Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Emory Healthcare 500 (Redux)
So last week, I screwed up.
I figured, “Hey, with college about to start and all, maybe I should write my Atlanta fantasy post right now, save it for a week, and then just take ten minutes to post it when people actually need it.” Seemed like a good idea at the time, right?
Well, it was, until I forgot what week of the year it was (blame it on me being awake at four in the morning) and posted it anyway. Oops. If you’re looking for this week’s fantasy picks, click here; otherwise, this column is going to be a general fantasy overview for the rest of the year.
We’re now two-thirds of the way through this Sprint Cup season, with only two regular-season races and the Chase for the Sprint Cup to go. The remaining schedule is dominated by four cookie-cutters (Atlanta, Kansas, Charlotte, Texas), but contains just about every type of track on the schedule besides a road course.
Of course, this is about the time where Jimmie Johnson kicks into gear. His charges to the championship have been well documented, as no driver has ever benefitted more from the Chase. Currently ninth in points and about a three-race deficit behind Kevin Harvick, Johnson’s top four tracks as judged by average finish – Phoenix, Martinsville, Fontana, and Loudon – all appear on the remaining schedule. Of the remaining tracks at which Sprint Cup will run this year, Johnson only has mediocre records at Richmond (which isn’t in the Chase anyway) and Talladega (which is a crapshoot anyway).
As for Harvick, his team has been the class of the field all year, but most of his best tracks are behind him on the schedule. Homestead is statistically his best track, but five of his six worst active tracks – Dover, Fontana, Martinsville, Atlanta, and Charlotte – come up in the following twelve weeks of racing.
But this year, things have been looking up for Happy on those tracks, and he may not have a reason to worry. Fontana yielded a second place finish, he ran a strong ninth at Atlanta, led 57 laps from the pole at Martinsville, placed seventh at Dover, and came home a respectable 11th at Charlotte. While those types of races alone won’t knock the defending champion off his pedestal, they will more than suffice for a driver at some of his worst tracks.
In effect, this brings us down to the question of present versus past. Which key factor – history or momentum – should be influencing your fantasy picks from here on out? Should you be focusing on only one over the other, and if so, which?
Here’s the thing: we all know that the 48 team has shown signs of, well, humanity this year. Add to that the intense pressure stemming from the fact that nobody has won five consecutive championships at NASCAR’s highest level, and you may be able to say that the goose is cooked on the drive for five.
Meanwhile, Harvick’s team has done everything right for the majority of the year, won a respectable one in eight races, and has even performed at the tracks on which he’s struggled in the past. (See above.)
In the end, it all depends on which fantasy game you’re playing, and who’s available to you on any given week. (Duh. A little more elaboration, please?)
For single driver, pick-‘em-once-and-they’re-done games like One and Done at OnPitRow.com, your best bet is undoubtedly to go for history. A driver like Harvick is probably not the best choice for a track at which he struggles, unless you’re picking last-minute and he qualifies really well. Johnson becomes your golden ticket to victory lane, so use him wisely. As for the rest, try and limit your picks to Chase drivers – they’re the only ones who really matter in the final ten events.
For games that give you a fleet of drivers every week, make sure to always pick one of the top five active drivers at any given track. (This is one of my Fantasy Pick’Em rules of thumb.) But in these games, you have a greater ability to go for momentum drivers. Sure, it can crash and burn on you if they perform as history suggested they would, but getting a little lucky with an interesting, out of left field pick could be the difference between first and second in your fantasy racing league.
Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Irwin Tools Night Race
If NASCAR had to, for some strange reason, pare down the Sprint Cup season to only five races, this weekend’s Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway would be almost certain to make the cut.
The rough-and-tumble racing that Bristol is famous for, under the Saturday night lights in the dog days of summer, provides fans with a powder keg that’s ready to explode at any moment – and frequently does, claiming many contenders along the way. Many fans will never forget Dale Earnhardt punting Terry Labonte out of the way to win the 1999 edition, nor the post-race fireworks between Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch a couple years ago.
So who’s got a shot at surviving the event and driving into victory lane this year?
Bristol is one of Busch’s best tracks, and its tendency to produce interesting and exciting on-track action makes it a perfect fit for him. His 10.1 average finish trumps all other active drivers. Besides this spring’s aberration, Busch hadn’t failed to lead in a Bristol race since his 2005 rookie season. He has three wins at the track, and top-two finishes in three of the past four Bristol events. He’s my pick.
My dark horse pick for this weekend is Marcos Ambrose, who had finishes of 10th and 3rd at Bristol last year but a dismal 33rd this past spring. Now that he and JTG Daugherty Racing have both announced plans for 2011 that don’t involve one another, they might just mail it in until the end of the year. On the other hand, they could both step up their game, showing their new partners (Richard Petty Motorsports for Ambrose, Bobby Labonte for JTG) a commitment to a strong year next year.
Three more, because we can:
Greg Biffle, despite having never won at Bristol in a Sprint Cup car, has the second best average finish of active drivers at the track, a solid 11.0. He’s got six top fives and nine top-10s in 15 starts. His Roush Fenway Racing team is also peaking at the right time, finding victory lane and the front of the pack these past few weeks in the wake of owner Jack Roush’s plane crash. Roush cars won this race each year from 2005 to 2008, and there’s no reason to think they can’t again.
