This past weekend Greg Biffle proved to the NASCAR world why he has been our point leader, and the the Biff is back! Biffle dominated much of the Samsun Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, and his only real rival for victory in the second half was Jimmie Johnson. Biffle was able to make his move at the right time and retake the lead and hold on until the checkered flag in the race that was overall very uneventful and characterized by long green flag runs.
As we now have two 'cookie-cutter' races under our belt in the 2012 Season, we have a good indication of which teams have this package together, and it will be really important over the next couple of months for them to keep it together, and for others to get it together. Johnson has now finished 2nd at Las Vegas and Texas, and Biffle has a 3rd from Vegas to go along with this past weeks win. Carl Edwards posted a 5th at Vegas and followed that up with an eighth this past week at Texas. The only other Driver to score top ten finishes in both events so far this year was Dale Earnhardt Jr. who has a pair of well earned 10th place finishes.
The biggest disappoint of the weekend at Texas had to be Tony Stewart. After winning at Texas last fall, and Vegas earlier this spring, Tony was a top prediction for many heading into last weekend, and his 24th place finish definitely let down many people. Matt Kenseth had a good day, scoring a top 5 at Texas, but didn't dominate the way he had at Texas in the past, but the whole Roush organization is definitely proving they are one of, if not the top team right now. Jeff Gordon and Kasey Kahne also both finally had great uneventful nights that led to top ten finishes, and that helps place Hendrick as the other competing organization with Roush as to who is showing they have the best team so far in 2012.
As we head to Kansas this weekend, fantasy owners should take a long hard look at how they fared last week in Texas, and if it was good then keep things pretty similar. If it wasn't very good, then look at who did fare well and copy them. In our case it was Vikktorea who had the best winning combination, and not only won the weekend, but knocked Yeffoc off of the top spot in the standings. Karen also had another great week and has climbed up to third. I picked the right organizations, just the wrong drivers and am still stuck in fifth. But I believe this weekend will prove to be a bit more predictable than last.
Of course, that's assuming that Kansas doesn't turn into the fuel mileage race that it's prone to. This weekend we will be back to 400 miles like Vegas instead of the 500 miles at Texas. The long green flag runs to end the race at Texas are the key elements that can contribute to a fuel mileage race, but it just so happened that everyone was enough inside of the fuel window that the runs spaced out at the right intervals to not cause fuel to be a factor. Kansas is slightly more flat than Texas, and in the past that has caused even more Green flag racing than in Texas, and after last weekend, more green flag racing would almost mean the race might go cation free. I doubt that will happen, but I do look for there to be lots of green flag racing, and that 400 mile mark does sneak up quicker than the 500 mile mark, and who knows where the guys will be at in their fuel run. I'd sure hate to be a crew chief if that's how it plays out.
But for fantasy owners, it's best to play the odds, and make your picks assuming a normal non-fuel mileage race, and to do that it will be best to stick with the numbers this week. And that brings us back to Jimmie Johnson. Johnson has the best average finish at Kansas over the last 5 years coming in at 3.83. He's also led the most laps, averaging more than 62. Greg Biffle comes in second to Johnson in finishing position at 4.33 and third to Johnson in laps led with an average of 38. Behind Johnson and Biffle in average finishing position are Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin, Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne, and Matt Kenseth rounding out the top 12 average finishers with an average of 16th.
Kurt Busch is nestled between Johnson and Biffle for average laps led, but he beats Biffle by less than a half lap per race on average. Following those guys the other strong lap leaders at Kansas have been Matt Kenseth, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, and Denny Hamlin.
In the end right now it's apparent that Roush and Hendrick is where the meat of your roster should be at this week. Matt Kenseth was the top statistical pick going into last week, and although he didn't dominate he did bring home a top 5, and moved up to tie Dale Jr. at 2nd place in Sprint Cup points. Carl Edwards is being Carl Edwards. Very consistent, yet very quiet this year. He's still looking for a breakout race, and everyone knows he would love to have that happen at Kansas. It may be a grab bag this weekend as to which Roush driver will step up and fare the best, but all will be very safe picks. However Greg Biffle should get the best look since amoung the Roush guys his stats are by far the best at Kansas, and leading the points and coming off of the Texas win, he clearly has the highest momentum of all drivers in NASCAR right now.
