View Poll Results: Who will win the 2012 MCF NASCAR Fantasy Championship?
carlm5stl, Carl
6
50.00%
03JGMonte, Mike
1
8.33%
Leprechaun93, Keane
3
25.00%
JuniorCar, Brent
2
16.67%
SupplySgt, Drew
0
0%
Voters: 12. You may not vote on this poll
Picks/Kansas/Sunday Afternoon
#1
10-14-2012, 08:41 AM
Picks/Kansas/Sunday Afternoon
Poll
Now that we are down to 5 races to go, and 4 members are within 100 points of the overall lead, who will win the overall points championship for 2012??
If we were picking for the segment, we'd have to put about 12 names in that hat though!!
Intro and Congratulatory Remarks
Congrats to monte carlo 3831, Chris, for getting his first win since actually Kansas of this year.... that's a 5 month spell with no win!
Congrats to carlm54stl, Carl from St. Louis, who extended his points lead to a comfortable 58 point margin last weekend in Charlotte.
And all bow down to the new Segment points leader... my name hasn't been #1 on anything since I won the championship last year!! I hold the slimmest margin possible, just 1 point over Mike!!
1) carlm54stl 3241 Leader
2) 03JGMonte 3183 -58
3) Leprechaun93 3176 -65
4) JuniorCar 3168 -73
5) SupplySgt 3164 -77
6) Cowboy6622 3131 -110
7) montecarlo3831 3112 -129
8) bblackstone 3107 -134
9) zjerry 3106 -135
10) 02 Earnhardt 3036 -205
11) butch049 3031 -210
12) 77GP 2879 -362
13) lougreen03 2870 -371
14) STUMPMI 2784 -456
15) silverfish33 2098
16) adgm2005 1905
17) MnteCrloSS47 1310
18) RocknSS04 1142
19) Ricks 2006 SS 1112
20) SuperSportSteve 928
21) 01 Monte SS 908
22) nichols2k 578
23) 06 Mistre SS 4282
24) Teacher 306
25) yutzybrian 211
26) SS Means Super Sexy 171
27) monte06ltz 92
28) Racebound2 83
29) Possum 77
30) 04chevyboy 76
31) Emily666 61
32) mousehousemoparman 54
Segment 4
1) Cowboy6622 460 Leader
2) 03JGMonte 459 -1
3) carlm54stl 456 -4
4) butch049 452 -8
5) STUMPMI 451 -9
6) monte carlo 3831 449 -11
7) zjerry 448 -12
8) Leprechaun93 447 -13
9) SupplySgt 441 -19
10) blackstone 439 -21
11) MnteCrloSS 426 -34
12) 02 Earnhardt 404 -56
13) JuniorCar 397 -63
14) 77GP 380 -80
15) lougreen03 316 -144
16) silverfish33 294 -166
17) Ricks 2006 SS 115
18) SSmeansSuperSexy 111
2011 Winner: JuniorCar, Brent, who needs a big win to get back into the title contention this year!!
A thought on fuel mileage racing
I don't remember what year it was... I Guess it was about 2003. There was a year somewhere that had a lot of fuel mileage races and Ryan Newman kept winning them. Races have trends. This year, we have more green flag runs, we have more fuel mileage races.... some years, we have more cautions, more short runs, some years we have more crashes.... some years we have a lot of short sprints to the finish.
This year, fuel mileage is the name of hte game it seems....
Some NASCAR Torino History
Here are a few shots of Torino's being built in the shop, sitting in the garage area, etc., for NASCAR races....
Banjo Matthews car, which would be #27, in the shop.... driven by Donnie Allison at the time.
David Pearson with the hood up in the garage area... parked near Lee roy Yarbrough...
Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough with their aero fast back cars in the garage
And a rare color shot of the car that Cale Yarborough drove over the wall in the 1965 Southern 500 while racing for the lead with Sam McQuagg.
And video:
This Week in Kansas
It's another mile and a half track, and I'm looking at guys who ran well at Las Vegas in the spring and Charlotte last week. Quite frankly, the title contenders are title contenders for a reason, they all showed a lot of speed last week in Charlotte, and I think they will all be the contenders this weekend in Kansas.
