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
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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!

Filed under: Pit Picks, Short Tracks by Site Admin - Friday, May 1st, 2009
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Group 1 – Clint Bowyer(8) & Mark Martin(9)

This is exactly why I refuse to take a Gordon or a Johnson in a plate race.  They get caught up in a mess and you have a crappy points week and waste one of their starts.  Bowyer and Martin were both caught up in the lap 8 wreck and Bowyer made it back on the track to complete a few laps, ultimately finishing 39th.  Martin’s day was over and he was 43rd…from so high to so low in one week.

Group 2 – Dale Earnhardt Jr(8), Brian Vickers(8), Ryan Newman(8), David Reutimann(8)

Junior failed in his bid to be the 4th straight driver to win a race for the Hendrick team this weekend, but he did pull off a second place finish.  I took Vickers as my second driver in this group and he managed to get his damaged race car across in 8th position.  Newman had another solid run and was in a good spot to win with only a couple laps to go, and ultimately finished 3rd.  Reutimann finished a lap down in 26th…probably not the finish he had hoped for in his sponsor’s race.

Group 3 – Sam Hornish Jr(8), Regan Smith(9)

Hornish was in the mix for a good portion of the race, but got caught in the second major wreck of the day and scored a 34th place finish.  Those Penske Dodge’s continue to impress, and it makes you wonder what’s taking the other Dodge teams so long to get on board with the new engines.  Smith stayed above the yellow line at all appropriate times on Sunday, and finished 15th, which was actually a better finish than last fall when he was first to the checkers.

Recap

• Points for this race: 233 (Bowyer, Earnhardt Jr, Vickers, Hornish Jr.)
• Most Possible Points: 401 (Biffle, Earnhardt Jr, Newman (Montoya, Truex Jr qual), Keselowski (Hornish Jr qual))
• Season Points : 2546
• Current Place : 1st
• Lead over 2nd : 195
• Overall Percentile : 98th (4724 overall) 

Photo Credit: John Harrelson/Getty Images

Filed under: Pit Picks, Speedways by Site Admin - Monday, April 27th, 2009
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Who’s ready for a little shake-up in the standings?  This week could be just what you’re looking for.  We’re off to Alabama for the Aaron’s 499 at the superspeedway at Talladega.  Of course this is a restrictor plate track so we’ll see high speeds at very close quarters, and most likely ‘The Big One’, a wreck capable of taking out or damaging half of the field in a matter of seconds.  I’ll put the over/under on ‘The Big One’ mentions by the TV crew at 47.

My ‘strategy’ for restrictor plate races is usually take Dale Earnhardt Jr., and then fill in the squad with guys you most likely wouldn’t pick for most other tracks.  I hate wasting a start on a top pick in the group only to have them get caught up in a wreck, so I’ll save those guys for tracks where you’re less at the mercy of every other car in the field.

 **The numbers beside the drivers names are how many races I have them available for (9 starts per driver)

Group 1 – Mark Martin(9) & Clint Bowyer(9)

As well as Mark Martin has run recently, I still don’t put him in the same class as Johnson or Gordon, and there are ample quality drivers to pick from for most races.  Martin does have a couple wins and a couple poles here, but all of the above were before the turn of the century.  He is enjoying a bit of a renaissance of late, so maybe he’ll find victory lane again.  Plus, Mark Martin is one of the nicest guys in Nascar, who wouldn’t wanna be his drafting partner?  I went with Bowyer so I couldn’t convince myself to start the 24, 48 or 18 had they been on my roster.  It doesn’t hurt that he hasn’t been outside the top 10 in his last 5 ‘plate’ races.

Group 2 - Brian Vickers(9), Dale Earnhardt Jr(9), Ryan Newman(8), David Reutimann(8)

If Vickers and Earnhardt can stay out of each other’s way, or at least play nice this weekend (Dale pretty much has to after the Mears altercation last week), they both should be able to put together decent finishes.  Junior has 5 wins at Talladega and is known for his prowess on the restrictor plate tracks.  Vickers also has a win here, during his last season at Hendrick.  Newman had a rough go in the first plate race this season, but that team has done a complete 180 and is headed in the right direction.  If he has a car, look for him to get hooked up with team mate Tony Stewart and be there at the finish.  Tony is actually my pick to win this race, but I don’t like taking chances with solid starts at plate tracks, as mentioned above.  Reutimann has the 4th best average out of this group, and those Toyotas really seem to get the job done at the larger tracks.

Group 3 – Regan Smith(9), Sam Hornish Jr(9)

Smith is back at the track where he SHOULD have had his first career victory.  He’s now with a part time team though, so his prospects of racing for the checkers is a little less likely this go around.  Still, he obviously can get it done, and now knows to stay above the stripe, so hopefully a top 15 (was 21st at Daytona) isn’t out of the question.  If you throw out the short tracks, Sam Hornish has had a respectable average finish so far this season, and has really come on in the last couple races, including his first ever top 10 last weekend.  Hopefully that result will build some confidence going into this week’s race. 

Good luck with your picks and have a great weekend!

Filed under: Pit Picks, Speedways by Site Admin - Friday, April 24th, 2009
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Well it finally happened…I muffed a top group pick and in turn had a relatively bad week.  My streak of 270+ points ends at 7 races.  At least it wasn’t a disaster, as I managed to pick up 250 points and only dropped 12 points to second place.