Kevin Harvick is the only driver to have a Chase berth right now. Coming off that clinch, his Michigan victory, and a lucrative sponsorship deal with Budweiser for 2011, Happy’s gotta be living up to his nickname right now, and the momentum can certainly carry into Bristol. Harvick can be Superman at Bristol – while the box score for his 2005 victory at the track says he started 13th, he actually started dead last due to unapproved impound work and passed every car in the field for the victory.
Finally, Kurt Busch has the second-best winning percentage at Bristol of active drivers, behind only brother Kyle. And while four of his five wins came in 2004 or earlier, he showed us all a thing or two about how to race at Bristol this spring, leading a race-high 278 laps and finishing third. While Jimmie Johnson may have used that race to get the Bristol monkey off his back, Busch showed the field that he had his old Bristol magic back.
Budweiser to sponsor Harvick in 2011
Richard Childress Racing made it official Tuesday morning: Budweiser will sponsor the No. 29 Chevrolet driven by Kevin Harvick next season.
Budweiser will be the primary sponsor of 20 points-paying events next season, as well the Gatorade Duels and Budweiser Shootout. The King of Beers will also be a co-primary sponsor for the 2011 Sprint All-Star Race in Charlotte. Budweiser will stay on the ride as an associate sponsor for the remaining 16 events on the schedule.
“Budweiser is one of the most respected sponsors in our sport,” Harvick said. “They do a lot to market their teams and the sport in television broadcasts and away from the track. I’m looking forward to driving the No. 29 Budweiser Chevrolet, taking it to Victory Lane and winning championships.”
Earlier this season, it was announced that Harvick’s team would lose the Shell-Pennzoil sponsorship after this season. It was later announced that Shell-Pennzoil would move over to Penske Racing’s Kurt Busch next season.
Kasey Kahne had held the Budweiser sponsorship since it left the hood of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s car after the 2007 season when Earnhardt left Dale Earnhardt Inc. for Hendrick Motorsports. Kahne announced last week that he would drive at Red Bull Racing next thus giving him full sponsorship next season from Red Bull.
Budweiser has sponsored a long-list of drivers since they entered the sport in 1983. The most popular of those drivers have been Terry Labonte, Darrell Waltrip, Geoff Bodine, Bill Elliott, Kenny Schrader, Ricky Craven, Wally Dallenbach, Earnhardt and Kahne.
Harvick will race in his tenth Sprint Cup Series season next year. Through 345 starts in the Cup Series, Harvick has recorded 14 victories to go along with 72 top-five and 145 top-ten finishes.
This season has been a career-year on several aspects. His three victories so far this year makes it the second-most winningest year, trailing just his five-win season in 2006.
As far as average finishes go, however, his 8.6 average earned so far this season trumps any previous season. Entering the season, a 12.3 average finish in 2006 was his best.
“Throughout his career, Kevin has shown he can win at any level in NASCAR,” team-owner Richard Childress said. “Combining his talent with Budweiser’s NASCAR lineage and proven track record of innovative sponsorship activations makes this an exciting pairing for fans everywhere. RCR prides itself on its heritage and authenticity, so working with a brand like Budweiser, which has built their reputation on those same values, is a very special opportunity.”
Harvick brings in a 293-point lead to Bristol Motor Speedway after becoming the first driver to clinch a Chase berth following his win last weekend at Michigan.
Harvick Wins at Michigan; Secures Chase Spot
Kevin Harvick finished 19th in the points standings last year. He had his struggles, and had an average finish of 20th with just nine top tens. This year, it seems as though Harvick has done the opposite of struggling. He has three wins and 16 top tens, just 23 races into the season. He has been consistent, with an average finish of ninth. All of this paid off today at Michigan International Speedway, where he not only got his first Cup win at Michigan, but he secured his spot in the 201o Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Denny Hamlin got another strong finish, coming in second place, as well as Carl Edwards, with his third place finish. Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth finished in fourth and fifth, making it a great first day back for Jack Roush. Tony Stewart led for a while, but fell back through the field to finish sixth, after their pit strategy did not play out as expected. He did however move up to fourth in points, after Kurt Busch, who had a miserable day, finishing 40th after he blew his engine. Busch dropped to tenth in the points standings. Juan Montoya had another strong finish, coming in seventh place. Rounding out the top ten were Martin Truex Jr in eighth, Elliot Sadler in ninth, and Joey Logano in tenth.
Now that Harvick has secured his spot in the Chase, the two other RCR drivers will likely try to put their name in the Chase. Jeff Burton is currently in seventh in points, down four spots from last week. Clint Bowyer is currently in twelfth, just 35 points ahead of thirteenth place Mark Martin. A few other drivers are on the bubble, including Ryan Newman, who had a confrontation with Joey Logano after he was accidentally spun out by Logano. Newman is currently fourteenth in points, while Logano sits in 21st. Kasey Kahne, the pole sitter, finished in fourteenth, moving up one spot to sixteenth
I can safely say that Kevin Harvick is the best driver in NASCAR. He is consistent, his pit crew is strong, and he is very likely to take down Jimmie Johnson for this years championship, seeing the way that Jimmie has been racing. Richard Childress has a strong racing team this year, and will very likely have three drivers in this year’s chase. Overall, Kevin Harvick is in the Chase, and has a legitimate shot at winning the whole thing this year.
