The road race season begins this week in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. The season consists of only two races, this week at Sonoma and next month in Watkins Glen. However, those two races are a huge change of pace and a welcome sight after watching a few of the same drivers winning every week in races that require similar set ups.
I am definitely in the minority being someone who actually likes the road courses, or at least I was. Many long time NASCAR fans despise the road courses citing that the roads and right turns take away the spirit and very embodiment that makes NASCAR different from the other motor sports. I can understand that point of view, but intruding on one-eighteenth of the season schedule with some diversity shouldn’t make too many grumble, should it?
Other than seeing a track layout completely different than what we normally see, my favorite reason for enjoying the road courses is to watch some of the Cup regulars struggle. I’m not a negative person and don’t take delight in others misery, but watching some of the best drivers in the world struggle at their craft is somewhat entertaining. Watching a road course specialist take over a car from a lowly financed team and finish better than the corporate mega-racing teams, now that is fun to watch!
What other races do we have on the circuit where David has a chance to slay Goliath? Every once in a while a few decades ago there used to be a place for the low budget cars where we would see an occasional win. Then, almost like what Wal-Mart has done to the Ma and Pa stores in America, The multi-car teams wiped out the little man and their chances to do well in races.
I’m attempting to get you all somehow excited for this race because many don’t like it. This race is all about the driver and less about the car, a ratio that is not comparable to on any other track. Most the time the driver just mashes the pedal and lets the corporate multi-tested horsepower do the work for them. Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, and Kasey Kahne are fine drivers, buts it’s less about them than it is having such a great research staff, crew and car.
Now, I’ve given you the possibilities and what I believe, or want to believe, but here are the facts. Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart win just about every road course race. They have taken all their high financed equipment and parlayed that with their exceptional road racing skills to dominate everyone. We have seen a few drivers step up like Juan Pablo Montoya last year at Sonoma and Kevin Harvick the year before at Watkins Glen, and even Robby Gordon has won a couple during the Gordon/Stewart reign, but that’s about it of late.
So I guess I’ll detract some things I mentioned and clarify by saying there are more possibilities on a road course for someone else to contend. Whether its been fuel mileage or sequence of pitting, there are several instances of lower tiered drivers, or some of the hired assassins, being in contention for a win while beating several of the top name drivers in NASCAR. I love that part of it, simply for the reason of pure possibilities. Road course events in NASCAR are definitely a pleasant change.
Enough rambling, who is going to win? It used to be Jeff Gordon would be the short favorite followed by Tony Stewart and then a bunch of other long shot drivers just because they won all the time. This season there are about seven drivers that have a good shot of winning without having to win by just luck of the pit strategy.
Scott Pruett from Ganassi Racing is the only non-Cup regular who is considered a legitimate candidate to win. Ron Fellows and Boris Said are on the next tier of drivers capable, but Pruett's car gives him the slight edge over the other two quality hired guns. He’ll have good equipment and he’ll also have an edge over most in driving skills, not to mention the track also his considered his home track.
Jeff Gordon still leads the way a co-favorite with 9 career road course Cup wins. Stewart is the other favorite with 6 career road course Cup wins, and having done so more recently than Gordon with a win at Watkins Glen last season. The two have mixed it several times on the roads and on one occasion, Stewart took his shot at punching the road course bully in the mouth. One road race early in Stewart’s career, he raced Gordon hard after only a couple laps and then punted him while battling for position on a straightaway. It was strong message sent and led to a changing of the guard. Gordon had won 7 road races up that point and has only 2 more road wins since. Stewart has literally taken the road course crown and title belt away from Gordon.
Robby Gordon led the most last season in this race and finished 16th after all the late pit strategies. In 2003, Gordon swept the road course races while driving for Richard Childress. The difference over the last couple of years for Gordon and why he hasn’t been able to win since then has been equipment. He is one of the most talented drivers, and because of that, regardless of how terrible the team he owns and drives for is, he is a strong contender. In every race this season Gordon been a huge underdog given little chance to win. For this race, he is a top contender and respected very much. That is the ultimate compliment to his skills that he can so dramatically change perception of his driving ability simply by the course. he is the perfect example o####uy that give hope to the possibilities and just how possible it is for someone in a jalopy to do well.
