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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Toyota/Save Mart 350

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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.

June 16, 2010 7:47 pm CDT 3 Comments

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The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series only visits two road courses a year, and this weekend marks the first of those two events. The Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway also marks the final event before the ten-race “Race to the Chase” begins.

Road course events frequently bring out road course ringers, usually ex-open wheel and sports car drivers who will replace teams’ normal drivers for the single weekend. They give the smaller and/or struggling teams a good chance at stealing a win or two over the course of the season. One, Sweden’s Mattias Ekstrom, will make his NASCAR debut for Team Red Bull after establishing a career as one of the best touring car drivers ever seen in Germany.

So who’s a solid pick for this weekend’s race? Don’t just pick the biggest names in the sport. Some of the top options aren’t who you think.

Unless, of course, your pick is Juan Pablo Montoya, in which case you’re right on the money. The ex-Formula 1 star has an average finish of 4.3 in three Infineon starts, including a win in his 2007 debut and top-10s in every race. It doesn’t even matter that his qualifying average is a 23.3 – he’ll get through the field.

As for a dark horse, my pick is Boris Said, who returns to the Latitude 43 Motorsports car this weekend. Said always has a decent shot at winning road course races, which is why he seems to find a ride at just about every NASCAR road course event year in and year out. But besides the lack of prestige and results produced thus far by the No. 26 team, what makes Said a dark horse is his underwhelming 20.3 average finish at Infineon, with only four top-10s and a best finish of sixth in 10 starts.

As for the other three picks I normally give you?

Clint Bowyer, whose Infineon stats are quietly second best in the series, will give you a good shot at a decent finish. Though he’s never won, his 8.0 average finish is second to only Montoya’s. He has two fourth-place finishes in four starts and a worst finish of 16th, with all 445 possible laps completed.

Jeff Gordon, meanwhile, may be one of the best Infineon drivers of all time, his average finish only down to a 9.3 because of the occasional poor finish in 17 starts. That does not, however, take away from his five wins, including three in a row from 1998 to 2000. He hasn’t led any laps since his last win in 2006, but he has led substantial portions of the race in each of the nine times he’s held the point. Gordon only has four finishes outside of the top three at Infineon in the past ten years, and two of those were still top-10s.

Finally, Denny Hamlin has been on a tear recently, winning five of the last ten events. This puts him third in points with a huge advantage once the Chase starts. His Infineon record is not stellar but acceptable, with two top-10s in four starts and only one finish in the bottom half of the field. He even led 33 laps at the track last year. His momentum, however, and not his track expertise, will be the key for him to secure another strong finish.

Filed under: Boris Said, Clint Boyer, Denny Hamlin, Infineon Raceway, Jeff Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing 

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Is A Stock Car Road Racing Series Viable?

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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 28, 2009 3:06 pm CDT 2 Comments

While the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has its final off week of the season, the Nationwide Series heads north of the border to Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. This is the third year in a row that Montreal has hosted a Nationwide race, and expectations are high after a pair of interesting races in 2007 and 2008.

The final road course event of the year in a major NASCAR series, this event always attracts some of the greatest road racing talent on the planet. The best among these drivers are Ron Fellows and Boris Said; they are recognized as threats to win every time NASCAR heads to a road course. Other drivers with strong road racing backgrounds entered in this weekend’s race include Andy Lally and Justin Marks.

A handful of former open wheel stars are usually tabbed to replace Nationwide regulars in the road course races every year as well. Former Champ Car World Series drivers entered this weekend include Andrew Ranger, Jacques Villeneuve, Alex Tagliani, and Patrick Carpentier.

Combine those drivers with NASCAR regulars Marcos Ambrose, J.R. Fitzpatrick, Max Papis, and Colin Braun, and it’s clear that this weekend’s field is loaded with road course racing talent. It’s the case every time the stock cars start turning both ways. And it means that three times a year, some of us start contemplating the viability of a national NASCAR touring series that runs road courses all year.

Sure, this idea might have worked better when guys like Villeneuve, Carpentier, and Dario Franchitti were trying to switch disciplines. It would have provided them an opportunity to learn the heavier stock cars while still racing on tracks with which they were familiar. Perhaps a year in a series like this would have helped prevent their respective failures in stock car racing.

While the open wheel invasion may be over, however, it appears that recruiting drivers from other types of road racing is a popular idea around the garage. Lally is only the most recent to defect, running for Kevin Buckler’s Sprint Cup team at Watkins Glen. Before joining the Cup Series this year, Buckler made his mark in sports car racing, running Porsche 911 GT3s in the Rolex Sports Car Series, run by the Grand-Am Road Racing Association, founded by Jim France (brother of Bill France Jr.) and currently owned by NASCAR.