And lets get into some of those, shall we??
The Favorites
My picks for the rest of the season may very well be Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, and Denny Hamlin. I think Brad and Paul Wolfe learned a good lesson in humility last weekend in Charlotte, yet at hte same time, I think any fears the rest of the field had on getting beat by the 2 in fuel mileage are now quelled. And if you'll remember the beginning of the year, the 2 had all kinds of issues at the beginning of the season on 1.5 mile tracks with fuel pick up issues... Las Vegas and Texas both come to mind. That car finished poorly in both races with fuel delivery issues. I Think they were experimenting with something early in teh season that is paying off dividends right now!
Jimmie Johnson is in top form and had it not been for that two tire call, he may have been in contention to win this race and may have led more laps than Brad K. Jimmie and Chad learned a few things too
And now, Denny Hamlin knows exactly how far he can go on fuel too! Although he won at Kansas in the spring, the track has been repaved, so we don't really have a good baseline for anything right now.
Those three guys have all won at Kansas before, they've all won on 1.5 mile tracks this season, and they're all going to be solid as a rock going forward.
Also, I think the rest of the Toyotas are the cars to beat. At one point in Charlottte, they were 4 of the top 5 cars. Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex, and Kyle Busch are all really strong right now. I call all of those guys favorites for the week.
Other htan that, the Hendrick cars are really solid... who knows what Regan Smith might have done with that top 10 car that blew an engine. But, I'm not going to list them all as favorites....
The "Ones to watch"
And one thing that may just loom over htose Hendrick cars is the engines. They had issues at Michigan, they lost two of them in Charlotte. That might be a reason to avoid having too many HEndrick related cars on your team right now.
The Roush cars just fell apart when Roush announced he was leaving. However, in the last couple of predicatable races (Excluding Talladega), Carl Edwards has been getting pretty solid!!
On top of that, Greg Biffle had a really good short run set up last weekend.. new tracks don't usually eat tires like old ones do, so I think BIffle might be a factor this weekend too.
Jeff Gordon was fast at Kansas and Dover.. but I have to classify him as "one to watch" for right now. He, along with Regan Smith. Smith was running good in practice adn in the race until that engine let go.
STewart is just not having the season he was having last year... plus, he has one of those Hendrikc engines... not a good combinatoin.
And if you want a guy who will show one flash of brilliance and finish 15th, go ahead nad pick Kevin Harvick....
Logano has been sneaking into some top 10 finishes here lately too.
The ones to AVoid
I have to factor in guys like Matt Kenseth, whose luck on any truck besides restricter plates since he announced his leaving Roush-Fenway just has to make him a guy to avoid.
Also, Newman has had some bad luck on all the 1.5's lately. And avoid guys like McMurray and Montoya.... big time duds almost anywhere you go.
My Picks
I would have won this race in the spring had I not swapped Greg Biffle for Mark Martin.... this time, I may swap again, but I may learn my lesson. I am, however, going to take the top 3 in points in reverse order.
1) Denny Hamlin
2) Jimmie Johnson
3) Brad Keselowski
Edwards has been getting faster here lately, and this is his home track.... I want him!!!
Now that we are down to 5 races to go, and 4 members are within 100 points of the overall lead, who will win the overall points championship for 2012??
If we were picking for the segment, we'd have to put about 12 names in that hat though!!
Intro and Congratulatory Remarks
Congrats to monte carlo 3831, Chris, for getting his first win since actually Kansas of this year.... that's a 5 month spell with no win!
Congrats to carlm54stl, Carl from St. Louis, who extended his points lead to a comfortable 58 point margin last weekend in Charlotte.
And all bow down to the new Segment points leader... my name hasn't been #1 on anything since I won the championship last year!! I hold the slimmest margin possible, just 1 point over Mike!!