It looks like Mark Martin may be a contender this season, after a slow start he’s ripped off four straight finishes of 7th or better, including this weekend’s victory, his first win since 2005.  In those 4 races he has gone from being in danger of having to qualify on time, to being only 9 points out of a Chase spot.  Maybe he can get that championship that has eluded him throughout his entire career. 

Group 1 – Jeff Gordon(5) & Jimmie Johnson(8)

I stayed with Jeff Gordon, who has been ridiculously good this year, and for the first time it didn’t pay off.  It was a hard luck race for Gordon, who suffered from a bad green flag stop, which was not only long but also resulted in a penalty which put him down a lap.   He had been running in the top 10 at the time.  I guess I can’t complain though with the results I’ve had to this point out of this group…something like this was bound to happen at some point, and I’m just happy it wasn’t a 35th+ finish.  Jimmie on the other hand followed up 3 straight Phoenix wins with a 4th place finish.

Group 2 – Kurt Busch(6), Juan Montoya(7), Ryan Newman(8), Denny Hamlin(7)

I took Busch and Montoya out of this group, which was both good and bad.  Busch had another solid finish, coming in 3rd behind Martin and Tony Stewart.  Montoya on the other hand finished a lap down in 24th.  Hamlin had a good run and finished 6th while Newman came across in 16th.

Group 3 – Marcos Ambrose(7), AJ Allmendinger(5)

Marcos Ambrose continues to impress me with his improvement this season.  He put down another top 15 finish with a 14th place, and is actually tied with Allmendinger in points (on Yahoo anyways) for the season.  Allmendinger finished 35th, down 3 laps, his second consecutive finish in the mid 30′s.  Someone to take a look at in future races out of this group besides these 2 and Labonte is Hornish Jr.  He’s coming around, with his first ever top 10 and back to back weeks as the top Group 3 finisher.

Recap

• Points for this race: 250 (Gordon, Ku. Busch, Montoya, Ambrose)
• Most Possible Points: 396 (Martin (Ky. Busch qual), Stewart, Ku. Busch, Hornish Jr.)
• Season Points : 2313
• Current Place : 1st
• Lead over 2nd : 164
• Overall Percentile : 98th (4016 overall) 

Up this week is the crapshoot in Alabama…

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Paul Connors

Filed under: Pit Picks, Short Tracks by Site Admin - Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
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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!

Filed under: Pit Picks, Short Tracks by Site Admin - Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
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Gordon wins at Texas for the first time in 17 attempts

First off I just want to apologize to those that look forward to seeing the Pit Picks every week prior to the race.  I surprisingly received several emails wondering where they this week.  Unfortunately life outside of my little interweb hobby got in the way.  I’m taking classes here and there on top of work, and had my major assignment and 2 tests to do this past week, then went to visit my folks for the weekend as they just got back from Cuba (yes, I’m jealous…I need a tan), so I didn’t get a chance to post my picks on here.

The story of the week has to be Jeff Gordon ending winless streaks both overall (48 races) and at Texas (17 races).  Gordon has now won in the Cup series at every active track except Homestead-Miami.  Carl Edwards was in position to win his third straight Texas race in the late stages, but his team faultered on a pit stop, and gave the lead to Gordon who held off teammate Jimmie Johnson for the victory.

Another week off is on tap for the Easter holiday.  I just want to wish everyone a Happy Easter, especially to those for which it means something more than chocolate eggs and bunnies.

Group 1 – Jeff Gordon(6) & Kyle Busch(8)

In the early going of this season, no one can touch Gordon’s consistency.  I used him again this week after he nailed down the outside front row starting position, since eventual Texas winners tend to qualify in the top 10.  He finally ended his winless streak and was top point getter on the week.  Busch apparently caused his own demise (I didn’t see the race…had batting practice in the afternoon) by bumping another car and managing to cut down his own tire. 

Group 2 – David Reutimann(8), Ryan Newman(8), Denny Hamlin(7), Kurt Busch(7)

I used Reutimann for the first time as a group 2 driver this week, since he was starting on the pole and almost assured to lead a lap and basically get a 5 position bonus.  He managed a solid 11th place finish and still sits inside the top 12, despite a pit penalty which possibly prevented him from a shot at a win.  I also used my first Newman start after back to back top 10s on the short tracks.  It looks like Newman’s bad luck is over and he should be able to work his way up the standings.  A 15th place finish this week is definitely acceptable, after a run of terrible performances to start the year.  Hamlin and Busch finished 12th and 8th respectively, but I have other tracks I want to run them at, so they were left on the bench this week.

Group 3 – Bobby Labonte(8), AJ Allmendinger(5)

Neither driver managed to do much in this race, with AJ finishing 34th, several laps down and Labonte 40th, off the track at the finish.  Thankfully the other group 3 ‘favourite’, Ambrose, also had a miserable day, so I didn’t lose much ground to anyone that went with the popular choices here.   Allmendinger’s schedule is close to being extended yet again, as it’s hard to park a car that’s 15th in points.  Other teams have already expressed an interest in him, including one of the Big 4.  I may just have to be a little more selective from here on out with those 5 starts.

Recap

• Points for this race: 279 (Gordon, Reutimann, Newman, Labonte)
• Most Possible Points: 367 (Gordon (Kenseth qual), Stewart, Ku. Busch (Reutimann, Ragan qual), Hornish Jr.)
• Season Points : 2063
• Current Place : 1st
• Lead over 2nd : 176
• Overall Percentile : 99th (901 overall) 

Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

Filed under: Intermediates, Pit Picks by Site Admin - Monday, April 6th, 2009
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