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  • Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 14 Dover International Speedway – FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks – June 3, 2012

    Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 14 Dover International Speedway – FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks – June 3, 2012

    [media-credit name=”doverspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”100″][/media-credit]It’s off to the first state to ratify the United States Constitution this weekend to a track that ranks up there in my list of personal favorites. Contrary to a belief that Delaware would be full of parks, monuments, historic sites, battlefields, etc… it remains the only state without a National Park System unit. This doesn’t mean there is not any NASCAR history in the state of Delaware. In 1995, Dover Downs International Speedway became the first NASCAR racing venue to be paved with concrete rather than asphalt. The concrete is one of the 1,000 elements that make Dover such a popular spot for NASCAR fans, and Sunday’s FedEx 400 will be nothing shy of exciting.

    Coca-Cola 600 Recap

    Jimmie Johnson was my guy for last week’s Coca-Cola 600, coming off his win in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star race two weeks ago. Johnson had been on fire for Hendrick Motorsports, claiming their 200th win at Darlington and winning the All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but his flames were put out last Sunday by a stop-and-go penalty on lap 354. His night was rather uneventful up to that point, creeping around the top five for the majority of the laps, but Johnson left his pit box with the fuel can still attached to his Impala on lap 354. Johnson couldn’t recover from the stop-and-go penalty and ended his night on a bitter note in 11th place.

    My Dark Horse pick had even less luck on his side than Jimmie Johnson in last week’s Coca-Cola 600, retiring early due to mechanical failure. Marcos Ambrose had been on my radar to step up and make a statement in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series on an oval. I was on the right track through the first 200 of the 400 lap stanza as Ambrose took the lead on several occasions last Sunday evening, when a rare hub failure ended my hopes of pulling a pick from where the sun don’t shine. Ambrose limped his No. 9 DEWALT Ford Fusion to the garage for repairs on lap 218, and eventually claimed the 32nd spot in the 2012 Coca-Cola 600.

    Dover Picks

    I’ve got two practice sessions but no starting positions to base my picks off of this week as qualifying for the 43rd Annual FedEx 400 benefiting Autism Speaks is on the unusual Saturday this week. There are a few guys on my list of contenders this week because of the difficulty the Monster Mile brings on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers.

    Winner Pick

    Its ‘Concrete Carl’ who I’m going with this week to win at Dover International Speedway. There is one team in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series which has three drivers in the top 10 in points thru the first 12 races of the season, yep its Roush Fenway Racing. Concrete Carl has the best average finish (7.3) of all active drivers and the third-best Driver Rating (106.5). His first and only win on the high-banked, one-mile concrete oval back in September of 2007 and Edwards is looking to solidify his spot in the top-10 in drivers points this weekend in Dover.

    Dark Horse Pick

    Its Martin Truex Jr. who will prevail as my Dark Horse this week. The Southern New Jersey native calls the Monster Mile his home track, and his first and only win came five years ago at Dover. Much like five years ago, the weather forecast is questionable for Sunday’s race, and coincidentally the forecast for Truex’s first win was less than optimal, as his first win came on Monday, June 4th, 2007 rather than Sunday, June 3rd, 2007. Truex currently sits solidly in sixth in NASCAR Sprint Cup points, and has won two of the last three Coors Light poles at the Monster Mile. His stats are mixed at Dover, last five finishes are 30th, 8th, 34th, 12th, and 33rd, but he is really in the groove this season and Truex is looking for a solid homecoming to add to the banner season he has had thus far.

    That’s all for this week, so until next time…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

  • Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 12 Charlotte Motor Speedway – NASCAR Sprint All Star Race – May 19, 2012

    Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 12 Charlotte Motor Speedway – NASCAR Sprint All Star Race – May 19, 2012

    [media-credit name=”charlottemotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”199″][/media-credit]The stars have come home to Charlotte for this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint All Star Race, and this year brings new drivers, a new format, but the same old distinction. A million dollars rides on the driver able to cross the finish line first following 90 or so laps at The Beast of the Southeast. Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint All Star Race will be run in 4-20 lap segments, with the four segment-winners staging at the front of the field for the final 10-lap shootout to the wire for the cool million. 90 or more laps will make up the All Star race this year, as only green flag laps count in the final 10-lap shootout.

    Jeff Gordon leads all active drivers in NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race wins, with three under his belt already. Carl Edwards made his mark on Charlotte Motor Speedway last season when he practically ripped the front end of his Ford Fusion off from the rest of the car, following his turn through the front-stretch grass in celebration of his first NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race win.

    Some big names still need to race (or be voted) into the big dance on Saturday Night, namely Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Jeff Burton, and Jamie McMurray. The way to earn a ticket to the big dance – finish in the top two of the Sprint Showdown is a surefire way, the other – be at the top of the Sprint Fan Vote. Much like Friday and Saturday night home-track races, there’s an A-main and a B-main tonight in Concord. The Sprint Showdown will be ran in two segments of 20 laps each, with the top two finishers moving onto tonight’s A-main.
    With the absence of NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship points comes an extreme level of action and daring driving. Settling for second is never a thought in the NASCAR Sprint All-Star race, making it one of my favorite race weekends of the entire Sprint Cup season.

    Darlington Recap

    The Lady in Black tamed my recent hot streak of winner picks last week, a result of the toughness Darlington Raceway brings to the sport.