Harvick’s gamble pays off with Michigan win
BROOKLYN, Mich.—When you have a comfortable points lead, you can afford to gamble.
That’s what Kevin Harvick did—successfully—in Sunday’s Carfax 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway.
Staying out on old tires under the final caution of the race, Harvick tracked down Denny Hamlin on Lap 190 of 200 and pulled away to beat Hamlin to the finish line by 1.731 seconds. Harvick extended his series lead to 293 points over Jeff Gordon and became the first driver to clinch a spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
After NASCAR threw a yellow for debris on Lap 167, Harvick restarted second behind Tony Stewart on Lap 173. Hamlin, who restarted third, took the top spot from Stewart on Lap 178, with Harvick following. Running the top of the 2-mile track, Harvick passed Hamlin through Turns 3 and 4 after Hamlin’s Toyota began to lose grip on the bottom.
The victory was Harvick’s first at Michigan, his third of the season and the 14th of his career. Roush Fenway Racing drivers Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth claimed positions three through five. Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, Martin Truex Jr., Elliott Sadler and Joey Logano completed the top 10.
“The biggest concern I had was the tires,” Harvick said of the call to stay out.
“Once we got through those first three or four or five laps, the new tires kind of evened out. Our car was so good up on the top. We were a little off on the restarts, but what a great day. This hasn’t been the best track for us.”
Harvick’s pass of Hamlin represented a 20-point swing in bonus points to start the Chase. Harvick now has 30, 10 for each win, and prevented Hamlin from adding to his 50-point total. The bonus points will kick in after the Chase field is set Sept. 11 at Richmond.
Hamlin, who also stayed out during the final caution, said he wasn’t sure whether the strategy would serve him well until the last restart.
We didn’t know whether the guys with four tires were going to eat us up or not,” Hamlin said. “I think five laps into that (run) when me, Harvick and Tony started pulling away, I realized it was a three-car race for the win at that point.
“But really it just seemed like whoever could get their car up front was pretty strong. You lose one spot, next thing you know your car handles a little worse and you lose more. It’s a tough balance out there to try to get track position, but you got to have everything working right for you to get that track position. Once you get it, obviously the fastest car won today. So it was at least good to see that.”
In the race within a race, Mark Martin dealt a blow to his chances to qualify for the Chase in the opening laps. Racing in dirty air in close quarters with Edwards, Martin scraped the outside wall, damaged the right-front of his No. 5 Chevrolet and crippled the handling of the car.
Martin finished 28th and lost the 12th position in the standings to Clint Bowyer, who came home 13th. Martin trails Bowyer by 35 points with three races left before the Chase field is set.
Notes: Polesitter Kasey Kahne faded in the late stages of the race and finished 14th. … Dale Earnhardt Jr. ran 19th and dropped to 17th in the standings, 129 points behind Bowyer. … Edwards posted his sixth straight top-10 finish, as Roush Fenway Racing placed three cars in the top five for the first time this season.
Notebook: Childress signs Menard, will run four Cup teams
Richard Childress Racing has signed Paul Menard as the driver for a new, fourth Sprint Cup team in 2011 with Menards home improvement stores as the team’s sponsor, the team announced Wednesday.
Menards, the nation’s third-largest home improvement company, is owned by Paul’s father, John, and has sponsored Paul throughout his NASCAR career.
“Paul has developed into a very good racecar driver, and we see his move to RCR next year as an opportunity for him to continue that progress,” owner Richard Childress said. “At the same time, we feel Paul will contribute to the continued progress and success of RCR.”
Menard, 29, will join Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer in RCR’s stable of drivers. Harvick, who has two wins this year, leads the Sprint Cup standings while Burton is third. Bowyer is 13th as RCR is in position to put all three drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup for the third time in four years.
Menard is in his fourth full season of Cup competition and is 23rd in the standings for Richard Petty Motorsports. He has two top-five and five top-10 finishes in 133 career starts. His best career finish was second at Talladega in 2008 for Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Menard ran the full Cup schedule for DEI in 2007 and 2008, finishing 34th and 26th, respectively, in points. He moved to Yates Racing last year, finishing 31st in points. He moved to RPM this year when the organization merged with Yates Racing.
“Richard Childress Racing has shown this year that they’re headed on the right track,” Menard said. “Having three cars competing for the Chase and, ultimately, the championship is no small feat and they’re on top of their game. With that in mind and having known Richard for the past 10 years or so, when this opportunity to join RCR came about, it was a no-brainer.”
Budweiser likely to sponsor Harvick in 2011
Officials with Anheuser-Busch and RCR are close to finalizing a sponsorship package that would put the Budweiser brand on Harvick’s No. 29 Chevrolet beginning in 2011, SceneDaily.com reported Wednesday.
An announcement is expected within the next week.
Budweiser currently sponsors the No. 9 Ford of Richard Petty Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne. Kahne will drive for Red Bull Racing in 2011 and is slated to move to Hendrick Motorsports in 2012, where he will replace Mark Martin in Hendrick’s No. 5 Chevrolet.
Budweiser, which has a long history in NASCAR, is not expected to remain at RPM.
“Budweiser has decided to go in another direction with regard to its driver/team sponsorship and will announce those plans in the very near future,” Anheuser-Busch executive Mark Wright said.