Juan Pablo Montoya qualified very poorly last season at Sonoma which put him at a huge disadvantage from the start. Once practice started, Montoya unleashed his fury and showcased his skills by running the fastest lap in the final two practice sessions. He still had to come from the back and the furthest anyone had ever come back from to win at Sonoma was 13th. In 15 of the previous 16 Sonoma races, the worst start position was 7th. Montoya was starting 32nd. Impossible! Obviously not for JP who went the last 40 green flag laps conserving fuel throughout and won a smart race.
Hard to go against 24 and 20, but I'll go with with Pruett and Montoya to finish 1-2. And no, I don't think Montoya will feel any remorse for what he did in the Busch race at Mexico City last season. JP would do the same thing again if the opportunity presented itself. I just think Pruett will be smarter and not let him get that close again.
Side Note: An interesting note regarding this weeks race being held in Sonoma is that 7 current Cup drivers hail from California. That is more than any other state, including great race driver producing states of North Carolina and Virginia, which is definitely a sign that NASCAR has come a long way.
Dale Jr on Fathers Day….Very Cool! The Michigan race last week was one of the better races I’ve seen in a while just because of the tension filled drama late in the race. How Dale Jr was able to last that many laps with the amount of fuel they had is a mystery.
Naturally, me wanting to put more fiction into the scene and read more into it couldn’t help but think about other times I thought some paranormal activity was going on. Was it possible someone was looking after Dale Jr in some way during that Pepsi 400 at Daytona, the first race there after Dale Sr passed away there? Was it possible someone was looking after Junior getting out of his harness straps in the burning corvette during a sports car race he participated in?
I don’t know the answer. It’s fun to speculate, but a 76 race winless streak was a huge #### on his back that has been lifted. Don’t know how it happened, but it did and it’s good for the sport.
If there is one track on the NASCAR circuit that embodies the roots of NASCAR, it is without a doubt Darlington Raceway, site of this Saturday night’s Cup race. The first race was run at Darlington on Labor Day weekend, 1950 and it was called the Southern 500. That race was run on the same weekend for the next 54 years until coming to a close in 2004.
The move irritated many traditionalists, not just because of losing the date, but because of the wound it made, how symbolic it was, and the lack of success that Labor Day weekend date has now on the track it calls home. Just like the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants after the 1957 baseball season, Darlington’s Southern 500 was moved to California. It gave the loyalists another reason to dislike this expansion age of NASCAR and long for the days when they could see a Cup nearly every few week within 600 of where they lived. Unlike the Dodgers and Giants, who turned out to be one of the most profitable teams in baseball and in the Dodgers case, one of the winningest, California’s NASCAR dates have been a flop.
The California dates do not sell out despite the facility having one of the smallest seating capacities on tour with 90,000. Was it worth it? The objective for NASCAR was to take charge of the number two market and turn them all into rabid fans, just like ones that attended twice a year at Darlington. The France family must have figured that if they hit the top markets enough with their races that TV ratings will go up in those areas during the 34 weeks they aren’t running there. If the ratings are up, then they can charge more for their next Network contract.
Southern California people are a much different breed than those on the South and North Carolina borders and they surely are not going to have the reverence put into each race there as those in the Southeast. In Southern Cal, they really don’t care about the races, whether it stays or goes, whereas, “The Lady in Black” at Darlington was always treated with dignity, respect, and as a part of everyone’s family.
This week the teams will get a real treat on the Day before Mother’s Day. The Gritty shell filled sandpaper asphalt that had become a staple of the tracks’ features has now been replaced by a brand new smooth, modern age asphalt. Tires should last much longer which changes the whole complexion of how the race will be driven.
I always liked Darlington because the track became an equalizer and was just as important to know how to run as it was to have a great set-up and good driver. Certain drivers got it, and others didn’t. Dale Earnhardt Jr, never seemed to get it at Darlington. He may not have ever had the best car there, but he surely wasn’t patient enough from the beginning of a run with fresh tires. Again, these are just my own observations from watching lap times over the years there. I have never actually ever heard anyone criticize him for that. Junior would be ultra fast from the beginning and then tail off miserably for the last half of the run because he wore his tires out too quickly. Rusty Wallace started 43 races at Darlington with great cars and never won because he couldn’t hold back early on for the sake of being better late in the runs.
None of that “saving tire stuff” matters anymore because the surface is much different and those strategies that some of the best Darlington drivers like Dale Earnhardt, David Pearson, and Jeff Gordon used will not be as valuable.