In the Hendrick stable there are a lot of great picks as well. Jimmie Johnson of course just edges out Biffle coming to Kansas, and I've wrote several times now how Johnson is still the overall leader at all 'cookie-cutter' type tracks. With 2 second place finishes so far this year, Johnson is more than backing up his reputation, and we all know he's dying to finally get to Victory lane and bring home that 200th checkered flag for Rick Hendrick. Teammate Jeff Gordon has now put together a great string of strong runs and has become a safe bet once again for fantasy owners. He's out of the slump and ready to compete with Johnson for that 200th checkered flag. Dale Jr. would also be a very safe bet this week as his season still is rolling on with great consistency. He drove his car all the way up to 5th during a green flag run last week, but then an adjustment in the pits caused him to fall back to the mid teens. They were able to correct it, but with the late green flag runs he was only able to make it back to 10th. However he's still looking strong, and still looking hungry. Lastly in the Hendrick stable, Kasey Kahne finally had the uneventful race he was looking for, and finally broke into a single digit finish. Kahne fared well all weekend too, finishing 3rd at Texas on Friday night in the Nationwide race, and he won on Sunday in the Camping World Truck series at Rockingham. That's got to bring some much needed positive energy and momentum back to the 5 team. One race doesn't prove the slump of bad luck is over, but his cars are strong, and if he fits the salary cap he could prove to be a good value.
Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Brad Keselowski are 3 others who overall have been very strong at Kansas in the past, but they all are very iffy this week. Tony not only didn't meet expectations last week, he all but seemed to fall off the face of the Earth. Fantasy owners will have to try to predict if this was a one race miss, or if this is a sign that the strong run has run out for a while for the champ. Kurt Busch is still suffering from the lower budget team, and while he may have the driving ability and experience to post a strong run at Kansas, I'm not sure his team does. Kevin Harvick has been Okay this year, but for what he's worth he's not performing as well as the others in his salary range. He's a good closer, but drives much of the race mid pack, and that seems to hurt him. He's sitting 5th in points so far this year which comes as no accident, but he hasn't shown enough yet that hes ready to dominate a race. Keselowski is much like Harvick, except less consistent. His stats at Kansas are largely driven by recent performance which included some fuel mileage races and times during his short hot streak. Overall though he doesn't have the best 'cookie-cutter' record. Any given week he may jump up there and be a surprise contender like at Bristol, but I think he'll have tougher competition, and fantasy owners will have better picks for this week.
Some bigger let downs for this week are likely Joe Gibbs drivers. Denny Hamlin is the only one I might expect something from at Kansas, but his numbers still aren't strong at all. Kyle Busch is way down the list statistically, and bringing up the rear Joey Logano, or JoLo, is definitely one of my big time people to avoid like the plague this week. Joining JoLo, is Martin Truex Jr., Bobby Labonte, Michael McDowell, and Regan Smith. They are all statistically big losers at Kansas.
Again, the best and probably simplest advice for this week? Simply look at how you did last week. Every 'cookie-cutter' track has its differences and ways that it is unique, but the program and many times the cars that teams bring to the track are the same. Let's just hope we have a bit more entertainment this week than what we saw at Texas, and it just might be an exciting afternoon!
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Texas Preview
It's always fun returning from an off week or a vacation week, but I can guarantee you this coming weekend when NASCAR heads to the lone start state and Texas Motor Speedway, it will not be a lazy day back just catching up on emails. While some drivers and teams relaxed over the past two weeks knowing they have found early momentum and are right where they want to be, many teams worked overtime trying to play catch up to get back in contention. Six weeks of hard work to get one week off seems like a good deal, but it will be 15 straight more weeks before NASCAR's finest gets to have another coveted weekend off, and it's during this next stretch that will make the drivers prove they really have what it takes to contend for the title come September.
This Saturday marks the first scheduled night race of the season, and would be the first event under the lights had Daytona not been forced to Monday night due to weather. But as we head into summertime, make sure you're not just searching Sunday on the DVR for the next few months. Of the next 7 weeks of racing that will take us through April and May, Texas is just the first of 4 weekends that will feature racing in Saturday night primetime. Richmond will be under the lights as well in 2 weeks, and then the series ends the last two weeks in May in Charlotte for the Sprint All Star event, and the Coke 600 ran the following weekend, all under the lights.