1) carlm54stl 3241 Leader
2) 03JGMonte 3183 -58
3) Leprechaun93 3176 -65
4) JuniorCar 3168 -73
5) SupplySgt 3164 -77
6) Cowboy6622 3131 -110
7) montecarlo3831 3112 -129
8) bblackstone 3107 -134
9) zjerry 3106 -135
10) 02 Earnhardt 3036 -205
11) butch049 3031 -210
12) 77GP 2879 -362
13) lougreen03 2870 -371
14) STUMPMI 2784 -456
15) silverfish33 2098
16) adgm2005 1905
17) MnteCrloSS47 1310
18) RocknSS04 1142
19) Ricks 2006 SS 1112
20) SuperSportSteve 928
21) 01 Monte SS 908
22) nichols2k 578
23) 06 Mistre SS 4282
24) Teacher 306
25) yutzybrian 211
26) SS Means Super Sexy 171
27) monte06ltz 92
28) Racebound2 83
29) Possum 77
30) 04chevyboy 76
31) Emily666 61
32) mousehousemoparman 54
Segment 4
1) Cowboy6622 460 Leader
2) 03JGMonte 459 -1
3) carlm54stl 456 -4
4) butch049 452 -8
5) STUMPMI 451 -9
6) monte carlo 3831 449 -11
7) zjerry 448 -12
8) Leprechaun93 447 -13
9) SupplySgt 441 -19
10) blackstone 439 -21
11) MnteCrloSS 426 -34
12) 02 Earnhardt 404 -56
13) JuniorCar 397 -63
14) 77GP 380 -80
15) lougreen03 316 -144
16) silverfish33 294 -166
17) Ricks 2006 SS 115
18) SSmeansSuperSexy 111
2011 Winner: JuniorCar, Brent, who needs a big win to get back into the title contention this year!!
A thought on fuel mileage racing
I don't remember what year it was... I Guess it was about 2003. There was a year somewhere that had a lot of fuel mileage races and Ryan Newman kept winning them. Races have trends. This year, we have more green flag runs, we have more fuel mileage races.... some years, we have more cautions, more short runs, some years we have more crashes.... some years we have a lot of short sprints to the finish.
This year, fuel mileage is the name of hte game it seems....
Some NASCAR Torino History
Here are a few shots of Torino's being built in the shop, sitting in the garage area, etc., for NASCAR races....
Banjo Matthews car, which would be #27, in the shop.... driven by Donnie Allison at the time.
David Pearson with the hood up in the garage area... parked near Lee roy Yarbrough...
Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough with their aero fast back cars in the garage
And a rare color shot of the car that Cale Yarborough drove over the wall in the 1965 Southern 500 while racing for the lead with Sam McQuagg.
And video:
It's another mile and a half track, and I'm looking at guys who ran well at Las Vegas in the spring and Charlotte last week. Quite frankly, the title contenders are title contenders for a reason, they all showed a lot of speed last week in Charlotte, and I think they will all be the contenders this weekend in Kansas.
And lets get into some of those, shall we??
The Favorites
My picks for the rest of the season may very well be Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, and Denny Hamlin. I think Brad and Paul Wolfe learned a good lesson in humility last weekend in Charlotte, yet at hte same time, I think any fears the rest of the field had on getting beat by the 2 in fuel mileage are now quelled. And if you'll remember the beginning of the year, the 2 had all kinds of issues at the beginning of the season on 1.5 mile tracks with fuel pick up issues... Las Vegas and Texas both come to mind. That car finished poorly in both races with fuel delivery issues. I Think they were experimenting with something early in teh season that is paying off dividends right now!
Jimmie Johnson is in top form and had it not been for that two tire call, he may have been in contention to win this race and may have led more laps than Brad K. Jimmie and Chad learned a few things too
And now, Denny Hamlin knows exactly how far he can go on fuel too! Although he won at Kansas in the spring, the track has been repaved, so we don't really have a good baseline for anything right now.
Those three guys have all won at Kansas before, they've all won on 1.5 mile tracks this season, and they're all going to be solid as a rock going forward.
Also, I think the rest of the Toyotas are the cars to beat. At one point in Charlottte, they were 4 of the top 5 cars. Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex, and Kyle Busch are all really strong right now. I call all of those guys favorites for the week.
