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.

Photo Credit: Glenn Bure, OnPitRow.com

Dario Franchitti held off a hard-charging Dan Wheldon after a daring call in the pits gave him the late-race lead, producing the 17th-closest finish in IndyCar history. His victory closed some of the gap on points leader Will Power, who had been leading late in the race but ran out of fuel with five laps to go to finish way down the running order.

All in all, the race featured a record-breaking 25 lead changes among 11 drivers. Ryan Briscoe dominated the early stages of the event, battling side-by-side with Marco Andretti for a good chunk of the race’s early stages. Briscoe, the polesitter and defending race winner, led 113 of the race’s 200 laps, though he could only muster an 11th place finish.

Meanwhile, the top four drivers in the finishing order - Franchitti, Wheldon, Andretti, and Ryan Hunter-Reay - all led at least two laps, with Franchitti’s 28 tops among them. Franchitti actually did not lead until the very end of the race, when his team gambled by not taking tires under the final caution. While Briscoe could not keep others from leading laps while he was out in front, Franchitti managed to do just that

Some of the drivers who spent time up front were surprising, to say the least. Wheldon, Vitor Meira, and Alex Lloyd all led a handful of laps. Even the part-time entries of Ed Carpenter and Sarah Fisher spent time up front; Fisher stayed out under the race’s second caution to gain the point, but managed to hold a top-three position for many laps after the green flag dropped.

Unfortunately for the little guys, nobody was really there at the end besides Wheldon. Meira salvaged a ninth place finish, but Fisher was the first car a lap down in 15th, Carpenter pulled out after 179 laps when his team couldn’t get fuel into the car, and Lloyd crashed out to finish 21st.

Heartbreak was no stranger to the series’ top team, either. Power nearly lost control of his car in the early laps of the race, making a fantastic save, a feat he would have to replicate a couple of other times before the night was over. Power drove his heart out all night, showing a level of talent we had previously only witnessed from him on the road and street courses, and was a contender for victory until the very end.

Unfortunately, Chicagoland left Power and his Team Penske crew with Indianapolis 500 deja vu: a fueler error ended all hope for a strong finish. At Indy, it was Power driving off with part of his fuel assembly; at Chicago, the team didn’t quite get enough in the car to make it. To his credit, Power was surprisingly upbeat in post-race interviews, looking forward to the challenge of maintaining his points lead over the final three races.

With three races to go and Kentucky up next on the schedule, Power’s points lead has shrunk from 59 to 23 over Franchitti. It may be a race between those two alone; third-place Scott Dixon is 85 points out, while no other driver is within 100.

For more on the IZOD IndyCar Series from Christopher Leone, go to OpenWheelAmerica.com.

Photo Credit: Icon Sports Media

“We have every confidence in our manager blah blah blah…”

“Build it (i.e. spend the money) and they will come”…or keep coming

“We love short tracks. They have so much character…”

First, the news. International Speedway Corp. has committed to two annual NASCAR Sprint Cup races at Martinsville Speedway for at least the next five years, in a press release dated Thursday, Aug. 26.

Sorry. I’m not buying. Did you also see the caveat?

“Of course NASCAR race dates are never guaranteed (sic)…”

You know it’s going to happen. Just as the venerable Darlington lost a date, and New Boston lost a business, Martinsville is destined to become a single stop (I hope at least that) on the Sprint Cup tour. And I doubt that it takes five years for it to happen. Not with Las Vegas Motor Speedway still waiting for a second date.

As the GarageFather would say - “It’s nothing personal Sonny. It’s just business.”

In the lone practice session preceding qualifying, Briscoe once again paced Dixon, though the gap was much larger. Briscoe’s 217.874 mph best lap was a full mile per hour better than Dixon’s best. Will Power, the series points leader despite only ranking eighth in the oval championship, had the third best lap, with the four Andretti Autosport drivers - Marco Andretti, Danica Patrick, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Tony Kanaan - ranking fourth through seventh.

In qualifying, Briscoe took the pole over Dario Franchitti, teammates Power and Helio Castroneves, and Andretti. Dixon could only muster a 15th place qualifying run.

Patrick, in particular, has to be excited to return to the ovals, after ranking a dismal 15th in the final road course standings. She was the only Andretti driver to place outside the top 10. Meanwhile, she ranks sixth in the oval standings, with a runner-up finish at Texas her best run of the season.

