Saturday, July 24, 2010

Brad, Carl and the Brickyard

There were no fireworks between Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski in Saturday night's Nationwide race. While Edwards was penalized 60 points in the Nationwide Series and they were both put on probation, that doesn't mean something couldn't happen in the Sprint Cup Series. So, you know, you might want to keep an eye on the 12 and 99 today in Indy.

As for Indy, here are my picks, sorry for being a bit late with this:

Juan Pablo Montoya: On the pole, should've won last year, loves Indy.
Jeff Gordon: A good place for him to get his first win of the year.
Tony Stewart: A good place for him to get his first win of the year, really.
Denny Hamlin: It's not uncommon for success at Pocono to translate into success at Indy.
Kyle Busch: He won the Nationwide race Saturday night at O'Reilly Raceway Park just outside Indy, so it would be a no surprise to see him get an Indy double.
Probably will regret not picking Jimmie Johnson, but can't pick the dude every week.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Unscheduled pit stops and change

Sorry, it's been a bit since I've been on here, just a lot of unscheduled pit stops this past week.

It was good to see David Reutimann find victory lane last week in Chicagoland. Reutimann and Michael Waltrip have been together since Waltrip started his team the first year Toyota competed in the Sprint Cup series. They each had no record of any great accomplishments, and in an era where patience is not a common theme among sports, it was good to see that team reach victory lane. They had won one other time, but it was a rain-shortened race. This one was completely legit, so good for them.

No Sprint Cup race this weekend, they go to Indy next week.

It was impressive to see so many fans in St. Louis stay to try and watch the truck race Friday night, but it was eventually postponed due to a power outage. They'll run Saturday at 1:30.

Friday, July 2, 2010

POT HOLES AND PICKS

Let's hope the track stays together for one more night at Daytona, as they have had to make some repairs to the track already this weekend. The track is scheduled to be resurfaced by the Daytona 500 in February, so problems with the track should be fixed by then.

Last week's picks
Kyle Busch - Finished 18th, led 46 laps but not around at the end due to some late race bumping.
Denny Hamlin - Finished 14th. One of the few recent times where he was not a threat to win the race.
Tony Stewart - Finished 2nd. He had a strong finish and wasn't far from pulling off his first win of the year.
Juan Pablo Montoya - Finished 34th. He started on the pole and led the majority of his 36 laps early on. Was not surpsinginly involved in some heavy bumping, so that sabotaged any chance of a good finish.
Kevin Harvick - Finished fifth to keep a solid hold on the top spot in the standings.

The picks
It's always tricky making picks for a restrictor race, so here goes.
Tony Stewart - He's had plenty of success in the July Daytona race and he's been very good in restrictor plate races. He has to go to the back in a backup car tonight, but it won't take long for him to get to the front.
Kevin Harvick - Starting the pole and the Neighborhood Bully has a knack for being around at the end of the race at Daytona
Kurt Busch - The Penske cars have been good at Daytona for the past couple of years. It would be no surprise to see him in Victory Lane.
Jeff Gordon - He's going to win a race sometime this year. Really.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. - If I'm going to pick this guy to win a race this year it's got to be here. The win in the Nationwide can't hurt his confidence.