Grand-Am, however, appears to be on the decline. In the Rolex Series, the top class of cars is the Daytona Prototype. A handful of engines are approved for Grand-Am use, but those with the most manufacturer support are Lexus and Pontiac; with Pontiac’s elimination and Lexus’ rumored departure, the series is significantly weakened. Already, some drivers like Braun have made the jump from the DPs to stock cars, and the loss of the top two engine manufacturers may exacerbate that.

It’s not as if NASCAR owners are unfamiliar to fielding road racing teams, either. Besides Buckler, the list includes Chip Ganassi, Roger Penske, Jack Roush, and Richard Childress - four of the most well-known and respected owners in the sport.

Sure, this idea might have made a little more sense for the open-wheelers two or three years ago. But it still makes sense for some of the defecting road course drivers. With Grand-Am’s future looking shaky due to the loss of at least one top Daytona Prototype engine manufacturer, a stock car road racing series could be attractive to those with a different type of Daytona dream.

Filed under: road course ringers 

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Boris Said on Passing at Infineon: No Problem

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by Charlie Turner

Thanks for stopping by OnPitRow.com and the Bench Racing with Steve and Charlie blog. The best NASCAR and IndyCar news and opinion, exclusive pictures and video. I'm Charlie Turner. Follow me on Twitter @onpitrow

June 19, 2009 11:04 am CDT No Comments

How many times have you heard - or will you hear yet this weekend - that “there’s no passing at Sonoma“?

I put the over-under on the Sunday broadcast at, oh… ten.

Veteran road racer and good guy, Boris Said was a guest On Pit Row this week. And Boris says “bull” to the no-passing notion.

Steve asked him is he would be going all-out for the pole, since it is, presumably so hard to move through the field. But Boris said, no - he had to make sure that he got the car into the field first. And he then went on to say that there are plenty of places to pass at Infineon. You just have to pick your spots. It was a good interview.  You can listen to the show- click here.

We have another new feature that we are debuting this weekend, specially for you fantasy racers out there. We’ll be hosting a live fantasy racing advice chat/blog (I don’t know exactly what to call it yet) after qualifying tonight at 8PM ET. It will be hosted by one of our fantasy racing experts - Ryan Rantz. Go to our Live Page - click here - and check it out. We’ll even send you a reminder if you want one.

Photo credit: Round girl Jen by BethAnne Heisler - OnPitRow.com

Filed under: Boris Said, Infineon Raceway, NASCAR, NASCAR Fantasy Gaming, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio 

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“The Daytona Seventeen” Fight for Four Spots in 500

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by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Over ten years on the air and three on the net; see what can happen when I don't let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

February 12, 2009 10:40 am CST 9 Comments

Seventeen racers are vying for just four spots in The Great American Race.

The Daytona Seventeen are for the most part are all start up teams with limited or no outside sponsorships.  The first Duel on Thursday will have seven drivers looking for the two openings available in the 500.  Joe Nemechek, Scott Riggs and Brad Keselowski look to be the favorites to fight for the pair of move ups.  Also in that first race are longer shots; Kirk Shelmerdine, Tony Raines, Mike Skinner and Carl Long.  The three favorites all have the advantage of owners with some sort of success in that role.

Nemechek has fielded cars in the Cup series before, full time with himself behind the wheel in 1995 and 1996, but many times using ringers at Watkins Glen with sporadic success.  Riggs is driving for Tommy Baldwin who has had success not only as a Cup crew chief but also as the founder of a Nationwide team in 2004 that he later sold to Ray Evernham that formed the foundation for Evernham Motorsports.  Meanwhile Keseloski will be in the James Finch ride that has one hundred starts on the Cup circuit on a part time basis since Jeff Purvis first jumped into one of his cars in 1990.

The second Duel has ten cars looking to make the 43 car field for Sunday’s race.  Again only two will move up.  Half of those ten have to be consider as legitimate contenders to make the 500.  Regan Smith, Boris Said, AJ Allmendinger, Jeremy Mayfield and Mike Wallace show the most promise.  Smith is driving a part time schedule for Front Row Motorsports, an organization that has run through drivers at a prolific rate.

Said will be looking to make the race that seems to allude him.  His No Fear Racing team has merged with Rick Clark Motorsports, a minority owner who to the best of recollections has never put a car on a NASCAR track.  Said does have a way of being fast at Daytona however.  His biggest nemesis over the years has been the weather.  Allmendinger is running the fourth car for Richard Petty Racing and has been fast in cars from that stable since he got into them at the end of last year.

Jeremy Mayfield put together his race team in early January and plans on a full season with All Sport energy drink returning to big time auto racing as co-owner and sponsor.  Mayfield seems to have gotten the fire back in his belly.  Wallace will be in a TRG Chevy.  TRG has been successful in sports cars and have been making appearances on the stock car circuits to gain some experience.  Wallace is another driver who seems to find ways to make the field if given any kind of decent equipment.

