The News Desk

Saturday Night is Alright for Racing:  Richmond Preview

Virginia is home to Sprint Cup points leader Jeff Burton, and as the saying goes, there is no place like home. Most of the time when a sports team comes home to the home field they have a distinct advantage. At Richmond Burton has one win and a last place finish. It has been 10 year since he won and only 12 months since the last place finish. In between the two, he has seven top top fives, 12 top tens, and a DNF. Richmond should not be a worry for Burton this season, he is having one of his best season’s in recent memory, although his driver rating is 80.1, he does have an average finish of 15.5.

Even though Burton is have a great season, Kyle Busch may just be having a championship season. Busch, coming off a win last week in Talladega, just may be the man to beat this season. Richmond is a good track for Kyle Busch. In only six career races at Richmond, he has five top fives, and five top tens with an average finish of 6.7 and a driver rating of 109.0. Kyle Busch is the hottest young driver in NASCAR history. With six career wins before the age of 23 (his twenty-third birthday is Friday). He has seven wins this season spread across the three top series in NASCAR and he may be the sure bet to win on Saturday night.

Another Virginia native coming home is Denny Hamlin. In only four career starts at Richmond he has two top fives, three top tens and one pole with an average finish of 6.5 and a driver rating of 111.3. Hamlin is fourth in the point standings and already has a win in Virginia this season by picking up the victory in Martinsville last month.

Each week I keep thinking that Dale Earnhardt, Junior will break the winless streak that has hung on for 71 races. Richmond comes at a good time for Junior, he is currently third in points, the only driver with seven top ten finishes, and Richmond is the last place Junior went to victory lane nearly two years ago.

The only driver in the top twelve with more than one win is defending Cup Series champion, Jimmie Johnson. Johnson has two wins, three top fives, three top tens, two poles with an average finish of 17.8.

To look into my crystal ball and pick a winner for this weekend I would have to say that Dale Earnhardt, Junior breaks the streak and will get to victory lane this weekend and picks up his first victory for his Hendrick Motorsports team.

Richmond looms large on the schedule this weekend, but it is the Richmond race that sits 26th on the schedule and is the cut-off for the chase that most people are looking at. While some drivers may move into or out of the top twelve this weekend, a good run at Richmond this week may be a sigh of good things to come for the team that goes to victory lane on Saturday night.

Subway Fit Fresh 500 Preview

Carl Edwards has three wins in the first seven races of the season and that puts him in fine company. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Bill Elliott are the only active drivers to accomplish this feat. Gordon has accomplished that three times leading to two championships. Johnson did it last season and won the championship, and Bill Elliott has done it twice and finished second in the standings both times. What does this mean to Edwards? It could very well mean he is on his way to a championship in 2008.

Edwards has been exceptional on tracks 1.5 miles or longer. He has not done quite so well on tracks less than 1.5 miles. He has only two career victories on short tracks, Dover and Bristol. He finished 42nd last fall in Phoenix, but he has four top tens in the previous five races.

When you talk about Phoenix, you have to look at Jimmie Johnson. Johnson picked up the win in Phoenix last November and has seven top tens in nine career starts. Johnson also leads all drivers with a driver rating of 115.9. With the second place finish last week, Johnson looks to make up even more ground in the race for the chase.

Jeff Gordon has always run pretty well at Phoenix with 1 win, 8 top fives, 15 top tens, an average finish of 8.3 and a driver rating of 110.3. With Phoenix being a short track, look for a good run from the #24 team. Phoenix comes at a good time for Gordon. He currently sits outside the top twelve and needs to make a strong run to get back into the race for the chase.

Three other drivers are outside the top twelve. Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, and Martin Truex Jr. all three have run well at Phoenix led by Kurt Busch. Busch has one win, two top fives, five top tens with an average finish 13.4, and a driver rating of 103.7. Matt Kenseth has one win, five top fives, six top tens, with an average finish of 17th and a driver rating of 97.0. Martin Truex Jr. has one lone top ten in four career starts and that was last fall. He has an average finish of 15.3 and a driver rating of 93.0.

If you are looking for a sure bet in Phoenix this coming weekend it may very well be out of Richard Childress Racing. Jeff Burton has two wins, five top fives, nine top tens with an average finish of 11.4, and 0 DNF’s. His teammate is tied with Burton with two wins. Harvick has three top fives, 5 top tens an average finish of 13.2 and driver rating of 110.3. Clint Bowyer is the weakest RCR driver at Phoenix. Bowyer has one top five, one top ten and one DNF, a driver rating of 82.5. All three Childress drivers are in the top ten in points, with Burton in the lead and Harvick just 59 points behind. Bowyer is in 11th place just 2 points out of 10th.

Picking a winner is not easy any week, but this week even more difficult. My instinct says go with the #24 team. They always come back strong after a bad week. My head tells me to go with a previous winner at Phoenix, Kevin Harvick. So the brain wins over instinct. Look for Kevin Harvick to take the 29 Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet to victory lane on Saturday night in Phoenix.

