One and Done: Heluva Good Sour Cream Dips at the Glen

by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and driver pictures, 2011 NASCAR schedule, video, Bench Racing With Steve and Charlie

I do weekly Fantasy Pick'Em columns here at OPR, as well as the occasional opinion and analysis piece. I also provide the IZOD IndyCar Series coverage. For more on that, head to my site, OpenWheelAmerica.com. My Twitter handle is @christopherlion.

August 6, 2009 12:26 am UTC No Comments

This weekend, the Sprint Cup Series travels to western New York for the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen. The second and final road course race of the year, Watkins Glen offers a chance for the road-course ringers of the world to show their stuff in a stock car.

Making fantasy picks at a track like The Glen can be difficult, because momentum from tracks like Indianapolis and Pocono doesn’t necessarily transfer for poor road course drivers. At the same time, some drivers who have been in the cellar all season can use the two road course races every year to get some solid finishes and help their owners’ points situations.

Watkins Glen has never had quite as many road course ringers as Infineon Raceway, especially in the Car of Tomorrow era. While P.J. Jones, Brian Simo, and Andy Lally will be along for the ride, none are in competitive cars, and all will be forced to qualify for the race on time. It seems as if the days of the competitive road course ringer are over, making them poor fantasy racing picks.

The biggest keys to the Glen are twofold. First, effective race management can win or lose a race for a driver (see Robby Gordon at Infineon a couple of months ago). Second, getting used to the new double-file restarts on the road course will be key, especially with drivers racing into the 90-degree righthander that is Turn 1. We’ll probably see at least one wreck there coming off a restart.

So who looks like a solid fantasy pick this weekend?

Robby Gordon: This is one of Robby’s best Sprint Cup tracks, given his 10.6 average finish , one win, and seven top 5s in 10 starts here. Three of those top 5s were with his own team as well, so it’s not as if he simply milked Richard Childress’ equipment.

Kyle Busch: His average finish at the Glen is only 12.5 because of a 33rd place run in 2005. He won this race last year after leading 52 of 90 laps. His other two races here resulted in 9th and 7th place runs. As the series inches closer and closer to the Chase cutoff, Rowdy needs this race to work out for him to stay in contention.

Mark Martin: He hasn’t run at the Glen since 2006, led a lap there since 2000, or won at the track since 1995, a race which capped a streak of three straight Glen wins for The Kid. But given Martin’s recent momentum and general consistency at the track in the past (16 top 10s in 19 starts for an average finish of 6.9), it shouldn’t be a stretch to except him in victory lane this weekend.

Juan Montoya: After fantastic runs at both Indianapolis and Pocono, he’s got the momentum. A road course win is never out of the former Formula 1 driver’s reach, given his experience on the tracks. A win here could help propel the Colombian into the Chase.

Denny Hamlin: While he’s never led a lap at the Glen, Hamlin’s worst finish at the Glen is 10th. His other two starts here have resulted in a 2nd and 8th. Combine that with his momentum from Pocono, and Denny looks like a solid pick for two wins in a row this weekend.

Filed under: NASCAR, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

Comments

Got something to say?

Did you know you can log in with your Thunder Lounge account, and have your personal avatar and site link available when you comment at On Pit Row?

Don't have an account yet? Sign-up for free.