    I picked last week’s pole-sitter, Greg Biffle to win the Bojangles’ Southern 500, a move that looked fairly promising for 74 or so laps last Saturday Night. Biffle’s car seemed to go away as the laps ticked away, battling loose conditions through the latter of the laps at Darlington. He ran in the top-10 for the majority of the race, but the late-race caution set the field up for a green-white-checkered finsh. Biffle restarted 10th, but his 3M Ford Fusion was too much of a handful to muscle into the top-10, ultimately crossing the finish line in 12th.

    My Dark Horse last week qualified for the Bojangles’ Southern 500 in the sixth spot, and ended the race one spot better in fifth. Martin Truex Jr. also battled a loose condition throughout the duration of the race and ran as high as first, but only faltered back to 11th last week. He lead a season high 25 laps and managed to hold his 5th place spot in the championship points standings.

    All-Star Picks

    There is so much to pick for tonight’s All-Star festivities, so I will try to keep my picks short and sweet this week…

    Sprint Showdown

    Kicking off tonight’s on-track activities is the B-main or LCQ (if you’re used to motorcycle racing), otherwise known as the Sprint Showdown. The Showdown is packed with guys eager to have a shot at racing for the cool million, but its Martin Truex Jr. and Jeff Burton that will punch their tickets to the big dance by racing their way into the A-main. Both will start in the top-5 for the Showdown and practiced well on Friday.

    Fan Vote

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. will not race his way into the Sprint All-Star race, but will have a shot at the million via JR Nation. The will vote in droves following his third-place effort in the Sprint Showdown, but JR will start last on the grid for the NASCAR All-Star Race by receiving the 2012 fan vote for the second straight year.

    NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race
    Here’s the segment winners first:
    1- Kyle Busch
    2- Jimmie Johnson
    3- Jeff Gordon
    4 – Tony Stewart

    Starting in the top-4 spots of the 10-lap shootout for tonight’s million-dollar purse will be one Toyota and three Chevrolets. In the end, it will be Stewart claiming victory in the All-Star race. He was at Thursday night’s Pit Crew Challenge, and was disappointed when his Stewart-Haas Racing crew was knocked out of the competition in the semi-finals. The defending NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion is out for revenge tonight and will go home a million dollars richer when the checkered falls.

    That’s all for this week, so until next week’s Monaco Grand Prix, Indy 500, and Coke 600…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

  • Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 11 Darlington Raceway – Bojangles’ Southern 500 – May 12, 2012

    Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 11 Darlington Raceway – Bojangles’ Southern 500 – May 12, 2012

    [media-credit name=”darlingtonraceway.com” align=”alignright” width=”199″][/media-credit]Tonight we head to NASCAR’s oldest superspeedway. The track “Too Tough to Tame” is the spot for the 63rd running of Bojangles’ Southern 500 tonight on FOX, (live 7 p.m. ET) and when the engines fire tonight, it will be the last time the 43-cars making the start tonight have four straight fenders. The cars that exit the racetrack this weekend will surely go to the same scrap pile as the cars raced at Bristol and Martinsville. With the aging track surface and 43 drivers itching to claim hardware from The Lady in Black, the fenders will connect tonight when the green flag files.

    Darlington Raceway dates all the way back to 1950 as NASCAR’s first asphalt oval that measured over a 1/2-mile in length. The track’s first NASCAR race was held on Labor Day in 1950, won by Californian Johnny Mantz in a six-cylinder Plymouth, amongst a field of 75 cars! Much like this month’s Indianapolis 500, the first Southern 500 staged a 2-week qualifying scheme to whittle down the field of more than 80 entrants and align the 75 car field into 25 rows of three cars. When the dust settled, it was Mantz, driving a car owned by Bill France Sr., that would claim the $25,000 purse, a reward that was 7-times the average wage in 1950.

    Talladega Recap

    I had the honor of watching last week’s Aaron’s 499 with a very close family friend whom happens to be a Brad Keselowski fan (or maybe he’s just a fan of the Blue Deuce, or Miller Lite, or maybe just beer in general), and I have to give him credit for my win last week in Alabama. I happened to be writing my column last Saturday afternoon when Uncle Scotty walked through my front door, and I admit to asking his advice with my picks last week. “Pick Bad Brad” he said, “Remember when we were at Talladega and he put (Carl) Edwards in the fence for his first win. The kid can race in Alabama.”

    Thanks Uncle Scotty for the pick as Brad Keselowski ran as flawless of a race last week by Talladega standards as ‘flawless’ comes. Keselowski put himself in second coming out of the final turn at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, a position which conventional wisdom says the driver in the second spot on the final lap of a restrictor-plate race has a much better chance of winning than the leader.

    “I had this whole plan if I ever got in that situation where I was leading,” Keselowski said. “I thought about it and thought about it — dreamed about what to do — and sure enough, going into (Turn) 3, it was just me and (Kyle) Busch. And I knew the move I wanted to pull.”

    “. . . I went into Turn 3 high and pulled down off of Kyle and broke the tandem up. That allowed me to drive untouched to the checkered flag. It wasn’t easy to convince myself to do that, but it was the right move. I’m glad it worked.”

    My Dark Horse pick, Joey Logano got caught up in a wreck with 10-laps to go and finished 26th. I guess sometimes you just have to take the hi’s with the low’s.

    Darlington Picks

    Winner Pick

    As much as I hate to jump on the Biffle bandwagon, I believe it is in my best interest to make an educated pick this week and go with the Roush-Fenway racing driver. He’s starting from the pole at a track where passing is extremely difficult to complete and the eventual race-winner has come from the pole position 19-times, you’ve got to go with a driver starting towards the front tonight.