Texas also starts a good run of 'cookie-cutter' tracks. As NASCAR visits 6 different tracks over the next 7 weeks, 4 of those tracks, and 5 races will be on 1.5 mile tracks, and 3 of those tracks and 4 of the races meet the criteria of the 1.5 mile tri oval 'cookie-cutter' tracks. We first talked about this intermediate track type before Las Vegas, and Vegas was an important first glimpse at which teams have their intermediate track program put together. However, the next two months will be much more proof of which teams came to play this year and which ones have fell behind on their intermediate cars. It's true that all 'cookie-cutter' tracks do have their own character and some drivers take to certain ones a lot more than others, but overall good momentum built on one of these tracks will be a great predictor of success in the following weeks at the other similar tracks. After Texas we go straight to 'cookie-cutter' Kansas, then to the short track of Richmond and the Superspeedway of Talladega. Then it's 1.5 mile Darlington that isn't cookie-cutter in shape, but an intermediate track nonetheless. Then finally we finish May with two straight weeks at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Only the second event at Charlotte is points paying, but the first weekend's All Star race will be full of excitement for sure. But more on that in a few weeks.
With this run of intermediate tracks looming, it may be important to start set your roster with more than one race in mind. It can be easy to forget to make your fantasy picks when a Saturday night race sneaks on you, but luckily at this point in the season, unlike the first 6 races where we continually visited different track types, the same drivers may very well be the best picks several weeks in a row.
We discussed before Las Vegas how great Jimmie Johnson has been the last 5 years on the 'cookie-cutter' tracks. He by far should be on any roster at most of the intermediate tracks, and after his second place finish a few weeks ago at Las Vegas, he and the 48 crew definitely seem to have dug up that horseshoe again. However, of the 6 'cookie-cutter' tracks that we have more than 1 year of racing on, Texas is the worst overall for Jimmie. He doesn't finish bad here, in fact his average finish position of 12.9 at Texas over the last 5 years ranks Jimmie 5th among top finishers at the track. However he isn't an extremely strong lap leader at Texas and typically finishes worse than he starts. I would recommend Jimmie with caution for this weekend, but due to his strong Vegas performance and how well we will talk about him next week heading to Kansas he could end up being a great pick for many, especially those looking to settle their rosters in for a few weeks.
The second best overall 'cookie-cutter' fantasy driver is none other than Tony Stewart, who ranks 6th overall on my list for Texas alone. But after taking the checkered flag at Texas last fall and also earlier this year at Vegas, Tony definitely should be a top five if not top two pick for fantasy players this weekend. He's full of momentum after two wins as a driver and one more as an owner so far this year, and he's tied for third in over all Sprint Cup points after finishing seventh at Martinsville. Look for Tony to continue his strong 2012 start at Texas, and possibly be wearing a cowboy hat before the night is over.
So who is the top driver at Texas? Over the last five years it has been Matt Kenseth. His average finish of 5.7 during the span is almost twice as good as second best Texas finisher Denny Hamlin (11.1), and he has lead the second most laps , just 7 shy of Jeff Gordon who has lead 449 to Kenseths 442 over the last 10 events. Kenseth claimed an early victory at Daytona this year, and has followed it up with great consistency so far to be tied for 3rd as well in Sprint Cup points. Kenseth would be my 4th overall fantasy pick for 'cookie-cutter' tracks in total, but he will be an excellent pick this weekend in particular, and likely for the rest of the year.
Matt Kenseth's teammate Greg Biffle is not as strong at all 'cookie-cutter' tracks, but He's been great at Texas, and as the points leader he looks to be very promising this weekend as well. He's 10th overall on my list at the 'cookie-cutters' but 3rd at Texas alone. Sitting between the teammates in my Texas rankings is Kyle Busch coming in at 2nd. He's 6th in my overral 'cookie-cutter' rankings, but has definitely not shown the promise in 2012 as he has in years past. The younger Busch sits 16th in Sprint Cup points and has been highly unimpressive so far this season. However, as points start to be a bigger focus Kyle may have to set his sights on a wild card spot as his best option to make the Chase this year. To do that Kyle will need to win, and likely multiple times. He's definitely capable of putting his Joe Gibbs racing Toyato in victory lane, and on the weekend he can pull it off he will almost certainly dominate and post big fantasy points while doing so. However he hasn't shown me enough this year for me to gamble on him just yet.
