The Poll

After NASCAR screwed so many people at Richmond, who will be the next driver to get screwed out of a win?

Points, Intro, and Congratulatory Remarks

Richmond and Segment 1 are now being put to pasture.

First, lets congratulate Silverfish33, Hunter, for wrapping up a terrible segment with a race win at Richmond. That's just the momentum booster he needs going into Talladega!!!

Also, congratulations to JuniorCar Brent, who won Segment 1 and will continue to hold the overall lead.

Here are the overall points heading into Talladega.

1) JuniorCar 966 Winner
2) carlm54stl 950 -16
3) butch049 945 -21
4) montecarlo3831 937 -29
5) RocknSS04 922 -44
6) bblackstone 921 -45
7) zJerry 912 -54
8) Cowboy6622 910 -56
9) SupplySgt 904 -62
10) lougreen03 886 -80
11) 03JGMonte 885 -81
12) 02 Earnhardt 866 -100
13) 77GP 851 -115
13) Leprechaun93 851 -115
15) 01 Monte SS 840 -126
16) silverfish 739
17) SuperSportSteve 685
18) STUMPMI 649

Defending Winner: lougreen03

Intro to Segment 2


This may be tricky to understand if you're a first year player, but we will still keep an overall points tally. However, a new set of poitns will start. From this race forward, we will have two sets of points, overall from Daytona until now, and Segment 2, Talladega until the July race in Daytona will be a separate set of points.

This segment will be tough to win. It starts and ends on a restricter plate track. It features a road course, a repaved Michigan which is seeing high corner speeds and straightaway speeds near 210-215 mph in tire testing, a repaved Pocono with higher corner and straightaway speeds, plus a few historic race tracks such as Charlotte and Dover, plus the boring cookie cutter of Kentucky speedway. This Segment has a little bit of everything... except a short track.

Heck, we even have a non points race to play with.


This week in Talladega

Lots of things are different this year. The track is getting broken in and loosing grip. NASCAR has made many efforts to break up the tandem drafting. The pack is back, and the fans are happy.

Yet at the same time, cautions are down, and big wrecks are what we expect out of Talladega. But if we think back to Datyona, there were several points where there was potential for a 20 car crash, yet the drivers are very professional and get through these incidents making it look easy. I think we will see pack race, but we may not see a big one.

Also, in Daytona, we saw several strong cars dominate the race. It was one of the best Daytona 500s in the modern era, and I believe hte best since the inception of the COT. And I'm not expecting any less out of this new COT. I think we will have a fast race, with lots of passing, lots of good racing, few cautions, and a lot of cars contending at the end.

The sustained high RPM's make take a toll here this weekend. We saw Clint Bowyer lose an engine in Daytona, and Jeff Gordon and Hendrick of all people had issues. I would take careful consideration of who has the best engine program when we go to Talladega.

But just in case there is a big one, I may take some cars that are going to ride in the back and try to come through at the end just to be safe. It is hard to find a safe place to be in Talladega. We've seen the leader crash, we've seen teh guys who lay back and make a charge crash. There just isn't a sure way to run Talladega.

Hendrick Motorsports


Here we go, gentlemen. Another track where two winless streaks could end. Could Dale Earnhardt, Jr., in the track where he is the most popular, in a state that prides itself on being the heart of Dixie, be the track where Dale Earnhardt Jr breaks that winless streak and gets Rick Hendrick that 200th win? It would certainly be special.....

Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Kasey Kahne could all break their luck and run well too. I look for all the Hendrick cars to be strong. However, engine issues took out JEff Gordon in Daytona. Will this be a factor at Talladega?? Seems like it is always the 24 that has these issues at the restricter plate races.

Roush-Fenway Racing

This team had the two fastest cars at Daytona at the end. I suspect it could be the same at Talladega. So far, the FR9 and Roush-Yates engines have had some excellent durability out of their engines, and I hope that is true here. They are fast, but just how fast will they be?

Richard Childress Racing

Their good competition guy went to Michael Waltrip, and that is where the magic is at. Those guys all seemed to have a bit of pep in their step when I visited their shop in January, but I don't know whati t would be like if I walked in there today. I thought downsizing to a three car model would make this team strong, but it hasn't so far in the first 1/4 of 2011.

Kevin Harvick is tough.... this team ran 1-2 in the fall race with the 2 car drafting. What do you know?

Stewart-Haas Racing

They've got Hendrick stuff and seem to be doing better stuff with it than Hendrick can. They could be contenders at Talladega.

Michael Waltrip Racing

I believe Waltrip himself will be in a car this week. Please don't laugh. I say he will be out by lap 75. This team has had engine issues, so I'm going to stay away.

Joe Gibbs RAcing

The TRD engine. I just don't trust it yet without seenig how well it holds up for a few of these fast races.

Penske Racing

We will always have to wonder how well their engines can pick up fuel on high bank tracks. Places like Daytona, Texas, and Las Vegas have seen fuel pick up issues. The luck just isn't there and the program for large tracks hasn't been as strong. Keselowski will probably squeeze out a good finish, but the luck just isn't there for this team.

Petty Motorsports

Of all people, Marcos Ambrose was really strong at speedweeks. However, this team has a tendency to start the year off strong and fall off as it goes. But at Talladega, anyone can win.


My Picks

I'm going to go against one of my rules for winning championships. The only team without a DNF this year is Roush Fenway, and I'm just oging to hope it stays taht way. I'm picking the Roush cars to dominate and win Talladega.

1) Carl Edwards, mad about Richmond, wants to show he should have won that race in '09
2) Matt Kenseth, Daytona 500 winner, but to my knowledge never a Talladega winner
3) Greg Biffle, an underrated restricter plate racer, who I hope will show why he should remain the points leader.

That's right, for the first time since Talladega of last year, I am NOT using a gimmick to pick a restricter plate race. That just isn't working this year. I'm going to pick with my head.

Good luck, and enjoy the race. I think we will see the most exciting Talladega race since the inception of the COT.

 

Dale Jr... Does have 5 wins here since his dads passing...(This could be the 1!)
Stewart.. Won in 08
Harvick.. Won in 2010

temp picks before practice and qualifying:

Granted fords havent done well at dega. but did win 1 in 09 with a rainout with mc murray behind the wheel...
Oh and dale jarret won in a ford in 08 (doesnt race anymore...)

yotas havent won here since 08 with stewart and pyle (there only wins) stewarts back in a chevy hehehehehe

The stats show Chevys have been Dominant since 1999...
with the exception of the aboved mentioned.....
PS: I wil never pick gordon ever again.!!!!!

Good Luck everyone this week at DEGA!!!

 

Damn, those picks were up within 1 minute.

 

Thanks!

Incase of a tiebreaker....im willing to be the first pick choice lol...
I need all the advantages i can get!

Remember duane...i got a loooonnng way to go to get to the top of the heap....

Considering im on the very bottom holding the rest of you guys up....

But I do have Broad shoulders....

 

Harvick
Johnson
Kryle Busch

 

Harvick
Menard
Kurt Busch

Going out on a double limb here, please don't break.

 

Dale Earnhardt Jr
Jimmie Johnson
Kevin Harvick

 

Here's my picks
1) Dale Earnhardt Jr
2) Greg Biffle
3) Tony Stewart

 

Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Tony Stewart
Jeff Gordon

 

1. #88 Dale jr. 2. #48 Jimmie Johnson 3. #17 Matt Kenseth <center>