Other htan that, the Hendrick cars are really solid... who knows what Regan Smith might have done with that top 10 car that blew an engine. But, I'm not going to list them all as favorites....
The "Ones to watch"
And one thing that may just loom over htose Hendrick cars is the engines. They had issues at Michigan, they lost two of them in Charlotte. That might be a reason to avoid having too many HEndrick related cars on your team right now.
The Roush cars just fell apart when Roush announced he was leaving. However, in the last couple of predicatable races (Excluding Talladega), Carl Edwards has been getting pretty solid!!
On top of that, Greg Biffle had a really good short run set up last weekend.. new tracks don't usually eat tires like old ones do, so I think BIffle might be a factor this weekend too.
Jeff Gordon was fast at Kansas and Dover.. but I have to classify him as "one to watch" for right now. He, along with Regan Smith. Smith was running good in practice adn in the race until that engine let go.
STewart is just not having the season he was having last year... plus, he has one of those Hendrikc engines... not a good combinatoin.
And if you want a guy who will show one flash of brilliance and finish 15th, go ahead nad pick Kevin Harvick....
Logano has been sneaking into some top 10 finishes here lately too.
The ones to AVoid
I have to factor in guys like Matt Kenseth, whose luck on any truck besides restricter plates since he announced his leaving Roush-Fenway just has to make him a guy to avoid.
Also, Newman has had some bad luck on all the 1.5's lately. And avoid guys like McMurray and Montoya.... big time duds almost anywhere you go.
My Picks
I would have won this race in the spring had I not swapped Greg Biffle for Mark Martin.... this time, I may swap again, but I may learn my lesson. I am, however, going to take the top 3 in points in reverse order.
1) Denny Hamlin
2) Jimmie Johnson
3) Brad Keselowski
Edwards has been getting faster here lately, and this is his home track.... I want him!!!
Last edited by Cowboy6622; 10-14-2012 at 09:25 AM.
#7
10-14-2012, 06:52 PM
1.) Martin Truex Jr
2.) Brad Keselowski
3.) Jimmie Johnson
might change before i leave for the race.
2.) Brad Keselowski
3.) Jimmie Johnson
might change before i leave for the race.
#9
10-14-2012, 07:46 PM
Brent... you know I want to be in the Mark Martin train with you... but so many times this year, all I can think about is how that engine let go and cost me that Kansas win in the spring... I just can't do it again....
And by the way, I have a lot of good NASCAR History stuff ready for you guys hwen we get to Martinsville!!
And by the way, I have a lot of good NASCAR History stuff ready for you guys hwen we get to Martinsville!!
#10
10-15-2012, 05:30 AM
Toyotas
Poll
Now that we are down to 5 races to go, and 4 members are within 100 points of the overall lead, who will win the overall points championship for 2012??
If we were picking for the segment, we'd have to put about 12 names in that hat though!!
Intro and Congratulatory Remarks
Congrats to monte carlo 3831, Chris, for getting his first win since actually Kansas of this year.... that's a 5 month spell with no win!
Congrats to carlm54stl, Carl from St. Louis, who extended his points lead to a comfortable 58 point margin last weekend in Charlotte.
And all bow down to the new Segment points leader... my name hasn't been #1 on anything since I won the championship last year!! I hold the slimmest margin possible, just 1 point over Mike!!