Another Driver who has great stats but has proven to be a gamble so far this year is Jeff Gordon. Martinsville had enough laps that Gordon was able to pile up enough points early in the race that the late race incident that took him out of contention still left him atop the fantasy standings for the week. However Sprint Cup points aren't so kind to drivers who can't seal the deal all the way until the checkered flag falls. Gordon sits 21st in points and will be much like Kyle Busch in the fact that he is going to have to win to get in the Chase in 2012. Luckily he's 5th overall in my Texas picks, and 3rd overall at 'cookie-cutter' tracks. And on top of that he's bringing strong cars to the race track every week. He's been a victim of a lot of bad luck, but maybe Jimmie will let Jeff rub or even borrow the horseshoe, and if Jeff can survive the bad luck for a race or two his momentum should definitely return.
Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards are the only drivers to have 2 wins each at Texas over the last 6 races and they sit 3rd and 6th overall at Texas, but other than Denny's win earlier at Phoenix, neither are setting the woods on fire so far. However at 7th and 11th in points, I predict they'll both make the Chase, and could be some good dark horses over the next few weeks.
Perhaps the biggest 'darkhorse' I see this weekend is the guy sitting second in points and who every media outlet can't quit talking about. Of course that's Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. doesn't have a great average finish at Texas over the last few years, but he has proven to be able to lead a good number of laps. And perhaps it's not Jr.'s statistical performance, but rather his emotional attachment to Texas that make him a great pick this week. Texas is not only the site of Dale's first Sprint Cup win, but it was the site of his first Nationwide series win as well. It's also where he chose to make arguably the biggest announcement in the modern era of NASCAR when he announced he would be moving to Hendrick Motorsports starting in 2008. Of course it has been since 2008 since the 88 team has seen victory lane, but what a feel good story it would be if Jr. could be the driver to break his winless streak by getting Rick Hendrick his 200th Sprint Cup win at the very track they began their working relationship together. It will obviously be a great story whenever Jr. gets his next win, but he's driving consistently, catching a lot of breaks and has a hunger in eyes that we haven't seen in a while. And feel good stories seem to be fairly common in NASCAR, especially if your name is Earnhardt.
Among a few surprising drivers to avoid this week at texas is fourth Hendrick teammate Kasey Kahne. Kasey is not all that statistically bad at Texas, but he's not that statistically good either, and lets just say from Kasey's bad luck this year, he's not the one I would want to stand next to in a rainstorm right now. Other drivers that also haven't fared well at Texas are Joey Logano, David Reutimann, Juan Pablo Montoya, Regan Smith, and Joe Nemechek.
It will be an exciting weekend for sure. We may not get to see the Jeff and Jeff push fight on the backstretch again in person, but thank God the Texas Motor Speedway promoters won't ever let it die for commercials and race intros. But expect some action for sure. We will likely see a few long green runs in the middle of the race, but if the drivers are as antsy to race as this fan is for them to get back on the track we may see several cautions near the end. There's only been 1 Green White Checkered finish in the last 10 races at Texas, but sometimes those bright lights just breed yellow flags. Tomorrow is also Friday the 13th, and who knows what kind of mystique that can bring to race weekend. I mean, NASCAR drivers certainly aren't superstitious or anything, I mean it's not like they carry lucky pennies...or horseshoes right?
This Saturday marks the first scheduled night race of the season, and would be the first event under the lights had Daytona not been forced to Monday night due to weather. But as we head into summertime, make sure you're not just searching Sunday on the DVR for the next few months. Of the next 7 weeks of racing that will take us through April and May, Texas is just the first of 4 weekends that will feature racing in Saturday night primetime. Richmond will be under the lights as well in 2 weeks, and then the series ends the last two weeks in May in Charlotte for the Sprint All Star event, and the Coke 600 ran the following weekend, all under the lights.
