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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Brickyard 400

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by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and pictures,2010 NASCAR schedule,NASCAR 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.

July 21, 2010 5:30 pm CDT No Comments

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The Brickyard 400 is one of the crown jewels of the Sprint Cup Series, an event secondary in prestige only to longer-established events like the Daytona 500. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the original United States “speedway,” plays host to the event.

The cathedral of speed’s second major event every year, after the prestigious Indianapolis 500, has had its ups and downs. In 2008, bad wear patterns on Goodyear tires limited the race to a series of 10-lap sprints. And last year, Juan Montoya dominated the race, only to have a pit road speeding penalty wreck his day and hand the race to Jimmie Johnson. But regardless of any trials and tribulations with the race surface (and every major track has them now and again), the event is still one of the most important ones on the schedule, and teams will put as much effort (if not more) into winning this race as they would into almost any other event on the schedule.

So who looks good at the Brickyard? Here’s a hint – most of them grew up with Indy dreams.

Tony Stewart, my pick for the weekend, is at the forefront of this crowd. The 1997 champion of the IZOD IndyCar Series may never have won an Indianapolis 500, but twice he’s claimed the checkers at the stock car event, in 2005 and 2007. His average finish of 8.5 is best of any active driver, and he’s led laps in six of the 11 stock car races he’s run at the Brickyard.

As for a dark horse, look to A.J. Allmendinger, who will make his 100th career Sprint Cup start at Indy. The former Champ Car star had a 10th place finish in his first Brickyard 400 two years ago. The ‘Dinger and his team will look to carry on their momentum from the past eight races, where they have accumulated seven top-15 finishes.

Three more:

Jeff Gordon is the only driver to do in a stock car what A.J. Foyt, Al Unser, and Rick Mears did in open-wheel cars – win four times at Indianapolis. Gordon’s last win may have come all the way back in 2004, but that hasn’t stopped him from finishing well. In 16 career Brickyard starts, he’s finished in the top 10 an astounding 13 times. His average finish of 8.6 is second to only Stewart.

Jimmie Johnson has three Brickyard wins, each coming over the past four years, but he’s also got three DNFs at the track, a result of some pretty sour luck in the past. He blew an engine halfway through the 2004 event, and crashed in 2005 and 2007. It’s this sort of historical bad luck that can come back to bite at any time, and has also brought his average finish down to a mediocre 17.9.

Finally, while he might qualify as a dark horse at any other track, Juan Montoya is no stranger to Indianapolis. In 2000, as a CART ringer coming to show up the Indy Racing League in that year’s Indy 500, Montoya was warned to respect the track. Montoya scoffed, contended that all four corners were the same (unlike the tracks on which he honed his skills), and dominated the race. In his first stock car event at the track, in 2007, he finished a strong second; last year he should have won. If anybody has both the talent and the stones to pull off a surprise victory this weekend, it’s Montoya.

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

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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Lenox 301

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by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and pictures,2010 NASCAR schedule,NASCAR 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 24, 2010 11:20 am CDT 1 Comment

Jeff Gordon Pitstop at Michigan Speedway

Jeff Gordon Pitstop at Michigan Speedway

This weekend’s Lenox 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway marks the first race of the Sprint Cup Series’ Race to the Chase, a ten-race dash to set the field for the Chase for the Sprint Cup at the end of the year. Right now, eight drivers are within 161 points (the maximum swing between first and last in a race) of 12th-place Carl Edwards, making the next ten races crucially important for those bubble drivers.

Loudon is a unique track to Sprint Cup, in that it is reminiscent of Martinsville on steroids. It’s a mile long, completely flat, and few drivers can maintain top ten average finishes at the track. Even the best Loudon drivers only crack the top ten about half the time.

So which drivers are good bets at the sport’s most northern track?

My pick for the weekend is Jeff Gordon. In 30 starts, he has an average finish of 11.4, with 13 top five results. Though he hasn’t won at the track since 1998, he has four finishes of third or better in the last seven Loudon races and led 64 laps in this event last year. He’ll be looking for a long overdue first win of the season.

My dark horse for the weekend is Martin Truex Jr., racing once again at his home track, per se. The New Jersey native finished in the top ten each time he ran at Loudon in 2007 and 2008, with last year’s poor finishes an aberration. It was his big wins at Loudon in the K&N East Series that actually put him in position to step up to the big time in the first place. Truex will also be looking to make up for a race ruined by Gordon last weekend.

Three more, as per usual:

Denny Hamlin has the best average finish of a driver with a significant amount of starts at Loudon. In eight races, he’s put up a 7.5 average, with one win and six top fives. More impressive, Hamlin has never failed to complete a lap at the track, nor has he ever finished worse than 15th.

