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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen

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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.

August 5, 2010 7:29 am CDT No Comments

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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Watkins Glen, August 2007This week the Sprint Cup Series ends its 2010 road course sojourn with a trip to western New York and Watkins Glen International. Home of fine wines and fast cars, the track hosts this weekend’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen.

I attended the IZOD IndyCar Series race at the Glen earlier this year, and let me say that any traveling race fan that hasn’t experienced a weekend at the track doesn’t know what they’re missing. Watkins Glen is a quaint little town with all the amenities and brand names one could ask for, and the track provides fans with many prime spots from which to watch a race. And if you were impressed by the show that IndyCar put on, just imagine multiplying the crowds and fanfare by a significant number, and you have an American race fan’s dream.

So who’s going to take the checkers this weekend?

History (and a 5.3 average finish) suggest that Tony Stewart is the man to beat this weekend. Stewart has an incredible five wins in 11 Glen starts, and nine top-10s. Of his two worse finishes, one was an 11th place. He’s never failed to complete a lap there, much less accrue a DNF, making him the undisputed king of the track.

I’m not sure if you can call Marcos Ambrose a total dark horse at the Glen, seeing as his average finish is 2.5, but he’s never sealed the deal in a Cup race, and a killer mistake at Infineon robbed him of what should have been much closer to a victory, suggesting that he and his team still have a little way to go to pull it off. Ambrose has taken the checkers in Nationwide races at the Glen, though, and it will be interesting to see if his apparent mastery of the track will offset any doldrums that come with being a lame-duck driver at a midpack team with bad luck thus far.

Three more, because tradition says so:

Mark Martin’s got three Glen wins in 20 starts and hasn’t failed to complete a lap there since 1986 (excluding the 2007 and 2008 races, which he skipped). The wins came during an incredible three-year stretch from 1993 to 1995, where he won the pole and led 183 of a possible 270 laps. There are just as many knocks on him, though. First of all, this has been a tough year for the team; second, he hasn’t led a lap at the Glen in his past seven starts; finally, his last two Glen finishes have been 20th and 23rd, respectively. Pick carefully.

Robby Gordon is always a threat at the Glen, having scored seven top five finishes in 11 starts and a win in 2003. Normally the only knock against Gordon is failed alternate pit strategy that doesn’t work out in the end. Fans can always count on the independent to put on a good show, especially with the added data from a second, P.J. Jones-piloted car each time the series turns both ways.

Finally, A.J. Allmendinger is a decent pick that can be expected to exceed his previous finishes at the Glen - 11th and 13th in two career starts. The ex-Champ Car star’s future is now set at Richard Petty Motorsports, with a multi-year contract extension in place, and the confidence that comes with being the team’s new number one driver should allow him to open up a little this weekend and show off the road course talent that convinced Red Bull to bring him to stock cars in the first place a few years ago.

Filed under: One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing, Watkins Glen 

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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Gillette Fusion ProGlide 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.

June 3, 2010 2:07 pm CDT No Comments

This weekend marks one of change in the Sprint Cup Series; not only does the Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 begin the second half of the series’ regular season and usher in the start of TNT’s summer series, it is also the first time that Pocono, not Dover, will host the race immediately after the Coca-Cola 600.

Those of you who have read this column for a long time are surely aware that its existence has always been facilitated by the OnPitRow.com One and Done Fantasy Racing game. Well, folks, this weekend is one of renewal for that game too. Pocono starts the second of three seasons-within-a-season for One and Done, and if you pick well over the next 13 races, you could have some fantastic prizes coming your way. The game is simple – pick a different driver each week for the next 13 weeks, and see how well you do.

As usual, here are the five drivers who are your best fantasy bets for this weekend’s race:

My personal number one pick is Denny Hamlin, because there is almost no logical, feasible reason not to pick him if the rules of your game allow it. Denny’s been on fire as of late on the Sprint Cup circuit, having completed every lap since Texas and accruing two wins and four top-5s in that span. Hamlin also has three wins at Pocono in eight starts, putting him behind only Jeff Gordon for most of full-time drivers, and far and away giving him the best winning percentage.

My dark horse for the weekend is Kasey Kahne. Despite languishing in 21st in points this season, the past two years have been fairly successful for Kahne at Pocono, with a win and three top-10s. A handful of poor Pocono showings earlier in his career skew his average finish, but it’s clear that Kahne has made huge strides at the track; in the last Pocono race, the only driver to top him in driver ratings was Hamlin, widely recognized as the king of Pocono.

Three more for the long and winding road:

Hey, did you know that Mark Martin guy has six runner-up finishes and 32 top-10s in 46 Pocono starts, but has never won a race? Those six bridesmaid spots tie Bobby Allison at Martinsville for most runner-up placings at a track with zero wins. You can bet that’s a goose egg the No. 5 team will be striving to eradicate come Sunday.

Tony Stewart has a pretty solid history at Pocono, with two wins and 16 top-10s in 22 starts. Last year’s victory in this race was his first as an owner-driver. Now 16th in points, he has to be hungry to climb into the Chase, and a characteristically strong Pocono run will surely help his cause.

Finally, if you want a real shot in the dark, Kevin Harvick has managed an average finish of 15.7 at Pocono in 18 starts despite only two top-5s, four top-10s, and never leading a single lap. But Happy’s been strong all year, and it may be time for him to surprise. Want to potentially look like the smartest player in your game? Take a gamble on Harvick and see what happens.

Filed under: Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick, Mark Martin, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing, Pocono Raceway, Tony Stewart 

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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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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Subway Fresh Fit 600k

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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.