    Once in the last 10 races at Darlington has a driver won the race after starting the race outside the top-12 positions. That one time occurring in last year’s Southern 500 when Regan Smith made a late-race gamble to stay on-track and not take on tires during the race’s 11th and final caution, a call that would win him the race after starting in 23rd.

    Biffle enters the weekend as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ points leader, and took the pole by breaking the tie between Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne for the top spot late in qualifying Friday evening. He was second fastest in both NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ practice sessions yesterday at the track Too Tough To Tame. The last time Biffle started from the pole at Darlington was back in 2008, and the top spot was not too kind to the Washington native, as he blew an engine and finished just 234 of the scheduled 367 laps at The Lady in Black, finishing dead last in 43rd. I’m hoping Lady Luck is on my side tonight and Biffle becomes the 20th winner from the pole at Darlington Raceway.

    Dark Horse Pick

    I’m not sure you can qualify the guy sitting 6th in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points a Dark Horse, but a Dark Horse isn’t always a driver that is way outside the realm of possibility of winning. This week it’s a guy that tends to fly under the radar of most NASCAR writers and fans. Martin Truex Jr. has been leading the charge of Michael Waltrip Racing drivers to boost the Toyota team to the upper echelon of race teams. Last week’s 28th-place finish marked Truex’s worst finish of the season, and he is looking for a quick rebound this week at a track where he has finished no-better than 6th in his six tries to tame The Lady in Black.

    6th in the first practice Friday afternoon, Truex slipped back to 12th on the leader board during Happy Hour, and rebounded to claim a starting spot for his NAPA Auto Parts Toyota in the third-row tonight in South Carolina. He’s had a great season so far, and a win tonight at Darlington would make a statement that Michael Waltrip Racing is a force to be reckoned with in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

    That’s all for now, so until the All-Stars come out in Charlotte…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!!

    PS: Happy Mother’s Day to all the NASCAR Moms this weekend!

  • Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 10 Talladega Superspeedway – Aaron’s 499 – May 6, 2012

    Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 10 Talladega Superspeedway – Aaron’s 499 – May 6, 2012

    [media-credit name=”talladegasuperspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”163″][/media-credit]499 or so miles will make up the Aaron’s 499 tomorrow afternoon, and all 499 miles will surely be filled with chaos throughout the 43-car field. A slue of rule changes has been passed down by NASCAR officials to break up the two car tango, which we saw last season. The racing during first and only restrictor plate race of the season at Daytona was a mix of the two car tango and pack drafting. Throw out the jet-dryer fiasco and you still had a fantastic kickoff to the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Tomorrows race in Alabama should be no different.

    Richmond Recap

    I am not one to brag, but when you perfect something, its worth talking about… As today is the day of the 138th Kentucky Derby, I will claim to have hit the exacta last weekend in Richmond.

    My winner pick last week ended up in Victory Lane at the end of the night, my first win of the season. Kyle Busch did not completely dominate the race last weekend, and if it wasn’t for a late-race caution, defending Sprint Cup Series Champion Tony Stewart would have went on to win the Capitol 400. In the end, it was the pit crew of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota that boosted Busch to victory in Old Dominion. Knowing the last stop of the night was the most important, the No. 18 team put together a stop that allowed Busch to win the race off pit road and hold off the field for the remaining 12 or so laps. It was Rowdy’s fourth consecutive win in the spring race at Richmond, and my first win of the season.
    My dark horse impressed many with his performance last weekend at RIR, but the winless streak stands at 138 races for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Although he failed to reach the point last week, Jr had the best shot he’s had all year to snap the winless streak. Jr Nation had a glimpse of hope on the final restart, but Dale Jr was not quick enough to reach the bumper of the No. 18. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second, completing my exacta for last weekend.

    Talladega Picks

    Much like my Daytona picks earlier this season, my Talladega picks will be a craps shoot. Practice speeds, starting spots, and historical data all go out the window when the green flag flies at Talladega. Being built on a Native American burial ground, Talladega Superspeedway has a history of wild races.

    Winner Pick

    My winner pick this week is the pilot of the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge. My first trip to Talladega was marked by Brad Keselowski’s pass on Carl Edwards on the final lap for his first win in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. His stats are decent at Talladega, unlike his record at Daytona. 4 of his 5 top-10’s, both his top-5’s, and his only win on superspeedways have come at Talladega. Keselowski looked good in today’s Aaron’s 312 until the big one with three laps to go. He’s looking to balance his misfortune at Daytona earlier this year and claim his second victory of 2012.

    Dark Horse Pick

    A guy that seems to fly under the radar each week is Joey Logano. He might have stole my thunder today however, when he passed Kyle Busch for the win in today’s Aaron’s 312. Logano is a B-list starter for me on my fantasy team this week, and much like Keselowski performs a bit better at Talladega than Daytona. He has two top-5’s and four top-10’s at the superspeedway, and a respectable average finish of 14.5 at the 2.66-mile speedway. Watch for Logano to find help early in the race and finish the race towards the top of the leader board tomorrow.

