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  • Crunching The Numbers: Kansas

    Crunching The Numbers: Kansas

    After a trip to the Lone Star State for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and a visit to “The Rock” for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series last weekend, both series join up this weekend in America’s Heartland for a weekend of racing at Kansas Speedway. After being reconfigured in 2012, the track has become super fast and should provide two great races for the race fans in the Midwest.

    Sprint Cup Series

    The Sprint Cup Series will make its 15th appearance at Kansas this Sunday, but only the second race since last year’s reconfiguration. With new track records being set last fall on the new track and the Gen6 making its Kansas debut, this race should be a good one to keep an eye on to see just what will happen when the STP 400 goes green on Sunday.

    Driver Races Win Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Jimmie Johnson 13 2 5 11 3 547 10.6 8.0
    Greg Biffle 13 2 7 9 1 346 15.2 9.5
    Brad Keselowski 6 1 2 3 0 17 17.0 9.8
    Carl Edwards 11 0 4 8 0 72 18.5 10.8
    Jeff Gordon 14 2 8 10 0 208 11.6 11.0
    Tony Stewart 14 2 6 9 0 152 18.1 11.7
    Kevin Harvick 14 0 1 6 0 83 19.9 12.9
    Clint Bowyer 9 0 1 4 0 48 15.2 14.0
    Kasey Kahne 11 0 2 5 3 78 11.0 15.0
    Mark Martin 14 1 2 5 1 212 16.4 15.3

    Who To Watch: As is the case at the majority of tracks the Sprint Cup Series visits, Jimmie Johnson is at the top of the board once again with two wins, five top fives, 11 top tens, three poles, an average start of 10.6, and an average finish of 8.0 in 13 starts. However, Johnson does have some competition in the Ford camp with drivers Greg Biffle, Brad Keselowski, and Carl Edwards having average finishes of 9.5, 9.8, and 10.8, respectively. Biffle also has two wins at the track with Keselowski taking the win once. Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart also join Johnson and Biffle in the two win club at Kansas. One last driver to keep an eye on would be Dale Earnhardt Jr, due to the fact that this race would be his first start on the reconfigured track after missing last year’s race with a concussion that all started in a wreck while tire testing on this very track last summer.

    Camping World Truck Series

    The Camping World Truck Series’ 13th race at Kansas will feature the series debut on the new reconfiguration, as the track was reconfigured after the series lone race at the track last spring. This should level the playing field for the Trucks, as all of the teams will be trying to get a handle on the new track for the first time.

    Driver Races Win Top 5 Top 10 Pole Laps Led Avg. Start Avg. Finish
    Kyle Busch 1 0 0 1 0 0 11.0 6.0
    James Buescher 4 1 2 2 0 104 7.8 8.2
    Ty Dillon 1 0 0 1 0 0 5.0 9.0
    Johnny Sauter 4 1 2 3 0 112 8.0 9.0
    Todd Bodine 9 1 4 6 0 108 16.3 9.4
    Joey Coulter 2 0 1 1 0 1 7.5 9.5
    Ron Hornaday Jr 8 1 3 5 3 265 8.0 9.8
    Miguel Paludo 2 0 0 1 0 1 14.0 11.5
    Brendan Gaughan 8 0 1 5 0 17 21.6 12.2
    Dakoda Armstrong 1 0 0 0 0 1 20.0 15.0

    Who To Watch: With a top ten finish in his lone start at the track, Kyle Busch is at the top of the heap as far as stats at Kansas. Four former winners at Kansas, James Buescher, Johnny Sauter, Todd Bodine, and Ron Hornaday join Busch as ones to watch in the SFP 250 on Saturday. Also, keep an eye on Ty Dillon, who also has a top ten start and finish in one start at the track.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Texas

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Texas

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson took sixth in the NRA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night and held on to the lead in the Sprint Cup point standings. He leads Brad Keselowski by nine points.

    “I think leaving Texas with the points lead is important,” Johnson said, “and a good sign that I’ll win my sixth Sprint Cup championship. Just call me ‘number 1 with a bullet.’”

    2. Kyle Busch: Busch completed the sweep at Texas, following his Friday Nationwide win with a Saturday triumph in the NRA 500. Busch beat Martin Truex, Jr. out of the pits on the race’s final caution and led the final 16 laps.

    “I led 171 laps on Saturday night,” Busch said, “or as they’re called at Texas Motor Speedway, ‘rounds.’

    “With Denny Hamlin out with a back injury, and Matt Kenseth his typical hum-drum self, Joe Gibbs Racing is truly in a Lone Star ‘state.’”

    3. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished ninth in the NRA 500 after scrambling to change the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge’s rear-end housing, which NASCAR had deemed illegal. After the race, Keselowski lashed out at NASCAR, claiming his team had been unfairly targeted in the garage area.

    “NASCAR can kiss my rear-end housing,” Keselowski said. “I apologize for my rant, but what better place than the NRA 500 to go ballistic on NASCAR. And what better place for NASCAR to wield its itchy trigger finger when it comes to accessing inspections.”

    4. Kasey Kahne: Kahne just missed his fifth top-10 finish of the year with an 11th in the NRA 500. He is seventh in the point standings, 37 out of first.

    “I’m not sure the NRA will be back as a sponsor for a race,” Kahne said. “But Mark Martin’s got a plan. Since he’s real tight with the rap community, he thinks there should be the ‘NWA 500.’ Of course, that’s pending NASCAR approval, as well as the construction of a track in Compton, California.”

    5. Joey Logano: Logano nearly missed the start of Saturday’s race, arriving late to the grid after a NASCAR inspection forced the No. 22 team to change the car’s rear-end housing. After starting at the back of the field, Logano worked his way to a fifth-place finish, and moved up two places to ninth in the point standings.

    “Starting at the back of the field?” Logano said. “That’s the real ‘rear-end housing.’

    “Luckily, though, the lengthy inspection process afforded me ample time to catch up on some reading, particularly some dated copies of Denny Hamlin Magazine. They’re called ‘back issues.’”

    6. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer finished 15th in the NRA 500, as Michael Waltrip Racing teammate Martin Truex, Jr. took the runner-up spot. Bowyer remained eighth in the point standings, and trails Jimmie Johnson by 61.

    “I support the 2nd Amendment,” Bowyer said. “And, I also support the ‘5th’ Amendment—5-Hour Energy shots for everyone!”

