consistancy.  After winning on his home track at Vegas, Kyle has now also added a win on his birthday, Saturday night at Richmond.  Gordon also had a top 10 finish, coming across in 8th position and regaining his lead in the series standings.  He led quite a few laps early and qualified second, making it a good overall scoring weekend for those who picked Jeffy.

Group 2 – Denny Hamlin(6), Tony Stewart(6), Ryan Newman(8), David Reutimann(8)

For most of the race, Hamlin had the car to beat, and led over a third of the laps.  Unfortunately a shot at victory was lost in the pits, thanks to what has become a real trouble spot for alot of teams…lugnut problems.  Hamlin lost several positions on the stop and the car, which was good on long runs, went away from him after a multitude of cautions in the final 100 laps.  Tony Stewart continued his solid first season as an owner/driver, with a second place finish to former teammate Busch.  I don’t think it will be long before we see one of those Stewart-Haas cars in Victory Lane.  Speaking of which, Stewart’s teammate, Ryan Newman dropped another top 5 run down, following up last weekends third at Talladega.  Reutimann dropped out of the top 12 in the standings with a 28th place finish, thanks to a late-race spin following some contact with the #83 Toyota.

Group 3 – Marcos Ambrose (6), Sam Hornish Jr(8)

Both of the bottom group drivers I tabbed this week had awesome finishes.  Hornish picked up his second career top 10 this weekend.  Unfortunately, I left him on the bench in favour of Ambrose, who was no slouch either, with an 11th place.  Definitely thrilled with the production out of this group this weekend.  It looks like I’ll be able to ride out these 2, with what’s left of AJ and spot start some road-course ringers, and an occasional Labonte or Sorenson for the remainder of the season.

Recap

• Points for this race: 350 (Busch (Gordon qual), Stewart, Hamlin, Ambrose)
• Most Possible Points: 390 (Busch (Gordon qual), Stewart, Newman (Vickers, Hamlin qual), Hornish)
• Season Points : 2896
• Current Place : 1st
• Lead over 2nd : 259
• Overall Percentile : 99th (1493 overall) 

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Steve Helber

Filed under: Pit Picks, Short Tracks by Site Admin - Monday, May 4th, 2009