    That’s all for this week so until we head to Darlington…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

  • Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 10 Richmond International Raceway – Capital City 400 presented by Virginia is for Lovers – April 27, 2012

    Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 10 Richmond International Raceway – Capital City 400 presented by Virginia is for Lovers – April 27, 2012

    [media-credit id=42 align=”alignright” width=”234″][/media-credit]Virginia is for Lovers, except when you are talking about the four weekends the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series goes short-track racing Old Dominion. The beating and banging of Martinsville Speedway and Richmond International Raceway mirror the short-track action Friday and Saturday nights that we all grew up on, and really take me back to some of my best times as a race fanatic. The race Saturday Night will surely be filled with fireworks and the Virginia beating and banging we’re all so fond of.

    Before I get into last week’s recap, I’d like to extend a thank you to Mr. Bruton Smith and all of Speedway Motorsports Inc. for listening to the fans regarding the modifications of Bristol Motor Speedway. Since the reconfiguration and addition of progressive banking in 2007, attendance at Bristol has steadily on the decline. I was in complete awe this March when The Last Great Coliseum was half-full at best for the spring race. I can remember a few of my first trips to Bristol when there were 10,000 race fans standing in front of the gates looking for extra tickets. It was a miracle to scalp the hardest ticket in NASCAR back then, and was a miracle if you could find a seat at face-value.

    Ultimately, it’s the fans that keep our sport alive, not the drivers, not the sponsors, not the owners… The fans are the ones spending the money to travel to the track week-in and week-out to watch 43 of the most talented drivers in the world, and when they speak, those with decision-making abilities must listen. Its not the drivers (unless they feel changes would render the track unsafe or un-drivable) that should be the tell-all in these types of decisions. If they’re not happy with the decision to tighten up the corners at Bristol, too bad, SMI must act in the best interests of NASCAR and what will put fans in the grandstands. The drivers may have liked the wide-open racing grooves over the past 5 years at Bristol Motor Speedway, but 300-something laps without a caution flag is not Bristol.

    I am excited to get back to the way racing used to be in Eastern Tennessee, and I think the track change will boost attendance back to the days when the night race at Bristol was the toughest ticket in all of NASCAR.

    Kansas Recap

    I can’t say too much about the race last week because I didn’t catch a single lap of the STP 400. My race recap will be as exciting as the race itself last week (so I hear)…

    My winner pick was points-leader Greg Biffle last week, and all I really know is he finished 4th last week, giving me my second top-5 in as many weeks.

    I picked my Dark Horse last week before the STP 400 qualifying session, and after I found out my Dark Horse eventually turned into last week’s pole-sitter, I was even more excited about my pick. But like many of my picks this season, he let me down. I now see that AJ Allmendinger finished 10-laps down in 32nd, adding to my less than impressive string of finishes this season.

    Richmond Picks

    Some people say you must hit rock bottom before you can start your climb to the top. I’m hoping that I’ve hit rock bottom just 1/4th of the way through this 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, and can still salvage a respectable average finish with the remainder of my picks.

    Winner Pick

    It shouldn’t be much of a surprise as to who I pick this week to win the Capital City 400 as his stats at the ¾-mile short track. He is the defending winner of this spring race, and has two other victories at RIR under his belt. In total, Kyle Busch has finished first or second in 7 of the last 11 races at Richmond, an absolutely phenomenal statistic. He has won the race at Richmond from as far back as 20th, and came from 34th in the spring of 2007 to finish second.

    Overall, Kyle Busch has an average finish of 5.0 in 14 races in Virginia’s capital city, and is desperate to boost his points resume as he currently sits 13th, out of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. In the other two short-track races at Bristol and Martinsville this season, Rowdy finished 32nd and 36th respectively, a stat unfitting for a guy who has won nearly 20% of the races he’s started on a short-track.

    He’s struggling to find speed as I look at the current charts (23rd fastest after 69 laps in this first practice session), but when the green flag flies, Rowdy will kick into high gear and wind up in Victory Lane.

    Dark Horse Pick

    This pick is what those of us involved with fantasy drafts often like to call “a reach”. I’m going way out on a whim to say that the JR Nation winless streak has a better chance than any race thus far to come to a close this weekend. It has been 1,412 days, 137 races, and a lifetime supply of Kleenex since JR Nation was graced with a win, and quite frankly I am ready for the streak to end.

    Besides Chicago Cubs Fans, JR Nation may be the second-most cursed fan base in the country. 137 races is unthinkable for the sport’s most popular driver, and Richmond is a fine place for the streak to end. Earnhardt Jr knows his way to victory lane at the short-track with three wins, eight top-5’s, and five top-10’s in 25 starts. Each of the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers is gunning for Hendrick Motorsports’ 200th Sprint Cup Series victory.

    It may be coincidence that JR’s last win before his victory at Michigan in June 2008 was at Richmond International Raceway, or it may just be time for the streak to come to a close.

    Either way, JR is 4th in points and 15th on the speed charts following the first practice session of the day in Old Dominion.

    That’s all for this week so until we head to Talladega…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

  • Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 8 Texas Motor Speedway – Samsung Mobile 500 – April 14, 2012

    Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 8 Texas Motor Speedway – Samsung Mobile 500 – April 14, 2012

    [media-credit name=”texasmotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”199″][/media-credit]We head to the Lone Star State for tonight’s Samsung Mobile 500 for the first scheduled race under the lights during this 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Its wide, its fast, and there will be plenty of drama when the green flag flies later this evening. This is just the second mile-and-a-half track of the season, and is guaranteed to pull me away from the NHL playoffs tonight.