    7. Greg Biffle: A strong run at Texas for Roush Fenway Racing saw Biffle finish fourth, one spot behind teammate Carl Edwards. Biffle is now fourth in the Sprint Cup point standings, 30 out of first.

    “Did someone at Hendrick Motorsports rat out Penske Racing?” Biffle said. “Conspiracy theories abound, with many saying someone at Hendrick pointed NASCAR in the direction of the Penske car’s rear housings. And when Rick Hendrick says ‘jump,’ NASCAR asks the same thing as they do of the height of Penske rear-end housings—‘how high?’”

    8. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt lost battery power while running third on Saturday night, but didn’t realize it was a battery issue until later. Instead of switching to backup power, Earnhardt pitted, and after an unfortunate series of events, Earnhardt was penalized twice. He finished 29th, four laps down.

    “Luckily,” Earnhardt said, “I only shot myself in the foot. Unfortunately, I thought the problem was something else, and not the battery. That’s called ‘getting jumped’ to a conclusion.”

    9. Carl Edwards: Edwards posted his fourth top-5 result of the season with a third in the NRA 500. He improved two places to fifth in the point standings, and now trails Jimmie Johnson by 35.

    “I felt right at home at TMS,” Edwards said. “As NASCAR’s resident fitness freak, I feel quite comfortable showing my ‘guns.’ And what about these super fans here in Texas, all decked out in their sleeveless shirts. Obviously, they support the right to bare arms.”

    10. Matt Kenseth: Kenseth finished 12th at Texas as Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch won from the pole. Kenseth is now 11th in the point standings, 65 out of first.

    “We had a mishap in the pits in which a crew member’s foot caught fire,” Kenseth said. “God bless his sole, we extinguished it before any damage was done.”

  • NASCAR Finding It Is Easy Being Green

    NASCAR Finding It Is Easy Being Green

    In a sport known for gas guzzling, big engine stock car racing, NASCAR has taken very aggressive steps to address its own carbon footprint in the world of racing. As the sport enters its fifth year of environmentally sound initiatives, NASCAR is indeed finding it easy to be green.

    Just two years ago, NASCAR addressed the fuel emissions issue in the sport head on. They forged a partnership with Sunoco, the official fuel of NASCAR and the American Ethanol industry, using Sunoco Green E15, a renewable fuel grown from corn.

    This new fuel, utilized by all three of NASCAR’s top series, emits 20 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than unleaded gas. On top of that, the new fuel actually helped the performance of the engines, with teams reporting an increase of up to 10+ horsepower.

    “There was a significant degree of caution from the start,” Dr. Mike Lynch, managing director for NASCAR’s Green Innovation, said. “We had to take all the risk out through hard work, time and careful analysis.”

    “We needed performance without compromise and we’ve ended up with all the good things and no negative trade-offs,” Lynch continued. “We as an industry have made a ton of progress in terms of green practices and initiatives.”

    One of NASCAR’s most exciting green initiatives is the new, energy efficient power at many of its race tracks. Headlining the solar power effort is Pocono Raceway, whose solar farm just hit a major milestone, the production of 10,000,000 kilowatt hours.

    Pocono Raceway’s solar farm is comprised of 39,960 American-made photovoltaic modules that will ultimately produce over 72 million kilowatt hours of energy over the next 20 years. This will generate enough power to not only light up the track, but also provide electricity to over 300 homes in the area.

    “This is another important milestone for Pocono Raceway”, Brandon Igdalsky, President and CEO of Pocono Raceway, said. “Pocono Raceway strongly believes in the commitment to operate in a more environmentally responsible way and is proud to be the first race track to power our sport with clean, renewable sunlight.”

    “This project demonstrates real sustainability and proves that any business that truly wants to ‘Go Green’ can do it.”

    From solar power to the power of tree planting, NASCAR and its partner the Arbor Day Foundation are helping the sport go green just in time for Arbor Day, Earth Day and National Tree Planting Day.

    In the spirit of the trees, one of NASCAR’s corporate sponsor partners, the 3M Company, just announced that they have just committed to fund the planting of 2,350 trees, one for every lap of the Cup and Nationwide Series racing in the month of April.

    These trees will also serve a restorative purpose as many are being planted in areas hard hit by hurricanes, such as the northeast after Super Storm Sandy; tornadoes, such as in northern Alabama; and areas damaged by fires, such as in Minnesota and Texas.

    Another one of NASCAR’s most intensive green initiatives has been recycling and, from bottles and cans to tires to electronic devices, the sport has been making great headway in reducing its carbon foot print.

    Beverage producers and NASCAR sponsors Coca-Cola and Coors Light have teamed up to not only get their bottles and cans into recycling bins but also to educate fans at the track about the benefits of recycling. Freightliner even provides a BlueTec equipped clean-Diesel rig to transport the Coca-Cola Portable Processing Center at track, which processes 1,000 containers per minutes at the various venues.

    The official tire supplier of NASCAR, Goodyear, also has a recycling program for all NASCAR stock cars as well as the trucks. After every race weekend, tires are transported to Charlotte, NC and recycled for use in power generation and asphalt mixtures.

    Almost 121,000 tires from the Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series in NASCAR are recycled by Goodyear every year.

    NASCAR also recently announced another tire recycling partnership, this one with Liberty Tire Recycling, now the Official Tire Recycler of NASCAR Green.

    “By recycling more than 140 million tires annually, we reclaim nearly 1.5 billion pounds of rubber for innovative, eco-friendly products,” Thomas Carter, Liberty Tire Recycling Vice President of Alternative Fuels, said. “We look forward to enhancing NASCAR Green’s best-in-class recycling program by keeping its discarded tires out of landfills and transforming them into smart, sustainable products that improve people’s lives.”

    Liberty Tire Recycling will also provide GroundSmart Mulch™ to enhance the landscaping of trees that are donated to areas of need throughout the country. The benefit of this rubber mulch is that it lasts longer and prevents the soil from washing away.

    Finally, Liberty Tire Recycling announced that its products, such as rubberized asphalt, will be used to repave race tracks and parking lots at NASCAR venues across the USA.

    “Adding the nation’s premier tire recycling company to our group of Official NASCAR Green Partners will further enhance NASCAR’s position of leadership in sustainability across all sports,” Jim O’Connell, NASCAR Chief Sales Officer, said. “We are pleased to work towards a common goal of reducing the environmental impact of our sport.”