The field at Chicagoland, a whopping 29 cars, will be the largest field of the season (excluding Indianapolis) and the largest in a non-500 field since 28 showed up for this race in 2008. Entries for Graham Rahal, Ed Carpenter, Davey Hamilton, Jay Howard, and Sarah Fisher have expanded the field from the 24 full-season entries.

Four times out of nine, the winner has come from the pole position, a feat Briscoe achieved last year, after Castroneves won from the last starting spot the year before. Penske drivers have won the past two events at Chicagoland, while perennial series power Chip Ganassi Racing has only one win at the track, by Dan Wheldon in 2006.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media

The penultimate event in the Race to the Chase, drivers like Jamie McMurray and Mark Martin are going to be going all in to try and take a playoff spot away from vulnerable drivers like Clint Bowyer. Their cunning will likely have a great affect on the finishing order, and should affect your fantasy picks as well.

So who’s going to be worth a look at Atlanta?

I’m going to make this interesting and say that Carl Edwards breaks his winless streak this weekend. (How many times have I picked Carl this year with no luck?) He’s won one in four at Atlanta, and in a way, team owner Jack Roush’s tragic plane accident has been the best thing to happen to that team - they’ve been stepping up their game in a way unlike they’ve been running all season. We all know he’s overdue.

As for a sleeper pick, look out for A.J. Allmendinger. He’s been unassumingly consistent at Atlanta, never finishing outside the top 20 at the track in five starts. His best finish, a sixth place, came this spring. Allmendinger’s average finish of 14.6 is sixth best of all active drivers.

Three more, for those who need them:

Jimmie Johnson’s average finish at Atlanta, a 10.2, tops all other drivers. He’s won one in six at the Georgia track, with nine top five finishes in 18 starts. He’s led laps in six of the past eight Atlanta events, including both 2007 races, a year where he swept the two Cup events at the track.

Jeff Gordon has four wins and 23 top-10s in 36 career Atlanta starts, equivalent to a top-five season (at least) in NASCAR’s top level these days. It’s been nearly seven years since his last Atlanta win, but consistency - no finishes outside the top 20 in his past 10 Atlanta events - suggests he knows what it takes to deliver a strong finish this weekend.

Finally, Jamie McMurray has never been a strong Atlanta driver - 16 starts with only four top-10s and no finish better than sixth - but the momentum coming off a great Bristol finish may have him making a surprise run at the Chase. Remember Jeremy Mayfield’s surprise ascent in 2004? Jamie Mac might be able to duplicate the feat if he can pull it together the next two weeks.

Photo credit: Icon Sports Media

I have been waiting.

Maybe I’ll get a tweet today when the show starts from Marc like this one…

WOW, look it’s Wednesday and I’m waking up to Steve and Charlie, can’t get better than that! http://onpitrow.com/

Sadly, I know that I will not. Never again.

When Steve and I started the Bench Racing blog several years ago, we didn’t really even know what a blog was. But as I poked around the internet doing prep for the radio show, and gradually looked for NASCAR news at places that weren’t called Jayski, a few names popped up more prominently than others.

The Full Throttle blog was one. And it was really good.

Early on Marc Boland the blogger became a bit of a blogging mentor to us here. He linked to us early, before many others recognized OPR. Marc alerted me when our content was being stolen, and helped us stop the thieves. He generously commented on our posts and later our Facebook fan page.

The 5PM ET live broadcast time of On Pit Row was breakfast and go-to-school time for the Boland kids, but Marc usually had some sarcastic comment or three to tweet us during the show. He let me know if the live sound stream was acting up too.

I never met him in person. But I feel I knew him pretty well. We considered each other friends - I do know that. I will miss him.

Marc was, to me, the perfect blogger. I was jealous of his RSS feed list. He found everything first. He was great at giving credit where due, and he linked out to more blogs and sites and forums than anyone else in the motorsports community. He could be acerbic and he would let you have it if he thought you were wrong. He wrote well.

I have two short Marc Boland stories for you. The first relates to his ability to get stuff before anyone else. A couple years ago, when Sports Media Challenge started their ten most influential NASCAR blogs feature, it was Marc who let me know that we had made the list. And I still remember telling my wife how surprised I was to have Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie included in a list with Full Throttle. A year later, it was Marc again who alerted me to the fact that we had made the list again.