    Texas has been one of my favorite tracks for a while now, I’m not sure if its the speed, the flames and six-shooters in Victory Lane, the simple thought that ‘Everything’s Bigger in Texas’ – (a track that comfortably seats over 190,000). If you recall last fall’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway , the race was promoted as a old west showdown between Carl Edwards and Tony Stewart. This weekend will not be much different except that it will be a duel between two teams, Roush Fenway Racing (8 wins in 22 Cup races at Texas) and Michael Waltrip Racing.

    Last Week’s Recap

    I had a great time celebrating Easter back in Syracuse, Mom made some great ham, showed my brothers and SpeedwayMedia.com editor Ed Coombs how to catch fish…
    Back to racing.

    It was two-weeks ago that we visited Martinsville Speedway for the Goody’s Fast Relief 500, and it was a dandy of a race on April Fools Day. My Dark Horse pick two weeks ago was a long shot after NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying, but Kurt Busch was up for the challenge of winning the race from 40th. Well, Busch’s day ended after a slue of problems with the No. 51 Phoenix Construction Services Chevrolet including a pair of blown right-front tires. Busch’s No. 51 was shown way down towards the bottom of the scoring pylon in 33rd, netting me yet another finish outside the top 30.

    It was a much better day for my Winner Pick two weeks ago, leading a race-high 328 laps and completely dominating the 500-lap battle at Martinsville Speedway. It was David Reutimann that squashed my hope of picking up my first win of the season two weeks ago at Martinsville. When his car came to rest on the backstretch with just three laps to go, he brought out the caution that would make the final restart of the race a five-car fiasco. My Winner Pick had the lead on the final restart, partly because him and his teammate Jimmie Johnson opted not to come to pit road under the final caution for fresh tires. Jeff Gordon had dominated all day, and when the field took the green flag on the race’s final restart, he was punted by Clint Bowyer, who was shoved by race-winner Ryan Newman. It was a result of fresh tires vs. old tires, and the old tires lost. Gordon finished 14th.

    Texas Picks

    Besides a couple Hendrick chassis, its a MWR versus Roush Fenway battle this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Roush Fenway drivers Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle are sandwiched between pole-sitter Martin Truex and Mark Martin in the top-4 starting spots, setting the stage for the two-team battle under the lights tonight.

    Winner Pick

    I think its Matt Kenseth who will fire the six-shooters tonight in Fort Worth. He is the defending winner of the Samsung Mobile 500, his second Cup win at Texas coming this time last year. His average finish of 8.7 at Texas is the best out of all the drivers taking the green tonight, and he’s also got two NASCAR Nationwide Series victories under his belt at Texas.

    Kenseth will start on the outside of the front row tonight, and is excited for his chances of putting the cowboy hat on in Victory Lane, “I don’t really know why, but it has been a pretty good track for us in the past. We have had a lot of good runs and finishes here. Whenever you come back to a track you’ve had success at, then I think you probably always look forward to coming back to it maybe a little bit more. As far as mile-and-a-half tracks, we have only been to Vegas (this season) and I thought we performed really well there.“

    Dark Horse Pick

    Since Roush Fenway claimed my Winner Pick this week, Michael Waltrip Racing will take my Dark Horse this week, although this pick is a stretch of a Dark Horse.

    He’s starting 4th tonight in just his 5th start of the 2012 season, but he will be piloting a rocket ship in the form of a Toyota Camry. Mark Martin is running a limited schedule this season in the No. 55 Aaron’s Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing, so when he does make it behind the wheel, he’s got to make the most out of it.

    He fired the six-shooters in Victory Lane at Texas back in 1998, but struggled severely in the two races in the Lone Star State last year with 36th and 19th place finishes. Texas has been fairly kind to him with 7 top-5’s and 12 top-10’s, and enjoys the ‘Hometown’ feel Texas has for him, “Texas Motor Speedway is about 450 miles from my hometown of Batesville, Arkansas. I’ve had a stronger fan following there than anywhere else. Sure I listen in driver introductions when the fans cheer or boo, but I really notice the fans in general throughout the weekend. They are pretty vocal. Since it isn’t that far from Batesville it’s one of the places where my fans go. Texas and Kansas are probably the two places where I see or hear from most of my fans. That’s always a great feeling.”

    Tonight will be fun and I look forward to what the Lone Start State’s first race of 2012 has to offer. Until Next Time…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

  • Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 7 Martinsville Speedway – Goody’s Fast Relief 500 – April 1, 2012

    Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 7 Martinsville Speedway – Goody’s Fast Relief 500 – April 1, 2012

    [media-credit name=”Matt LaFlair” align=”alignright” width=”224″][/media-credit]Under the gun with a very important deadline this week, Matty’s Picks will be very brief and uneventful, much like last week’s Auto Club 400.

    Last week was another dismal performance for me picking winners, much like this week’s winner pick’s start to the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. I picked Matt Kenseth as my winner pick last week because of the domination of the Ford FR9 engines early this season, but again I was let down. Kenseth finished the 112 lap sprint 17th, and I received zero points for my efforts.

    My Dark Horse finished in the top-10 and without my stat book in front of me I can not tell you exactly how many times that has happened this year. I picked Martin Truex Jr. last week as my Dark Horse, but he is steadily working his way into the ranks of not qualifying as a Dark Horse. At any rate, he scored an 8th place finish last week, keeping him inside the top-5 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings.

    Martinsville Picks

    Everyone knows the history of the paper-clip in Southern Virginia, so I don’t need to re-iterate how excited I am to watch all 500 laps tomorrow afternoon. It’s probably the only true short-track left on the circuit, and the race Sunday is surely going to be one of the more exciting stanzas of the season.