Texas also starts a good run of 'cookie-cutter' tracks. As NASCAR visits 6 different tracks over the next 7 weeks, 4 of those tracks, and 5 races will be on 1.5 mile tracks, and 3 of those tracks and 4 of the races meet the criteria of the 1.5 mile tri oval 'cookie-cutter' tracks. We first talked about this intermediate track type before Las Vegas, and Vegas was an important first glimpse at which teams have their intermediate track program put together. However, the next two months will be much more proof of which teams came to play this year and which ones have fell behind on their intermediate cars. It's true that all 'cookie-cutter' tracks do have their own character and some drivers take to certain ones a lot more than others, but overall good momentum built on one of these tracks will be a great predictor of success in the following weeks at the other similar tracks. After Texas we go straight to 'cookie-cutter' Kansas, then to the short track of Richmond and the Superspeedway of Talladega. Then it's 1.5 mile Darlington that isn't cookie-cutter in shape, but an intermediate track nonetheless. Then finally we finish May with two straight weeks at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Only the second event at Charlotte is points paying, but the first weekend's All Star race will be full of excitement for sure. But more on that in a few weeks.
With this run of intermediate tracks looming, it may be important to start set your roster with more than one race in mind. It can be easy to forget to make your fantasy picks when a Saturday night race sneaks on you, but luckily at this point in the season, unlike the first 6 races where we continually visited different track types, the same drivers may very well be the best picks several weeks in a row.
We discussed before Las Vegas how great Jimmie Johnson has been the last 5 years on the 'cookie-cutter' tracks. He by far should be on any roster at most of the intermediate tracks, and after his second place finish a few weeks ago at Las Vegas, he and the 48 crew definitely seem to have dug up that horseshoe again. However, of the 6 'cookie-cutter' tracks that we have more than 1 year of racing on, Texas is the worst overall for Jimmie. He doesn't finish bad here, in fact his average finish position of 12.9 at Texas over the last 5 years ranks Jimmie 5th among top finishers at the track. However he isn't an extremely strong lap leader at Texas and typically finishes worse than he starts. I would recommend Jimmie with caution for this weekend, but due to his strong Vegas performance and how well we will talk about him next week heading to Kansas he could end up being a great pick for many, especially those looking to settle their rosters in for a few weeks.
The second best overall 'cookie-cutter' fantasy driver is none other than Tony Stewart, who ranks 6th overall on my list for Texas alone. But after taking the checkered flag at Texas last fall and also earlier this year at Vegas, Tony definitely should be a top five if not top two pick for fantasy players this weekend. He's full of momentum after two wins as a driver and one more as an owner so far this year, and he's tied for third in over all Sprint Cup points after finishing seventh at Martinsville. Look for Tony to continue his strong 2012 start at Texas, and possibly be wearing a cowboy hat before the night is over.
So who is the top driver at Texas? Over the last five years it has been Matt Kenseth. His average finish of 5.7 during the span is almost twice as good as second best Texas finisher Denny Hamlin (11.1), and he has lead the second most laps , just 7 shy of Jeff Gordon who has lead 449 to Kenseths 442 over the last 10 events. Kenseth claimed an early victory at Daytona this year, and has followed it up with great consistency so far to be tied for 3rd as well in Sprint Cup points. Kenseth would be my 4th overall fantasy pick for 'cookie-cutter' tracks in total, but he will be an excellent pick this weekend in particular, and likely for the rest of the year.
Matt Kenseth's teammate Greg Biffle is not as strong at all 'cookie-cutter' tracks, but He's been great at Texas, and as the points leader he looks to be very promising this weekend as well. He's 10th overall on my list at the 'cookie-cutters' but 3rd at Texas alone. Sitting between the teammates in my Texas rankings is Kyle Busch coming in at 2nd. He's 6th in my overral 'cookie-cutter' rankings, but has definitely not shown the promise in 2012 as he has in years past. The younger Busch sits 16th in Sprint Cup points and has been highly unimpressive so far this season. However, as points start to be a bigger focus Kyle may have to set his sights on a wild card spot as his best option to make the Chase this year. To do that Kyle will need to win, and likely multiple times. He's definitely capable of putting his Joe Gibbs racing Toyato in victory lane, and on the weekend he can pull it off he will almost certainly dominate and post big fantasy points while doing so. However he hasn't shown me enough this year for me to gamble on him just yet.