So what should be the key component in identifying who will do the best this week? They used the Car of Tomorrow at this race last year with Jeff Gordon winning for the 7th time in his career there. Denny Hamlin led the most laps and finished 2nd while Jimmie Johnson, a two time winner there, led the most laps for the last 100 miles. It’s more likely that the top finishers this week will resemble what we have seen for the entire season of races, excluding the plate races, which means that Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, and Kyle Busch will be at the forefront once again.
Dale Earnhardt Jr fits the current criteria and will have a great shot at besting his Darlington best of 4th because of the new surface.
I'll go with a 1-2-3 of No. 99, No. 11, and No. 88, with a strong look at Mark Martin in the No. 8 going for his first win there since 1993.
Crown Royal 400 @ Richmond – May 3, 2008 This Saturday night in the Capital of the Confederacy, a nationally televised audience will get to witness one of NASCAR’s wildest crowds on the circuit. Richmond’s three-quarter mile track will serve as the stage for what will turn out to be the best action adventure on Saturday night’s TV lineup. Because the track is relatively short, the drivers get to play a little bumper cars, which in turn gets a few drivers in hostile moods, which results in the crowd roaring with approval. The whole process really plays out well on TV.
Richmond is listed as a short track because of its dimensions, but it runs nothing like Bristol or Martinsville. Taking a cue from the crew chiefs, the best way to figure out who will do well this week is look at recent results from Phoenix and New Hampshire. The three tracks look nothing alike but the correlation between the three is very strong. If a team has success on one of them, chances are they’ll be good on the other two.
Each of the top running teams from Phoenix will likely bring the exact same chassis to Richmond. Jimmie Johnson won at Phoenix a few weeks ago for his first victory of the season. When including last seasons results from the 6 races at Phoenix, New Hampshire, and Richmond, you’ll see that Johnson has 3 more wins from that group and a worst finish of 6th. Johnson swept the Richmond races last season.
Johnson has shown some vulnerability this year, but only on the larger tracks, or rather, the tracks that didn’t run the Car of Tomorrow last season. The team has admitted that they are behind the likes of Joe Gibbs and Jack Roush in that area. The area that the Hendrick cars are still tops in the business is the flat mid-range tracks of Phoenix, New Hampshire, and Richmond. Those cars they dominated with last season are still in tact, better than everyone else, and are ready to roll again this week.
Jeff Gordon finished 4th in both races last season and had a win at Phoenix. At New Hampshire, Gordon finished 2nd twice. His worst finish in the six races was a 10th at Phoenix. This year at Phoenix, Gordon finished 13th. Gordon has always had a tough time in Richmond. In 30 career starts he only has 16 top 10 finishes and has only won twice. The lack of success at Richmond, like the success he’s enjoyed at just about every other track, is much to the delight of the Richmond Rowdies. For some reason they like to see Gordon have a bad night of racing.
Since we’re discussing Richmond, Virginia we should mention a few Virginians that have a shot at winning this week. Denny Hamlin and Jeff Burton are great candidates to win. Elliott Sadler is also from Virginia, but he doesn’t have much chance. Hamlin comes in with his Gibbs Toyota and has the third best COT average on the 6 tracks combined, behind Gordon and Johnson. At Phoenix this season, Hamlin finished a strong 3rd. Hamlin stands out this week because of his desire to win on his state's soil. Last season he tried so hard to win and bring something positive to all Virginians after the horrific shootings on the campus of Virginia Tech. At both Martinsville and Richmond last season Hamlin finished 3rd and 6th in the four races. This season he has already crossed off Martinsville with a win there last month. This week, look for him to cross off Richmond as well.
Jeff Burton is a candidate to do well because of how well the Childress organization has collectively run on the flat mid-range tracks. They were already great with Kevin Harvick on these tracks before the COT. In 2006 Harvick won 4 of the 6 races run at Phoenix, New Hampshire, and Richmond. The COT program started a little slow last season but they were respectable until Clint Bowyer took the big win at New Hampshire. In their first crack at it this season in Phoenix, two of the Childress drivers finished in the top 6 with Bowyer taking 2nd and Burton 6th.
Burton currently leads in points, but you can forget about him points racing. He hasn’t won in his home state since 1998, which is his one and only Richmond win. He knows he’ll have the car this week capable of winning and he wants it almost as bad as Hamlin does for the same reasons.