    Winner Pick

    He’s off to a slow start this season but I’m thinking his luck is about to turn around. Sitting in 25th place in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Standings, Jeff Gordon needs to get his act together quickly as we’re almost a quarter of the way to the start of the 2012 Chase for the Sprint Cup. He’s been the guy to beat all weekend at Martinsville Speedway, winning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Final Practice by two-tenths of a second. When you’re talking a flat short -track, two-tenths is an eternity. He’ll start 9th tomorrow, and in order for the Drive to End Hunger team to be in the big dance at the end of the season, Jeff Gordon has to turn his luck around soon.

    Dark Horse Pick

    This one might be a long shot this week, but in order to win big, you have to bet big. Kurt Busch is another guy that if he didn’t have bad luck this season, he wouldn’t have any at all. He’s starting way back in the field, and will need the combination of solid pit strategy, a good race car, and a bit of lady luck this weekend in Martinsville to come up with a solid finish. The paper-clip in Southern Virginia has not been the kindest of places for Busch historically, with an average finish of just 20.8. One of his 7 career short-track wins has come at Martinsville, but he’s got a tall task ahead of him if he’s to leave Old Dominion with a solid finish.

    That’s it for this week, and until next time…You Stay Classy NASCAR NATION!

  • Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 6 Auto Club Speedway – Auto Club 400 – March 25, 2012

    Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 6 Auto Club Speedway – Auto Club 400 – March 25, 2012

    [media-credit name=”autoclubspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”200″][/media-credit]Back to the west coast we go this weekend for the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway.  It’s a place that I really can’t speak on the history of racing there, probably because its not a race that I can say I watch intently each year.  Following the addition of a second NASCAR weekend in 2004, Auto Club Speedway has experienced some intense scrutiny amongst the racing community with the intense attendance problems the racetrack has experienced.

    Attendance at the track has dropped by as much as 20,000 fans, nearly 1/4th of the facility’s capacity, since the 2004-2010 two-race stretch, and with the weather forecast for tomorrow, I’m not sure this year will be any better for the racetrack.

    After catching some of yesterday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice and qualifying sessions, I’m starting to think Auto Club may actually be developing some character. Watching the drivers wrestle their buggies around the 2-mile D-shaped oval makes me think tomorrow’s (or Monday’s) Auto Club 400 may be a bit more exciting than  usual. The aging racing surface at Auto Club Speedway  has left teams searching for grip and lifting their cars off the asphalt to clear the roller-coaster of bumps though the corners at Fontana.

    Bristol Recap

    If it wasn’t for bad luck, I wouldn’t have any at all after these first 5 races of the 2012 season. Bristol was fun for my first time as a member of the NASCAR media, but I am seeing why there are concerns about the racing in Thunder Valley . 200 caution-less laps at Bristol was unheard of prior to the track’s reconfiguration and addition of progressive banking in 2007. Last week’s Food City 500 produced a stretch of 220 laps without a caution, a stretch of racing facing scrutiny inside the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series garage:

    “I feel like the old-style track brought what the fans want to see, and whether it’s what the car owners want to see or the drivers, and whether you’ve got to run into each other or you don’t, the old-style racing was more to the appeal of the fans.” said Kevin Harvick, “Any time you run 200 laps at Bristol with no cautions, it’s going to get boring fast in my opinion.”

    I can remember a few of my first trips to Bristol Motor Speedway when there were 10,000 race fans in front of the backstretch grandstands looking for their ticket into the Last Great Coliseum. This year, I traveled to BMS with a group of fans that ended up buying tickets for $20 each for their Food City 500 seats. The NASCAR stat sheet said there was 102,000 fans in the grandstands last week, but to me, we were lucky if the bull ring in Thunder Valley was half-full.

    On the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got a guy that might have a bit of a biased opinion of the racing surface in Thunder Valley, but no matter what, I tend to agree with his opinion. The final 20-25 laps last week at Bristol Motor Speedway were some of the most exciting laps I’ve had the privilege of seeing in-person. Each time Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth circled the .533-mile high-banks of the final stretch of the race last week, they traded paint, running positions, and created a show for the 80,000’ish fans in attendance.

    “I’m very biased, I know,” Keselowski said. “But to me this was one of the best Bristol races I’ve ever seen. We ran side by side for 20 laps. There was some good beating and batting, some wrecking. … I don’t know what’s better than that, short of a 30-car wreck every week.”

    It was great to watch if you can appreciate hard racing, and don’t care about the wrecks, but a forgetful race if you’re the ones that like to see multiple crashes each week. To me, a half-empty bull ring will be what we get each trip to Tennessee until the track is returned to its old configuration. With the gloves-off beating and banging racing style NASCAR is trying to return to, ruining the Mecca of all rough racetracks is a step in the opposite direction.

    Oh, forgot to touch on my picks from last week;

    Winner pick – Kyle Busch was caught up in the day’s only multi-car accident on lap 25. He returned to the race in his battered Wrigley Doublemint Toyota and finished 32nd.

    Dark Horse Pick – Joey Logano, started 9th and never really made a surge towards the front. Finished two laps down in 16th.

    Auto Club 400 Picks

    I’m almost scared to pick anyone this week, but once I hit rock-bottom, there will be nowhere to go but up. Hopefully I hit rock-bottom last week at Bristol, and I can get back into the habit of looking like I know what I’m talking about.