Shell/Pennzoil, which sponsors Harvick, announced in April the company had struck a deal with Penske Racing to become the primary sponsor of 2004 Sprint Cup champion Kurt Busch beginning next season. The move includes associate sponsorships with Penske’s IndyCar teams and drivers Helio Castroneves, Will Power and Ryan Briscoe. That left RCR looking for a new sponsor for Harvick.
Penske: Hornish staying in NASCAR
Team owner Roger Penske said driver Sam Hornish Jr. will be competing in NASCAR in 2011 and there are no plans for the three-time IndyCar champion to return to open-wheel competition.
“We’ve said publicly that we want to run Sam next year (in NASCAR); he’s not going back to open-wheel racing,” Penske said. “He’s going to be in NASCAR racing.”
Hornish, 31, is in his third full season with Penske Racing in the Sprint Cup Series. He has two career top-five finishes and seven top 10s in 94 starts. He is 28th in the point standings heading into Sunday’s Carfax 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Mobil 1 currently sponsors Hornish’s No. 77 team, but the company will not return next season.
“It’s a matter of us getting the sponsorship stuff together,” Penske said. “As you know, budgets are tight. We’ve got a number of opportunities out there that we’re working on.
“That’s a decision that we’ll make as we get toward the end of the season and we’ll make it transparent to everyone.”
Busch roars to ninth Nationwide win
BNEWTON, Iowa—Even when he doesn’t get any practice, Kyle Busch still wins in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
Busch won his ninth Nationwide race of 2010, his sixth in his last seven starts and 39th of his career by dominating the U.S. Cellular 250 in front of 55,988 fans at Iowa Speedway.
“I really like these cars,” Busch said. “It’s fun, man. I’ve really grown accustomed to these things and have learned how to drive them. You can really drive the Nationwide cars hard because they don’t have a whole lot of horsepower, so you can really try to make up a lot by being able to get more out of the car, driver-wise.”
Busch missed Saturday morning’s rain-delayed practice, making it to Iowa in time for qualifying. In his first laps in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, he earned the second position. Brad Coleman practiced Busch’s car.
“It would’ve been better if I could’ve sat on the pole,” Busch said. “Darn Trevor Bayne.”
Bayne may have won the pole, but Busch’s car was clearly dominant in the race, even without Busch practicing it. Busch led four times for 209 laps.
“It says a lot about the team, it says a lot about my confidence as a driver and my confidence in the team that they can prepare great racecars—and also (backup driver) Brad Coleman and what he does. I told (crew chief) Jason (Ratcliff) before the start of this thing, ‘Man, if I win this thing, I just might not practice any more.’ I think I screw it up more when I practice it.”
Busch restarted sixth after a pit stop for four tires with 42 laps to go, passing four cars in one lap to move to second behind Kevin Harvick, who changed only right-side tires.
“We got five, six cars in between ourselves and Kyle, and that’s really what we wanted to do,” Harvick said. “We just didn’t expect him to pass them all in one lap. That was our best chance, to try to get in front of him, and hopefully have him get caught up in traffic.”
Busch passed Harvick with 24 laps to go and pulled away for the victory, spoiling Nationwide’s Dash 4 Cash program. Since Busch was ineligible because he hasn’t run all the Nationwide Series races this year, an eligible driver can win $75,000 if he wins at Texas Motor Speedway on Nov. 6.
Harvick ended up second, with Jason Leffler third, with points leader Brad Keselowski fourth and Bayne fifth. Sixth through 10th were Steve Wallace, Michael Annett, Justin Allgaier, Matt DiBenedetto and Carl Edwards.
Iowa’s second Nationwide race saw two red flags in the first 100 laps. The first red was for Reed Sorenson’s wreck in Turn 1 on Lap 42, caused by a melted bead on the right-front tire. The second came 51 laps later, when Brian Keselowski nailed a prone Colin Braun in Turn 2.
Braun, who wrecked his primary car in qualifying, had spun off the corner before getting slammed by Keselowski. Three other cars were involved, but none of the drivers were hurt.
Bayne became the youngest driver in series history to win three consecutive poles as he claimed the top spot for the 250-lap race. Bayne is the third driver to accomplish the feat and the first in 18 years. The others were Sam Ard, Jeff Gordon and Michael Waltrip.
Brad Keselowski extended his series points lead over Edwards to 231 points.
Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500
The Sprint Cup Series returns to the tricky triangle of Pocono Raceway this week for the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500. One of the most grueling races on the schedule, Pocono provides one of the greatest tests of endurance for any race driver two weekends every year.
Pocono provided us with plenty of drama in its first race this year, which saw Joey Logano make some disparaging remarks about the Harvick family and Kasey Kahne nearly exit the speedway completely in his car. It’ll be hard to top that kind of intensity this weekend, but the boys will sure try.
So, who looks good this weekend at Pocono?
Obviously, Denny Hamlin is the top pick, and is certainly my choice. Hamlin’s successes at Pocono are widely known, but here they are anyway: four wins, seven top-10s, and an average finish of 8.6 in nine career starts, tops of all active drivers. Sounds like a pretty obvious pick to me, based on his history.