Any longtime fan of the sport, or of this track, knows that Jeff Burton once owned Loudon like no other driver could ever imagine. From 1997 to 2000, Burton won a race every year, with his 300-out-of-300 laps led in the fall of 2000 his masterpiece at the track. Sure, Burton hasn’t won there since, but he’s continued to put up solid runs.

Finally, let’s go way out in left field and give Bobby Labonte a little name recognition. He’s just left TRG Motorsports and will attempt to run the full race in Robby Gordon’s unsponsored No. 7 car. He actually led in both Loudon races last year, and although his finishes haven’t shown it as of late, he was once a shoo-in for top finishes every race. His feedback on the car will help Gordon’s team move forward as they attempt to gain sponsorship for the rest of the season.

Filed under: Bobby Labonte, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Martin Truex Jr., New Hampshire International Speedway, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing 

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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Toyota/Save Mart 350

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by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and pictures,2010 NASCAR schedule,NASCAR 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

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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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400

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by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and pictures,2010 NASCAR schedule,NASCAR 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 10, 2010 12:55 pm CDT No Comments

Carl Edwards Pocono Raceway

Carl Edwards Pocono Raceway

The Sprint Cup Series makes its first trip of the season to the Michigan International Speedway this weekend for the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400. Mark Martin won this event last year, while Brian Vickers (get well soon) won the last Cup event at Michigan late last summer.

For the third weekend in a row, the Cup cars face a grueling endurance event. First came the Coca-Cola 600, the longest event of the year. Last week gave us 500 long miles at Pocono. Now, drivers head to one of the fastest tracks on the circuit, where pole speeds frequently flirt with 190 miles per hour.

So who looks good for this weekend’s tilt?

My personal pick is going to be Jeff Gordon. Last week I took Denny Hamlin as my lead driver, and he rewarded me with a victory, so I’m looking for Gordon to continue my streak. He has two wins and 22 top-10s in 34 career Michigan starts, and is one of only two active drivers with an average Michigan start in the single digits. Last year he finished second in both Michigan races.

My dark horse for the weekend will be Bill Elliott. The Wood Brothers only run a limited schedule nowadays with factory Ford backing, but you can bet that they’ll be looking to impress at the home track of the American manufacturers. Elliott’s Michigan record isn’t too shabby, either – seven wins and 29 top-10s in 59 starts. Both are tops among active drivers.

Who else looks good at Michigan?

I hesitate offering up a Carl Edwards pick, because he’s burned me every time I’ve suggested him all year. He’s done very little to suggest that he’s still the same driver who won nine races in 2008. But Edwards has two wins and 10 top-10s in only 11 Michigan starts. His 6.1 average finish at the track is by far the best of any active driver, nearly four spots better than second-best Matt Kenseth.

Of course, this also makes Kenseth a viable Michigan pick, his last win coming at the track in 2006. Michigan is owner Jack Roush’s home track, and he always does his best to take a win at the track each year. Last year was the first since 2001 in which a Roush car didn’t take the checkers in a Michigan Cup event, and you can bet that the Cat in the Hat will do everything he can to change that.

Finally, it’s time for Junior Nation to get on its feet, because Dale Jr. is my final pick of the weekend. Sure, his one win at the track (and only win in the No. 88) came on fuel mileage, but he has led at least one lap in eight of the last nine Michigan events. In that span, he has all four of his career top fives at the track, and has completed 1734 of a possible 1735 laps. Clearly he can take a car to the front and keep it in the hunt.

Filed under: Bill Elliott, Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Michigan International Speedway, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing 

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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Autism Speaks 400

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by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and pictures,2010 NASCAR schedule,NASCAR 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.

May 12, 2010 11:04 pm CDT No Comments

The Monster Mile, Dover International Speedway, will play host to this weekend’s Sprint Cup Series race, the Autism Speaks 400. Taken last year by Jimmie Johnson after an impressive pass of Tony Stewart with three laps to go, this is the last points-paying event before the All-Star festivities at Charlotte.

One of this week’s biggest headlines has been Rick Hendrick’s claim that Joe Gibbs Racing has “lapped” his Hendrick Motorsports team. This isn’t the case at Dover, however; three Hendrick drivers have an average finish at least four points better than that of Kyle Busch, Gibbs’ top Dover driver, whose average is a middling 16.9. Team leader Denny Hamlin has taken the fight to Johnson elsewhere this season, but horrible luck at Dover has given him four finishes outside of the top 35 in eight starts.

So if not the Gibbs drivers, who do you pick at Dover?

I’m going with Carl Edwards. Assuming that he won’t visit victory lane ever again is kind of a stretch, even if he hasn’t been a serious threat since that wild ride at Talladega last year. Edwards is exceptional at Dover, his average finish of 7.9 in 11 starts buoyed by seven top-10s and a win. Those other four races? No worse than 18th. He hasn’t failed to complete a lap in his last nine starts.