    Winner Pick

    The Ford FR9 engines have been unbelievably strong thus far this season, and Fontana is a track that having a strong engine will put you in Gatorade Victory Lane. A history of winning at Auto Club Speedway also helps my Winner Pick’s case this week having 3 wins already at the 2-mile oval.

    Matt Kenseth has been on fire thus far this year, setting the high mark after winning his second Daytona 500 a month ago. He was just short of winning last week at Bristol Motor Speedway last week, and is a 7 to 1 favorite for the win this week. He will start 15th when the green-flag files at Fontana (whenever that may be) but was second in yesterday’s practice session and is currently shown in 8th in Happy Hour.

    The FR9’s have been great this season, and Kenseth has the car he needs to bring it home this week.

    Dark Horse Pick

    Toyota Racing Development’s headquarters happen to be located in Southern California, nearby Fontana, CA in Costa Mesa. TRD wants nothing other than a win at its home track and with one shot to do it in 2012, rest asured the Toyota teams will be pulling out all the stops this weekend.

    A guy that has been on a role in a way that flies a bit under-the-radar is Martin Truex Jr. In his last 10 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Starts (dating back to Talladega last October), Truex has scored 6 top-10’s, including a third-place finish last week at Bristol. He’s lead the charge along with Clint Bowyer for Michael Waltrip Racing, sitting 4th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Standings.

    Truex will start 13th, but was 9th fastest in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Final Practice and the top 3 starters for the Auto Club 400 will be making the start in Toyota Camrys.

    An FR9 and a TRD Camry are my picks for this week, and be sure to stop back next week for my Martinsville picks. Until next week… you stay classy NASCAR NATION!

  • Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 5 Bristol Motor Speedway – Food City 500 – March 16, 2012

    Matty’s Picks 2012 – Vol. 5 Bristol Motor Speedway – Food City 500 – March 16, 2012

    [media-credit name=”bristolmotorspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”199″][/media-credit]I’m starting my column this week as I sit aboard a 32 foot Columbus Motor Home that has been my chariot to Bristol Motor Speedway 12 times before. For this spring race, we’re traveling a bit lighter than normal, and I have the ability to pull my laptop out and actually get some work done on the 12 hour trip to the hills of Tennessee.  Its time like these that help me to remember why I am a NASCAR fan.

    Swapping stories about times at our local short track, the days of working on a Limited Modified at Oswego Speedway, to my first dirt race at Brewerton Speedway, to the first time I saw the big show at Watkins Glen International with The Intimidator leading the field to the stripe. Its a 12 hour trip that I normally would dread, but each year “Bristol Eve” takes me back to the snowy Christmas Eve’s as a young pup back in Upstate New York.

    Bristol Motor Speedway needs no introduction. It’s The World’s Fastest Half-Mile, is the most covenanted ticket in all of NASCAR, and has been the site of countless historic races and driving moves throughout motorsports history. I made my first trip to BMS in 2002, still wet behind the ears in the NASCAR world, and it was a place I vowed to visit until the day I died. From the moment we made our way down Route 11 and I laid eyes on The Coliseum of NASCAR, to the moment the checkered flag flew on final lap of the 2002 Sharpie 500 , I was hooked.

    This is the first time I’ll visit the high banks of BMS as a member of the media, and just like in 2002, I’m looking forward to sharing some special moments and great times with 165,000 of my closest friends.

    Due to limited resources here at Bristol, I will not be recapping last week’s picks at Las Vegas:

    Bristol Picks

    Its going to be a short column this week because it’s St. Patty’s Day and I’m finishing my column from a picnic table at the Red Barn Campground off Turn 3 here at Bristol Motor Speedway…

    Winner Pick

    There’s no shock here as to who I will pick this week as the winner of the Food City 500…

    Its a guy that has won 5 of the last 6 races here in Thunder Valley and has had a strong car all weekend. Kyle Busch is the man I’m putting my money on this week to make a stand for his championship run in 2012. He’s won a third of the Sprint Cup races he’s started at Bristol Motor Speedway (5 wins in 15 starts). He’s also got an additional 7 top-5 runs, and 10 top-10’s to add to his resume for my pick of the weeks. When he’s not winning, he’s finishing strong with an average finish of 9.1 in his 15 starts at the bull ring.

    He was in the top-3 in both of the final two practice sessions this weekend and will pilot the No. 18 Wrigley Doublemint Toyota from the 13th spot tomorrow. I’m going with history and a dominant runs in each of the last two NASCAR Sprint Cup series practices this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.

    Dark Horse Pick

    Starting up front at Bristol can mean the difference between being collected in a mid-race bumper car fiasco, or keeping your nose clean and hanging with the leaders. Joey Logano has the starting spot towards the front that may keep him clear of any traffic in the middle of the Food City 500. Logano laid down a lap time of 15.392 seconds during Friday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Qualifying, and was able to lead 119 laps during today’s Ford EcoBoost 300 Nationwide Series Race.

    Logano’s practice speeds were less than impressive however, qualifying him as my Dark Horse of the week.

    For the first time all weekend, the forecast is beautiful for the 52nd Annual  Food City 500, and I will spend the day circling the .533-mile short track here in Thunder Valley. I would normally tell you to follow me on Twitter for mid-race cell phone shots and Tweets, but I’ve discovered the issues associated with 165,000 cell phones within a 1/4 mile area.

    Until next time…You stay classy NASCAR NATION!