The Wild Card for the Richmond race is Kyle Busch. He was instrumental in the Hendrick progression to their current dominance at Richmond. In both the old car and the COT, no one has been consistently better than Busch at Richmond. In 6 Richmond starts, he’s finished in the top 5 five times, including 2nd to Johnson in this race last year. On these flat tracks that we have bunched together as a group, Busch has been strong. He didn’t get a win on any of them last season because his teammates pigged most of them, but in 2006 he won at New Hampshire and in 2005 he won at Phoenix as a rookie. Could Richmond be next?
Carl Edwards brings Ford’s best shot at winning this week. He was 4th in Phoenix and will surely contend with all the top teams. Edwards teammate, Matt Kenseth, is someone that could use a good finish. Kenseth has done rather well at these tracks over his career posting wins at both Phoenix and Richmond. Last season, Kenseth had the best COT program among the Ford’s on these tracks. His first shot this year at Phoenix ended with a poor run due to an accident.
Mark Martin and Martin Truex Jr both had great runs at Phoenix which will have them fare well this week. Martin was 5th and Truex Jr was 8th. Like the Childress group, DEI got a late start of the COT, but as the season went on they were very competitive. Truex Jr finished 3rd and 5th in the two New Hampshire races and 7th in the fall Phoenix race. The No. 8 car that Dale Earnhardt Jr used to drive won three times in Richmond. The duo may not have enough to run with Hendrick or Gibbs this week, but they should have a solid finish.
Over the last few years of reviewing all the races and narrowing down the list of candidates to win, Richmond, Phoenix, and New Hampshire have been by far the easiest races for myself to consistantly calculate. The trends going into each race just hold up so well and so perfect. Very rarely does something happen that wasn’t told or given mention to by looking at the stats and past races. Once in a while something crazy happens like Jeremy Mayfield winning at Richmond in 2004, but for the most part, these races hold pretty true.
I'll go with the 11 to win, the 07 to place, and the 48 to show.
After being spoiled week after week with solid NASCAR Sprint Cup racing, the series took the week off much to the dismay of the rabid NASCAR nation. However, most fans will attest that they would certainly give a week away and wait two weeks in order to receive a gift wrapped order of Talladega Superspeedway racing.
This track is an absolute monster; it’s the biggest, meanest, most intimidating track on the planet. Because of that danger, the race takes on a completely different realm for fans, drivers, and teams alike that is equaled by no other racing facility. By simply defying physics, the laws of gravity, and knowing what the drastic consequences could be if just the slightest mistake in the draft is made makes Talladega the single most edge of your seat track for Fans.
Nobody wants to see wrecks, but people like to see others challenge the norm and take it to the limit. Human nature has always been intrigued with those unfazed by risks. The circus thrilled mankind as far back as ancient Rome with their lion tamers and then much later watched in terror as trapeze artist and tightrope walkers defied gravity. In more recent history, Evel Knievil’s daredevil jumps paved the way for pay-per-view as we know it today because people across the world wanted tp pay just to hold their breath and see what happens.
Once again on Sunday, Talladega will not disappoint. It will be action packed and guaranteed to keep you entertained and on the edge of your seat. Not so coincidentally, that is the sort of claim and same guarantee that Barnum and Bailey or Ringling Brothers made when they rolled into a town for a show.
All eyes this week will be on the No. 88 car driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr, the overwhelming fan favorite at the track, as he makes his first start at Talladega with Hendrick Motorsports and his 300th career Cup race start. Junior has raced in 16 Cup races at Talladega and has won 5 times times.
During one stretch from 2001-2004, Junior won 5 of 7 Talladega races and in the process set a track record by winning 4 straight. The feeling with most in the garages is that Junior is now ready to get back to that 2001-2004 level since he is now driving for the team that has the most recent success in restrictor plate races.
From 2001-2004, the DEI duo of Michael Waltrip and Junior won 11 restrictor plate races in 16 opportunities at Talladega and Daytona. During DEI’s last true year of dominance in plate races, a new era was evolving for Hendrick Motorsports which was reacquainting themselves with success in plate races. Jeff Gordon took two plate races in 2004 after going winless in 14 straight races. They had much success in the late nineties with 5 plate wins, including two Daytona 500 wins and then somehow it got away from them, or seemingly coincided with Ray Evernham leaving as Gordon’s crew chief and main source of data for the entire Hendrick team.