April 8, 2010 1:53 am CDT 1 Comment

We’re now six races into the Sprint Cup Series season, as the circuit heads to Phoenix International Raceway for the Subway Fresh Fit 600k. Last year, Mark Martin won this race, his first victory at Phoenix in 16 years, and first of five over the course of the season.

Am I the only one who’s found the two early-season off weeks incredibly disjointing? I’ve nearly lost track of who’s where in points. It doesn’t help that I’ve had a few busy weeks, too, but let’s spread some of these off-weeks out for when we really need them!

With that in mind, I’m not going to pick Phoenix based on momentum. The choppy early season kills that a little. Denny Hamlin, the winner two weeks ago, just had his knee worked on, so there’s not much we should expect out of him yet anyway. Jimmie Johnson is Jimmie Johnson – momentum doesn’t matter, he’s going to perform no matter what. So let’s just look at the numbers and pick five, shall we?

I’m going to go with Martin this weekend, partially because it seems about time that he kick it into gear. He was fourth in points exiting Las Vegas, only to plummet to 17th in the last three weeks. You also have to keep in mind that Martin is to Phoenix what Johnson is to Martinsville, albeit without quite as many wins. His average finish of 8.3 in 26 starts is incredible. Unlike a driver with a shorter career like Johnson, with fewer opportunities to make a mistake, Martin has finished every Phoenix race he’s started since 1989.

My dark horse is Joey Logano. Call it a hunch, because it is. He’s finished 21st in both Cup starts at Phoenix. But he’s been solid in the two Nationwide races, and the poise that he’s shown thus far this season proves that he’s a much different driver than he was one year ago. I wouldn’t call it momentum that he’s got going into the weekend – confidence seems like a better term.

Three more, because I always do:

Johnson has won four of the past five Phoenix races. Yup. I should probably take him overall but it feels like cheating because it’s so darned obvious.

Jeff Burton is an interesting pick, as the combination of his resurgence thus far this year and a Phoenix record that includes two wins and an average finish of 10.8 in 21 starts suggest good things for the Virginia native. He did work his way up from a 36th place starting spot to finish second in the fall race last year. Dominating wins in 2000 and 2001 show that he knows how to get it done.

Finally, Carl Edwards is way overdue for some good luck. He’s never won in a Cup car at Phoenix, but seven top-10s in 11 starts suggest he can. He had a great shot in the fall of 2007, leading 85 laps, until a blown engine stuck him 42nd in the final rundown. Other than that anomaly, and his debut at the track, he’s been generally pretty consistent.

Filed under: Carl Edwards, Jeff Burton, Joey Logano, Mark Martin, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing, Phoenix International Raceway, jimmie johnson 

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Fantasy Pick’Em: 2010 Daytona 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.

February 10, 2010 6:48 pm CST 2 Comments

We’ll be two months and three weeks removed from the last points-paying NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race by the time the checkered flag drops at Daytona for the 52nd running of the Daytona 500.

Of course, everybody’s going to be extra hungry to take the checkered flag in the first and biggest race of the season - especially those drivers who are running limited schedules this season or others who failed to register a victory in 2009. But as we all know, only one will claim the victory and the Harley J. Earl Trophy.

This year’s fantasy column is going to run similarly to last year’s. I’ll pick five drivers with a shot to win, with one singled out as my pick and one left-field pick as my dark horse. It’s up to you folks playing fantasy racing games online to do the rest. Without further ado:

Tony Stewart is my pick to win the Daytona 500. Stewart-Haas Racing proved it was no pushover last year, and with a year under their belts they’ll be even stronger in 2010. Smoke is certainly hungry for a win in the 500, as his teammate (Ryan Newman) and crew chief (Darian Grubb) have both already won the biggest race. He’s got the stats to back him up too: In the 14 Daytona races since 2003, he has only failed to lead laps three times, and in both 2005 races he led over 100 laps. He’s also got three Daytona Cup wins, the most recent coming in last year’s Coke Zero 400.

My dark horse pick is another former Daytona winner, John Andretti. Running a dream schedule of major Cup events and likely the Indianapolis 500 this year, he’ll no longer have to worry about points racing and keeping a car in the top 35. He can run as hard as he wants when he races and go for victories. Keep in mind how Mark Martin elevated his game in 2007 with the pressure of points racing off his back, and nearly won the 500.

Three other drivers you can expect to do well on Sunday:

Marcos Ambrose has an average finish of 11.5, best among active drivers at Daytona. True, he’s only made two starts, but he hasn’t taken a big hit in the Cup cars, and he’s learned plenty from his Nationwide experience, including what it feels like to wreck at the superspeedway. He successfully avoided the accident at the end of last July’s race to finish sixth.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. desperately needs a strong run after a dismal 2009 that saw him sink to 25th in points, his worst ever showing in Sprint Cup. He qualified second, a sign that he’ll be fast on race day, but he needs to avoid the bad luck that plagued him at Daytona (as well as seemingly everywhere else) last year.

Finally, one cannot count out pole sitter Mark Martin. Sunday will mark the third time in four races he’ll sit on the front row of a Cup race at Daytona, and his first pole at the track since the 1989 Pepsi 400, in which he finished 16th. But shockingly, Martin has never won a points-paying Sprint Cup event at his home track (he lives in nearby Port Orange); in his 50th start at the track, can the 51-year-old win the 52nd Daytona 500?

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Daytona International Speedway, John Andretti, Marcos Ambrose, Mark Martin, One and Done NASCAR Fantasy Racing, Tony Stewart 

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