My dark horse for the weekend is Jamie McMurray. Coming off a huge win in last weekend’s Brickyard 400, McMurray sports a new paint scheme this weekend, with Axe Twist coming on board to sponsor. McMurray’s never been a great Pocono driver, with an average finish of 21.7 and only three top-10s in 15 starts, but that’s not to say that a team that has proven its ability to win big races on big tracks can’t find a little magic this weekend.
Three more, just because:
Jimmie Johnson is the second best active Pocono driver in terms of average finish, with a astout 9.5. Johnson led laps in four of the past five Pocono races, for an average finish of 6.8 over that span. His only two Pocono wins came in a 2004 sweep of the track, but you can bet that a middling Indy finish will only add fuel to the fire for him to get back to victory lane.
Tony Stewart came up with a solid top five at Indy last week, something he’s done at Pocono in eight out of 23 attempts. Stewart’s first points-paying win as an owner-driver came at the track last year, and since that race he’s also had finishes of tenth and third. He says he’s been looking for a little more out of his team, and Pocono seems to be the place to find it: no Stewart-Haas car has ever finished outside the top 15.
Finally, Kevin Harvick has improved over the years at Pocono, going from run-of-the-mill midpack finishes earlier in his career to solid top-10s and top-15s in more recent years. His two finishes of fourth in the past four Pocono races, including one earlier this year, are his career bests; he’ll look to improve on them this weekend.
Burton leads third Cup Series practice at Indy
Richard Childress Racing’s Jeff Burton broke up Juan Pablo Montoya’s weekend domination Saturday afternoon in the third Sprint Cup Series practice of the weekend. Burton turned a 51.221-second lap to be the fastest driver in single lap runs.
Teammate Clint Bowyer was second fastest with a lap of 51.292-seconds with the other RCR driver, Kevin Harvick completing the top-three fastest driver sweep, clocking in with a lap of 51.375-seconds.
Kasey Kahne and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-five fastest drivers in single-lap runs. Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Mark Martin joined Roush Fenway Racing teammates Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle to round out the top-ten fastest.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. continued his improvement on the weekend, finishing practice 12th quickest.
After leading Friday’s two practices and qualifying on the pole Saturday morning, Montoya was 14th quickest.
Hamlin held the fastest ten-lap average speed of 172.254 mph. Montoya was the second-best with a 172.010 mph average while Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard and Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five fastest drivers in 10-lap runs. They were the only drivers to complete ten consecutive laps in the session.
The Sprint Cup Series will practice again at 3:30 p.m. ET for the final time of the weekend.
Top 5 and 5 to watch: Indianapolis
Here’s a look at the top five drivers in the Sprint Cup Series standings and five drivers to watch in Sunday’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. All statistical references are for Sprint Cup races at Indianapolis unless otherwise indicated. Driver rating is based on the past 5 races at the track.
1. Kevin Harvick, 91.9 driver rating. Harvick has a win and six top 10s in nine starts. There are seven races before the Chase field is set. To Harvick, that’s seven opportunities for victories. If he is in the hunt for a win, he’ll go for it. Otherwise, he’ll preserve his top spot as insurance, should qualifying be rained out before the Chase begins and the starting field—and pit stalls—be awarded on points.
2. Jeff Gordon, 96.2. Gordon is solidly in the Chase. Passing Harvick means little. But Gordon is winless, so it’s about wins. Like Harvick, he knows what to do when he doesn’t have the car for a win. In fact, Gordon has finished in the top five in each of the past five races. Gordon has the track record for wins (four), top fives (nine) and top 10s (13).
3. Jimmie Johnson, 104.9. Johnson’s three wins at the Brickyard have come in the past four years. By contrast, in Johnson’s past six starts, the three races he didn’t win, he didn’t finish. All because of crashes.
4. Denny Hamlin, 93.3. After winning back-to-back races at Pocono and Michigan, Hamlin cooled, finishing outside the top 10 three straight weeks until finishing eighth at Chicagoland. He finished 34th last year after finishing third in 2008. Gibbs cars haven’t been running well of late. It will be interesting to see how they do with two weeks of preparation.
5. Kurt Busch, 66.4. Busch’s three top 10s came when he was racing for Jack Roush, the last coming in 2004. He hasn’t distinguished himself at the Brickyard, leading three laps in nine starts. His average start is 20.7; his average finish 19.0.
5 to watch
10. Carl Edwards, 87.4. Where to begin with Edwards? He has been rebuked by NASCAR, and a number of high-profile current and former drivers have said he crossed the line in retaliating against Brad Keselowski. With but a 75-point lead over 13th place, Edwards has little room for error—which means one timely payback from Keselowski can knock Edwards out of the top 12. Oh … and Keselowski might feel he owes Edwards two shots (don’t forget Atlanta).
11. Greg Biffle, 90.7. Biffle is 21 points ahead of 13th place Dale Earnhardt Jr. In the last race, at Chicagoland two weeks ago, Biffle’s new Ford FR9 engine expired and he finished 35th. That is major cause for concern in the Roush camp. On the brighter side, two of Biffle’s three top 10s at Indy came in the past two years—fourth last year and eighth in 2008.
12. Clint Bowyer, 83.4. Bowyer is points racing, and he excels at getting solid finishes. He has finished in the top 15 in 79 of his 127 starts since the start of the 2007 season (60 top 10s). He is 15 points ahead of Earnhardt and simply needs to finish as far ahead of Earnhardt as possible. He is 37 ahead of Mark Martin and 96 up on 15th-place David Reutimann. Bowyer has a 13.5 average finish in four starts at Indy.
13. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 75.1. Earnhardt does not have a good record at the Brickyard: Two top 10s, three DNFs and a 21.7 average finish in 10 starts. Even more discouraging for Junior Nation is that the three DNFs have been in the past five years, including last year for engine failure. There is no margin for that kind of error on the 88 team.
14. Mark Martin, 104.8. Martin is struggling. He hasn’t had a top 10 since the Coca-Cola 600 in May, and that is his only top 10 in the past 10 races. A poor showing Sunday would be heartbreaking for the No. 5 team. Martin won the pole last year and finished second for his fourth top 10 in five races, and the non-top 10 was 11th in 2008.
Harvick beats heat, stiff neck to win trucks race
MADISON, Ill.—On a blistering hot day that left fourth-place finisher Todd Bodine lying on the tile floor of the media center with ice packs on his chest, Kevin Harvick beat the heat and trounced the rest of the field to win Saturday afternoon’s blackout-delayed CampingWorld.com 200.
Despite a stiff neck that kept him out of Nationwide Series practice earlier in the day, Harvick, who won the pole on Friday before a power failure forced postponement of the race itself, cruised to his third victory in four NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts this season.
Harvick crossed the finish line at 1.25-mile Gateway International Raceway 5.241 seconds ahead of runner-up Brad Keselowski, who was making his third start of the season in his own truck. Johnny Sauter ran third, followed by Bodine, who extended his series lead to 101 points over eighth-place finisher Aric Almirola.
Matt Crafton came home fifth to claim his second straight top five and his third of the season. Timothy Peters, rookie Austin Dillon, Almirola, Brian Ickler and Mike Skinner completed the top 10.
“I was wiping my hair off in the shower this morning, and that’s how I hurt it,” Harvick said of the neck problem. “I just got a kink in my neck, and it’s gone all the way down to my shoulder, but the longer I ran today, it actually got better. I feel better than I did this morning.
“I’ve just got to relax in the car. If you get tense, it becomes more of an issue, but as the race went on, I got more and more relaxed and was able to tolerate it.”
Harvick, who led 143 of 160 laps, got help from a physical therapist before the race. He said the heat that toasted other drivers didn’t bother him until he got out of the truck in victory lane.
Keselowski acknowledged that Harvick had the field covered, but he questioned whether Harvick had violated NASCAR’s rule against pulling up to pit on the final stop under caution on Lap 126.
“The only way we were going to win the race is if he made a mistake,” Keselowski said. “I felt like he did. He passed the pace car pitting. You’re not supposed to do that. He got away with that one. We didn’t catch that break, but we did all we could to put ourselves in the best position possible. We just needed a little bit more.”
Harvick viewed Keselowski’s complaint about passing the pace car as a case of sour grapes.
“I’d complain if I got beat that bad, too,” Harvick said.
For Bodine, the heat inside his truck was so intense it burned him, despite adjustments to his seat after a similar experience at Texas.
“Man, I burned my butt bad today, and my back even got burnt,” said Bodine, who declined a trip in an ambulance after the race. “That’s why I lay down in here (the media center) on the cold floor.”
Notes: Harvick earned a perfect 150.00 driver rating for his performance in the truck race. He and Keselowski, among others, were scheduled to compete later Saturday in the Nationwide race at Gateway. … Ricky Carmichael crashed hard into the Turn 4 wall after contact with Skinner’s Toyota on Lap 80. As Carmichael slid toward the infield grass, Jeffrey Earnhardt’s Chevrolet plowed into Carmichael’s truck. Both drivers were released forthwith from the infield care center, but Earnhardt’s truck series debut ended with a 30th-place finish.
Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 LifeLock.com 400
Chicagoland Speedway provides this weekend’s setting for the Sprint Cup Series, as the LifeLock.com 400 marks the beginning of the second half of the season. We’re inching ever closer to the Chase for the Sprint Cup, and all of the fanfare that comes with the final ten races of the season.
Chicago provides a good test of who should be there in the Chase, as it shares many characteristics with the cookie-cutter tracks that make up its foundation. Combine that with its Saturday night time slot, and the action at Chicago is perhaps some of the best that TNT shows during its brief run of NASCAR broadcasts.
As for those behind the wheel, who has the best chance at claiming victory in Chicago?
Most signs point to Kevin Harvick as the way to go this weekend. The points leader has won twice this season, although both victories came on superspeedways. But his Chicagoland record is stout – two wins (his first two attempts) and five top-five finishes in nine starts. Happy’s only failed to complete a single lap at the track, back in 2003, and has led an impressive 282 of them. It’s safe to say that he owns this track, if anybody does.
A solid dark horse pick for the weekend is A.J. Allmendinger, who has finished 13th in both of his Chicagoland starts. This isn’t so much a history pick as a current circumstances pick. After some rough words at Daytona with legendary owner Richard Petty, Allmendinger certainly feels like he has something to prove behind the wheel, and his team needs to give him some better equipment if they have any chance at retaining his services for 2011 and beyond.