The second story has to do with NASCAR’s Citizen Journalist Media Corps. Steve, BethAnne and I met with a member of NASCAR’s PR/media team at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, shortly after the NCJMC list was announced. Full Throttle had not made the list. And I couldn’t understand that. I was trying to ask in a round-about way, how “certain” sites were left out. The NASCAR rep said “do you mean Marc?”. And I said “yeah”. The reason she gave me for FT’s exclusion was that Marc had been using YouTube videos of NASCAR events on Full Throttle, which was against NASCAR’s agreement with Turner Entertainment. I suggested that I could tell Marc to lose the video content, but the NASCAR rep made me promise not to say anything. She was afraid of Marc’s reaction. “He’s got too much reach” she said. I always thought that that was funny. NASCAR was scared of Marc Boland. I think he would have loved that. He was the best.

That, to me, will be Full Throttle’s legacy.

Read what fellow bloggers and friends of Marc Jerry Wilson, and Clance’ McClannahan have to say. They knew him better than most.

God speed my friend.

Bristol will never be the same for me, not as long as I live. Not because Kyle Busch made history by sweeping all 3 races at the track, but because the morning of the Bristol Cup race, I received news that Marc Boland, the author of Full Throttle , a highly respected and valued member of The Thunder Lounge Network,  THE Motorsports Blogger Extraordinare, had passed away a week and a half ago in The Phillipines.

Marc was best known for his extensive knowledge and coverage of every Motorsport there is. His personality, snarky, cocky and sometimes offensive, was known to all who were a fan or not. He was a member of many forums, from Nascar to Asian Drifting. Marc’s discussions and down right arguments were one of his claim’s to fame.

Marc spent hours and hours scouring the Internet news feeds. He was not only looking for your everyday news about racing, but the news no one bothers to report. He had a passion for discovering and calling attention many young and unknown racers. He had a penchant especially, for the racers of the female type.

Marc’s reader’s and forum members either loved him, or hated him. There was no in between. He loved to debate, and his acrimonious wit made a lot of people furious. Marc loved, when he found someone’s button’s, to egg it on. On occasion the lucky person he had locked horns with, found themselves the subject of a post which had them on their feet and bound.

That was the Marc Boland most people knew.

I was blessed to know another side of Marc. Through the years, Marc and I became very good friends. I knew a soft hearted man, who adored and lived for his beautiful wife and two little girls. He had a little farm, and his prized feinting goats (look them up) were the next loves of his life. He had chickens, ducks, assorted cats and other odd animals who showed up and moved in with the family. His home was fully prepared for any emergency and he could live for a long period of time without ever leaving his home, should he be trapped by any natural disaster. He rolled with the tide.

Marc’s days were my nights. We spent many of my early AM hours, when insomnia ruled, emailing and chatting back and forth about myriads of issues. I lived off the grid on and off for years, and we shared many an idea, and the common love for the simplicity that kind of lifestyle brings to your soul. We talked about politics and found quite quickly that we were on opposing sides in that arena. We agreed to disagree to continue our friendship. We both knew each other well, and one of us was going to be pissed. More than likely, ME.

Marc retired from the military after serving our country many years. I believe this is where his acerbic wit came from. He had seen more things than any human being should ever see. He had traveled the world,  and was adept in umpteen languages. Many people don’t realize that Marc was a Drug and Alcohol Counselor with a Masters Degree in Psych. He knew his stuff. He was a great support to me during my separation, divorce and the ensuing tragic deaths in my family within a matter of days. I want to give a shout out out to Jerry Wilson, The Die Cast Dude here too. Without the emotional support I have received from Marc and Jerry through the years, I truly know I would have lost my mind. When there would be long gaps in my writing, or he hadn’t heard from me, he would email me with the Header: ARE YOU DEAD? The body of the email would say “Jes’ checkin.”

We would stay up all night and day chasing down sploggers and get them shut down. Marc knew his internet law, and they were not going to get around it. “Take the stolen posts down or your website will be down within 24 hours.” Then he would do it. He taught me a lot. He was vigilant about watching out for his blogging bud’s. People weren’t going to be plagiarizing them, let alone making money off of it. Loyalty was one of Marc’s finest qualities.

Marc would frequently find out “things” and give me the tip so I could get the honor of being first to break the news. Of course there was a challenge to it. He would tip me off in an email often received at 4 or 5 am my time and give me 1or 2 hours to publish it or he was going to. He knew the nights I had insomnia, because we were always talking. The tips never came then. They came when I was sleeping. I was lucky and got a couple of them.