Those with little chance of making the big jump into Sunday’s race are Mike Garvey, Derrike Cope, Kelly Bires, Geoff Bodine and Norm Benning.  Bodine’s attempt is interesting because his car is owned by Phil Parsons, but probably lacks the resources to make the race.

photo credits: Icon Sports Media

Filed under: Boris Said, Brad Kesolowski, Daytona 500, Diversity and NASCAR, Evernham Motorsports, Jeremy Mayfield, Joe Nemechek, NASCAR, NASCAR Bidness, Phil Parsons, Tommy Baldwin Racing 

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Rain Allows Goodyear to Move Some Inventory

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by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Over ten years on the air and three on the net; see what can happen when I don't let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

August 6, 2008 6:02 am CDT 1 Comment

NASCAR told the Nationwide Series owners that the tour stop at Montreal would go on “rain or shine”.

And rain it did. Teams were given three minutes to change over from dry setups to wets. Unfortunately it was almost an hour before the cars returned to the track after installing tail lights, defrosters, wipers and six year old Goodyear rain tires.

We asked Boris Said on last nights ON PIT ROW what he thought of the wet racing. This is a guy that has raced in all kinds of weather conditions in all kinds of cars. He said that it was no big deal until the rain became so intense that it began to pool on the race track, causing some real hydroplaning problems.

This brings us to this week’s BUZZ ON PIT ROW:

Now that NASCAR has had the debut of its wet weather program at Montreal, should they continue to race in the rain at all road courses in all divisions including Cup?

Let us know what you think. Listen to ON PIT ROW live from 5-7pm ET here. Then check out INSIDE ARCA available immediately after ON PIT ROW or at www.arcaracing.com

Photo Credit: Robert Laberge/Getty Images

Filed under: Boris Said, Car of Tomorrow, NASCAR Bidness, Nationwide Series, Nextel Cup Series, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio, Sprint Cup Series, Tony Stewart, road course ringers 

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It’s an Off Week with Plenty of Racing Action.

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by Steve Wronkowicz

I am co-host of the syndicated radio show: ON PIT ROW. Over ten years on the air and three on the net; see what can happen when I don't let the facts get in the way of my opinions.

April 17, 2008 11:16 pm CDT 4 Comments

This weekend has the potential for being one of my favorite race weekends of the year–even without a Sprint Cup race.

ARCA tech from IowaThe racing will be hot and heavy this Saturday as the ARCA Remax Series heads to Iowa Speedway. Iowa has become one of race drivers favorite tracks in its short history. ARCA Remax Series points leader Justin Allgaier was this weeks guest on INSIDE ARCA, fresh off his win at Salem Speedway at the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200 presented by Federated Auto Parts. Allgaier is looking forward to racing at the .875 mile progressively banked oval.

Allgaier will face stiff competition from Michael Annett, as he looks for his third consecutive win. Annett has won the last two races he has entered in the ARCA Remax Series at Talladega in 2007 and the season opener at Daytona this year. Annett is a DeMoines, IA native and thus feels he has a home town advantage.

“I expect to run up front,” said Annett. “I have a lot of confidence in myself and the equipment I’m in. As competitive as the ARCA RE/MAX Series is, to run up front you’ve got to be with a good team. I ran my first three ARCA races with Country Joe Racing, and now with Bill Davis Racing, so I’ve always been with really good teams. I put pressure on myself. I’m with an excellent team now; everything’s in place. It’s up to me from here.”

Also looking to get back on track, both literally and figuratively, is 19 year old Ali Owens who suffered several broken bones in a motorcycle accident in March.

“When the doctor told me that I might miss Iowa I thought no way,” said Owens, driver of the No. 12 ElectrifyingCareers.com Chevrolet. “I focused all my energy on recovery. I worked as hard as I could with my trainer and followed my doctor’s orders and everything worked out. I feel great.”

Great racing and interesting personalities is what ARCA is all about. Combine those with a terrific race track and the 1:30pm ET start time on SPEED with INSIDE ARCA’s insider, Phil Parsons, can’t be missed.

Sunday’s action shifts south of the border to the Mexico City race in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race. Joining the usual cast of Nationwide characters will be Scott Pruett, Boris Said, Patrick Carpentier, Sam Hornish, Jr., and Max Papis. Last year’s last lap shunt involving Pruett and teammate Juan Pablo Montoya had fans talking for weeks. While Montoya will not race in Mexico City in 2008, fans can expect similar thrills as veteran Australian road racer Marcos Ambrose is one of the Nationwide Series regulars to watch.

No Cup race–but this is going to be a fun weekend. I predict no fuel mileage runs in these races. Chances are there will be some good hard nose racing.

photo credit: arcaracing.com

Filed under: ARCA Remax Series, Boris Said, Inside ARCA, Iowa Speedway, Marcos Ambrose, Nationwide Series, On Pit Row The Fastest Two Hours on Radio, Sam Hornish Jr 

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