  • Matty’s Picks 2012 – Race No. 3 – March 4, 2012 Subway Fresh Fit 500 – Phoenix International Raceway

    Matty’s Picks 2012 – Race No. 3 – March 4, 2012 Subway Fresh Fit 500 – Phoenix International Raceway

    [media-credit name=”www.phoenixraceway.com” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]Enter Clint Eastwood; I recon so…

    After the fiasco in Florida last week, I am happy we’re heading to a place that averages just 12 days of rain the entire year. Not counting my chickens before they hatch here, March, historically has been the wettest out of any month. Between the historical rainfall data, and the absolutely perfect weather forecast for Phoenix this weekend, I am confident we’ll be seeing a race on Sunday afternoon.

    This will be the second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on the freshly face-lifted Phoenix International Raceway, and I am hoping a bit of new rubber will have worked its way into the 1-mile tri-oval’ish track in the desert. With the track being re-paved in the summer of 2011, PIR worked its tail off to try and give the cup drivers the absolute best racing conditions possible for the 2011 Kobalt Tools 500. PIR made numerous attempts to foster passing on the new surface including “tons of laps” by driving schools on soft tires.

    Before this weekend’s Subway Fresh Fit 500, PIR has taken strides again to foster passing and work in their new racing surface’s upper groove. Phoenix International Raceway hired Colorado-based Bandimere Speedway to have a tire rotator machine work additional rubber into PIR’s upper groove. The program was conducted Feb. 25-27, one week before this weekend’s big event.

    “The goal was to present the best possible racing surface to NASCAR and the drivers for this weekend’s races,” said Phoenix International Raceway President, Bryan R. Sperber. “This is a very important race in the NASCAR season and we wanted to make sure that the track was ready to perform.”

    I like the races at Phoenix, and am looking forward to what Sunday will bring…

    Daytona 500 Recap

    Where do I start? Despite Mother Nature not cooperating on my Quarter-Century Birthday last week, I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend. Between the hype of Danica’s debut in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the re-birth of “the pack”, and simply the fact that it was the Daytona 500, last weekend’s race had a lot of hoopla surrounding it. The fact that last week’s Daytona 500 would be run in primetime on Monday night, Danica’s crash on lap number two, Brad Keselowski picking up 100,000 followers on Twitter, and the “fire heard round the world” all took the place of FOX’s regularly scheduled dramas on Monday night.

    By now, everyone has heard the stories of the fire, Danica’s troubles, Twitter followers and everything other than racing, so I will skip to the recap of my picks. As you may recall, because Daytona tends to be a craps-shoot to pick drivers, my picks last week were determined by the random draw of playing cards.

    My Dark Horse pick last week was a rookie in the Great American Race, however he looked like a seasoned veteran as he dodged accidents and hung around the top 15. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. remained patient in the pack for the majority of the laps on Monday night, but my quest to start the season off with a strong Dark Horse finish came to a halt with just four laps to go in the Daytona 500. Stenhouse was caught up in a multi-car accident with just four laps to go. The No. 6 EcoBoost Ford came home 20th.

    Two NASCAR Series Champions got the start last week for Matty’s picks, and two series champions were caught up in the same racing accident.

    Tony Stewart was picked via my random card draw last week, and was on pace for a strong finish just like Stenhouse, but couldn’t avoid the final incident of the marathon weekend. I was happy when the cards fell last Friday and I ended up with Smoke as a starter, but again Stewart will come out of Speedweeks without the Harley J. Earl trophy. Smoke found the front of the pack for laps 59 and 60 gaining confidence in his Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, and with a move of an experienced veteran, slipped back into safer waters for the remainder of the laps on Monday night.

    It was just that move that may have caused Stewart his troubles at the end of the 500, as he was collected in the mid-pack accident with just three laps to go. Smoke brought his battered Chevy home 16th, and sent me home crying with no points last week.

    Phoenix Picks

    Winner Pick


    Kasey Khane wanted nothing more than sending Red Bull Racing on its way with a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win last fall. When the Chase came down to the wire, Khane was in the hunt in a handful of the last 10 races, just lacked that last extra nudge to put him in Victory Lane. That extra nudge came at Phoenix International Raceway in November when he sent Red Bull Racing out of NASCAR with a victory.

    Kasey Khane has this new racing surface at PIR figured out, and his speeds have been great all weekend. If it wasn’t for Khane pushing his Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet just a bit too hard entering turn number 3 on his qualifying lap earlier today, he would be starting P1 tomorrow afternoon. He was 5th fastest in the first practice on Friday and followed up his mishap on his first qualifying lap with a time quick enough for 10th on the starting grid for tomorrow. 10th just happens to be where he started last fall when he claimed victory on the new configuration.

    Khane has been under a microscope since his announcement that he would be moving to Hendrick Motorsports last season, and the time has come for him to shine. The No.5 car has to be the favorite for Sunday, so if you’re able to give him a start, DO IT!

    Dark Horse Pick

    I hate to call a guy with an average finish of 12.0 at PIR a Dark Horse, but with just 312 laps to do business on Sunday, starting positions are critical. He was my Dark Horse for the race in November and he did not let me down, finishing 4th after starting 14th.

    Jeff Burton was one of 36 drivers that tested Goodyear tires on PIR’s new racing surface, and he was the fastest driver on the track over the two-day test. He laid down a lap good enough for the 11th spot on the grid earlier today in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Qualifying. Its been a while since Burton has visited Victory Lane at PIR (2001), but watch for the No.31 to be close to the front when the dust settles in the desert tomorrow afternoon.

    That’s all for this week so until next time, you stay classy NASCAR NATION!