Martin Truex Jr. is my dark horse, though he’s certainly a middling driver at the track, with the lone exception of his dominant spring 2007 win. Three top-10s are offset by three finishes outside of the top 20, for an average finish of 15.2. It’s decent, but you can find better; then again, Truex’s team has used their “NAPA Know How” to put together a string of solid runs recently, putting them a mere 16 points out of the Chase. A Dover win could propel Truex into the playoffs just as it did three years ago.

Three more concrete warriors to consider:

Johnson has five wins in 16 Dover starts. That’s equal to the amount of sub-10th place finishes he has, and even then, three of those were top-15s. He also swept the track last year, leading 298 and 271 laps respectively on the way to his two victories. I’m not picking him for the sake of remaining interesting.

Jeff Gordon is long overdue for a win, and everybody knows it – the DuPont team should not be 40 races between trips to victory lane right now, especially given how strong they’ve been the past two weeks. Gordon’s accrued four wins and 21 top-10s in 34 Dover starts, though three of the wins came in 1995 and 1996, and only one came in a 400-mile event. The past four years have seen Gordon finish 12th or better in seven out of eight starts, with a total of 114 laps led.

Finally, four-time Dover winner Mark “The Kid” Martin gets a look for the consistency he’s shown at Dover since 2004. He doesn’t lead many laps, and hasn’t led in triple digits since last millennium, but going to Dover both times every year (even in his limited schedules) has kept him sharp at the oval. In 10 of his last 12 starts, he’s been in the top ten when the checkered flag fell; the other finishes were 14th and 23rd, not too shabby. Martin was the runner-up in the fall race, something he’s done seven times at the track.

Filed under: Carl Edwards, Dover International Speedway, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Martin Truex Jr., One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing, Sprint Cup Series, jimmie johnson 

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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Showtime Southern 500

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by Chris Leone, Special To NASCAR commentary and pictures,2010 NASCAR schedule,NASCAR 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.

May 6, 2010 10:34 am CDT 1 Comment

The Showtime Southern 500 is one of the most popular races on the Sprint Cup Series schedule. The 11th race on the schedule, it marks Darlington Raceway’s lone stop on the tour, and a win here marks a highlight of most drivers’ careers.

Richmond winner Kyle Busch may have a win at Darlington in five starts, but other than that has had some pretty rotten luck with the Lady in Black. He has three finishes of 23rd or worse, including two finishes in the bottom 10 of the field. It’s safe to say that he hasn’t quite figured out the Track Too Tough to Tame just yet.

One driver who has, though, is Jimmie Johnson. Shocker, right? Yes, Johnson is good just about everywhere, but at only three tracks does he have a better average finish than the 6.9 he’s put up in 11 Darlington starts. Two wins and nine top-10s show remarkable consistency, even for an all-world talent like Four-Time. He’s my pick for the weekend, meaning Jeff Gordon is going to put him in the wall or something. Oh well.

As for a dark horse, I’m going with Brad Keselowski on a hunch. He’s won his past two Nationwide races, and it’s about time that things work out on the Cup side. Consistent top-15 and top-20 finishes in five of the six races since his Atlanta joyride suggest that he’s getting a grasp of what it takes to succeed. He finished 7th in the Southern 500 last year, in his only Cup start at Darlington.

Three more for the show:

Jeff Gordon has seven Darlington wins, tied with Martinsville for the most he has at any track. Gordon’s average finish of 11.3 is fifth-best of active drivers with multiple Darlington starts. It’s more of a testament to how strong he is universally, but that only ranks the track as only his 11th best. Seven wins and 20 top-10s in 29 starts, and only his 11th best track. Food for thought for the Hall of Fame committee in a couple years.

Defending race champion Mark Martin has two wins at Darlington, the other coming in the fall of 1993, the fourth race he had won in a row that year. Martin’s 26 top-10s rank behind only Bill Elliott in quantity, and his average finish of 12.0 puts him eighth of active drivers with multiple Darlington starts.

Finally, when Greg Biffle is on at Darlington, he’s on. Da Biff has an average start of 8.2, ranking behind only Gordon in drivers with multiple starts. He won this race in 2005 and 2006, has led laps in seven of his nine Darlington starts (five times leading 70 or more), and won the pole in 2008. Unfortunately, his engine let go that year and relegated him to last place, hurting his average finish of 14.0. Biffle’s 117 laps led were the most of anybody last year, and his driver rating of 128.3 was tops among the field.

Filed under: Brad Kesolowski, Darlington Speedway, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing, jimmie johnson 

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