    Other recycling efforts include Safety-Kleen Systems, Inc., who ensures that all oil and lubricants used in racing are recaptured and re-used. Safety-Kleen re-purposes more than 200,000 gallons of race-used oil annually and also provide absorbent products used for cleaning up fluid spills inside the NASCAR garages.

    Finally, NASCAR’s title sponsor, Sprint, is also a partner in green initiatives with their “Recycle for Victory” program. This wireless recycling effort benefits Victory Junction, one of NASCAR’s important children’s charities.

    Sprint is present at every track, in their now famous ‘Sprint Experience’ providing pre-addressed, postage-paid envelopes that fans can use to recycle their old cell phones, batteries and other accessories. Since 2001, Sprint has recycled more than 24 million phones, equaling more than 2,600 metric tons of material.

    One of the most unique green initiatives, however, occurs at Infineon Raceway. At that race track, there are 3,000 sheep living on the property to maintain the grassy areas and the fire lanes around the facility.

    The track also built 15 owl boxes where birds can nest to prey on gophers and other rodents, eliminating the need for pest control.

    While NASCAR as a corporate entity may be finding going green positive and exciting, its drivers and team owners are enthusiastic as well.

    “I think it’s great that we’re looking in these areas on how to make a difference,” Jimmie Johnson, five-time NASCAR champ, said. “Racing is a great proving ground for new technology that can help the country and world to go green.”

    “So, I am excited to see new things coming along and hope there are many more to follow, and really use motorsports as a testing program for that.”

    “The nature of our business is one that we use gas and metals, but that doesn’t mean we should ignore the environment,” Jack Roush, team owner, said. “We have an obligation to the global community to give back.”

  • Matty’s Picks 2013 – Vol. 5 Texas Motor Speedway – NRA 500 – April 13, 2013

    Matty’s Picks 2013 – Vol. 5 Texas Motor Speedway – NRA 500 – April 13, 2013

    Turn on the lights and turn up the heat this week as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races under the lights for the first time this season. Texas Motor Speedway needs no introduction as it has produced some of the fastest speeds and exciting finishes we’ve seen over the past few seasons.

    Remember back to last season, The Chase for the Sprint Cup was heating up between five-time champ, Jimmie Johnson and now defending champion, Brad Kesolowski. The fall race at Texas last year was firmly in the hands of the No. 48 team for the majority of the 335 laps run, but a late-race caution flag lined the two Championship contenders up side-by-side for a fantastic finish. The two collided with one another in the final laps, with Johnson emerging victorious from the awesome battle and Kesolowski landing in second.

    The 1.5/2 mile intermediate tracks are the ones NASCAR circled when designing the new Gen-6 car. They wanted to design a race car that would tighten the delta we’ve seen on the intermediate tracks with the Gen-5 race car over the course of the past five or so seasons. So far this season, we’ve seen a record number of green flag passes for the lead at Las Vegas with 31, and matched the track record of 41 at Auto Club Speedway. Based on these two important stats, I’m going to make the statement that the designers of the Gen-6 car have done their job and improved the passing on these traditional “cookie-cutter” tracks. Saturday night will be no different. Watch for track-record speeds and passing throughout the field.

    Martinsville Recap

    I went with the defending champ last week, and it was the five-time champ who dominated the STP Gas Booster 500. Against my better judgment, I picked against the recent history at Martinsville Speedway, and it came back to bite me in the end. I went against the history of the past 21 races at the paper-clip, being dominated by three drivers, Jimmie Johnson being one of them. Ford also hadn’t visited Victory Lane (or should I say the front stretch backdrop) in over a decade as well. It was ultimately Johnson and the Chevy’s that dominated last week. Never bet against the trends. Kesolowski finished sixth.

    I picked a Chevy for my dark horse pick last week, but I had no luck with Ryan Newman finishing 31st, as the Stewart-Haas camp continued their slow start last week at Martinsville.

    Texas Picks

    If you tuned into www.primesportsnetwork.com on Wednesday night, you heard Greg Dipalma and I preview Saturday Night’s NRA 500 from Texas Motor Speedway. There were a couple drivers I really liked because of where the odds opened up, Matt Kenseth at a 12 to 1 and Dale Earnhardt Jr. at 15 to 1. I made my picks on Wednesday evening based off historical finishes at TMS without the advantage of seeing any testing or practice speeds.

    There was one trend that was clear across the board, starting up front at Texas is very important. We highlighted some drivers who have not traditionally qualified well at Texas, and their tallies in the win column at Texas reflected the importance of starting up front. Six of the last eight races at Texas Motor Speedway have been won from a starting spot inside the top-5.

    Winner Pick

    I liked my pick on Wednesday, and I’m sticking with him again today. Matt Kenseth really likes Texas Motor Speedway, probably because he enters Saturday with a top-5 in each of the last five races at TMS. He boasts the series best average finish (6.2) in the last ten races at TMS and won the first Gen-6 race on a 1.5-mile track when he snubbed Kasey Khane from the win in Las Vegas. Fast forward to Thursday’s test sessions at TMS and look at the 7 fastest 10 consecutive lap averages, and you’ll find Matt Kenseth. Flip to the 5th best consecutive lap average, and you’ll find his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Kyle Busch. Despite Jimmie Johnson being fastest in both test sessions yesterday as far as 10 lap averages are concerned, Toyota claimed 3 of the top 5 10 consecutive lap averages on the day.

    Kenseth will be the 13th car on the track for qualifying later this evening and is my guy who will be there at the end this week.

    Dark Horse Pick

    I didn’t have a long shot pick on Wednesday, but since the cars have unloaded and been on track the past two days, one car has shown a ton of speed in testing. As I mentioned before, qualifying well might mean the difference between a win and a tenth place finish this week in Texas. The No.78 Furniture Row racing Chevy has been fast the past two days, winning the first test session and coming in runner-up in the second of the two test sessions yesterday. Kurt Busch followed up his season-high fourth place finish at Bristol with a top-5 at Auto Club Speedway, the other intermediate oval race this season. We’ve seen some speed out of this team so far this weekend, and Busch will look to shake the woes he had at Martinsville last week with a solid finish in the Lone Star State.

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

  • Previewing the NRA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway

    Previewing the NRA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway

    NASCAR is getting ready for Race #7 on the schedule located at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Will things finally settle down this weekend? I think so considering it is a large track with lots of room to race but you don’t have to look any further than the 2013 Auto Club 400 if you want a shoot a gaping hole in that theory. It seems like this year anything can and will happen. We’ve had Danica Patrick on pole for the Daytona 500, Tony Stewart going after Joey Logano, crews pushing and shoving, Edwards back in victory lane, Dale Jr. leading the standings, the race leaders taking each other out for the win, Denny Hamlin refusing to pay a fine and now having to sit out a few races due to a compression fracture in his lower back! Yea, you could say it’s been a wild season so far and we are only six races in by the way.