Whatever the case may be on why some teams have dominated over certain periods may always remain a mystery. Some teams adapted with certain required body templates sooner than others, but most say it’s about who’s the most clever at getting more horsepower to the engine. We say “clever” as another term to what others may call it, “Cheating”. Remember, it ain’t cheatin’ unless you get caught. I certainly believe it is a little of both and also believe it is a part of NASCAR that is, and always will remain, as part of the sport no matter what a raving steroid crazed media believes should deem okay.
As Junior embarks on his 2nd plate race journey with Hendrick, his team will definitely be searching for edge to help break his 70 race winless streak. He’s run well this season and has been rewarded with sitting 3rd place in points. Despite all the early good finishes, Junior wants to win at Talladega, the place his father dominated and won a track record 10 times.
Should Junior win, it would make him the 4th driver in 5 consecutive Talladega races to win in a Hendrick car. Jeff Gordon swept the two Talladega races last season, while in 2006, Brian Vickers and Jimmie Johnson won. Their plate record may not be as impressive as the DEI run, but from 2004-2007, Hendrick cars have won 9 of 16 plate races. The cycle for both DEI and Hendrick is almost similar.
Here we are one plate race into the 2008 season and Hendrick doesn’t claim it. In fact the craziest of occurrences happened in this years Daytona 500…..a Dodge won! Since 2001, only two Ford’s have won in plate races in 29 total events. Ryan Newman’s Dodge won at Daytona making a gap of 24 races between Dodge wins. I think you all get the point, but just to put the cherry on top, the last Dodge to win at Talladega was driven by Dave Marcis in 1976.
Clearly, Chevrolet has dominated the plate races, and most especially at Talladega. With all the statistical history we have placed before you, it may come as a surprise that the favorite to win this week drive Toyota’s. Even though neither Tony Stewart nor Kyle Busch won the Daytona 500, they dominated and were clearly the two best cars on the track with the slight edge given to Busch who not only had a horsepower edge, but also came up with the best handling car on the track, a combination hard to beat when both areas are clicking at the same time.
Tony Stewart has the distinction of tying an all-time NASCAR record while racing at Talladega. Stewart has finished 2nd at Talladega 6 times without winning. That ties him with Alabaman Bobby Allison at Martinsville and Mark Martin at Pocono. Talladega remains one of four current Cup tracks that Stewart has never won on. He’s gone winless in 18 starts at Talladega which 3 more than Darlington, 4 more than California, and 8 more than Las Vegas.
I'm going to look for Stewart to take his proven solid strategy of getting near the front at the end of the race, and look for him to take his new Toyota to the winners circle for the first time. It would be a first for Stewart on the season, in his new car, and ever at Talladega. It would also allow him to join his two Gibbs teammates, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, as winners on the season.
The majority of Stewart’s wins come in the later junction of the season, but this may be a race Stewart would like to take care of after so many close calls. It is also likely the “Bridesmaid” title doesn’t suit Stewart too well.
The driver I think we should also look at is Kurt Busch. He pushed himself to a 2nd place finish in the Daytona 500 while propelling his teammate to the win. He hasn’t come close to that kind of run since and will be looking forward to getting the teams’ plate program out there again. In the last 10 years of racing at Talladega, no one has a better average finish than Kurt Busch with a 10.0 average in 14 starts. He has almost as many 3rd place finishes, four, as Stewart has 2nd's. In Busch’s last 7 starts there, he hasn’t finished worse than 8th which says a lot considering how volatile the track is and also that he never drove a Chevy in any of those starts.
NASCAR is just like every other sport in the sense that trends and cycles are so pivotal when attempting to figure who will be the best on a given day. This week’s Cup race at the Brickyard in Indianapolis has one of the better examples of trends and angles that support a particular driver to win the race.
Let’s first establish a few things beginning with the similarities between the tracks of Pocono Raceway and the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The two tracks are tied together because of the tight flat turns and long super straightaways. It takes a unique set up to be equally good at both tracks, but when the crew chief gets it right at one track, it almost always carries over into the next Indy or Pocono race.
The results history supports the link like no other pair of tracks on tour, including the two road courses. Nine different drivers have won the 13 Brickyard races. Of the nine, eight of those drivers have also won at Pocono. Only Kevin Harvick has failed to win at Pocono as a former Indy winner with 5th being his best Pocono finish.
The driver who is reeking with trends this week is Jeff Gordon, who not surprisingly is also the 6 to 1 favorite to win. The first trend is pretty simple and straight forward, Gordon has more Brickyard 400’s than anyone else. His win total of four is twice as many as the next in line, Dale Jarrett with two wins. No one else has multiple Indy wins.