Marc’s death leaves a huge hole in the Motorsport’s Universe. He was followed closely by many around the world. His death leaves a huge hole in my life. I know he knew he meant a lot to me and that I cherished our friendship. Marc’s passing made me think about something I hadn’t before. Many of us, as bloggers, have dedicated and loyal followers. Mine are always there, no matter how long it has been since I have written. I have become friends with many other writers and many of what I call my Loyal Lugnut Parishioners. (Marc’s Official position in The Church of The Great Oval was “The King of Curmudgeon”)   If something happened to me,  there would be no way for my family to let anyone know. I decided to make sure there was a document in my important papers with the passwords to the places I write, Facebook and Twitter.  I hadn’t worried about Marc not posting on his blog, because I knew he was taking his Harley and his wife on a trip. I assumed wrongly, that he had decided to extend it.

I also made sure I told several people I had never told, how much they mean to me. You never know when you won’t get that chance.

I know what the Hot Dog Avatar really meant. How many of you do?

I keep expecting to get an email or a comment or a tweet from him saying “April Fools in August. HAHA!” I even put something in this post that I know would get his dander up. If he read it, he wouldn’t be able to resist answering back somehow. I want to think he just decided to stop blogging and talking and take some space and this is all a big joke. Alas, Marc was not that cruel. I wish now that he was.

Marc’s last word’s to me? A little tweet about his daughter becoming a real teenager and “BTW? How are YOU?”

My last words to Marc in this life are written everywhere I can find to put them.

May you race Full Throttle with the Angel’s,

My dear, dear Friend.

Will Power’s fifth win of the season (all on road courses) came on a track where his career was put into serious jeopardy, after a freak accident in practice severely injured his back and prematurely ended his 2009 season. The win served as a victory parade for this year’s winner of the Mario Andretti Road Course Trophy, an honor he clinched two weeks ago at Mid-Ohio.

Unlike Dario Franchitti last year, Power did not lead all 75 laps of the event; Scott Dixon, who finished second, led two laps in the middle stages of the event. But nobody really had anything for Power, who had won the pole and stretched some huge leads early on in the race.

While a top five completely populated by Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing cars doesn’t suggest the most unpredictable or exciting of races, some of the action a little deeper in the field was more than exciting enough to keep the most jaded of fans interested.

Dan Wheldon’s race ended before it began, with accidental contact from Bertrand Baguette at the start sending the No. 4 Panther Racing Dallara-Honda upside down in a wreck that almost looked like it came out of a video game. It was Wheldon’s first DNF since St. Petersburg earlier this year, as well as his first finish outside the top 20.

Simona de Silvestro had an interesting day as well. First, contact with Alex Tagliani cut the Canadian’s tire down, and then she nearly sent Raphael Matos upside down as well with an aggressive move early in the race. Finally, E.J. Viso ran into her not long after, spinning her out. De Silvestro continued on, eventually winding up 13th.

Hometown hero J.R. Hildebrand and 2006 race winner Marco Andretti got together on lap 37, ending Hildebrand’s day. Not too long after, Andretti got into Mario Moraes in the same corner, eliciting a reaction from fans aware of the drivers’ history with one another.

The final caution of the day came when Baguette, Matos, and Viso got together with under ten laps to go. Viso’s KV Racing Technology car was able to continue on, marking only the fourth race all season where each of that team’s cars finished the event. Baguette and Matos, however, were done for.

Dixon put the pressure on at the final restart, the drivers matching presses of the Push to Pass button, but the Australian managed to extend his lead once again. Francesco Dracone stalled in the final corner on the final lap, leading to a local yellow that brought down Power’s margin of victory considerably, but the rule against passing during a local yellow, combined with the proximity to the start-finish line, ensured that Dixon would not have a chance to go by.

Franchitti was third, with Power’s teammates Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves rounding out the top five.

Photo credit: Jordan Tabak, OnPitRow.com

Read more on the IZOD IndyCar Series from Christopher Leone at OpenWheelAmerica.com.

IndyCar Racing Photos from Infineon Raceway Sunday

Exclusive racing IndyCar pictures from the 2010 Indy® Grand Prix of Sonoma. OnPitRow.com photographer took these great racing pictures of the race at Infineon Raceway.

Photo credit: Jordan Tabak - OnPitRow.com

IndyCar qualifying pictures from Infineon Raceway.

Photo credit: Jordan Tabak - OnPitRow.com