    The Gen-6 has proven it is a great car even after it raised a lot of concern following the rather lackluster Daytona 500 we had. It put on a great show at both Las Vegas and Fontana which were the targeted track layouts when designing this new car. They put a lot of emphasis on improving racing at intermediate tracks which I believe they have accomplished with flying colors. Not only did we have great finishes at both Vegas and Cali but we also set the record for most green flag passes at one while tying the record at the other.

    The next challenge for the Generation 6 is the night race at Texas Motor Speedway which is a track that is notorious for having things get wild and out of control very quickly. That’s kind of following the theme for us in 2013 so I guess it’s a great time to be heading to TMS! You can expect record speeds posted at this already blistering fast track which will really jack up the intensity as we get ready for the first Saturday night race of the season. Things always seem to get a little crazier at these NASCAR races every time the lights get turned on.

    It’s time to look at who the favorites are to take the win this weekend and which drivers should be worried about this race. Here are some stats that I’ll let you sink your teeth into before I give my opinion…

    Texas Motor Speedway Track Facts

    Track Size: 1.5-miles

    Banking/Turns 1 & 2: 24 degrees

    Banking/Turns 3 & 4: 24 degrees

    Banking/Frontstretch: 5 degrees

    Banking/Backstretch: 5 degrees

    Frontstretch Length:  2,250 feet

    Backstretch Length:  1,330 feet

    Race Length: 334 laps / 500 miles

     

    Top 10 Driver Ratings at Texas

    (Compiled from TMS races from 2005-2012)

    1.) Matt Kenseth———–106.6

    2.) Jimmie Johnson——-103.5

    3.) Greg Biffle—————103.4

    4.) Tony Stewart———–101.4

    5.) Kyle Busch————–98.7

    6.) Carl Edwards———–98.3

    7.) Denny Hamlin———93.3

    8.) Dale Earnhardt Jr—–92.7

    9.)Clint Bowyer———–92.5

    10.)Jeff Gordon———–91.9

     

    Most Top 5’s at Texas Among Active Drivers

    1.) Matt Kenseth———12

    2.) Jimmie Johnson—-9

    3.) Mark Martin———8

    4.) Jeff Gordon———-8

    5.) Greg Biffle————-7

    6.) Tony Stewart——–6

    7.) Carl Edwards——–5

    8.) Denny Hamlin——-5

    9.) Kyle Busch————5

    10.) Kasey Kahne——-4

     

    Most Top 10’s at Texas Among Active Drivers

    1.) Matt Kenseth———–15

    2.) Jimmie Johnson——14

    3.) Mark Martin———–13

    4.) Dale Earnhardt Jr.—12

    5.) Kurt Busch————-12

    6.) Tony Stewart———12

    7.) Jeff Gordon———–11

    8.) Greg Biffle————-11

    9.) Kevin Harvick——-10

    10.) Jeff Burton———–9

     

    Best Average Finishes Among Active Drivers

    1.) Matt Kenseth————-8.3

    2.) Jimmie Johnson ——–9.3

    3.) Denny Hamlin———–10.9

    4.) Kevin Harvick———–12.5

    5.) Tony Stewart————12.7

    6.) Clint Bowyer————12.8

    7.) Dale Earnhardt Jr.—-13.6

    8.) Mark Martin————13.9

    9.) Kurt Busch————–14.1

    10.) Kyle Busch————14.9

     

    Most Laps Led Among Active Drivers

    1.) Matt Kenseth————-772

    2.) Greg Biffle—————-732

    3.) Tony Stewart————727

    4.) Jeff Gordon————–584

    5.) Kyle Busch————–521

    6.) Carl Edwards———–493

    7.) Dale Earnhardt Jr.—-448

    8.) Jimmie Johnson——443

    9.) Kurt Busch————-235

    10.) Kasey Kahne——–218

     

    Victories at Texas Motor Speedway

    – Jeff Burton won the first ever NSCS race at Texas back in 1997 beating pole sitter, Dale Jarrett by 4.067 seconds in a Ford 1-2 finish; Bobby Labonte was 3rd

    – Carl Edwards holds the record for the most victories among active drivers with 3 (2005, 2008, 2008)

    – Six active drivers have won at Texas a total of two times (Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Burton Denny Hamlin)

    – Six active drivers have won at Texas once (Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman, Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton)

    – Bobby Labonte, Joe Nemechek, Dave Blaney and Kevin Harvick are the only active drivers to run over 20 races at Texas but have yet to win a race there

    – 11 of the 24 races at Texas Motor Speedway have been won by Ford drivers (Chevrolet has 8, Dodge 3 and Toyota 2)

    – Twice has a race at Texas been won from the pole, 15 times from the top 5, 18 times from the top 10, twice from positions 11th-20th, and 4 times from 21st or worse

    – 31st is the farthest back a winner has come from at Texas (Matt Kenseth in Spring, 2002)

     

    Texas Motor Speedway Race & Caution Stats

    – 8 is the average number of cautions at Texas Motor Speedway

    – 2 is the least amount of cautions in TMS history (Spring, 2012) while 12 is the most (Spring, 2000; Fall, 2006; Fall, 2007)

    – There has been a caution within the final 10 laps 5 times in the track’s 24 race history

    – Three times the race has gone beyond its scheduled distance due to a Green-White-Checker

    – In 24 NSCS races, Texas Motor Speedway has never had a shortened race

     

    After looking all this over, you can see that Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth look like the favorites to win this race and if you don’t go with those two, you probably want to keep your pick in the Roush stable with the dominance and power Ford has shown here. This race doesn’t usually feature many cautions so that means teams won’t get many opportunities to adjust an ill handling race car so keep that in mind. You need a driver that can adapt to the changing track conditions and can carry the car when he needs to. 5-time and 2x Daytona 500 champion Matt Kenseth both fit that description very well.

    Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle are both threats every time we show up to Texas so they would be good choices as well. Another driver to keep an eye on but doesn’t drive for the blue oval is Dale Earnhardt Jr. He scored his first ever NSCS win at Texas back in 2000 and has always been solid here. If you want to look at a driver that has never won at Texas but may be a good pick then Kyle Busch is your man. He has made the highlight reel at Texas A LOT in recent years but for all the wrong reasons. Taking out a title contender under caution, getting parked by NASCAR, flipping the bird at a NASCAR official and getting told to shut up by your crew chief while you were preaching your constitutional rights over the radio isn’t exactly what you want to be remembered for.

    Ryan Newman, Joey Logano, Brian Vickers and Paul Menard are drivers that have struggled here in the past and you may want to stay away from. All of them have an average finish worse than 20th and although Ryan has won at Texas, that was 10 years ago. Since that victory, he has posted seven finishes of 20th or worse. Menard has one bright spot in his TMS career which was a 5th back in 2011 but besides that, he has ran mostly mid-pack. Joey has finished 19th or worse in seven of his nine Texas Motor Speedway starts but I would be careful here. Logano seems much stronger in 2013 and may actually run very well. He has contended for the win in two of his last three races which is an awesome accomplishment for him as he tries to prove he deserves respect from his fellow racers. He needs to start bringing this winning cars back home in one piece though. Vickers will be filling in for Denny Hamlin in the #11 car and like Logano, be careful just writing this guy off because of his history. He has changed and is running for a top tier team now. Brian’s finishes at Texas have been far less than spectacular posting results around 20th or 25th most of the time with the occasional bright spot and a pole but that’s it.

    With the Gen-6 making its night race debut and how wild the 2013 season has been, it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see Logano or Vickers pulling into victory lane this weekend. I expect this race to be a very interesting with a lot of passing, blistering speeds and not much wrecking until we get late into the event. You will probably see a bunch of comers and goers as well. I think Jimmie Johnson will continue to show some muscle but win #3 of the year won’t come this weekend. I see one of the Roush or Gibbs drivers taking the victory Saturday night and more specifically Matt Kenseth or Carl Edwards. I hope you enjoyed and feel free to post any comments you have below!

  • Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville STP Gas Booster 500

    Surprising and Not Surprising: Martinsville STP Gas Booster 500

    Refreshed from an off-weekend and ready to go short track racing, here is what was surprising and not surprising when the Cup drivers returned to racing in the STP Gas Booster 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

    Surprising:  With all the talk of paybacks from feuding drivers, it was surprising just how uneventful the last restart and final laps of the race were, especially since the trio competing at the end included Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer, all of whom have history together.

    In fact, at last year’s Martinsville race, the three drivers tangled in the final laps, with Bowyer on new tires and the Hendrick teammates on old tires, sending them all spinning and handing the race win to Ryan Newman.

    Gordon and Bowyer also have history and unsettled scores from last season that even carried over through the end-of-year banquet in Las Vegas. Yet, in spite of a few nudges here and there, they raced each other cleanly and respectfully, which was more than surprising given the rhetoric and hostility between the two.

    “Well, we just didn’t need those cautions there at the end,” Gordon, who finished third in the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, said. “We just needed more laps there at the end.”

    “Well, last year I had the upper hand with tires and it just didn’t work out,” Bowyer, driver of the No. 15 RK Motors Toyota and race runner up, said. “It’s just disappointing.”

    “Just wish I’d had that clock.”

    Not Surprising:  With Jimmie Johnson’s stats at Martinsville, including multiple wins and the best driver rating of 122.3, it was not surprising at all to see him in Victory Lane, collecting his eighth grandfather’s clock.

    And while Johnson winning at Martinsville was not surprising in the least, the depth of bittersweet emotion in victory lane was also not surprising, given the history of loss for team owner Rick Hendrick and his family at that rack.

    With caps turned backwards in memory of Ricky Hendrick and the other members of the HMS team lost in the plane crash at Martinsville nine years ago, Rick Hendrick shared that the track holds so many mixed emotions for him, including the joy of winning and the agony of loss.

    Yet in spite of the bittersweet memories, Hendrick was also incredibly proud of the accomplishment of winning 20 races at that track, the most of any organization in the sport.

    “I was looking at that scoreboard over there, the first time I ever came to a Cup race was here with my dad,” Hendrick said. “We’ve been fortunate to have some great drivers and this track has been awful good to us.

    Surprising:  While it was surprising enough that Danica Patrick, behind the wheel of the No. 10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, finished 12th, it was even more surprising that she beat out her Stewart Haas Racing teammates Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman, who finished 17th and 31st respectively.

    This was Patrick’s first time at Martinsville Speedway in a Cup car and, in spite of an early spin, she rallied back to the checkered flag as the highest finishing rookie in the race.

    “Yeah, well never being at Martinsville, I didn’t know what to expect,” Patrick said. “I felt like I made a lot of passes.”

    “I’m most proud about coming back from two laps down and being on the lead lap,” Patrick continued. “Then grabbing a 12th place finish in the end was good.”

    Not Surprising:  One of the biggest complaints after Martinsville was, not surprisingly, the lack of a second groove in the track and how much track position was lost because of it.

    Although finishing top-ten, Marcos Ambrose, driver of the No. 9 Stanley Ford, had quite a bit to say about the battle for the preferred inside line.

    “You had to fight like a dog to try to get to the inside,” Ambrose said. “If you got hung out there, there’s just nothing you could do – you’re just along for the ride.”

    Surprising:  With all the attention on and rhetoric about Joey Logano, it was a bit surprising that he was pretty much a non-factor at Martinsville.

    In fact, going into the short track race weekend, Logano said that he would not seek conflict but he also vowed not to lay down for anyone.

    “There’s a fine line of how you’re going to earn that respect,” Logano said. “I’m not a guy that’s going to look for trouble, but I’m also the guy that’s not going to get walked on.”

    Logano experience neither being in trouble or getting walked on at Martinsville, finishing 23rd in his No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford. And with that non-stellar finish, he fell two spots in the point standings to 11th.

    Not Surprising:   Any racer out of the car would find it difficult being at the track. So, it was not surprising just how tough Denny Hamlin took sitting out and watching another driver behind the wheel of his race machine.

    “The start of the race was nothing like I thought it was,” Hamlin said. “The start of the race absolutely killed me.”

    “That was very, very tough to watch,” Hamlin continued. “I didn’t’ realize the physical toll that coming out here was going to take on me.”

    Surprising:  With Roush Fenway Racing traditionally struggling at Martinsville, it was surprising to see one of their drivers finish top ten. Greg Biffle, behind the wheel of the No. 16 3M Ford, brought his car to the checkered flag in the ninth position.