Back to work in Martinsville

After a week off for the Easter holiday the Sprint Cup Series heads to the second short track of the season. Martinsville is full of NASCAR history, this .526 mile track has been the home for a NASCAR race since the first schedule was released in 1948. Martinsville was also the place where Hendrick Motorsports experienced the tragic loss of 9 members fo their team in a place crash in 2004. So it is no surprise that Martinsville is a place Hendrick teams have mixed emotions about. Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon have had less than ideal starts to their seasons. Gordon has run well this season but bad luck has him sitting 14th in point standings. Jimmie Johnson just has not run well at all this season. The #48 Lowes team has shown up at the track some weekends almost clueless and that is uncharacteristic for them.

This weekend could be the weekend that those two team could turn their season around. Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon have dominated the Martinsville track since 2003. Johnson and Gordon have eleven wins between them, eight out of the last ten. They have finished in the top ten in every race since 2003, the last five races in the top five. In the 2007 spring race Johnson and Gordon took the new car to its limits in a battle for the checkered flag and Johnson beat his teammate by .065 seconds. Jeff Gordon has the highest driver rating of 124.5 followed by Johnson with a rating of 120.8. Look for either of them to break their 2008 winless streak this weekend in Martinsville.

If Gordon or Johnson are not in victory lane, look for another winless driver in 2008, Tony Stewart to pick up the victory. Stewart has run very well this season but just hasn’t been able to seal the deal. Stewart is third in driver rating at Martinsville at 119.3. He is the only driver to sneak in a win during the Hendrick domination. Stewart has two wins, six top fives, ten top tens with three poles at Martinsville.

Drivers without a win at Martinsville to keep an eye on this weekend include Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Junior has seven top fives, and an average finish of 14.5. Junior is the only Hendrick driver in the top twelve in points. You also need to keep an eye on the current points leader, Kyle Busch. Busch has had an awesome season so far. At Martinsville Busch has 3 top fives and four top tens with an average finish of 13.2.

As the NASCAR Sprint Cup series gets back to work this weekend at Martinsville I think that Jeff Gordon will take the checkered flag and leap into the top twelve and back in the race for the chase in 2008.

Well another Bristol race is in the books.  Jeff  Burton avoided a spinning Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick and with fresh tires powered past Denny Hamlin in a green, white, checker finish.  Burton led teammates Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer in a 1,2,3 Richard Childress Racing finish.  For the third time Tony Stewart led the most laps at Bristol, but was spun out when Kevin Harvick drifted up into Stewart and he spun into the wall with 2 laps to go.  Greg Biffle finished fourth and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. finished fifth.  Aric Almorila, taking over the #8 car, for Mark Martin had a great run with an eighth place finish.  David Gilliland in the #38 Ford for Yates Racing turned in his best run of the season with a ninth place finish. 

The Food City was a record breaker in the fact that 42 cars were running at the end of the race.  The new car on the new surface combined for a pretty tame Bristol race, which was a disappoint for me.  I miss the old Bristol with all the beating and banging on each other for the victory. 

Food City 500 Preview

Ah, it is spring and a boys mind turns to high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway.  Bristol is one of favorites for NASCAR fans, because it brings them back to the roots of racing, the local bull ring on Saturday night.

 As the Sprint Cup Series comes into Bristol there is no hotter driver in NASCAR than Kyle Busch.  Last weekend in Atlanta Kyle Busch took Toyota to victory lane for the first time.  He has the points lead in the Cup and Truck series and sits in third place in the Nationwide series.  He also picked up the first win for the COT last year in the Food City 500.  Even with only six races under his belt at Bristol he has done pretty well. Kyle has 1 win, 2 top fives and 4 top tens with an average finish of 13.5. When it comes to Bristol Kyle’s talent may be inbred.

 One driver that can never be counted out at Bristol is the other Busch, Kurt Busch. Kurt’s history isn’t much longer than his younger brother, but it is very impressive. Kurt has 14 races at Bristol and picked up 5 wins, 5 top fives and 9 top tens with an average 14.5 and a driver rating of 92.8.

 Four time champion Jeff Gordon has had a pretty successful career at Bristol. Gordon has a driver rating of 103.1 with 5 wins, 12 top fives and 18 top tens with 5 poles and an average finish of 11.7.

 It never fails, but every track the Sprint Cup Series goes to there is one driver you always have to consider is Matt Kenseth. Kenseth leads all active drivers with a rating of 111.4. He has 2 wins, 7 top fives, and 9 top tens with an average finish of 12.5.

 While most fans will be watching what goes on at the front of the pack, there will be owners and crew chiefs watching what happens in the back of the pack.  Drivers like Michael Waltrip, Jeremy Mayfield, JJ Yeley, Sam Hornish, Jr., Dave Blaney and Dario Franchitti.  All of these drivers are hovering around the 35th position in owner’s points.  After the Food City 500 the top 35 drivers in owners’ points will be locked into a starting spot in each race.  Anyone outside of the top 35 will have to qualify on speed.  So being 35th or better is the goal for these drivers. 

The only question that remains is will we see an old style Bristol race with lots of beatin’ and bangin’ or will we see a race like we had last August?  I hope it is an old style Bristol race.  No matter what type of race that we have you will see Jeff Gordon in victory lane this weekend.  He has run strong everywhere this season and look for his team put all the pieces together this weekend and jump into the middle of the race for the chase.