Another Driver who has great stats but has proven to be a gamble so far this year is Jeff Gordon. Martinsville had enough laps that Gordon was able to pile up enough points early in the race that the late race incident that took him out of contention still left him atop the fantasy standings for the week. However Sprint Cup points aren't so kind to drivers who can't seal the deal all the way until the checkered flag falls. Gordon sits 21st in points and will be much like Kyle Busch in the fact that he is going to have to win to get in the Chase in 2012. Luckily he's 5th overall in my Texas picks, and 3rd overall at 'cookie-cutter' tracks. And on top of that he's bringing strong cars to the race track every week. He's been a victim of a lot of bad luck, but maybe Jimmie will let Jeff rub or even borrow the horseshoe, and if Jeff can survive the bad luck for a race or two his momentum should definitely return.
Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards are the only drivers to have 2 wins each at Texas over the last 6 races and they sit 3rd and 6th overall at Texas, but other than Denny's win earlier at Phoenix, neither are setting the woods on fire so far. However at 7th and 11th in points, I predict they'll both make the Chase, and could be some good dark horses over the next few weeks.
Perhaps the biggest 'darkhorse' I see this weekend is the guy sitting second in points and who every media outlet can't quit talking about. Of course that's Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. doesn't have a great average finish at Texas over the last few years, but he has proven to be able to lead a good number of laps. And perhaps it's not Jr.'s statistical performance, but rather his emotional attachment to Texas that make him a great pick this week. Texas is not only the site of Dale's first Sprint Cup win, but it was the site of his first Nationwide series win as well. It's also where he chose to make arguably the biggest announcement in the modern era of NASCAR when he announced he would be moving to Hendrick Motorsports starting in 2008. Of course it has been since 2008 since the 88 team has seen victory lane, but what a feel good story it would be if Jr. could be the driver to break his winless streak by getting Rick Hendrick his 200th Sprint Cup win at the very track they began their working relationship together. It will obviously be a great story whenever Jr. gets his next win, but he's driving consistently, catching a lot of breaks and has a hunger in eyes that we haven't seen in a while. And feel good stories seem to be fairly common in NASCAR, especially if your name is Earnhardt.
Among a few surprising drivers to avoid this week at texas is fourth Hendrick teammate Kasey Kahne. Kasey is not all that statistically bad at Texas, but he's not that statistically good either, and lets just say from Kasey's bad luck this year, he's not the one I would want to stand next to in a rainstorm right now. Other drivers that also haven't fared well at Texas are Joey Logano, David Reutimann, Juan Pablo Montoya, Regan Smith, and Joe Nemechek.
It will be an exciting weekend for sure. We may not get to see the Jeff and Jeff push fight on the backstretch again in person, but thank God the Texas Motor Speedway promoters won't ever let it die for commercials and race intros. But expect some action for sure. We will likely see a few long green runs in the middle of the race, but if the drivers are as antsy to race as this fan is for them to get back on the track we may see several cautions near the end. There's only been 1 Green White Checkered finish in the last 10 races at Texas, but sometimes those bright lights just breed yellow flags. Tomorrow is also Friday the 13th, and who knows what kind of mystique that can bring to race weekend. I mean, NASCAR drivers certainly aren't superstitious or anything, I mean it's not like they carry lucky pennies...or horseshoes right?
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Martinsville Recap
NASCAR finally saw the drama fans have been clamoring for this past weekend as the drivers did their best to survive 500 laps at the Virginia half mile paperclip. There were long green flag runs as has been the trend so far this year, but a few late race cautions made for an exciting outcome with a Green White Checkered finish.
First off, congratulations to Ryan Newman and to anyone that enjoyed a free Bloomin' Onion at Outback this past Monday. Ryan proved that the race is truly never over until the checkers fall and running in the top 5 for most of the day helped Ryan sneak in for a win at the end of the race.