    “It was a hard fought day,” Biffle said. “Our car was way too tight and I had to keep working on it.”

    “There was no outside groove whatsoever and everyone really wanted the bottom,” Biffle continued. “But we still finished in the top-10 so I’m pretty happy about that.”

    Not Surprising:  There were several bounce back finishes amongst drivers who struggled and then came back strong at the finish of the race. One of the most notable was Brad Keselowski, who overcame a questionable pit road penalty to finish sixth in his Blue Deuce.

    “That was a hard-fought finish,” Keselowski said. “We wanted to be able to win here and just haven’t been strong enough to do it.”

    “But I’m proud of where we are right here today.”

    Another amazing performance was given by Iron Man Mark Martin, who was involved in a multi-car crash on lap 180 and then rallied to finish tenth. To boot, this stellar finish was in an unfamiliar car in which he was subbing for the injured Denny Hamlin.

    Yet not surprisingly, Martin once again downplayed his accomplishment.

    “It wasn’t that great of a result; we were capable of a little bit better,” Martin said in his usual humble style. “I did not fill Denny Hamlin’s shoes, I can tell you that much.”

    “He is the master.”

    Surprising:  Another pleasant surprise for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing was the good finish for once of one of its drivers. Jamie McMurray, behind the wheel of the No. 1 Novo Nordisk Chevrolet for EGR, finished seventh.

    “We had a really good car,” McMurray said. “Made a good pit call at the end and got a couple of extra spots.”

    “That was a really good day for us.”

    Not Surprising:  Although working with a relatively new team in Furniture Row Racing, it was not surprising that veteran driver Kurt Busch had the presence of mind to not only angle the car before hitting the wall after his brakes failed, but also had the wherewithal to utilize his fire suppression system when his car went up in flames.

    “Something let go in the brakes,” Busch said. “I had to turn the car to the right otherwise I was going to hit harder than what we did.”

    “It was a bummer day.”

    Unfortunately, that bummer day resulted in Busch falling from 13th to 19th in the driver point standings. The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row/Serta Chevrolet, along with all of his Cup competitors, will have a chance at redemption as the elite series heads into Texas Motor Speedway.

  • NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Martinsville

    NASCAR Top-10 Power Rankings: Martinsville

    Note: The quotes in this article are fictional.

    1. Jimmie Johnson: Johnson won from the pole at Martinsville, leading 347 of 500 laps to win the STP Gas Booster 500, his eighth win at the Virginia half-mile track. Johnson claimed the points lead, and now leads Brad Keselowski by six.

    “Eight wins at Martinsville is amazing,” Johnson said. “So is the number of grandfather clocks I’ve amassed. Those clocks really come in handy at Martinsville, mostly to measure my margin of victory.”

    2. Brad Keselowski: Keselowski finished sixth at Martinsville, posting his fourth top-10 result of the year. He is second in the point standings, six behind Jimmie Johnson.

    “I support the actions of my Penske teammate Joey Logano,” Keselowski said. “Despite his age, diminutive frame, and general goofiness, he is one tough customer, and not afraid to assert himself. With the NRA 500 coming up, I think it’s a good time to say that Joey is a lot like NASCAR—he’s not gun-shy.”

    3. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.: Earnhardt’s day ended on a sour note as a late spin left him two laps down and in 24th place in the STP Gas Booster 500. He tumbled from the top of the Sprint Cup point standings, and is now third, 12 behind Jimmie Johnson.

    “It was a good, albeit short, week on top,” Earnhardt said. “For all the problems my car experienced Sunday at Martinsville, gear box trouble was not one of them, because I was definitely not stuck in ‘first.’”

    4. Kasey Kahne: Kahne finished fourth at Martinsville as Hendrick Motorsports claimed three of the top 4 spots in the STP Gas Booster 500. He is fifth in the point standings, 32 out of first.

    “I won at Texas in 2006,” Kahne said, “and I proudly hoisted the ceremonial six-shooters in Victory Lane. On Sunday, I don’t plan on letting anyone infringe on my right to again bear arms.”

    5. Clint Bowyer: Bowyer recovered from early damage to take the runner-up spot at Martinsville, holding off Jeff Gordon on a late restart. Bowyer is now eighth in the point standings, 52 out of first.

    “It was quite a turnabout from last year at Phoenix,” Bowyer said “This time, Gordon was chasing me. And, just like last year, nothing would have happened had he caught me.

    “As you may have heard, I landed sponsorship from Gander Mountain for next week’s NRA 500 at Texas. So our team we’ll be well-heeled, while the race itself will be well-armed.”

    6. Kyle Busch: Busch led 56 laps and finished fifth at Martinsville, posting his fourth top 5 of the season. He is fourth in the point standings, 28 out of first.

    “That’s four consecutive top 5’s,” Busch said. “So, when you say ‘Busch is on fire,’ you’ll have to be more specific. It’s certainly not the first time Kurt’s been fired. But let’s hand it to Kurt—he’s usually starting fires; this time, he put one out.”

    7. Greg Biffle: Biffle was the top finisher for Roush Fenway Racing, registering a ninth in the STP Gas Booster 500. He is now fifth in the point standings, 32 out of first.

    “Luckily,” Biffle said, “there was no controversy involving Joey Logano at Martinsville. He may be the most-watched driver right now. All eyes, particularly Denny Hamlin’s evil one, were on Logano.

    8. Carl Edwards: Edwards finished a disappointing 15th at Martinsville after electing to pit for fresh tires on a late pit stop. He dropped three places in the point standings to seventh, and now trails Jimmie Johnson by 38.

    “It would be a dream come true to win the NRA 500 next week in Texas,” Edwards said. “Then, I could perform my signature back flip and land in open ‘arms.’”

    9. Jeff Gordon: Gordon joined Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne in the top 5 with a third at Martinsville. Gordon chased Clint Bowyer after the final restart with eight laps to go, but could never overtake him.

    “I tried my hardest to put Bowyer ‘behind’ me,” Gordon said. “But try as I might, someone always ends up asking me about the incident in Phoenix.”

    10. Mark Martin: Martin, driving for the injured Denny Hamlin, took the No. 11 FedEx Toyota to a 10th-place finish at Martinsville, joining Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch, who finished fifth, in the top 10.

    “I was two laps down at one point, ” Martin said. “In the No. 11 car, that’s called ‘back’ trouble.”