Gordon won his 1st first Brickyard 400 in the inaugural race during his 2nd Cup season. It took him 4 years to win his next Brickyard in 1998. Since then Gordon has been pretty consistent in winning the Brickyard every three seasons. He did it in 2001 and 2004, and if he’s to keep the trend going, he is due to produce another victory this week in Indy.
But wait, there’s more!
We have established that Pocono and Indy require similar set-ups, so when we say that Jeff Gordon won at Pocono last month there should every reason to believe he will be just as good this week. Altogether, Gordon has 4 wins each on the tracks. In 1998 he won at both tracks in the same season on back to back weeks. Gordon also won the season Championship in 1998. In 2001, Gordon also won at Indy and took the season title. In both instances, Gordon was leading in points going into the Brickyard race. That scenario is set up once again for Gordon to accomplish this season. Currently, Gordon is up by 303 points over 2nd place Denny Hamlin.
It’s pretty hard to seriously look at anyone else than Gordon this week. He’s got all the stars and moons lined up perfectly for his Taro card reading. The only thing Gordon doesn’t have going for him is that the race isn’t taking place during his birthday week. The Indy date was moved up a week this year, so his birthday of August 4th will come the day before next week’s Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono. At least we have a head start on next weeks handicapping and know that Gordon has won 4 of 13 races on his birthday week.
We can’t just focus on Gordon this week, no matter how good he is. Because Gordon claims to be from Indiana sometimes, even though he grew up in California, and he does so well there, lets look for some other Indianan’s that may do well on their home state track. On a side note, how about combining all of Jeff Gordon career wins on the tracks he calls home. He’s got 8 total on California’s two tracks and 4 in Indiana.
Anyway, back to Identifying Hoosiers who may run well for whatever reason. The most prominent candidate is Tony Stewart from Rushville. Stewart has done the Pocono-Brickyard two-step himself. He climbed the Brickyard fence after winning in 2005 and remains his most cherished win of his career because of how much that track means to him. Last month at Pocono Stewart finished a solid 5th while leading 2 laps during the race. Two weeks ago at Chicago Stewart took the checkers for the first time this season. Stewart treats NASCAR wins like potato chips, he can’t have just one. His wins will likely come in bunches and this week is an ideal spot because everything about the track fits his style.
Ryan Newman comes from South Bend and is a Purdue graduate. He’s always dreamed of winning at the Brickyard. When looking over his 6 career Indy races, his best finish is 4th with an average finish of 20.7. When throwing the Pocono factor in, Newman looks much more attractive this week. He has a Pocono win with five top 5 finishes there, including a very impressive 2nd place finish to Jeff Gordon last month. In that Pocono race last month, Pocono sat on the pole and led 18 laps late in the race before it became a race the rain drops race altering everyone’s pit strategies.
If it can’t be a driver from Indiana to win the race then the next group of drivers we have to look at are 3 who had fantastic days at Pocono last month. Denny Hamlin, Casey Mears, and Martin Truex Jr all had cars that could win the race had it went the full 500 miles. I think the best story of the 3 would be Casey Mears, just because of his last name. His uncle, Rick, not only won the Indy 500, he was a 4 time winner. Mears finished 4th at Pocono and led 2 laps.
After those you have to look at the Childress drivers. Harvick is a past winner at Indy and finished 3rd last season. He ran well at Pocono but was never in contention for a win. The driver that could present some great value is Clint Bowyer who should be in the 20 to 1 range or higher. We have seen 3 drivers in the last couple months become first time Cup winners and Bowyer is poised to be the next. Taking his first win ever at Indy would be a first, but would also be close to Mears as being a great story should they win.
You’d be a fool if you didn’t pay attention to two of the best drivers in NASCAR for this race. Well, I’m the fool who isn’t paying attention to them. I’m crossing them off like horses with no shot in a race program. Matt Kenseth only finished 2nd in last years Indy race and Jimmie Johnson won the race; that’s just not good enough for me. Kenseth also ran well at Pocono and finished 9th while Johnson led just about every practice speed chart there before having issues and finishing 42nd.
It’s too easy to just say Gordon wins, even though he probably will. There’s no fun at 6 to 1, it’s flat out boring. That’s why 22 to 1 with Casey Mears has such a nice ring to it, at least until he loses. I like the angle with his Uncle and I like the price, Sold!
