Pit Picks Review – Heluva Good! (Watkins Glen)

I think I can get used to these Monday races.  I tend to be busy on most Sundays, so I miss alot of races, but thanks to the interwebs and a couple handy sites that post feeds to the races, I can listen and sometimes watch most events that are postponed to Mondays.  Yesterday I listened to most of the race, brought up the feed on my monitor to catch the replays of the Hornish, Gordon etc wreck and then the final few laps of the race.  My productivity level may not have been at an all time high though.

Tony Stewart runs a Heluva Good race to win at Watkins Glen.
Tony Stewart runs a Heluva Good race to win at Watkins Glen.

I think Watkins Glen has to be my favourite race fantasy wise.  In the 3 years I’ve participated in the Yahoo! fantasy nascar game, I’m pretty sure this road course has been my top score each season.  On to the picks… 

 

The numbers in parentheses are how many starts I have remaining for each driver for the season.
 
Group 1 – Kyle Busch(4), Jeff Gordon(4)
 
Kyle was the defending champ at the Glen, and finished 2nd in the Nationwide race.  He ran in the top 5 for most of the 2nd half of the race, and led a few until his car went away from him near the end of the race.  Still, a 4th place finish should help him get back into Chase contention with only a handful of races to go.  Gordon was involved in a jarring wreck that saw him go straight into the wall.  I don’t know what the chances were of him competing for a championship this year, but you have to think that lick could be a real setback, considering the back issues he’s been fighting all year.

Group 2 – Tony Stewart(2), Juan Montoya(2), Denny Hamlin(6), Kasey Kahne(4)

It was impossible for me not to start JPM and Tony considering they were both easily in the top 5 favourites going into the race.  I have built a big enough lead thus far to not have to worry about saving them, and just riding out the season with Logano, and a few others.  Tony and Juan did not disappoint, finishing 1st and 6th, contributing to a monster points day.  Tony also led the most for a solid bonus.  Hamlin and Kahne had decent finishes, with Denny 10th and Kahne 17th, after causing the wreck that sent Sam Hornish Jr spinning across the track, and damaging 5 cars.

Group 3 – Marcos Ambrose(2), Sam Hornish Jr(5)

Marcos Ambrose is in the same situation as Stewart and Montoya from the second group.  Clearly the class of the group at this track and not worth saving down the stretch.  He had a car capable of winning but had a few more laps on his tires then those around him down the stretch, and wound up finishing second to Stewart.  Still, it was Ambrose’s best finish in the Sprint Cup series, and completed a decent weekend, after winning the Nationwide event.  I have a feeling the Aussie might be in contention for a Chase spot next season, if he continues to improve at the rate he has in ’09.  Hornish was involved in a nasty wreck, and thankfully came out ok.  He ended up 36th.

Recap

  • Points for this race: 383 (Ky Busch, Stewart, Montoya (Hamlin qual), Ambrose)
  • Most Possible Points: 409 (Ky Busch (Johnson qual), Stewart, Ku Busch (Hamlin qual), Ambrose)
  • Season Points : 6265
  • Current Place : 1st
  • Lead over 2nd : 635
  • Overall Percentile : 98th (3328 overall) 

Photo Credit: AP Photo/ David Duprey

Filed under: Pit Picks, Road Courses by Site Admin - Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
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