Pit Picks – Russ Friedman 400 (Richmond)
- Roush Fenway/Crown Royal #26 driver Jamie McMurray and marine, Russ Friedman
After the chaos and carnage that was Talladega, the top series heads back east, to Richmond, Virginia, this weekend for the (take a deep breath here) Crown Royal Presents the Russ Friendman 400. I think it’s a pretty cool promotion that Crown Royal runs for this, slapping a Crown drinker’s name on the race. I think they picked a great representative as well (two Purple Hearts!).
Anyway, we’re back to short track racing for the 4th time in the last 6 races (I consider anything a mile and under a short track). The strongest teams on the shorties so far this season have been Hendrick and Hendrick Lite (Stewart-Haas), so loading up on those guys isn’t a bad idea. I’ve also went with a couple guys who have run well here the past couple seasons, but just haven’t been able to seal the deal for one reason or another.
**The numbers beside the drivers names are how many races I have them available for (9 starts per driver)
Group 1 – Kyle Busch(8) & Jeff Gordon(5)
Where doesn’t Kyle Busch run well? You could pencil him in every week and be pretty confident he’ll be in the mix. His average finish at Richmond is just outside the top 5, but he doesn’t have a win at Richmond…yet. He was in contention for one last year until he mixed it up with the #88. I’m expecting a top 5 out of ‘Shrub’ on Saturday night. Jeff Gordon has fallen off a bit since a torrid start, but should get back on top of the heap this weekend. He’s won at RIR twice, and has a handful of pole awards. Even if I don’t start him this weekend, those qualifying bonus points add up. The other Hendrick cars aren’t a bad start in this spot either…I’ll just keep hanging on to Jimmie for the stretch run.
Group 2 - Tony Stewart(7), Denny Hamlin(7), Ryan Newman(8), David Reutimann(8)
Was just looking through some stats after locking in my picks to back up what my gut told me…and Hamlin has the best average finish in the past 3 seasons at the short tracks, as well as the best average running position at Richmond for the past 4. You can’t ignore that, especially for a driver outside of the top group. Stewart and Newman fall into the Hendrick Lite group, and both excelled here prior to joining the organization. Both have wins at Richmond, and Newman does have a pole award from the track as well. Dale Jr is a popular pick in this spot, but I’m not entirely sold on him this season. He lacks the consistancy he needs to be trusted week to week. He’ll run well and then some mental error by him or his team puts him out of contention. I’m gonna go with ‘The Franchise’, David Reutimann instead. He could contend for some qualifying bonuses and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him around the top 10 on lap 400.
Group 3 – Marcos Ambrose(7), Sam Hornish Jr(8)
Marcos Ambrose has been easily the class of this group over the past 5 races with Reed Sorenson the only one that is even close. In the short tracks so far this season, he’s run 10th, 14th and 14th. That kind of consistency Group 3 gold! Hornish has been improving greatly this season, and could be this year’s Reutimann with a strong second half if he can keep it up. If not for rubbing the wall trying to avoid the 2nd big wreck last week, he’d have a nice little string of decent finishes going.
Good luck with your picks and enjoy some Saturday night racing!
Leave a Reply