While Newman may have grabbed the Checkered flag for the race, it was Jeff Gordon who won big for fantasy owners this past weekend. Gordon dominated the majority of the race, leading over 300 laps and amassing over 200 fantasy points for the week, nearly twice the amount of fantasy points as the weeks second place finisher Jimmie Johnson. Johson led his fair share of laps during the event as well and looked like he would be battling Gordon for the win. Everyone in the Hendrick camp was already beaking out the hats, shirts, and banners for Rick Hendricks 200th win, that is until David Reutimann caused the late race caution that would ultimately prove detrimental to Gordon and Johnson's day and Hendricks chances at number 200.
Reutimann broke a left front tire rod and was limping around the race track. He had gotten down low and it was assumed he would be making it to pit road, but even after being black flagged Reutimann continued to try to make laps. Finally Reutimann stopped on the inside of the track that has no apron forcing NASCAR to throw a caution with three laps to go. Reutimann was highly criticized for not going to pit road during the preceding six laps when he was limping around and being black flagged, but trying to stay in the top 35 in owners points proved to be a factor in Reutimanns decision making.
During that caution period Gordon and Johnson who were running first and second decided not to come to pit road for tires, but everyone behind them did. On the restart Johnson and Gordon had trouble getting their 130 lap old tires to go and the rest of the field all but ran over them coming across the start finish line at the green flag. By turn one Clint Bowyer, who had taken a shot in the back by eventual race winner Newman, was diving low and unsuccessfully made it three wide and ended up in an wreck with Johnson and Gordon. All cars were able to finish the race, and due to the fact that not many cars were left on the lead lap by that point anyways they all still finished decent, but Johnson and Gordon sure weren't happy not contend for the win and have solid top 5's. Dale Jr. was Hendricks last dog in the fight for win 200, but he settled for third behind Newman and AJ Allmendinger.
No drivers fell out of or climbed into the top 10 in Sprint Cup points as a result of Martinsville, but Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski both moved up to 11th and 12th respectively. Jeff Gordon's effort for a 14th place finish was enough to move him up 4 spots to 21st which leaves Gordon one spot away from the top 20 where he can then contend for a wild card spot for the Chase. And if Sunday was any indication, Gordon's cars are strong and grabbing a few wins this season are very likely for the 5 time champion. He just needs to overcome the bit of bad luck that has plagued him so far in 2012.
Perhaps the only driver who has experienced worse luck than Gordon is his teammate Kasey Kahne. After sitting on the pole and looking very strong at Martinsville Kahne suffered an engine failure and just when the Hendrick driver thought he might finally have a good day, he ended up having to settle for a 38th place finish. This dropped Kahne to 31st in points and he will need some major change of luck to even have an opportunity to continue for a wild card position. However Brad Keselowski is knocking on the door of making the Chase in the top 10, so that may open up the door for 2 drivers getting in on wins alone. Only 6 of 20 races are complete so there is still plenty of time for many drivers to find their stride, but they cannot afford to wait too much longer.
The Sprint Cup series will be celebrating Easter this weekend this their traditional weekend off, and with the decision to drop Nashville from the Nationwide and Truck series schedules it will be a complete off weekend for NASCAR. A few teams will be relaxing and enjoying the weekend, and others are bound to be using the time to work extra overtime hours to figure out how to get back in the hunt. It will be a long run until late July before the Sprint Cup has their second and final off week of the season and this next stretch will definitely help solidify the shape of this years Chase. Come back early next week when we set the stage for Texas and take a look at how the mile and half tracks will play a big role in the season over the next couple weeks.
If you followed my top 3 picks from last week (Hamlin, Johnson, and Gordon) then you were rewarded with the top 3 fantasy earners, just in reverse order. However I didn't follow my own advice and didn't pick up Gordon which allowed Karen to win the week by a landslide and overtake 4th place from me. However, Yeffoc still holds onto the lead. But can he hold that spot for another 5 weeks until the end of fantasy segment 1? We will have to wait and see! Until next week, Happy Easter everyone, and we'll see you in the lonestar state!
First off, congratulations to Ryan Newman and to anyone that enjoyed a free Bloomin' Onion at Outback this past Monday. Ryan proved that the race is truly never over until the checkers fall and running in the top 5 for most of the day helped Ryan sneak in for a win at the end of the race.