  • Tony Stewart Fared Better at Local Short Tracks than in Martinsville Cup Race

    Tony Stewart Fared Better at Local Short Tracks than in Martinsville Cup Race

    There is no doubt that Tony Stewart, three-time NASCAR champion, is a fierce competitor. This past weekend, however, Stewart was more successful on the local short track circuit, including Williams Grove and Selinsgrove Speedway, than he was in the Cup race at Martinsville.

    On Friday night, Smoke showed up to race at Williams Grove Speedway in Pennsylvania.  Taking his spot in a sprint car, he was quick in hot laps and started eighth in the heat race.

    Stewart picked his way through the field to finish second behind Brent Marks in the heat event. His finish gave him the opportunity to draw for his start position in the feature.

    Smoke went on to run in the top five for most of the 25-lap main event and was as high as third at the halfway mark. He was then passed by Don Kreitz, Jr. to finish fourth.

    With his appetite whetted for the Pennsylvania short tracks, Stewart jumped back to the sprint car track from Martinsville to compete on Saturday at Selinsgrove Speedway in the Empire Super Sprint/Mach 1 Chassis 358-360 sprint car challenge race.

    “My pilots get a lot of third-shift flights,” Stewart said of his travel between race tracks. “But it makes it all worthwhile when I can come to a cool place like this.”

    “It’s obviously one of the most famous tracks in Pennsylvania.”

    This was Stewart’s first completed race at Selinsgrove, where racers like Jan Opperman cut their teeth and honed their racing prowess. The last Selinsgrove race in which Smoke competed was called due to rain.

    And just like the other racing legends back in the day, Smoke strutted his stuff, setting a new track record in qualifying, with a fast lap of 17.168 seconds.

    Unfortunately, Stewart’s luck did not hold out when it came to drawing for his starting position. He drew eighth in the feature event.

    “I was nervous when we drew an eight for the feature,” Stewart said prior to the race. “Knowing that Pat Cannon and Mark Smith are up there, those are the guys you’re going to have to watch out for and have to beat.”

    Smoke had no reason to be nervous, however, as once the green flag dropped, he drove to the front of the field, winning his first sprint race of the year. The victory was especially sweet since Stewart’s race got rained out last year.

    “It’s an honor to run here,” Smoke said in Victory Lane. “I’m glad we got back here tonight.”

    “The track got so wide and racy,” Stewart continued. “It’s fun when you can go to a track and have a lot of room to race from top to bottom.”

    Although Stewart shared that he would take the momentum of the Selinsgrove win with him to Martinsville, that was not meant to be. Smoke started deep in the field in the Cup race in 26th and finished not much higher in 17th.

    Although Stewart’s No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevrolet did improve by the mid-point of the race, he suffered from restarting in the outside lane on lap 473 and was stuck there for many of the final laps.

    “We were treed in that outside lane,” Stewart said. “We worked hard on this Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 Chevy all weekend.”

    “It wasn’t perfect,” Smoke continued. “But we made steady progress with it.”

    “To have it kind of fall away like that at the end is pretty disappointing.”

    While Stewart may have enjoyed his Pennsylvania short track experiences better than his Cup run, he certainly must have enjoyed seeing his teammate and protégé Danica Patrick outshine him. Danica finished 12th and scored her best Sprint Cup result since finishing eighth in the Daytona 500.

    “It was a nice day for us,” Patrick said. “We’ve had quite a few bad ones since Daytona.”

    “So, we’ll take this and get rolling into the summer because we don’t have a break until July.”

    Unfortunately, Smoke’s other teammate Ryan Newman had an even more miserable day than his team owner. Newman had several flat right-front tires which resulted in a 31st place finish, eight laps down.

    “That wasn’t the finish we deserved today,” Newman said. “We had a right-front tire go down late in the going and that obviously put us behind.”

    “NASCAR penalized us for intentionally bringing out the caution so they held us for three laps,” Newman continued. “We lost another right front not long after that and our day was pretty much done from there.”

    Team owner, Sprint Cup and sprint car racer Tony Stewart can, however, claim one bright spot. He leads both Newman and Patrick in the point standings, currently 22nd, 96 points behind new point’s leader Jimmie Johnson.

    Stewart is scheduled next to compete in the Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway. But one never knows at which sprint car track he will appear next.

     

  • Is Jimmie Johnson The Greatest NASCAR Driver Of All-Time?

    Is Jimmie Johnson The Greatest NASCAR Driver Of All-Time?

    This article was inspired by Kenny Wallace and his tweet from Monday morning; “No doubt at 38 yrs old that @JimmieJohnson is the 2nd Greatest driver in the History of #NASCAR, ALL stats back it up. #3 is 1st.” That is a very bold statement by Kenny and it unsurprisingly caught the attention of many NASCAR fans that began to argue the topic amongst themselves. Attempting to compare Jimmie to the likes of Petty and Earnhardt is a very difficult task considering that they all raced in such different eras of the sport. This is not the first time that this controversial topic has been brought up but Jimmie’s domination at Martinsville which marked his 8th victory at the short track and the 62nd of his career brought it to the forefront of our minds again.

    So, is 5-time better than Richard Petty and even the late, great Dale Earnhardt? Let’s crunch some numbers first and see how the three compare. It took Richard 15 years to win five championships while Earnhardt did it in 13…a feat that took Johnson just 9 years to accomplish in arguably the most competitive era in NASCAR history. Jimmie Johnson has competed in 405 NSCS events coming out victorious in 62 of them giving him a 15.3% winning percentage. In their first 405 races, Petty won 82 events while Dale Sr. won 53. If you are going to base it off of that, then I’d say Richard Petty is #1 but it isn’t so black and white. There are A LOT of factors you have to look at before making an accurate determination on the issue and it would be ignorant to simply base it your stance off of that.

    First of all, not to take anything away from The King but back then, Petty Enterprises was heads and shoulders above the rest of the field car wise which is a major factor to why he won so much. The only other teams that could really compete with them on a regular basis were the Wood Brothers and Junior Johnson. Petty was winning races laps ahead of his closest competitor and just dominated the sport for well over a decade. He had easily the best team, one of the best crew chiefs (Dale Inman) and of course, some natural talent when it comes to driving a race car. Once 3x NSCS champion Lee thought Richard was ready; he threw his son into the fastest car in the field which contributed to all the success and the big numbers he put up. It’s a similar story for Johnson who was thrown into Hendrick equipment from the start and teamed up with Chad Knaus who he remains with to this day.