1) carlm54stl 3241 Leader
2) 03JGMonte 3183 -58
3) Leprechaun93 3176 -65
4) JuniorCar 3168 -73
5) SupplySgt 3164 -77
6) Cowboy6622 3131 -110
7) montecarlo3831 3112 -129
8) bblackstone 3107 -134
9) zjerry 3106 -135
10) 02 Earnhardt 3036 -205
11) butch049 3031 -210
12) 77GP 2879 -362
13) lougreen03 2870 -371
14) STUMPMI 2784 -456
15) silverfish33 2098
16) adgm2005 1905
17) MnteCrloSS47 1310
18) RocknSS04 1142
19) Ricks 2006 SS 1112
20) SuperSportSteve 928
21) 01 Monte SS 908
22) nichols2k 578
23) 06 Mistre SS 4282
24) Teacher 306
25) yutzybrian 211
26) SS Means Super Sexy 171
27) monte06ltz 92
28) Racebound2 83
29) Possum 77
30) 04chevyboy 76
31) Emily666 61
32) mousehousemoparman 54
Segment 4
1) Cowboy6622 460 Leader
2) 03JGMonte 459 -1
3) carlm54stl 456 -4
4) butch049 452 -8
5) STUMPMI 451 -9
6) monte carlo 3831 449 -11
7) zjerry 448 -12
8) Leprechaun93 447 -13
9) SupplySgt 441 -19
10) blackstone 439 -21
11) MnteCrloSS 426 -34
12) 02 Earnhardt 404 -56
13) JuniorCar 397 -63
14) 77GP 380 -80
15) lougreen03 316 -144
16) silverfish33 294 -166
17) Ricks 2006 SS 115
18) SSmeansSuperSexy 111
2011 Winner: JuniorCar, Brent, who needs a big win to get back into the title contention this year!!
A thought on fuel mileage racing
I don't remember what year it was... I Guess it was about 2003. There was a year somewhere that had a lot of fuel mileage races and Ryan Newman kept winning them. Races have trends. This year, we have more green flag runs, we have more fuel mileage races.... some years, we have more cautions, more short runs, some years we have more crashes.... some years we have a lot of short sprints to the finish.
This year, fuel mileage is the name of hte game it seems....
Some NASCAR Torino History
Here are a few shots of Torino's being built in the shop, sitting in the garage area, etc., for NASCAR races....
Banjo Matthews car, which would be #27, in the shop.... driven by Donnie Allison at the time.
David Pearson with the hood up in the garage area... parked near Lee roy Yarbrough...
Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough with their aero fast back cars in the garage
And a rare color shot of the car that Cale Yarborough drove over the wall in the 1965 Southern 500 while racing for the lead with Sam McQuagg.
And video:
1965 SOUTHERN 500 - Cale Yarborough goes over the wall - YouTube
This Week in Kansas
It's another mile and a half track, and I'm looking at guys who ran well at Las Vegas in the spring and Charlotte last week. Quite frankly, the title contenders are title contenders for a reason, they all showed a lot of speed last week in Charlotte, and I think they will all be the contenders this weekend in Kansas.
And lets get into some of those, shall we??
The Favorites
My picks for the rest of the season may very well be Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, and Denny Hamlin. I think Brad and Paul Wolfe learned a good lesson in humility last weekend in Charlotte, yet at hte same time, I think any fears the rest of the field had on getting beat by the 2 in fuel mileage are now quelled. And if you'll remember the beginning of the year, the 2 had all kinds of issues at the beginning of the season on 1.5 mile tracks with fuel pick up issues... Las Vegas and Texas both come to mind. That car finished poorly in both races with fuel delivery issues. I Think they were experimenting with something early in teh season that is paying off dividends right now!
Jimmie Johnson is in top form and had it not been for that two tire call, he may have been in contention to win this race and may have led more laps than Brad K. Jimmie and Chad learned a few things too
And now, Denny Hamlin knows exactly how far he can go on fuel too! Although he won at Kansas in the spring, the track has been repaved, so we don't really have a good baseline for anything right now.
Those three guys have all won at Kansas before, they've all won on 1.5 mile tracks this season, and they're all going to be solid as a rock going forward.
Also, I think the rest of the Toyotas are the cars to beat. At one point in Charlottte, they were 4 of the top 5 cars. Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex, and Kyle Busch are all really strong right now. I call all of those guys favorites for the week.
Other htan that, the Hendrick cars are really solid... who knows what Regan Smith might have done with that top 10 car that blew an engine. But, I'm not going to list them all as favorites....
The "Ones to watch"
And one thing that may just loom over htose Hendrick cars is the engines. They had issues at Michigan, they lost two of them in Charlotte. That might be a reason to avoid having too many HEndrick related cars on your team right now.
The Roush cars just fell apart when Roush announced he was leaving. However, in the last couple of predicatable races (Excluding Talladega), Carl Edwards has been getting pretty solid!!