Three others:
Okay, so Jimmie Johnson is a bit of a “duh” pick everywhere, especially with seven top-10s in eight starts and the track’s best average finish, an 8.1. But did you know that Four-Time has never won a Chicagoland event? True story. He’s been sixth or better in every Chicagoland race except for 2001, when he did not compete, and 2007, when he crashed out. He’s also led laps in every race at the track but 2001 (again, because he was not yet a Cup driver) and 2006. But he’s somehow never eked out a win. Food for thought.
Tony Stewart finished fifth or better in every Chicago event but those in 2001 and 2006, when he had two finishes in the 30s. He’s also led at least one lap in every Chicagoland race but those in 2001 and 2005. His 9.6 average finish is not quite Johnson’s, but he does have two wins at the track (in 2004 and 2007) under his belt, unlike his former home improvement warehouse-toting rival.
Finally, don’t forget Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose solid Daytona runs have put him on everybody’s mind as a driver once again. His Chicagoland finishes have been decidedly mediocre, with a 15.2 average finish, but he did manage to pull out the victory in 2005. And riding a wave of momentum, both from his Nationwide win in a throwback Wrangler car and from positioning himself back in the Chase after a fourth-place finish in the Cup event, he could certainly stand to duplicate.
Sporting News Power Poll after Daytona
Kevin Harvick is back on top of the Sporting News Power Poll. Harvick won Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona to reclaim the top spot from Jimmie Johnson, who was involved in a late wreck and had his two-race winning streak snapped. The weekly poll is a collaboration of Sporting News and Rowdy.com.
1. Kevin Harvick (last week: 3rd) Best way to stay out the wrecks is to lead the race, and he did that more than anyone else. Would like to see him win somewhere other than a plate track, however.
2. Jimmie Johnson (1st) Johnson now has as many finishes 30th or worse as wins: five. Guess which matters more? Don’t you wish all tests were this easy?
3. Jeff Gordon (2nd) Jumped three spot to second in points with a third-place run at Daytona but added Clint Bowyer to his enemies list.
4. Kurt Busch (5th) Has five top 10s in the six races since the All-star break.
5. Jeff Burton (6th) We agree with Burton when he says wins could be coming in bunches if he breaks through, but we’ve been saying that for about two months. Better in his spot than, say, Juan Pablo Montoya, though.
6. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (12th) Earnhardt kept the wheels on a mediocre car and benefited from attrition. His fourth-place finish moved him to 11th in points.
7. Tony Stewart (4th) Led seven laps Saturday before the late-race pileup in Turn 3 gobbled him up.
8. Kasey Kahne (22nd ) Jumped four spots in the standings thanks to his runner-up finish, but Kahne is still more than 150 points out of 12th with eight races until the Chase.
9. Clint Bowyer (9th) Last-lap contact with David Reutimann ended hopes of a win or a top-five finish. Still, car was running great, as were those of his Richard Childress Racing teammates.
10. Carl Edwards (19th) Finished sixth Saturday to stay 12th in the standings but opened some breathing room over 13th-place Mark Martin
11. Denny Hamlin (8th) Hamlin has finished in the top five (seven times) or outside the top 10 (11 times) this year. Those numbers could be a concern come Chase time.
12. Kyle Busch (7th) An early end to his night in Daytona doesn’t tell us much.
13. Greg Biffle (14th) The 16 car wasn’t handling for most of the night, and he was finally done in by an oil leak picked up in the big wreck.
14. Matt Kenseth (15th) Kenseth finished outside the top 10 for the fifth consecutive week. On the other hand, he scored his 16th top 20. That’s a nice stat if you are AJ Allmendinger or Paul Menard but not if you are Matt Kenseth.
15. David Reutimann (17th) Speaking of top 20s, Reutimann finished 11th for his 10th top 20 in a row. Only Harvick, Gordon, Kurt Busch and Hamlin have a better average finish than Reutimann’s 12.9 in that stretch.
16. AJ Allmendinger (10th) Allmendinger turned his back on The King?!? Off with his head!
17. Ryan Newman (11th) Saturday night’s race was the fourth straight restrictor-plate event in which Newman’s race ended early.
18. Mark Martin (16th) Martin was pulled from his car after a fiery wreck at Daytona—you wouldn’t have expected anything else given his fortunes in plate races over the years.
19. Joey Logano (13th) Logano was victimized by the big one, but he really didn’t show much strength during the race. His Chase hopes suffered a big blow.
20. Juan Pablo Montoya (20th) Montoya recorded just his second finish in the 20s. Usually he lays down a top 10 or ends up somewhere in the 30s.
21. Paul Menard (25th) Except for his crash in the 2009 Daytona 500, this was the first time Menard finished off the lead lap at Daytona.
22. Jamie McMurray (18th) McMurray had a strong car Saturday that was getting stronger but paid the price when former teammate David Ragan lost control.
23. Scott Speed (NR) Speed’s second top 10—his first since the fourth race of the season—is enough to earn him a spot in the poll. It’s also the third top 10 of his Cup career (58 races).
24. Sam Hornish Jr. (NR) Hornish led laps at Daytona for the first time in his career. Fourteen to be exact.
25. Elliott Sadler (NR) Sadler has led 27 laps this year—20 at Daytona, including 11 Saturday night.
Harvick avoids melees, triumphs at Daytona
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Kevin Harvick started up front and finished up front in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, but what happened in between was a maelstrom of frenetic racing after a series of late-race accidents.