    Dale Earnhardt on the other hand is a completely different situation and what I’m about to say explains why I rank Dale #1. The cars he drove at the start of his career were mid-packers at best that rarely, if ever found victory lane. Rod Osterlund ran over 200 races as an owner but only one driver ever gave him victories and his name is Dale Earnhardt. In fact, they stunned the NASCAR world when they defeated the titans of the sport to win the 1980 championship. Buddy Baker, Neil Bonnett, Dan Gurney and even David Pearson couldn’t win a single race for Osterlund while Earnhardt won 7. That was definitely not the last time Sr. would get in a mid-pack car and take it to the front.

    After a 2 year stint with Bud Moore, the 7x champion joined Richard Childress Racing. In the 10 years before he showed up, RCR won just 2 races courtesy of Ricky Rudd and had a best championship result of 9th. RCR’s numbers went through the roof when Earnhardt arrived winning 6 championships and 67 races! Let’s not overlook the fact that even though he was 49 years old when he was killed in the 2001 Daytona 500, he was by no means done winning. In 2000, Dale won two races finishing runner-up in the championship to Bobby Labonte. Since the legend lost his life in that tragic crash, the team has amassed zero NSCS titles and just 31 victories combining ALL of their drivers and remember, they are now a three car (once four car) team. Also, unlike Petty and Johnson who won all their championships with a single crew chief, Dale won his with several different ones proving it didn’t really matter who this man had calling the shots; he would still win.

    With that being said, I can without a doubt in my mind say that Dale Earnhardt is the greatest NASCAR driver of all-time. Once a driver comes up through the ranks and starts winning NSCS titles left and right in a Front-Row Motorsports or Phoenix Racing car….then we’ll talk. As for who is #2 and #3, I think I agree with Kenny Wallace. Winning 62 races and 5 titles in the span of 12 years with how competitive this sport has become is simply remarkable. What we are witnessing right now is history in the making and it may never be repeated. Those numbers will continue to grow as his career progresses and I can easily see Jimmie as a 100x winner and 7x champion down the road. On a different note, it’s a shame that there is a contingent of fans out there who not only disrespect this true legend of our sport but go as far as to say that his team cheated and that’s why he won 5-straight. I can only imagine how many times Petty, Junior Johnson and even the Wood Brothers illegally modified their cars but got away with it. It’s not cheating, it’s innovating while trying not to step on NASCAR’s toes at the same time.

    There is no doubt that all three of these men are legends in their own right and have incredible talent but obviously, there is no definitive way of saying who the best really is. It is all opinions based on some facts and individual observations which will of course vary from person to person. Fans and media members alike will debate until the end of time who should be called #1 but in my mind, only one man has proven that he deserves that title and his name is Ralph Dale Earnhardt…..the greatest NASCAR driver that ever lived.

  • Matty’s Picks 2013 – Vol. 4 Martinsville Speedway – STP Gas Booster 500 – April 7, 2013

    Matty’s Picks 2013 – Vol. 4 Martinsville Speedway – STP Gas Booster 500 – April 7, 2013

    It has been a couple weeks since you have heard from me, and I am excited for my opportunity to spout off my thoughts before tomorrow’s STP Gas Booster 500. Martinsville Speedway is one of my favorite stops on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series each year due to its storied history and true short-track persona. It is the only track left on the NASCAR circuit which was part of the original schedule back in 1948, and the .526 mi paper-clip needs no further introduction.

    If you’ve been following SpeedwayMedia or myself on Twitter, you may have noticed I’ve taken my thoughts and picks to the online radio/podcast arena, joining Greg Dipalma of the Prime Sports Network each Wednesday evening to preview the upcoming week’s race. This past week, Greg and I had the privilege of speaking with Mike Smith, PR Director for Martinsville Speedway, who offered his insight on what it takes to put on a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at the storied short track in Southern Virginia. Somewhere around 80,000 Martinsville hot dogs will be consumed this weekend, and I thank Mike Smith for taking a break from his cooking duties to speak with us this week.

    No recap this week so we’ll move right into my picks for tomorrow’s STP Gas Booster 500.

    Winner Pick
    A few important factors have made paring down the list of potential winners tomorrow at Martinsville Speedway. The first important statistic that has helped to set my fantasy roster and make some bold statements as to who will win the race tomorrow afternoon is, 93 of the 128 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Martinsville Speedway have been won from a top-10 starting position. Furthermore, just 5 of the 128 races have been won from a starting spot outside the top-20. Add the two together, and 123 of the 128 races have been won from inside the top-20.

    Now, it’s the track’s recent history that I am betting against this week. The past 20 races at Martinsville Speedway have been dominated by three drivers, Jimmie Johnson (7 total wins in past 20 races), Jeff Gordon (4 wins in past 20 races), and Denny Hamlin (4 wins in past 20 races). Also, Chevrolet has won all but 5 of the past 20 races (4 being won by Hamlin in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and one by Rusty Wallace in 2004 for Dodge). The manufacturer missing in these talks is Ford, who has not visited Gatorade Victory Lane since Kurt Busch won from the 36th starting position, the deepest in the field that a race winner has started at Martinsville Speedway.

    The driver I am going with this week finished 3rd at the other short-track race this year, and besides Watkins Glen and Sonoma, has been strongest on the short-tracks over his career. In six starts at Martinsville Speedway, Brad Kesolowski has just three top-10’s and has lead just ten laps at the paper-clip, but has yet to finish outside the top-20. He ranks fourth among active drivers – behind Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Denny Hamlin, and will start seventh tomorrow at Martinsville Speedway. Kesolowski is a short-track guy and will look to snap Ford’s 20-race winless streak in Southern Virginia tomorrow.

    Dark Horse Pick
    Ryan Newman is a driver who struggled earlier this season in finishing the race, but who has rebounded nicely since his 38th place finish at Las Vegas with solid finishes at both Bristol and Auto Club Speedway. He stole the win at Martinsville Speedway last season, and over the course of his career, has finished the best at short tracks over intermediate tracks, road courses, and restrictor plate tracks. In 22 races at the paper-clip, Newman has tallied a win, seven top fives, eleven top tens, and has started on the pole three times. Newman will roll off the grid in the tenth starting position tomorrow and looks for a solid finish tomorrow to improve his chances of making The Chase for the Sprint Cup this season.

    That’s all for this week, be sure to tune into www.PrimeSportsNetwork.com on Wednesday as Greg and I preview next week’s race from Texas Motor Speedway!

    Until next time, you stay classy NASCAR NATION!