While Newman may have grabbed the Checkered flag for the race, it was Jeff Gordon who won big for fantasy owners this past weekend. Gordon dominated the majority of the race, leading over 300 laps and amassing over 200 fantasy points for the week, nearly twice the amount of fantasy points as the weeks second place finisher Jimmie Johnson. Johson led his fair share of laps during the event as well and looked like he would be battling Gordon for the win. Everyone in the Hendrick camp was already beaking out the hats, shirts, and banners for Rick Hendricks 200th win, that is until David Reutimann caused the late race caution that would ultimately prove detrimental to Gordon and Johnson's day and Hendricks chances at number 200.
Reutimann broke a left front tire rod and was limping around the race track. He had gotten down low and it was assumed he would be making it to pit road, but even after being black flagged Reutimann continued to try to make laps. Finally Reutimann stopped on the inside of the track that has no apron forcing NASCAR to throw a caution with three laps to go. Reutimann was highly criticized for not going to pit road during the preceding six laps when he was limping around and being black flagged, but trying to stay in the top 35 in owners points proved to be a factor in Reutimanns decision making.
During that caution period Gordon and Johnson who were running first and second decided not to come to pit road for tires, but everyone behind them did. On the restart Johnson and Gordon had trouble getting their 130 lap old tires to go and the rest of the field all but ran over them coming across the start finish line at the green flag. By turn one Clint Bowyer, who had taken a shot in the back by eventual race winner Newman, was diving low and unsuccessfully made it three wide and ended up in an wreck with Johnson and Gordon. All cars were able to finish the race, and due to the fact that not many cars were left on the lead lap by that point anyways they all still finished decent, but Johnson and Gordon sure weren't happy not contend for the win and have solid top 5's. Dale Jr. was Hendricks last dog in the fight for win 200, but he settled for third behind Newman and AJ Allmendinger.
No drivers fell out of or climbed into the top 10 in Sprint Cup points as a result of Martinsville, but Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski both moved up to 11th and 12th respectively. Jeff Gordon's effort for a 14th place finish was enough to move him up 4 spots to 21st which leaves Gordon one spot away from the top 20 where he can then contend for a wild card spot for the Chase. And if Sunday was any indication, Gordon's cars are strong and grabbing a few wins this season are very likely for the 5 time champion. He just needs to overcome the bit of bad luck that has plagued him so far in 2012.
Perhaps the only driver who has experienced worse luck than Gordon is his teammate Kasey Kahne. After sitting on the pole and looking very strong at Martinsville Kahne suffered an engine failure and just when the Hendrick driver thought he might finally have a good day, he ended up having to settle for a 38th place finish. This dropped Kahne to 31st in points and he will need some major change of luck to even have an opportunity to continue for a wild card position. However Brad Keselowski is knocking on the door of making the Chase in the top 10, so that may open up the door for 2 drivers getting in on wins alone. Only 6 of 20 races are complete so there is still plenty of time for many drivers to find their stride, but they cannot afford to wait too much longer.
The Sprint Cup series will be celebrating Easter this weekend this their traditional weekend off, and with the decision to drop Nashville from the Nationwide and Truck series schedules it will be a complete off weekend for NASCAR. A few teams will be relaxing and enjoying the weekend, and others are bound to be using the time to work extra overtime hours to figure out how to get back in the hunt. It will be a long run until late July before the Sprint Cup has their second and final off week of the season and this next stretch will definitely help solidify the shape of this years Chase. Come back early next week when we set the stage for Texas and take a look at how the mile and half tracks will play a big role in the season over the next couple weeks.
If you followed my top 3 picks from last week (Hamlin, Johnson, and Gordon) then you were rewarded with the top 3 fantasy earners, just in reverse order. However I didn't follow my own advice and didn't pick up Gordon which allowed Karen to win the week by a landslide and overtake 4th place from me. However, Yeffoc still holds onto the lead. But can he hold that spot for another 5 weeks until the end of fantasy segment 1? We will have to wait and see! Until next week, Happy Easter everyone, and we'll see you in the lonestar state!
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