One and Done: Samsung 500

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.

April 2, 2009 8:22 pm UTC 3 Comments

Before anything else this week, a word of congratulations must be given to Steve, Charlie, and everybody else involved with the 64 Greatest Drivers Tournament, which was the spotlight of Mark Aumann’s article on NASCAR.com for this week. It’s such a cool idea, so it’s glad to see it get the recognition it deserves on the sport’s official website, especially by one of the site’s best writers (in my humble opinion). Keep on rolling, guys!

Back to the fantasy racing stuff. I looked pretty damn smart last week at Martinsville. Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, and race winner Jimmie Johnson combined to lead 485 out of the 500 laps last week. A.J. Allmendinger came home a solid 9th. And Kyle Busch was running well early until his tire gave out. All in all, a pretty good week for me.

The task, of course, is to follow up with a strong showing this week. Now, just because I’ve always thought the Texas Chase races redundant (often times with the same winners as the previous week’s Atlanta races), the spring race might not be so easy. I’ll throw in the last Atlanta winner, to be sure, but…

Jamie McMurray: Sleeper alert! His focus may not be completely there, as he’s having some tax problems at the moment (don’t worry, not Helio Castroneves bad), but McMurray’s got a solid record as of late in the Lone Star state. His average finish over the past two years is a solid 7.8, and he led 56 laps in the last Texas race, leading with as few as four laps to go.

Matt Kenseth: He’s been slipping the past few weeks, only holding onto the final Chase spot at the moment after starting out so well. But Texas is a pretty good track for Kenseth. Looking at points scored over the past 4 Texas races, Kenseth’s been the best. Since a crashh in his rookie year, he’s only failed to complete two laps in 12 races, with one win and eight top-10s.

Carl Edwards: When he doesn’t crash (spring 2006, 36th, led 50 laps) or flat-out suck (no laps led in fall 2006 or 2007), he wins. Cousin Carl has the odd statistic of as many wins as top-10s at Texas (three). The good news? Two of those wins were in the Car of Tomorrow, last year. This may be a no-brainer.

Kurt Busch: The blue deuce captured the flag at Atlanta, meaning his selection to this list was inevitable. But it seems like Kurt qualifies better at Texas (3rd, 6th, 7th) than he finishes (three finishes outside the top 20) since joining Penske. For the record, with Roush, he usually qualified in the low teens and finished in the top 10. Will this be the week he reverses that poor trend as a Penske driver?

Jimmie Johnson: First of all, he’s Jimmie Johnson. Second of all, I needed a driver with no connections to Jack Roush, lest I let slip that I’ve been a Roush fan since childhood. (Oops.) Finally, he’s only finished outside the top 10 three times in 11 career Texas starts, for an average finish of 9.1, best of any active driver.

Finally, for those of you looking to pick the real underdogs, remember that Aric Almirola, Brad Keselowski, Regan Smith, and Scott Speed are not locked into the show, so wait for qualifying to end before picking any of them. Travis Kvapil’s team shut down after Bristol, and Almirola’s will after this race if more sponsorship isn’t found.

Filed under: NASCAR, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing, Texas Motor Speedway

Tagged with: One and Done, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing, Samsung 500, Texas Motor Speedway

Digg This | Save to del.icio.us

Comments

3 Responses to “One and Done: Samsung 500”

Charlie Turner on April 2nd, 2009 10:28 pm

Chris! You were a god last week! I admit to agreeing with you on Hamlin and Gordon. But you hit on all five. Fantastic.

I told someone yesterday that I like all the Roush cars at Texas, usually, but that I thought Jamie McMurray might just be THE guy. I feel better about that statement with what you say here. But I also like Jeff Burton here. Watch the the Honorable gentleman from the state of Virginia, at TMS.

And thanks for the words on the 64 Greatest NASCAR Drivers Tourney. Marl Aumann’s article is fantastic and I’m proud of the fact that he picked up on us. Mark will be a guest ON PIT ROW this Tuesday too.

Keep it up Chris. This is awesome stuff.
yankeegranny on April 3rd, 2009 8:43 am

Jr,Jamie Mac, Tony, Newman. Possibly not in that order though. My dark horse is AJ for a top 5.
carmike on April 3rd, 2009 10:13 pm

Chris, like the previews. Keep up the good work. I would like to say more, but knowing that Charlie like McMurray, I have to change my One and Done pick.

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.