Streaking into the lead on the first lap of a green-white-checkered-finish, Harvick held off Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win the rain-delayed NASCAR Sprint Cup race.
With more than half the field eliminated or hobbled by a series of spectacular accidents, Harvick crossed the finish line a car-length ahead of Kahne and solidified his hold on the top spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings.
Jeff Burton ran fifth, followed by Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, Reed Sorenson, Mike Bliss and Scott Speed.
The victory was Harvick’s second of the season and the 13th of his career. Gordon moved to second in the standings, 212 points behind Harvick. Earnhardt’s fourth-place result put him back inside the top 12 with eight races left before the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field is set Sept. 11 at Richmond.
Contact from Sam Hornish Jr. sent teammate Kurt Busch into the Turn 4 wall on Lap 159 to set up the two-lap dash to the finish.
Even with his sizable points lead, Harvick wasn’t ready to say he should be favored to dethrone four-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson.
“I think until somebody beats him—until we get to Homestead (the season finale) and that happens, he’s still the guy to beat,” Harvick said. “For us, we’ve got to keep working hard. We’re in a fortunate position with the start to our season, and we’ve got to keep working on our cars and trying to make things better, and hopefully, when the stress starts with 10 weeks to go, we’ll be as ready as we’ve ever been.”
NASCAR red-flagged the race for more than 20 minutes with 12 laps left after a colossal 20-car chain-reaction collision in Turn 3 strewed debris all over the racetrack. Mark Martin’s Chevrolet sustained the most spectacular damage, with the driver of the No. 5 bringing his flaming car to pit road before members of Jimmie Johnson’s crew helped him escape from the car.
Among those whose winning chances were destroyed in the wreck were Johnson, Tony Stewart, Juan Pablo Montoya, Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Newman.
TNT analyst Kyle Petty called the wreck “the official first fireworks of the Fourth of July,” since the incident occurred just after midnight.
David Stremme’s spin through Turn 3 on Lap 136 provided an opportunity for pit stops with 23 laps left in the race. Kurt Busch won the race off pit road, but the field couldn’t complete a full lap before a crash involving Matt Kenseth and Elliott Sadler slowed the field for the fifth time.
That was just an appetizer, however, for the wild melee that followed on Lap 148.
David Ragan turned sideways in Turn 3 and triggered a Lap 117 wreck that demolished the car of Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray and damaged the vehicles of Martin Truex Jr. and Kahne, who slid in oil and hit the wall behind the collision. The wreck knocked Truex out of the race, but Kahne recovered to run in the top 10 before finishing second.
“You had to be aggressive and drive your car sideways all night long,” Kahne said. “That’s just the way it was. I felt like I had one of the best cars from start to finish—even hitting the wall I still felt like we had a great car. It was just a wild race. I really enjoyed it.”
After climbing to second in the Cup standings at Pocono, Kyle Busch had his third straight star-crossed run. Contact with Montoya’s Chevrolet on Lap 104 sent Busch’s No. 18 Toyota—leading the race at the time—nose-first into the backstretch wall. Busch finished 40th.
Note: The 18 different leaders Saturday night were a record for the event. … After winning the previous two Cup events, Johnson finished 31st. … Gordon gained three positions in the standings, thanks to the troubles of Johnson, Kyle Busch and 24th-place finisher Denny Hamlin. … The racing surface at Daytona will be repaved—for the first time in 32 years—before the Daytona 500 in February.
Qualifying rainout puts Harvick on Daytona pole
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Whether Kevin Harvick needed an edge at Daytona International Speedway or not, he got one Friday afternoon.
After a light, persistent rain interrupted qualifying 12 cars into the session, NASCAR canceled time trials for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400. Under rainout rules, Harvick, the Sprint Cup points leader, will start the race from the pole, with second-place Jimmie Johnson beside him.
More important than the starting spot, however, is pit selection for the race. As the polesitter, Harvick gets first choice, and typically, the ability to pick pit stall No. 1—closest to the exit from pit road—is an important bonus.
“Only if the caution comes out,” Harvick said. “Obviously, if the caution doesn’t come out, it’s probably a little bit of a disadvantage, getting going under green-flag racing. But if there’s a caution at the end of the race, I’d take my chances on that pit stall, just to gain a few spots if you’re not leading the race—or wherever you’re at.
“The other thing it creates is not getting run over getting in and out of your pit stall and getting damage on pit road.”
With the top 35 starters ordered according to owner points, Kyle Busch will start third next to Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, whom Busch spun Thursday in practice. Both Busch and Hamlin will start the race in backup cars—Hamlin from the contact with Busch and Busch from an earlier incident.
“We would have like to have qualified, just to see what kind of speed our car would have put up versus the field,” Busch said. “But that’s all right. It doesn’t matter, really, where you start here, but to start up front—being third in points—and get a good pit selection, hopefully that’ll help us out a little bit.”
Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch, fifth and sixth in the standings, respectively, will start side-by-side on the third row, followed by Matt Kenseth, Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart and Greg Biffle.
Notes: Saturday’s race will be the last on the old asphalt at Daytona, which will undergo an estimated $20-million repaving between the end of the Coke Zero 400 and the Daytona 500 next February. … Michael McDowell and Todd Bodine failed to qualify for the 43-car field.