On top of that, Greg Biffle had a really good short run set up last weekend.. new tracks don't usually eat tires like old ones do, so I think BIffle might be a factor this weekend too.
Jeff Gordon was fast at Kansas and Dover.. but I have to classify him as "one to watch" for right now. He, along with Regan Smith. Smith was running good in practice adn in the race until that engine let go.
STewart is just not having the season he was having last year... plus, he has one of those Hendrikc engines... not a good combinatoin.
And if you want a guy who will show one flash of brilliance and finish 15th, go ahead nad pick Kevin Harvick....
Logano has been sneaking into some top 10 finishes here lately too.
The ones to AVoid
I have to factor in guys like Matt Kenseth, whose luck on any truck besides restricter plates since he announced his leaving Roush-Fenway just has to make him a guy to avoid.
Also, Newman has had some bad luck on all the 1.5's lately. And avoid guys like McMurray and Montoya.... big time duds almost anywhere you go.
My Picks
I would have won this race in the spring had I not swapped Greg Biffle for Mark Martin.... this time, I may swap again, but I may learn my lesson. I am, however, going to take the top 3 in points in reverse order.
1) Denny Hamlin
2) Jimmie Johnson
3) Brad Keselowski
Edwards has been getting faster here lately, and this is his home track.... I want him!!!
Now that we are down to 5 races to go, and 4 members are within 100 points of the overall lead, who will win the overall points championship for 2012??
If we were picking for the segment, we'd have to put about 12 names in that hat though!!
Intro and Congratulatory Remarks
Congrats to monte carlo 3831, Chris, for getting his first win since actually Kansas of this year.... that's a 5 month spell with no win!
Congrats to carlm54stl, Carl from St. Louis, who extended his points lead to a comfortable 58 point margin last weekend in Charlotte.
And all bow down to the new Segment points leader... my name hasn't been #1 on anything since I won the championship last year!! I hold the slimmest margin possible, just 1 point over Mike!!
1) carlm54stl 3241 Leader
2) 03JGMonte 3183 -58
3) Leprechaun93 3176 -65
4) JuniorCar 3168 -73
5) SupplySgt 3164 -77
6) Cowboy6622 3131 -110
7) montecarlo3831 3112 -129
8) bblackstone 3107 -134
9) zjerry 3106 -135
10) 02 Earnhardt 3036 -205
11) butch049 3031 -210
12) 77GP 2879 -362
13) lougreen03 2870 -371
14) STUMPMI 2784 -456
15) silverfish33 2098
16) adgm2005 1905
17) MnteCrloSS47 1310
18) RocknSS04 1142
19) Ricks 2006 SS 1112
20) SuperSportSteve 928
21) 01 Monte SS 908
22) nichols2k 578
23) 06 Mistre SS 4282
24) Teacher 306
25) yutzybrian 211
26) SS Means Super Sexy 171
27) monte06ltz 92
28) Racebound2 83
29) Possum 77
30) 04chevyboy 76
31) Emily666 61
32) mousehousemoparman 54
Segment 4
1) Cowboy6622 460 Leader
2) 03JGMonte 459 -1
3) carlm54stl 456 -4
4) butch049 452 -8
5) STUMPMI 451 -9
6) monte carlo 3831 449 -11
7) zjerry 448 -12
8) Leprechaun93 447 -13
9) SupplySgt 441 -19
10) blackstone 439 -21
11) MnteCrloSS 426 -34
12) 02 Earnhardt 404 -56
13) JuniorCar 397 -63
14) 77GP 380 -80
15) lougreen03 316 -144
16) silverfish33 294 -166
17) Ricks 2006 SS 115
18) SSmeansSuperSexy 111
2011 Winner: JuniorCar, Brent, who needs a big win to get back into the title contention this year!!
A thought on fuel mileage racing
I don't remember what year it was... I Guess it was about 2003. There was a year somewhere that had a lot of fuel mileage races and Ryan Newman kept winning them. Races have trends. This year, we have more green flag runs, we have more fuel mileage races.... some years, we have more cautions, more short runs, some years we have more crashes.... some years we have a lot of short sprints to the finish.
This year, fuel mileage is the name of hte game it seems....
Some NASCAR Torino History
Here are a few shots of Torino's being built in the shop, sitting in the garage area, etc., for NASCAR races....
Banjo Matthews car, which would be #27, in the shop.... driven by Donnie Allison at the time.
David Pearson with the hood up in the garage area... parked near Lee roy Yarbrough...
Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough with their aero fast back cars in the garage
And a rare color shot of the car that Cale Yarborough drove over the wall in the 1965 Southern 500 while racing for the lead with Sam McQuagg.
And video:
1965 SOUTHERN 500 - Cale Yarborough goes over the wall - YouTube
This Week in Kansas
It's another mile and a half track, and I'm looking at guys who ran well at Las Vegas in the spring and Charlotte last week. Quite frankly, the title contenders are title contenders for a reason, they all showed a lot of speed last week in Charlotte, and I think they will all be the contenders this weekend in Kansas.
And lets get into some of those, shall we??
The Favorites
My picks for the rest of the season may very well be Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, and Denny Hamlin. I think Brad and Paul Wolfe learned a good lesson in humility last weekend in Charlotte, yet at hte same time, I think any fears the rest of the field had on getting beat by the 2 in fuel mileage are now quelled. And if you'll remember the beginning of the year, the 2 had all kinds of issues at the beginning of the season on 1.5 mile tracks with fuel pick up issues... Las Vegas and Texas both come to mind. That car finished poorly in both races with fuel delivery issues. I Think they were experimenting with something early in teh season that is paying off dividends right now!
Jimmie Johnson is in top form and had it not been for that two tire call, he may have been in contention to win this race and may have led more laps than Brad K. Jimmie and Chad learned a few things too
And now, Denny Hamlin knows exactly how far he can go on fuel too! Although he won at Kansas in the spring, the track has been repaved, so we don't really have a good baseline for anything right now.
Those three guys have all won at Kansas before, they've all won on 1.5 mile tracks this season, and they're all going to be solid as a rock going forward.
Also, I think the rest of the Toyotas are the cars to beat. At one point in Charlottte, they were 4 of the top 5 cars. Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex, and Kyle Busch are all really strong right now. I call all of those guys favorites for the week.
Other htan that, the Hendrick cars are really solid... who knows what Regan Smith might have done with that top 10 car that blew an engine. But, I'm not going to list them all as favorites....
The "Ones to watch"
And one thing that may just loom over htose Hendrick cars is the engines. They had issues at Michigan, they lost two of them in Charlotte. That might be a reason to avoid having too many HEndrick related cars on your team right now.
The Roush cars just fell apart when Roush announced he was leaving. However, in the last couple of predicatable races (Excluding Talladega), Carl Edwards has been getting pretty solid!!
On top of that, Greg Biffle had a really good short run set up last weekend.. new tracks don't usually eat tires like old ones do, so I think BIffle might be a factor this weekend too.
Jeff Gordon was fast at Kansas and Dover.. but I have to classify him as "one to watch" for right now. He, along with Regan Smith. Smith was running good in practice adn in the race until that engine let go.
STewart is just not having the season he was having last year... plus, he has one of those Hendrikc engines... not a good combinatoin.
And if you want a guy who will show one flash of brilliance and finish 15th, go ahead nad pick Kevin Harvick....
Logano has been sneaking into some top 10 finishes here lately too.
The ones to AVoid
I have to factor in guys like Matt Kenseth, whose luck on any truck besides restricter plates since he announced his leaving Roush-Fenway just has to make him a guy to avoid.
Also, Newman has had some bad luck on all the 1.5's lately. And avoid guys like McMurray and Montoya.... big time duds almost anywhere you go.
My Picks
I would have won this race in the spring had I not swapped Greg Biffle for Mark Martin.... this time, I may swap again, but I may learn my lesson. I am, however, going to take the top 3 in points in reverse order.
1) Denny Hamlin
2) Jimmie Johnson
3) Brad Keselowski
Edwards has been getting faster here lately, and this is his home track.... I want him!!!